IPL’s growing popularity increases threat to Test cricket
An overwhelming majority of professional players across the world say they love Tests but love T20 cricket a little more
As the IPL and other leagues continue to grow, concerns increase about Test cricket. It’s not strictly this versus that but the success of one raises red flags for the other. Market indications suggest red-ball cricket is deeply in red — it doesn’t make commercial sense.
If there was an election, with T20 and Tests as rival candidates, the latter would lose its deposit. The verdict of fans is clear and critics, who love the tradition and romance of 5 day contests, are in a tiny minority .
The players used to consider Tests as the ultimate challenge and honour. They realised Test performances had lasting impact, brought respect and created a legacy. Compared to that, T20 scores are yesterday’s headlines which are quickly forgotten.
But the needle has shifted and findings of the World Cricketers Association, based on extensive survey, tell a different story. An overwhelming majority of professional players across the world say they love Tests but love T20 cricket a little more. T20 cricket pays better, takes less time and, from a skill and hard work standpoint, is relatively easy. With better rewards and less work, T20 now is the obvious go-to option.
While players are resetting their preferences, cricket fans are clear about what they want. People love the ‘package’ of dance and music that surrounds T20’s steroid laced cricket. Also, with time such a scarce commodity, the shorter format is the perfect lifestyle/entertainment product that is consumed on-the-go.
Tests, in comparison, take too long and last a lifetime. They are also difficult to grasp whereas T20 is simple arithmetic, balls versus runs. Tests can have a session of play when nothing happens, with batsmen not trying to score runs. In T20, straight bat defense is sin, and every ball is an event .
While the Tests versus T20 argument is settled, an interesting subtext is whether Tests should be saved at all. Some are of the opinion it’s important to maintain tradition, heritage and culture. So, embrace change but do not press delete to erase Tests, cricket’s glorious past. Essentially, it’s the same reason why the ASI protects crumbling monuments built way back in history.
Tests are commercially challenged but, like art, they represent superior quality and its value can’t be measured in numbers , rupees or dollars. T20 is one dimensional, raw, blunt; Tests are nuanced and layered; they bring out skills that get suppressed in the crazy rush of a 120-ball contest. The young who hopefully sit for the UPSC exams will understand this — in terms of quality and difficulty T20 are the prelims but Tests are the mains.
One view is that cricket is richer because of multiple formats and fans are lucky they have a choice of enjoying the sport in its varied dimensions. Each format has its appeal, which is why all deserve space. T20 connects with fans because they like to see a 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi score a 35-ball hundred and bowlers being butchered.
Yet, others see beauty in batsmen ducking under a bouncer in a Test, leaving an outswinger at the last minute, pushing forward defensively when surrounded by close catchers. The ideal solution would be for all formats to exist, with T20 revenue subsidising Tests.
Not everyone, though, agrees with this. Those who are commercially minded feel anything loss making should go. A corporate won’t hesitate to shut down a business vertical if it doesn’t make money, and if Tests are financially unviable you shouldn’t sink money into them.
Obviously, it’s not so straightforward and simple. Tests are not on the ventilator or in the ICU. India plays 5-Test series in England starting mid-June and apparently the matches are already sold out. The Ashes are always successful and the India-Australia series earlier this year was a massive money spinner. So much that the Melbourne Boxing Day Test was witnessed by 3,75,000 spectators over 5 days - the highest-ever in Australia.
Tests versus T20 is an endless debate which can carry on for five days and still not produce a result. Nobody has a clear answer but when I posed this question to Kumar Sangakkara (cricket’s respected statesman, a veteran of 134 Tests, now deeply involved in T 20 leagues) the answer was surprisingly direct.
Change is essential and inevitable, he said, and one must be unemotional and practical in these matters. Embrace the message and move forward.
