No I am not being dramatic, Cricket is dying or at least as we knew it. There have been seismic changes in the game I love and follow passionately, and most of it has been away from the playing field. I will list out some significant developments

• The release of FTP by ICC. For the uninitiated FTP is the future tours program, released by ICC which outlines the international cricket calendar including ICC events like the world cups and bilateral international series, for a four year cycle.
• Retirement of Ben strokes from One day International.
• Trent Boult and Jimmy Neesham deciding not to sign a central contact to play for New Zealand.
• Announcement of two high profile (read high paying) T20 leagues in UAE and South Africa and IPL franchise owners snapping up all six teams in South Africa’s and three of six teams in UAE newly announced leagues.

I will start with FTP. It is a remarkable document for what is not written than what is written in it. Read between the lines to find it. Every year, the period from the last week of March to the first week of June is an all-but-formalized window for the IPL. It has had a near-official window in the calendar for several years but this draft confirms it. But it is not just India which has its own T20 window. England and Australia too have built in smaller windows during their home seasons for their premier white-ball events – the Hundred and the Big Bash League respectively. Other members have also made space for their T20 leagues

In every English summer in this FTP, for example, a three-week window across July and August is clear of any international cricket. A similar approach is apparent in Australia’s scheduling by trying to keep January clear of white-ball internationals to allow their biggest names to take part in the BBL. The Caribbean Premier League’s August-September window is all but set, though there’s only ever been a handful of international cricket played in the Caribbean in those months. Bangladesh have kept January free for the BPL in each year of this FTP. South Africa has similarly tried to Keep January clear of international commitments. Pakistan has left windows open for when the PSL league is likely to be played: in February-March (2023), January-February (2024) and December-January (2026-27). Pakistan has had to perform a double balancing act to avoid playing during the month of Ramzan which starts 10 day earlier each year, hence the shift for each year.

However none of these windows are like IPL, whose window bosses the FTP. During the IPL window international cricket comes to a grinding halt and not just for the established cricket playing countries but also for associate countries like Nepal, UAE, Singapore et al.

The ODI super league is done away with. ICC said that this would allow countries to schedule more bilateral and ODI series and tri-series(Note the word allow). In reality with 15- T20 international bilateral series (nine involving India), scheduled and the aforementioned “Windows” there is just not enough time for ODI any more. Yes we will have the marquee events like ODI World Cup and champions trophy but they too are on the way out. My passional defense of Test cricket in my previous blog seems misplaced. I should have been looking out for One Day Cricket, which is the format which is going to die first. Ben Stokes retirement is the first of many which will follow, as players will self regulate the amount of cricket they can and will play. Who could have thought that the talisman of English world cup victory of 2019 will choose not to take part in its title defense? But we cannot blame him as every player tries to maximize his playing days and as an extension his earning capacity.

Which brings us to Trent Boult and Neesham. By deciding not to sign a central contract with their cricket board they have done something unprecedented. Central contracts are like retainers which allows the Cricket board to have first right to players time. It also provides security to the players to concentrate on their game without having to worry about earning a living. Granted that the value of central contract of New Zealand is a quarter of its Indian counterpart, but this is an extension of what Ben Stokes has done, to manage the amount of Cricket he can and will play, while maximizing his earnings.

But they have opened a Pandora box. They will be first of many, who will look to play when they can and for those who will pay them most. A lot like what is happening in workplace with flexi-hours, work from home, quite quitting and the great resignation. Perhaps we are seeing the culmination of what Kerry Packer started- Player is the King. Players especially established ones are going to be free to do as they please, and as long as they are delivering, the world will be at their feet, but they will also be dumped unceremoniously (remember Suresh Raina).

This would also mean weakening of the governing bodies (Our Cricket Boards). This power vacuum is going to be filled by the corporates(Our Franchise owners). The buying of teams by IPL franchise owners is a step in that direction. Kolkata Knight Riders now own teams in Caribbean, India South Africa and UAE leagues(no wonder Shahrukh Khan is not bothered about the fate of his films and their boycott call), so does Reliance(Mumbai Indians) and GMR(Delhi Capital). Adani and JSW is on the way. A central contact with them will allow Cricketers to play in different leagues seamlessly without being bothered with international commitments (hence no central contract). For a young and upcoming Cricketer these contracts might be aspired for job, not the country colors.

While growling up in 80’s and 90’s the best football was on display during the world cup. Not anymore. Quality of play in European clubs have outstripped their international brothers. We are seeing something similar happening in Cricket. Even if we go back only 5 years International Cricket was the only level which mattered. Take it away and domestic cricket was not just popular enough or rich enough to generate interest, or enough of fan following. But Franchise base T20 cricket is breaking that barrier. It is not there yet but it is getting there, and will probably be true in our lifetime if not before.

So what does it mean for fans like us? Test Cricket will continue to have support but will become a niche game, played by an elite few and followed by hardcore fans who might not turn up for the match but will follow it, discuss it and debate it. One day Cricket will die a slow natural death, with Sachin Tendulkar and many like him, just a note in history.

But as a fan my biggest worry is the endearing underdog stories. With teams free to pick and choose their teams from a bigger pool, the teams will be more evenly matched. There will be a lot of close matches. We will have overnight stars and more rags to riches stories, but not what has happened in the past. Because one of the reasons we watch cricket is for its glorious uncertainties. Where anything can happen, and it does. Will we have to be content with reliving the underdog stories, unlikely victories and great upset by watching movies like ‘Laagan’, ’83’, or even the cheesy ‘Aawal Number’.

Then Asia Cup happened, and Sri Lanka HAPPENED.

