Commercialization of the sport and managing the modern-day cricketer’s workload – Opinion - Part 1
Revisiting the past, cricket was a gentlemen’s game where playing for the national team was considered the highest honour for any player. The longest version, commonly known as Test cricket, stood head and shoulders above the others, and the only way to
return to form was to play domestic cricket.
Then emerged the limited-overs format, a 60-over per side affair which was uniformly trimmed to 50 over the years, with players donning coloured kits and matches being played under flood lights. Television broadcasts, cameras and microphones became necessities
and commentators were needed to offer their views on the game. In summary, the sport was given a professional look.
That pattern stayed for a while before the advent of T20 cricket in the mid 2000s, which took the commercial aspect of cricket to a whole new level. It is evident that for any sport to flourish media plays an important role, but in cricket’s case, that notion
is magnified.
While football, tennis and rugby are played for shorter spans, and require less time on part of the viewers, cricket’s duration remains its biggest downfall. The popularity of the sport is right up, but the revenue generation process largely relies on broadcasting
rights, as opposed to other sports, where proceeds from ticket sales also play a huge part in the eventual income stream.
That process further took a hike when Indian Premier League and Champions League T20 came into existence. Exuberant amount of money was collected via television deals which further led to an imbalance in cricket economy, where the riches were now mainly
found in the shortest format.
Players got their due shares, and in hindsight, cricket also had its own club vs country row. That has further paved way for the greater need to protect not only the longest version, but to manage a player’s workload, which was evidently heightened as an
individual made himself available throughout the year.
Cases of player power have periodically taken the centre, and with cricketing board also embroiled in their power struggle; it has left everyone chasing money. However, for now our focus revolves around managing a cricketer’s extended workload, and while
reaching a viable solution may be a tough ask, a realistic consideration must be given in order for fans to watch their best players at one time, and understand the logic of resting them at the other end.
Many instances have occurred in the previous months, and one must analyze those and see who remains at fault. Injuries can’t be controlled. Although one could argue that they could be managed better, the fast paced nature of cricket hardly allows anyone
such respite.
They say that a player remains the best judge of his own body, which remains a fair argument, but that has obviously not been the case for many of the current cricketers. The money floating around these days has often thrown caution out the window, and has
further highlighted some of the flaws of the cricketing authorities.
In a cricket obsessed country like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, they remain the front runners in promoting cricket and in due course, seem set to dominate the game’s administrative
side. . However, that has come with a serious consequence.
Rolling back the years, the infamous partnership between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Dravid-c2229 at the renowned Eden Gardens stadium firmly lingers in the minds of many of the fans. In front of a packed crowd, both men outmaneuvered the best of Australian attacks.
However, as time has passed, Dravid himself was left shocked at the small attendances during last year’s battles against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760.
Disclaimer: Any views and opinions expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: