Asia Cup - A lost opportunity

Just 5-6 years back, an India Pakistan Sri Lanka ODI triangular series would have generated excitement for at least a month in the streets of the sub continent. Self appointed experts would have dissected all the possible scenarios on TV and dinner table conversations would have been dominated by the upcoming tournament. Unfortunately, those times are well behind us. Has there been a sudden shift in people’s interest or is the BCCI been responsible for what seems to be an overkill of cricket.

Missing a chance

When everybody is lamenting about the death of ODI cricket the Asia Cup could have turned out to be the biggest advertisement for the format. It has turned out to be a lost opportunity. The biggest reason obviously was that it was ridiculously ill timed. Staging a tournament to coincide with two of the biggest sporting events in the world was a preposterous idea.

It could have succeeded 5 years back when spectators used to wait patiently for the next series. It was the wait that always ensured the first match of any tri series, even if it was an Ind- Zim affair to be houseful. However, the cricket now days is endless. There is never a proper build up to any tournament or series because the players are jumping from one series to another. Had the Zimbabwe triangular not happened, it would have provided enough time to drive away the cynicism towards the cricketers that was transpired after the disappointing T20 World Cup.

The loss to Zimbabwe fueled more indifference and cynicism. The marketing of the Asia cup was appalling when compared to the way the FIFA World cup has been covered on ESPN Star Sports. The organizers can obviously conclude, they did not have enough time to properly market the tournament.

The tournament was made worse because of its location in Sri Lanka. For years now, day night matches in Sri Lanka have been decided right at the toss. At Premadasa stadium, the highest run chase is still only 271 and that happened in 2002. All the top 5 run chases were before 2004. Thankfully, we had a different venue this time with a slightly better pitch but yet most of teams were unable to chase scores in excess of 250 in a time of power plays and 20-20 cricket. Such matches provided decent viewing 10 years back but not in a time when a score of 325 is not considered safe. Quite simply, matches in Sri Lanka are boring for a viewer who is fed on T20’s slam bang version.

If you have followed the sports page of the Times of India in the past week you would have picked up on the changing pattern of sports following in India. In case you are a cricket fan like me there is a strong reason to be disturbed. The Asia cup triumph was given only a half page coverage which was dominated by the World Cup and the Isner – Mahut marathon match up.

The Australia England ODI series has been given a space equivalent to a local school tournament. Our facebook updates were flooded with enthusiasts cheering for Portugal, England and Spain. If anyone updated any cricket score, football fans flooded his wall with messages that sounded as if supporting cricket was old fashioned and archaic.

Our interests in football have always followed a cyclical trend reaching its peak at the time of World Cup but it has never been at the cost of cricket. Worrying about the future of cricket in India would sound slightly alarmist but cricket’s position is identical to hockey in the 1970’s. BCCI needs to consider this as a warning for the future of the game. The richest cricket body in the world needs to act more responsibly and instead of throwing its weight around in the ICC circle it should help the ICC in protecting the future of the game. It should learn to sacrifice short term cash flows earned from playing non-descript tournaments with sub standard teams for the greater good of the game. Cricket fans from time to time need to be given a break to rekindle the love they have for the game.