The new Cricket

I've been watching the Indian Premier League (IPL) for quite a few days now and cannot help but think about the future of the game.

I don't like doomsday stories so I'm not going to talk in terms of the ruin of cricket. Everything evolves and so will cricket. Only question in my mind is whether I like what cricket is evolving into. I've seen batsmen swinging blindly at the ball and also seen each nick to the boundary been applauded to the fullest. If batting is going to get reduced to the sheer power of the person & his lack of sense of the line of the ball, I for one have no interest in watching. The finesse of the great players sometimes creeps through but people watching already have associated such class with "traditional" cricket.

So it does look like cricket will get its new brand of Dhoni's & Asondkar's who swing their bat for all their worth. I wonder where the next Mark Waugh will come from & worst even if such an anomaly does arise whether the future coaches of the world will coax him to swing his bat like every other Joe.

I wonder if 20-30 years from now any youngster will truly enjoy watching or playing test cricket. As the game gets shorter & the moolah factor becomes larger, I think most kids will look forward to leagues such as the IPL & who can blame them with parents being eager to push the poor kids onto such things for the money. First it was all about either becoming a doctor or an engineer and now it will be all about cricket camps specializing in teaching T20 cricket.

I have always thought of cricket as a this private duel between the skill of a top class bowler against the might of a elegant batsmen. The rest is irrelevant. Greatness now has been reduced to that which can get the best crowds, be it cheerleaders or stars doing the hoopla on field.

Its true I think, whats popular is not always whats best. As for the IPL, I will continue watching it looking for the sparks of light that meet my standards of good cricket and the rest being forgotten like a bad dream.