They said that One Day Cricket is an exciting type of cricket attracting spectators from all over the globe. Then we have been watching that they are almost on the brink of its utter disaster. Now, they say that Twenty20 Cricket will be the next generation of cricket. Okay, now they will not ruin Twenty20 Cricket but this time around what is on the line here is the hunger of spectators for the most loved game especially in this part of the world where we live.
More cricket does not necessarily mean quality cricket or service to the game. Economics has one very psychological theory. Marginal utility which says that the more you use a thing the less you need it with each unit of that good. First glass of water will yield you the highest satisfaction in presently drenching heat wave in sub-continent, but as you consume more and more glasses of water your satisfaction level will drop with each glass and comes down to zero. Sorry to say. They are bringing it down to zero.
We love cricket but making it sprout like unwanted thorns here and there is killing the game. First the Abu Dhabi series in searing heat of desert, and now this Afro-Asian cup where teams are badly mismatched. One is weighed with too much talent and other one weighed with lack of talent. What is this? Lack of top cricketers from Africa makes it absolutely dead competition even before it starts. It could be the time when players can get some rest before getting back to their nerve-wrecking itinerary which they cannot ignore at any cost. They are making them money making dominos. Cricketers are not humans, they do not have families, or they do not like to steal time from their hectic schedule.
The Pakistan cricket board specifically requested Afridi to travel to India and play. The PCB Chairman himself asked him to leave because they do not want to make this futile exercise more lackluster. Afridi can help them out in that department. And you cannot say no to your chairman. You know how a cricket structure operates in India and Pakistan. Little anger of any high officials can send group of angry ghouls at your doorstep. That’s a risky business.
Around 15 Tests and plus 50 One Day Internationals in a calendar year are not enough for lusty profit making desires and to top with dirty stuff they are cropping up these dead matches when no one bothers to even telecast it. What they want to do with their lives that are not our set of affairs but kindly don’t make our beloved game boring for us. In the past, we didn’t miss the highlights of an already witnessed match and now we are not interested in even watching the live telecast. Especially when we can decide from the outset that a match will be over during one new ball spell of an Asif and Zaheer. Some can argue that players also want to feature in these matches, then fine, the only casualty of this whole catastrophic situation is, we the fans.