Cricket used to be a 'gentleman's' game in the eighteenth century. It was something which was looked upon as a game to show-off a man's prowess. How much has the game changed since then?
Well, to find out we only have to look 40 years back in our scrapbook of this sport to find out what went wrong. The introduction of one-day format was a revelation for any keen cricketer at the time. 50 overs per innings meant that the spectators would not be bored by the 5-day haul of the test arena. At the time, it was not 50 overs but 60, but the effect was still the same. Teams which graced this game included the legendary West Indies team of the 1970's which had won the first one-day internation World Cup. How time has changed since then, in the last 10 years this affluent team has come from hero to zero losing games at a consistant rate.
Other teams included India and Australia who also attracted spectators in their thousands.
The One-day format increased popualrity in the game, but at a cost. To fit in a number of one day matches meant that the test match schedule would have to be shortened. This led to a decline in interest in test cricket until matches such as the Ashes or an India-Pakistan series. On the whole, the future of cricket was to be uncertain and undecided, only to be governed by the choices of the public and for profit.
Now in the 21st century, we see the emergence of the 20twenty format which reduced the limited overs from 50 to 20 overs. At the beginning this was not taken seriously with countries refusing to take the new trend. However, due to crowd popularity and the recent failure of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, the 20/20 game had been increased from one-off matches to a World cup. Which being an Indian, I am proud to say we won.
Such is the extent of the 20/20, that it is treated like sugar-loaded chocolate, take one at a time for best results.
But what can one do but sit and watch the game evolve from its humble beginnings to something which is slowly becoming a lucrative business.
In my opinion we need to change the mindset from profit to the game itself. Yes, we can have the one-dayers and yes we can have the 20/20's, but the ICC must make sure that the very essence of cricket is not damaged, they must make sure that orginality must be restored.
