The Cricket-The beautiful game

It was late 1990s('98 or '99).As the clock went past 8 I became fidgety as I had to go to school before 9:00.No not because I did not finish my homework.(Somedays I eluded,got punished some other days,but it never corncerned me(that I did not finish my homework) or occupied my mind).There was some other reason that day.Ding Ding!'Cycle bell Sound'...Sound which I had been waiting to hear,The guy who distribute the dailies!Ya, I had been waiting for 'The Hindu' that day because that was the only way I knew what happened the previous day at the final of the India's premier(and historic) domestic competition The Ranji Trophy(named after Shri.Ranjit Singhji a great batsman(played for England) and a King during the 1900s).

During those days there were no full time commited Indian news channels like today (which has opinion on almost anything and everything) and cricket's market was stil in its infant stage and there was no comprehensive coverage of the domestic circuit like today.The best talents on display were attracted by the English Counties and it is considered an honour to play for an English county side,the only country which had foreign players in its local sides,then.And the Indian domestic circuit hardly got any attention in the media.FastForwarding(>>) into present time,Something unusual happened yesterday.Something that someone in 1970s would have never dreamt of.Two local sides(with no Indian players) from countries far off from (the now cricket heaven)India played for an unprecedented prize money of 6 Million US dollars infront of a packed,sonorous crowd under lights in the Rajiv Gandhi International ground,Hyderabad.Even Australia which won the Champion's trophy earlier this month collected just(compared to Champion's league) 4 Million$(which itself is a huge increase from 1 million$ prize money of it's earlier versions).Its amazing to see how fast this game is changing and T20 is the best thing that could have happened to the game from marketing perspective.

Retrospecting champion's league..given their strong domestic league I knew the 2 states from Down Under NSW and Victoria would do well but the real surprise package was this vivacious,spirited Team from caribbean,Trinidad and Tobago who played with their typical caribean flair of the past and impressed most cricket lovers who followed the tournament.IPL teams were disappointing.Though I missed some key moments like the introduction of the radical revolutionary idea of One day cricket(1975),introduction

of Day night matches(1988), ever since I have been following the game I have seen Windies decline steeply,saw Australia rising gradually through their efficient administration and BCCI,the wealth giant of cricket has improved the infrastructure for the game enormously in the country and has professionalised the administration pretty much like Australia.

But where is cricket heading?Thanks to T20 cricket's reach has increased off late and ICC's main agenda on its every working committe is how to improvise and improve the sport and the same burden should be shared by all of its affliated members.For cricket to maintain its interest and to increase its reach it needs good,competitve tough teams that could entertain us.I feel it is being ineptly handled by some national boards. Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) never had any clear or long term plans and had been rotating their captain,since I could remember, which could unsettle any group.Its high time that they find a potential and stick with him.Though they did the right thing by standing by Younis Khan when he was being accused in the match fixing scandal, I beleive that sports' body should be autonomous and should be free from national politics.I can understand internal politics and ego clash is part and parcel of any board but nation's politics should never mixed with the game.People in parliament have lot of other things to worry about and should leave the games' administration to an autonomous body.If Younis had actually given his best for the team(as he claims) then these remarks could have shattered him inside and I can only feel how much he should have been hurt.Getting betrayed by your own people is the worst feeling you could get.Atleast he was backed by PCB and retained as Captain till the World Cup.(Note:It wouldnt surprise me if he did not lead the side in the WC)

And with WestIndies I dont really know if it's just the dearth of talents or poor administration but they have steeply declined since the era of Hoopers and Ambroses..In fact they havenot found any one as potent since Walsh and Ambrose in their pace attack which was very famous once.If a 'not so cricket crazy' and a small country like Newzealand have a regular supply of top talents I could not find any reason why a cricket crazy and historic country like WestIndies could not.NewZealand in particular are like the perenial underacheivers (like Spain in soccer) who always promise more during the main tournaments(like WCs and Champ.Trophys) but fall short of the final hurdle and ya, everyone remember the champions and not the runner-up.And from a broader perspective the gap between Australia and the rest has dimished largely which is good for the game and lets hope that todays promising younsters from countries like Australia,India,Pakistan will prosper and who knows,there might be some Bradmans,Richards,Llyods,M

arshals,Chappels in the making! :)