Lalit Modi - Sell Cricket, but not by questioning Test cricket

Following are the Opinions about Test cricket by Lalit Modi.

• 'Test cricket must go day-night to survive'
• 'Twenty20 cricket, unlike its Test equivalent, can reach new markets in America and China'
• 'We are only a two-year-old league but we had close to 3.8 billion eyeballs last year. I use that phrase every time a person sits down and watches an IPL game live or on TV – that's an 'eyeball'

For Lalit Modi, its all to do with number of people watching the matches Live or on Television. He wants to sell Cricket. My point is that he should project Cricket ahead of some other sports like Football or Hockey and should not make comparisons between a shorter version and longer version of the game. Imagine the implications of Test match cricket played in a White ball, flood lights, colour clothing, dew factor; very thought of it makes me laugh. Lets say that this will be put into practice, next question that would probably hit the mind of Mr. Modi is, 'why not make it happen at neutral venues ?'. The pride factor for an Indian team walking into Test arenas like Perth or Headingley and emerging victorious would be lost forever, if such things happen. Will Modi question that these venues should also host night version of Test cricket. He will never stop.

For me, I feel that he is addressing a wrong question altogether. It should be, how to make India play result oriented test matches more often than drawn matches. Places like Australia, West Indies, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Test cricket is watched by audiences with the same Zeal as they would watch any version of the game. A concept of Boxing day test match in Australia can pool in crowds from all over the country and stadium will be jam-packed from the first delivery of a test match. Lord's test matches will attract so many eyeballs (phrase used by Lalit Modi) as and when its played. Lets not forget the recently concluded test match series in South africa between England and RSA, where all the four match series were closely fought, couple of matches were drawn by England and the last ball, last wicket decided the fate. We cannot get a better advertisement for test cricket? No lights were required to pull the crowds that time. I was stuck to the television, till last ball was bowled. West Indies' crowd is also passionate about the Test cricket format.

If Lalit Modi wants to capture new markets like America, they already have Baseball, which they invented to counter cricket. China may be a potential market for viewership. Lalit Modi knows his product, which he is trying to Globalise. I simply cannot understand why he is commenting about Test cricket, which is more associated with Cricket since time immemorial. Lalit Modi has enormous lust to make his product sell worldwide. If he is going to succeed, it can be through T-20 version, agreed! but test cricket survival will take care of itself. All this while, Test cricket was played and suddenly T-20 version comes in and test cricket death is talked about. It sounds funny. Lalit Modi did not vote for T-20 version to be a solution for longer version survival. But then T-20's enormous success has made him feel that Test cricket is nearing its death. I dont believe in that argument.

Another controversial topic I foresee in this T-20 version, especially in IPL tournaments, there is a great chance of Match-fixing issue popping up. Who could say no to this ? We all know how Indian cricket struggled due to match fixing scandal and revival was itself a great story. Saurav Ganguly, Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble and M S Dhoni have all ensured that Money stays out of the game and Passion for the game is instilled in the minds of youngsters, who wants to wear Indian cap. Tournaments like IPL throws so much money on the players, the player's priority is shifting. Andrew Flintoff quit Test cricket for England and there is no doubt that he will make himself available for IPL without fail, cause the money involved is huge. Flintoff is such an allrounder, he became well known for his excellence achieved in Ashes. World cricket will miss him now.

I guess Lalit Modi reads this post and channelise his thoughts to sell the product but not by degrading one of its child. Test cricket will always be there and nobody can mourn....

Thanks,

Prashy.

ITS ALL ABOUT THE LIVING LEGEND - SR TENDULKAR

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - A Magical name it has become. Most suited for Adjectives pouring his way. For most of his fans, its a tough question to answer, when somebody asks, "Which is Sachin's best knock ever ?". Most of us can make it easy by mentioning the last knock he played, as it remains in our mind afresh. Ofcourse, 98 against Pakistan in world cup match (ODI) stands right on top of the list for me. As for the test innings, it has got to be 136 against Pakistan at Chennai, simply for the enormous pressure he would have underwent while facing each and every ball. I picked up these two favourites to drive home a point across. In the ODI innings mentioned above, if we all could refresh our memory, Yuvraj and Dravid had 100 run partnership to seal the match for us, whereas in the latter, once Sachin got out, Pakistan took four indian wickets and we could not hit 14 runs. Critics blamed Sachin on that day, whereas he corrected the fate and remained not out and ensured we chase down successfully against England in same venue 9 years later.

Sachin never repeats a blunder. He was not a successful captain apart from his successful series win at Toronto, I am mentioning about the 4-1 series victory over Pakistan. The most critical decision Sachin has taken in his Cricketing career is not to fall for the captaincy trap again. He prefers the role of a Mentor, Senior experienced pro in the team and he has done that with utmost efficiency. If I know him really well as a fan, he kept his eye on two records for sure, one to beat Gavaskar's 34 hundreds and second, to become highest run scorer in tests. This he focussed hard to achieve because he had such a respect for other little master. Once he achieved the second feet, he never looked back. As far as ODIs are concerned, I never got a feeling that he was focussing on records. One has to be kidding if they mention that Sachin was behind some records in ODIs.

A double hundred in ODIs was not discussed even when Sachin was playing demolition cricket in his early years. Who would have thought that he would achieve it when he is 36 yrs old. Sachin always kept Statiscians busy, but hardly he knew that the same Statisticians would turn some figures against Sachin's character on field. I have always observed Sachin being very modest, humble and dedicating his top class knocks to society, examples being Mumbai terror attack victims, double hundred to the people of india, His hundred in 1999 world cup against Kenya dedicated to his father's soul, 2003 world cup knocks to people of india after India showed mediocre performances in first two matches of world cup. His 175 knock against Aussies revived the spirit of ODI cricket after T-20 questioned longer versions of the game. Foreign tour victories, series victories in Australia, Sri Lanka, West indies, No 1 test team ranking. What else this guy has to prove ? Still the critics might hit back at him stating that he has not won the world cup for us and Australia and South africa are unconquered in Test series victories. I sincerely feel that Sachin would be part of those teams also. All we have to do is wait and watch.

I only want the critics to acknowledge the world class performer. Do we ever have replacements for players like Sachin or Dravid ? I dont think so. Recently Dravid has written an article about BCCI scheduling less test matches and likes of Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma mishandling their priorities. These guys measure their talks and if their suggestions are taken well, there will be replacements for Sachin and Dravid.

The recent double hundred was another master class indeed and already it made the world speak up about it. The entire cricketing fraternity, Sachin's childhood coach, fans! everybody has commented about it. For me, Its just not about his double hundred. Its the way he could differentiate himself from rest of others in the indian team, who are, on an average 10 years younger to him. What a dressing room it would be, for the likes of Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit sharma, Yusuf pathan, Ravindra jadeja, Dinesh karthik, M Vijay & S. Badrinath to share with Universe's best batsmen Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Its a proud moment for all the indians when he stepped onto the cricket field 21 years before. Till date, the entertainment never died down and I bet Sachin's personal agenda is to win the world cup for us next year. I am so confident that he is going to achieve it too under Dhoni's able leadership.

Thanks,

Prashy.