19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2023

[Rajiv]

Shame on BCCI......ban it and take cricket under government control!!!!!

It is run by the Govt.. , Jr Amit Shah and all.

[Rajiv]

In the end it is the voracious gluttonous philosophy of BCCI ,that if there is no money then it is not a sporting activity to be associated with.

[Atithee]

There’s always the betting money

[Saffron Lenin]

Betting money!! That's the key here....

[Atithee]

LSG vs. GT. What better example of betting involvement do you need? That’s why IPL never excites me. And, it has only hurt India’s cricketing progress rather than helping it.

[sameerph]

Almost every match in this IPL is going to last over. How does that happen ?

[Saffron Lenin]

It's no more a sport but a betting drama/ daily soap!!!! That's why I stopped watching cricket years ago!!!
Need a full blown crackdown to curb this!!!!

[srini]

Why can’t they send a second team? India has enough depth to field even three strong teams. In fact they play India red green etc. and also have India A team that hardly tours now. And it’s not like we have been winning trophies. We couldn’t even win the Asia Cup recently. So, what’s this fake bravado about?

No one can challenge this decision? How does BCCI get to represent India? Who decides who can represent a country in official matters?

There comes the think it through difference between politicians who run the sports bodies and the sport fans! Politicians think it through. If the 2nd rung team they send wins Asiad gold well and good now what happens if it doesn't?? There will be questions raised as to why the national team was not sent instead of B-team. The politicos don't want all that nuisance...we just don't play!

[jayakris]

The multiple times that BCCI has decided to keep Indian team out of continental sports events has kept cricket from becoming the global sport that it should have become at least 10 to 15 years ago. India is singularly responsible for the damage being done to such a great sport that cricket is.

If China was bankrolling a near-global sport like Indians are doing in cricket, do you think they will stay way from Asiad? Most global sports were popularized by Americans and the British (may be Brazil/Argentina/Germany too). India and BCCI has had a chance for at least 2 decades to make cricket global and a true top-3 sport in the world, and we have taken initiative only in deliberately dropping the ball. When the world looks at India to take initiative in something, we go and hide. It is what we do.

So, like Saffron, I will continue to boycott the great sport. If it remains as a sport of interest to basically only the subcontinent's people, I can't give a damn.

[srini]

Cricket is not meant to be a global sport in its shortest version. Beauty of that sport is in the lazy elegance it oozes in the longer version of game - Test cricket and not in the bang-bang 20-20. Test format is the only version having a true battle between batsmen and bowlers. In the other formats its only the batsmen in one team compete with another in banging the ball! Law of diminishing returns took over me as the 20-20 version started and i almost stopped following the game except during the brief intervals of test series with Indian team participation.

Though Cricket is best suited for Test format, i also know world doesn't have the time relish the beauty in longer format. So Cricket has its limitations in becoming the wannabe global sport. In the limited 8-10 countries it has following, it has enough audience and is highly competitive. After all say in football who cares how a country outside top 8 performs? For example in USA, football(oops soccer) can be the 2nd most participated sport but will still be not crossing QF of any world cup. Chances of it getting defeated by the likes of Ghana, Morocco or Croatia is more likely outcome. Does USA try to popularize/globalize the football (American of course) over Soccer? It doesn't give a damn..

PS: I am not sure why the "law of diminishing returns" that affected me is also not affecting the Indian kids who are seeing and absorbing more and more Cricket. Its really unfair that other sports are not getting their due share of kids interested in those sports.

[prasen9]

Actually, T20 is more of a sport in the sense it requires more strength, fitness, etc. than test cricket. Not as much as a passtime or entertainment. All the skills you have in test cricket wrt bowling, e.g., swing, spin, etc. are valuable in T20 cricket. All hitting skills except defending a ball and preventing it from hitting your wicket or taking off your head are useful in T20 cricket. Again, stopping a moving ball requires great skill but perhaps more of the classic Olympic skills of strength, speed, etc. are required in T20 cricket.

Also, the U.S. does care about spreading American football outside the U.S. and has marketing efforts, plays games abroad etc. It is a good idea to spread a sport you are good at and then beat the others (while allowing for being beaten sometimes too).

