Adeel Lakhani
( Entrepreneur)
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What a month this has been in terms of cricket. Fans and spectators have been able to witness the top international active and retired players going to head to head daily for the last four weeks. Dancing girls along with Shahrukh, Preity & Katrina have added a new dimension to the already jaw dropping show, which has been put up by the IPL. In terms of pure entertainment, this is an unparalleled territory for everyone, from the fans to the commentary team to the millions of watchers all around the world. Cricket after IPL will never be the same again. The glitz and glamour, not to mention the unimaginable monetary compensation for the participants has again raised the question which has been on everyone’s lips since the conclusion of the T/20 World Cup last year: Is this the version of cricket which will replace the original format of the game?

To answer this, we need to be entirely objective in our analysis. Test cricket has never been challenged the way it has been in the last four weeks, since the IPL got underway. The twenty over format has meant that it is a slog fest from the word go; something which was previously a dream for fans, spectators and followers alike. More and more global audiences are now tuning into watch this extravaganza which bodes very favorably for the entire value chain from the BCCI to the sponsors to the TV channels to the stadium operators and so forth. With such a demand for T20, why should this not encourage them to push for more and more T20 cricket instead of test cricket, which has been on the demise for quite a while now?

The England New Zealand test series is underway and has not even generated a whiff of interest, compared with the craze of the IPL; at least from the Asian audiences. This can prove fatal for the entire test cricket value chain in the coming months and might even force the respective national cricket bodies to change their stance and support for the T20 format. Even if this were to happen, the audiences have been spoiled permanently with the advent of T20 cricket. Getting a sure shot result in three hours versus the opportunity cost of devoting time towards a five day match where a result is not guaranteed is a forgone conclusion.

The damage has already been done and it is vital to embrace this fact and deal with it positively. Rather than focusing on the reallocation of the pie, focus should be on increasing the overall size of the pie so T20 and tests can exist in tandem. Just a thought but maybe it is time for four day tests to be introduced with each side being allotted ninety overs per day to bat with a guaranteed outcome at the end of four days. A decade ago, this might have sounded like sheer rubbish but a decade later it has started to make sense. Time will tell.