Coming on the heels of a successful Champions Trophy hunt, Indian cricket is looking ahead to another two months of excitement, with even more talent on display than ever before. IPL 2025 promises even more surprises, with raw display of bat and ball, between evenly poised teams.
We are coming from lifting the Champions Trophy. What is your overall take on our performance? Tests are being favoured again; T20 remains the top favourite, but perhaps ODI may have gone over the top now and not any more of interest?
So, the general perception, and I’d be sort of talking without statistics here, but I’m talking in terms of what the general consensus within the circles is, that T 20 obviously is the most watched format today. Followed, definitely with curiosity by Tests. And the ODI format basically is stale in terms of, for the first 15 overs, it has some sort of interest and then it loses its interest for 25 overs till the 40th over and after the 40th over, it regains interest again. So, 25 overs in between are stale completely. If I were to fathom the thought 15 years ago, I would say ODI format was the format of the future – most sustainable, but it’s not a sustainable format today unless it makes some very, very stark changes. I have my own theories.
And what would these be?
The first theory is that we start looking at the ODI format, like a test format where we play 2 innings of 20 overs each, where we genuinely set a score and chase a score. So, there will be strategies coming into play for each innings, and there’ll be specialists for first and third innings or second and fourth innings in any given team.
So, the ICC currently seems to be only concerned with the fact that they are looking like possibilities like the use of two balls instead of one, or work with the power plays – instead of three power plays, we make them four or we change the way the power plays are managed to make the game faster and more exciting. But I generally feel that there’s much more to it.
The game itself is losing those 25 overs in between is a big problem currently from a viewership point of view. I think ICC has to acknowledge the fact that they noticed it in the Champions Trophy this time where stadiums were empty. Non-India games for sure had nothing in them at all. And one has to admit, if we talk about Champions Trophy – I am sort of digressing from the ODI format to the Champions trophy itself. Pakistan, I mean had absolutely no audience. I think the economic downturns hurt them very bad.
I was just going to ask you, what is the chance when you are making all these assumptions based on the fact that there is also the profile of Pakistan as a country, hosting the event, where the home team was not doing well enough and therefore there was disappointment – the local Pakistanis were not coming to see another country, countries, winning in their own backyard. And like you said, the economy was another issue. And the third is that obviously many more had more things on mind rather than cricket.
Yes, of course there is. There’s much more there. I think their team is falling far short. They’ve got a serious issue happening there right now.
They’ve had so many international coaches from, and Mickey Arthur – Mickey Arthur came and then he won them the previous Champion Trophy in 2017, at the Oval against India. What they did was the minute they won that, they said, we want to get the rein back in our hand. What they also did was they suddenly sourced the captain at that time, they saw him gain a lot of control and soon they got rid of him, too. Then they got in Pakistani coaches. When they realized was this is not working out, either, they tried to get some Aussie guys and people like Jason Gillespie came in but they had a lot of issues with them, cultural issues with them.
Now what happened in turn was that groupism came into play, cricket in that country has been through some sort of political agendas with three PCB chairmen’s changing in a period of no time.
But coming back to the fact that you said that ODI was seen at one time, 15 years ago, as the ideal new format to take up. I also thought at that time and couple of years later as well, that test cricket seemed to have got worn out in terms of it appeal, it was seen as too long drawn out, didn’t have the excitement. That’s what really brought IPL and T 20 in, into the limelight. But now it’s interesting to see that Test Cricket is gaining prominence again. I see people getting a little nostalgic about the five-day cricket. So how do you see that turnaround? Maybe it’s only a matter of time and even 50 overs will be back again.
So, I think test ticket has seen a revival due to some rivalries kicking in. India has started this rivalry with Australia. Now, this is a huge rivalry, and whether anyone globally wants to believe it or not, India dictated all forms of cricket. India suddenly started playing a certain brand of cricket in tests as well, which is faster pace. You’re seeing five runs and over being scored, that’s not considered abnormal anymore. At 90 overs you are always past 400 runs. It’s a rarity that will be 300 anymore. What T 20 does not give us is pacey bowling at 150 km an hour. It actually doesn’t, because it works against the bowler. The faster you are, the faster you go to the boundary.
But in test cricket, the minute you bowl with that red ball, so it’s the red ball with the test trick. And there the slips come in, you have to survive in there. You’ve seen people get hit in the chest, you’re seeing things happen, which is what people also want to see.
Would you subscribe to the fact that your five-day cricket is the actual regal cricket, the royal game where you come out in whites, and there’s a certain story going about who’s in the stands? The pavilions. There is this aura coming back.
ICC did a few good things. Number one, what they did was that they, and it’s a very basic thing that they did, they started writing people’s names on their back, first of all, and put numbers. People in test cricket stopped watching because I used to have people ask me, who fielded that ball? Or who’s batting? There are 22 people on the field. Earlier, the names were not written.
So that brought in the sense of identity – it’s information age. Everyone wants to know. It’s such a small thing, but it made a big difference.
Secondly, India’s resurgence in test cricket and they’ve limited it to 10 to 12 games a year or whatever, which is fine. And the second biggest thing that they did was to start the ICC Champions Trophy. So, no game is a dead rubber anymore. Because you get merit points for it and everything is getting carried forward towards playing the final and lifting a trophy every two years. And there’s a cycle associated to it. So that is a very nice thing that the ICC did because it was going to die otherwise.
That’s the other thing that struck me was that these five-day games, some finished off on day three, some finished off on day four. Very few went into the fifth day. And in any case, there, as you said, there are no more draws. So, the way you are playing Five Day Cricket, that itself has changed.
So that is why ODI has gone out of flavour, because five runs an over, you’re seeing anyways. So, what are you getting from the ODI format?
But now the interesting thing is what you mentioned a little while ago revamping the ODI with two innings of 20 overs each. That sounds very interesting. Is that a serious option under consideration?
It’s my fantasy.
But have you, have you put it across to the powers that be? Is there any consideration going on it, as a possible change?
If I would have known someone who would lend me an ear, I would definitely come up with a format and at least try it at the domestic level.
I’m not even kidding. If you started doing a test match in five days, sorry. ODI over a day with two innings, it’ll become like baseball. Because what will happen will be that there will be people, who will eventually start getting specialized for innings one and innings three and innings two and innings four. These are chase masters. These are score setters. And you’ll have a largest squad that should play. We should have a team of 15 who should play.
That’s interesting. So, 15 players to choose from, or you are saying it’s a team of 15 players playing.
Team of 11 playing, but team squad is 15, of which any 11 of those 15 can play in any innings for the team to choose from.
I see. In the first innings or second you can choose your playing 11?
At all times. So, what that would do is it’ll be phenomenal because what will start happening immediately is that people will not risk injuries. People will play. So right now, what happens, the biggies always opt out saying, I don’t want to be stressing myself by bowling a 10 over spell. So, they refuse to play sometimes. They’ll play the first inning and in the second inning that fast baller will set out but when the ball starts spinning, you bring in spin and substitute this guy.
The quality of cricket will go up. Okay, so toss, you have to negate the toss in the ODI format. The team that wins the toss has a distinct advantage. When the second team bats, under the lights, the ball just comes onto the bat and you win because the pitch doesn’t stop anymore. The dew takes over. You can’t help it.
So how you could change this is, first of all, you’ve broken it into two innings. So, both the teams get to bat under lights, number one, once each, right. Number two, there’s always a new hardball. You’ll get runs. Number three, you’ll be able to see the 40 overs are done in the first 20-20. Now you’ll bring in your spinners if required, if the pitch is going to start turning. So, you’ve got so much strategy coming into the game. I think we are lacking strategy in ODI cricket as the 25 overs in between are useless anyways. What are you trying to achieve?
Phenomenal, this might lead into a reinventing a new format game.
Cricket, actually, as a game, is the most dynamic sport. It changes rules every year – there are about five, six big rules that get changed. Like now, you can refer a wide.
So, I remember you have said the Champion’s Trophy was going to be a test for the three of them. The coach, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma – it’s a Do or Die for each of them?
For Gautam – let’s start, it’s point proven that it takes for a coach to settle down. I think India played the way Gautam wanted them to play. So, there’s a huge win over there for him and a point of redemption saying that, listen, at the end of the day, we do need three-four months to settle down with any new formula.