[srini]

Actually, T20 is more of a sport in the sense it requires more strength, fitness, etc. than test cricket.

Strength, defintely Yes,but fitness/endurance are obviously tested more in Test cricket.

All the skills you have in test cricket wrt bowling, e.g., swing, spin, etc. are valuable in T20 cricket.

Does it even start to reverse swing with in 20 overs? Same thing applies to Spin also, good spin requires not only old ball but an old and worn out pitch too right? The reason i said Test cricket is the only version that can showcase the game's beauty is because ball and pitch take certain numbers of overs to even start testing the technical skills of batsmen and and any sport can be enjoyed better when there is true competition going on between both teams, and it doesn't happen when batsmen dominate whole innings!

I may be ok with 20-20 using old balls (used for 50/75 overs) at different phases of each innings and if they can somehow prepare a pitch that plays like an old pitch, even better!

[prasen9]

Strength, defintely Yes,but fitness/endurance are obviously tested more in Test cricket.

Not really. Many a fielder who had a belly played tests but got dropped in LOIs because they gave away too many runs while fielding. Because, 1-2 boundaries under the legs is tolerable in tests but not in T20Is. That is a huge difference. Endurance is tested more for bowlers being able to bowl long spells and batters batting all day. So, I'll agree with endurance. But, generally, fielding is much more important in T20Is, then ODIs, and then tests.

Does it even start to reverse swing with in 20 overs? Same thing applies to Spin also, good spin requires not only old ball but an old and worn out pitch too right? The reason i said Test cricket is the only version that can showcase the game's beauty is because ball and pitch take certain numbers of overs to even start testing the technical skills of batsmen and and any sport can be enjoyed better when there is true competition going on between both teams, and it doesn't happen when batsmen dominate whole innings!

Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder and one cannot argue. No, reverse swing does not happen. Actually, test cricket has more luck involved than the other formats because the pitch changes behavior and the toss plays a big part. Host teams rig their pitches, etc. Ideally, for a fair competition, you want the conditions to be the same or about the same for both teams. That is why T20I is fairer and ODIs are next and then test cricket. It is more of a crap shoot wrt the pitch variation, etc. that it makes up by requiring long hours and thereby giving options to people to come back, etc. I'd want conditions to be as same as possible wrt ball and pitch between innings.

I may be ok with 20-20 using old balls (used for 50/75 overs) at different phases of each innings and if they can somehow prepare a pitch that plays like an old pitch, even better!

The problem is that somehow we can create AI but we could not make balls that do not lose shape after the amount of hitting in T20Is and ODIs not to lose shape. And, I suspect some amount of racism, colonialism is there in using two balls to shut out spinners more. Wrt pitches, we can prepare bowler-oriented pitches. People want to see batting more and that is why we have these pitches.

[Atithee]

We are already having our first medal event! Prasen and Srini are battling for silver and gold. I’ve settled for bronze.

[jayakris]

I love both the T20 version and the test version. Certainly prefer the test version, and the beauty of it, more.

My point is that there is no way the test version can be popularized. T20 cricket on the other hand is so damn easy to popularize around the world, and that needs to be done before there will be an audience for tests too. Cricket as a game can become known well as a powerful, athletic and exciting game that is actually quite simple (and not as such a complicated game that has tea breaks, night watchmen, reverse swing, spinning tracks, following on, heavy/light roller, mankading and all that stuff). Once that happens, there will be a fraction of those cricket lovers who will start understanding the mother of all sports, test cricket!

Baseball and American football are much more complicated and are unnatural compared to cricket. The basic idea in cricket is as simple and beautiful as football and basketball. It is a piece of cake to spread this game around the world in 20 years flat, over 5 Asiads and 3 or 4 Olympics. If India doesn't do it, nobody will. If we are a true global power and all that, let us be king in a truly global game. Let us not start with the defeatist idea that we will lose T20 to other countries. If we do, so be it. It will still be our game, and one that we built, and one that we bankrolled initially. (And so much money is there for the taking, too!)