Time for Cricket to do its own self-introspection during quarantine
The Coronavirus-induced lock-down has brought the entire world to a stand-still and surely created a ripple effect in the way we see the world. Suddenly, embracing someone dear has become a wrong thing or a slight cough or sneeze has made people look at you with a tinge of suspicion.
For the sports fans, oblivious about the things happening around them if there is a good dose of sports activities on offer, this is a stunning reality check and a reminder that everything that is rosy-cosy is not always the most important thing. And, in the same line, if there's anything exceptional that the Coronavirus pandemic has done, it is rekindling the very essence of why we follow sports for - not only feel-good escapism but also a microcosm of life itself. During our self-isolation, we have perhaps started appreciating the little romance that sports provide in abundance more than we ever have done in our life and also have come to terms about understanding it as an essential companion in every little reaction to any god-damned action.
Cricket is something that I, like millions of Indians, have grown up with. It is the first sport I had ever watched and found a bucket of excuses to be present in the afternoon club matches. Never really understood how it captured my imagination so much but always knew that the little MRF bat my parents gifted me as a kid gave me a sense of being the next Sachin Tendulkar. Now when that little thing called cricket has been taken away from me, putting me in my home to follow quarantine, it struck me hard and, essentially, it has put my life into perspective. In extension, this should also give the stakeholders a chance to review their own doings and the way cricket is governed in the first place.
A couple of years ago, while compiling a copy for SportsCafe, we ended up having a four-hour long debate about the ICC’s revenue-sharing model and how that adversely affected the smaller nations trying hard to put together a team for big events. Although everyone held different points of view, we unanimously agreed that the governance structure had really stanked to a low when in 2014, the BCCI joined forces with Cricket Australia and England and Wales Cricket Board to form a new world order. We agreed that it was indeed right to make an overhaul for the ICC’s bad policy-making and excessive money-driven mindset over the years. But we all know the result that the ICC had to bow down in front of the BCCI, paying them off a nifty hike.
As the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia proved to be a massive success, the ICC reveled in its own - notwithstanding it had everything to do with the niche that CA’s fine women’s cricket wing, ably led by an effervescent Belinda Clarke, has managed to create - with MCG responding well to #FillTheMCG hashtag. But if the Covid-19 pandemic somehow ensures a T20 World Cup cancellation, what will the ICC, determined as ever to implement a new structure of its own, do to protect its planning?
Considering the ICC have thought of having an international tournament every year starting from the 2023 rights cycle, will they be fundamentally protecting the hosting rights that goes through their Futures Tours Programme (FTP) in which bi-lateral series are very much part of? Will an ECB or CA be ready to compromise with their own summers or a BCCI manage to shelve an IPL altogether for the greater demand? At the basic level, it is a question as big as the cricket's governing body's “Champions Cup” structure and if not acted upon sooner, they’ll genuinely have a little time in their hands once the pandemic subsides.
The world-wide lock-down period, for the unfortunate reason that it is, has given the stakeholders a chance to ponder upon, while the boards to see themselves beyond the self-obsessed prism. India, for example, has done its bit in terms of scheduling with smaller nations and affording spaces to Afghanistan but that is all about it. By announcing war against the regular world event, they have stopped a substantial cash-flow to the associate members and not all complaints that we hear about the BCCI can be refuted by even the biggest BCCI supporter. Their 52 crore donation to the PM Cares Fund to fight Covid-19 is a welcome step and a much-needed one but the time is definitely ripe for doing a self-introspection on their approach, for little has changed since Sourav Ganguly took over.
It is not only about boards. It is time players need to hold themselves accountable to make the sport a better experience. The smaller leagues have now become a proven ground of match-fixing and corruption but there have been no stringent measures in place. But as proved with the Shakib-Al-Hasan episode, the onus lies on the players more than anything else to give a friction-less experience to the mostly uncluttered fans who do everything for their tribal instincts. The likes of Kohli, Smiths, Stokes and Roots are idolised by many and it is now time for the busy stars to take a step back and think if they are doing enough.
Cricket is beyond a contest between bat and ball - it is a seamless exercise of connection of unknowns and inspiring generations. It is time players acknowledge this too. Because eventually, the pandemic will subside and we will go back to our normal days. Corona will become a thing of the past but the lessons that it will leave on will be the foundation on which a happier sports history will be made. We can only hope, that, we, the sports fans, do our bit.
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