The Captain Rohit Sharma, I think did exactly what he wanted to do, continued from the T 20 World Cup, and he was selfless. He did exactly what he wanted to do by just giving India a good start every game. It was poetic justice in a way that he won Man of the Match in the final. Because he was never thinking about his own hundred throughout the tournament. Otherwise, Rohit Sharma being Rohit Sharma would’ve been the old Rohit Sharma where he leaves the first 20 balls, takes his time, and then kicks on from there. He always gave India a flyer. So that was well done. From a captaincy point of view, no one’s ever doubted him. It can’t be a fluke. You can’t be winning five titles as a joke.
For Virat, I think he did reinvent himself. I think the innings against Australia was far brilliant. Against Pakistan – he got a hundred. So full credit to him. I think against Australia, he was phenomenal. I think he missed being the ‘man of the series’ by a whisper. And I think Rachin Ravendran deserved it and it was good to give it to a youngster who really did deserve it.
Lastly, how do you see IPL at 18 with so many of the young blood available? And if you see IPL and somebody like Ishan Krishan scoring that blistering hundred. He is not even in the reckoning in the IPL team! I was thinking to myself humorously if there is any provision India should apply to ICC, that can we put up two teams for the next World Cup?
So, you know I’ve thought about this many times and I said, as a viewer, will I like that? It’s almost like making a mockery of the other teams saying that, listen, there’s India A and India B playing. Doesn’t happen in any sport. Then, too, the nationalism will be lost behind a single team.
So that was a bit on the lighter side of it; on the more serious side of it, is it not the fact that there is so much of talent which isn’t being used. So, what to do with this under-utilized talent?
That’s why you have the IPL.
Yes. But I think somewhere at the national stage, something more needs to be done. I don’t know what can be done, but it’s awesome to see the amount of talent. So how do you see the IPL at 18 playing out?
I think IPL is the number one league in the world, and I think it is slowly creeping up to become bigger than the T 20 World Cup. It has better quality because these teams are carefully picked, managed. You know why they perform better – they said when you go for the IPL you have 14 games – in the World Cup, it’s pretty much a knockout after the first league of about two-three games. So, when it’s a knockout, you are always under serious pressure from your nation point of view. People don’t play as much as themselves as they should.
Which did they do in IPL?
14 games – when these guys go, Ishan Kishen must have been told, I’m giving you four games – in the four games, get me a hundred. I don’t care what you do in the other three; if you get a hundred, you play four more. So, you get better quality cricket.
Gautam Gambhir is working towards his goal, where he wants more players who both bat and ball, they are all arounders?
He still wants that because in international cricket the substitute rule doesn’t apply. ICC doesn’t allow that. This is an IPL rule.
So, he fits into that bracket. So, he’s saying, let’s work on all-rounders. And India is performing so well because we’ve gone back to the 2011 template that everyone will pretty much, who comes in, has to do a second skill apart from a core skill. If required you will bowl.
And any kind of, I wouldn’t use the word forecast, but how are you looking to this 18th edition?
It’s going to be phenomenal. I think the level of talent has gone up, as you rightly mentioned, the sort of players that are now playing this IPL, the Indians. So, IPL is really the Indian Premier League. So, there’s seven Indians always, and the mix out of those seven Indians, majority of the teams’ field close to five people average, who are international. Which is humongous. That is where the differences come. So, you are developing that talent, when I look at it, like I look at how cricket is shaping up, how I’m seeing things, we have indeed developed a solid structure bottom up. We are grooming cricket across the country.
So, to cap it for us now, we’re on a good wicket for cricket.
The structure is showing in India’s dominance now. That is what is showing. The other countries have not been able to develop their structure.
If we are talking about India winning the World Cup, India winning the Champions Trophy, and India being the hot favourite going into any trophy, coming up at the ICC level. Right. And why have we been finalists for the last so many years? All the time. We think knockouts all the time because of the domestic backend structure. And then every state has their T 20 league. If you perform well in the state feeder leagues, you will get a chance to appear in the IPL. There’s a pathway now.
For all the blame that BCCI normally gets for one thing or the other, they’ve done a lot of yeomen good as well. There is method to their style!
ABOUT
Sam is an ex-cricketer having played for Singapore U23’s and at a semi professional level in England in the 1990’s. He is a cricke-preneur working on the online & offline space in partnership with stalwarts such as Mickey Arthur.
