BCCI aims at making Indian cricket more rounded

The new dispensation of the BCCI has been making some pleasant sounds in the past week or so. Of particular importance is the focus on longer formats, and thereby one hopes, restoring the primacy of Test cricket in the country.

The stated objective is to be the number one Test team in the world. Officials in the recent past have been guilty of paying only lip service to this aspect. Now, BCCI chief Anurag Thakur has spelt out some tangible measures that promise more earnest endeavor in making Indian cricket more rounded, rather than T20-centric.

There is nothing wrong in exploiting the T20 format that has caught the fancy of fans everywhere. The IPL is a global success story the BCCI can justifiably be proud of. In a short span of nine years, it is among the most watched and most financially lucrative sports properties in the world despite the controversies.

This year’s tournament, which reportedly saw record TV audiences in the final phase, removes skepticism that the allure of the league is waning. I would be very surprised if the auction for IPL TV broadcast rights (the 10 year contract with Sony expires next year) does not fetch a price substantially higher than the previous deal.

Yet, it is domestic first class cricket which provides succour to the Test team, and that has not been given the attention it deserves. For instance, the Duleep Trophy, which has a long and illustrious history, was scrapped last season to accommodate the T20 World Cup and other T20 matches in preparation for that.

Happily, Thakur has announced that the Duleep Trophy will not only return next season, but come back revitalised. What he moots is exciting too: a tournament involving four teams without the zonal affiliation of the past, with the best (and prospective) players allotted to these teams by the selectors, and to be played with a pink ball under lights.

This is both proactive as well as transformational. Since a pink-ball, day-night Test against New Zealand is scheduled for next season, it allows the players to go through the familiarisation process in a more structured and protracted manner since each team will get at least three Duleep games.

More important perhaps is the removal of the zonal system, and making the participation of all major players mandatory. The older system had fatigued itself, apart, of course, being open to politicking within the BCCI and zonal selectors.

Pertinently, the new system brings national selectors into play. This gives the Duleep Trophy not just greater transparency where choosing players is concerned, but also enhances the stature of the tournament. Of course, this depends on how tough selectors will be to get star players involved!

In recent years, the best players have shied away on the plea that they needed rest because of hectic international engagements: not entirely unfounded, but often an excuse for giving Ranji and Duleep Trophy matches a miss.

This is detrimental in two ways. One, it obviously reduces the heft of the tournament, and secondly where is the inspiration for budding players and kids to come and watch cricket

It hardly needs emphasising that domestic first class matches featuring Virat Kohli, M.S. Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma et al would draw in huge crowds. Among those inspired to take the longer format more seriously would be budding cricketers.

Because of the greater emphasis on T20, and because stardom and rewards can come instantly in this format, aspiring cricketers today are not as eager on the longer formats. Making the cut even in T20 is not, of course, easy. But if longer formats offer similar recognition and rewards, there would be more takers.

This is where the monetary benefits to Test cricketers should be rationalised to match that offered in the IPL. For instance, Cheteshwar Pujara, a top class Test batsman does not find a place in the league. His earnings therefore are restricted compared to say Pawan Negi who was ‘bought’ for a whopping Rs 8.5 crore.

Understandably, player earnings are not easy to rationalise in a commercial league that work on the logic and fancies of franchise owners. But the BCCI can certainly put Test cricket on the highest pedestal even in terms financial rewards to reset the attention and ambition of upcoming players.