They were not supposed to win. They were only supposed to turn up as a side show to the main event of India- Pakistan Tri-series. They duly lost their opening match which was not even covered in our newspapers. But Cricket forces situation on athletes which few other sports do. In their next match they need 13 of last 7 balls when #10 and debutant Asitha Fernando walks in. All the recognized and unrecognized batsman are back in the pavilion. If you had watched him mark out his line and take his stance, you can see that he cannot bat to save his life. He fidgets and seems overeager. He has hit 24 runs from five domestic T20 innings; his List A and First-Class averages are both below five. He has hit four boundaries in his entire career. But somehow his “Swing it to wing it” method work, with three fours off the next 4 balls. The winning runs comes by a no-ball. Incredible- yes, unexpected-yes, bordering on miraculous-yes, and on cue we had the naagin dance celebrations.

Sri Lanka was through to the next round.

Next match they manage to reign in a rampaging Afghanistan who seemed set for 200+ score, in the death overs but had to still come up with a record chase to win which they did. But the big brothers- India and Pakistan, were still waiting.

They have lost 17 of the last 25 T20I to India. In the three matches they had played earlier this year, India monstered Sri Lanka in the three matches. Forget being on the same level as India. They may as well have been playing different sports. Sri Lanka have only Hasaranga, who is recognized(Read has an IPL contract). They have players like Dilshan Madushanka, playing his third T20I ever, having not played hard-ball cricket until very late in his teens (Madushanka, produces an in swinging a Yorker into Kohli’s stumps, uprooting two of them at once). Or like Pathum Nissanka, the brightest young batting talent in Sri Lanka who has a strike rate of 110 after 55 T20 matches. He has never played a franchise T20 tournament bigger than the defunct Lanka Premier League. India has left better batsman at home -Remember Ishan Kishan.(But against India, Nissanka is running down the track to punch Bhuvneshwar down the ground, lofting Pandya over the long-on boundary, crashing Yuzvendra Chahal through the covers, then slamming him over deep square leg). Incredible- yes, unexpected-yes, bordering on miraculous-yes.

They beat Pakistan next in an inconsequential match having already qualified for the Final. Having won all the matches while chasing, they have an Asterix mark against their results. Cue the Finals where they have to bat first.

Naseem’s Shah’s vicious in swinger in the first over uproots the stumps. That is followed by Haris Rauf, ball of the tournament, angled across, straightening in the air, seaming off the pitch and timber. Pakistan do this. They’ve been doing this. No modern side places so much of their faith in the temple of fast bowling, and when they’ve caught fire in finals, they’ve razed oppositions to the ground. Mohammad Amir and Hasan Ali were an inferno against India in the 2017 Champions Trophy. Or even the 2009 T20 world cup final where the same teams met and were burnt to ground by Mohammad Amir and Abdul Razzaq. Today they take one more in the powerplay and with spinners chipping in Sri Lanka were 58 for 5, After 9 overs they are down to their last pair of batsmen who are actually allrounders. When you’re in the midst of a great Pakistan bowling performance, it is as if the world closes in. Sri Lanka had had a good run, turned heads, and sprung surprise. There’s no shame in succumbing to bowling of this quality.

I switched off the TV and went off to sleep. But somehow sleep eluded me. With my better half sleeping besides me I saw the rest of the match on my mobile using earplugs.

Sri Lanka continue to fight. They continue to bat aggressively and their
marquee player Hasranga comes to party. It is said that Hasranga is a DGAF
player, and he plays an inning to commemorate the title DGAF(Google it if you don’t know DGAF). Rajapaksa plays an even better inning from the other end.
Rajapaksa considers Gilchrist as his idol and the cricketer he feels is the
closes to his playing style. That makes him a big hitter- don’t laugh- he is
not build like a power hitter but he has wrist that have strength of Jayasuriya
and suppleness of VVS Laxman(Maybe Not). He does not have a lot of height, and as such, lacks the long levers, required for a power hitter. He does not seem to have the taut muscle of an Eoin Morgan, Brendon McCullum, but his wrist do all the work. After Hasranga gets out, he drags his team to 170. But 171 in Dubai is very gettable, and Babbar Azam was due a big inning. No way can Pakistan lose

What follows is an incredible performance in the field. All the heroics of
Hasranga and Rajapaksha only kept them in the game. It was their fielding that won them the match.

Sri Lanka’s fielding was electric, almost without exception. Every second of this fielding effort was loaded with desperation. In their relentlessness, Sri Lanka turned the most prosaic of cricket’s three disciplines into a spectacle every bit as high octane and uplifting as Pakistan’s fast bowling in the early overs of the match.

They rounded the boundary at high speed to get under catches, threw themselves around the infield to prevent singles, and flat out refused to let Pakistan batsmen score runs that perhaps the batsmen felt they deserved.

It would be cruel to call this effort “Hungry” when many in Sri Lanka are skipping meals due to the economic crisis, but there is no better word for it.

Perhaps this is the apt metaphor for their effort, Hungry, desperate and
sheer bloody mindedness. They have attacked their way out of desperate
situations, defended resolutely with their back to the wall, found heroes where heroes, could and should, not be found, plotted paths, around better-resourced and , highly-decorated teams. Sri Lanka have just not allowed, themselves to be beaten, they’ve dug in heels, pushed back, defied odds and all manner of probability trackers, to discovered new levels to their game.

Surely, they shouldn’t and couldn’t have won it. But they did. Incredible-
yes, unexpected-yes, bordering on miraculous-yes.

 

So I have hope yet. LONG LIVE CRICKET.