The World Cup to resurrect ODI cricket? Let’s hope so

Cricket is an Indian game, accidentally discovered by the British, said Ashis Nandy, the eminent Indian social theorist. People these days may hardly argue with the statement that he made around 35 years ago. Cricket, the quintessential Victorian game has been metamorphosed and has become a national obsession in India. Not only its billion people are cricket-frenzy, its expatriate seems to be the last bastion of salvaging cricket’s stature as a global super sport.

India is all set to host the biggest tournament of the cricket- ODI World Cup- alone for the first time and the 2023 version should become a blockbuster in that regard. But the tournament, which will raise its curtain today, is under the shadow of doubts about the future of the game.

The tournament will be held in such an era when ODI cricket, once mocked as ‘pajama cricket’ for its brevity compared to elite five-day Test matches, is dwarfed in terms of popularity and money yielding means to T20 cricket. Once again, it is tempting to quote Nandy from his eloquent ‘Tao of Cricket’, where he stated cricket is like a Ram-leela, a carnival, for Indians where they want to cherish the ‘Tamasaha’ day after day with a laid back manner. However, Nandy’s erstwhile India has changed its character from being a sloth, tradition loving, eccentric life to fast paced, Western like lifestyle where people want rapid entertainment. With the mélange of carnivalesque spirit and modern urban mood the T20 is gradually becoming the most adorable among all the versions in cricket where cricket is tantamount to religion.

The smallest version has proved to be the most entertaining and profit-making, throwing all the panache of Victorian etiquette. One may feel it is following the path created by ODI and reaching the zenith at the cost of the latter. For ODI that is perhaps the biggest irony.

From the very early days, the working-class people wanted to see fast-paced and short games. Despite all the resistance from the administrators, the elite-class, the game saw two-day games, Sunday games and many other non-recognized forms that became conduits of sheer entertainment. Even during the World War periods these games became the only means of keeping the spirit on as formal Test matches were impossible to stage.

Cricket is a peculiar game in many aspects. The game has adopted the ultra-modern style and at the same time keeping its pre-industrial aura. For example, the use of willow and cherry to manufacture bat and ball are the practice of that era. Football became a people’s game thanks to the advent of industrialization but cricket, which had higher pedigree, struggled to come in terms with the new world order for decades.

Even after huge demands of shorter versions the authority of the game, especially in England, resisted to recognize any other format than the 5-day Tests. However, the drastic change of the world after the second-world war, which made the world order upside down, the pressure upon them became extreme. The elites, who also lost their total grip on global economics and politics, tried their best to use their stubborn position about the game as the last bastion of feudalism. However, it proved futile.

During the sixties the elites first had to eliminate the official segregation between gentlemen and professional and in order to salvage the game, in terms of finance and popularity, they had to adopt the one-day game. By then the football World Cup became a global phenomena and cricket loving people were envisaging such an extravaganza with the game.
Interestingly, it was the ladies, the forbidden gender in the game for years, who held the first ever World Cup in 1973 and two years later the English Cricket Board followed the path with the first ever Men’s World Cup.

As said earlier, cricket is a peculiar game not only as it has a strange mix of pre-modern ethics with ultra-modern morals. The game is also peculiar for its amazing ambidexterity. The pitch, the conditions, the atmosphere, weather all play very crucial parts. There are myriad amounts of random elements that control the game. The diversity is so much that the game becomes a completely different one in different theatres aka the stadiums.

For example, the frost-biting early morning with a juicy pitch and overcast condition in England creates a completely different setup to a dusty pitch and extremely hot condition in India. In the first own the seamers rule the roost as the ball swings viciously while in the second one the ball spinners show their magic with the ball turning even a foot after being pitched. In between these two extremes there are innumerable conditions that demand completely different types of technique from both the batters and bowlers to survive and thrive. One can safely say, no other game demands such a wide array of adaptation.

Even beyond the boundary the game is received in very different manners. English took it as the symbol of Victorian manners, outstretching its colonial tentacles while the Caribbean people took it as their mantra of freedom against the yoke of colonialism.

And the West Indies team, a commonwealth of Caribbean people, won the first ever World Cup to perfectly mark the era and the wind of change brought by the ODI. They repeated the feat again in the next edition four years later and it was even sweeter as they beat hosts England.

They however, faced a shocking defeat in the next edition to erstwhile minnows India. However, the win for the cricket-worshipping nation changed the game forever. India started to take control of the game gradually and like the transformation from feudal age to capitalistic era, that watershed moment started the process of handing the baton to elite English to business-minded Indians.

The marriage of Indian people and ODI became the greatest love story of the game. Over the next two decades the game saw a huge boom. The players started to surpass the popularities of film stars and as an industry cricket started to boom.

If Test matches were a symbol of Victorian ethics the ODI became the quintessential passion of the middle-class, a full-day entertainment still holding some characteristics and aura of Test cricket. The game was almost a limited version of the five-day games. It was a transformation rather than metamorphosis.

That ultimately happened with the inception of T20 cricket. It is still played with willows and cherries; it still requires the basic skills of ancien régime and the adaptability in different parts of the world but the game is shaped to almost an unrecognizable one.

Tests are like haute-culture of rich people, ample time, focus on art and culture while ODIs are like middle class people, who are desperately trying to hold the aura of rich people with the struggle of limited means. T20 comes with a modern gang-ho approach, defenestrating all the old taboos and culture and living as if there is no tomorrow.

The transformation that started with the ODI is continued with the T20. It looks almost evident the former has to disappear with the might of the latter. Test cricket still may become relevant as an archaic relic but ODI, like many other evolutions, will be evaporated.

However, the World Cup is a different matter. Despite the tournament being held in other two formats these days, still the ODI version is by far the most cherished one.

And this year the grand gala is being held in India. This is the biggest chance for the game to gain life-blood and reinvigorate. A great tournament here can once again make it worthy enough to compete with its younger sibling.

The gradually unequal world is affecting cricket as well. The likes of India, Australia and England cricket boards are getting richer while the others not only getting poorer in terms of money but also becoming far less competitive against the three giants. So, the likes of Ashes, the most prestigious Test series, will be salvaged. India will also play profitable series against the other two, who still regard Test as the most revered format, while the fringe nations will try to join the bandwagon playing games between them notwithstanding the financial losses. Like football, the franchise-based T20 tournaments will be played all through the year and become mainstay for entertainment just like football. ODI, like the diminishing effect of the global middle class may struggle.

But the authorities may take the leaf out of the football book. World Cup football is still the most popular show on earth despite the all-conquering club football. The passion of global battle once in every four years is still most coveted.

The ODI World Cup may become that flagship event for ICC. They should think about reducing the bilateral-series between the teams as they often remain insignificant and incur financial loss. More multi-team tournaments like the Champions trophy may be a good idea as well, but the timing is crucial. As we saw in football, unnecessary international tournaments sometimes become farcical and nowhere close to the World Cup.

In a nutshell, Test cricket will remain bi-lateral, T20 should be a franchise game with very little or no bi-lateral international games and ODI survives through World Cup and multi-nation tournaments.

Cricket may be confined only to South Asian people and its diaspora more and more but it still has the global appeal. The World Cup in India may prove a watershed moment.

The cricket romantics will be thrilled if the tournament becomes an exciting one not only because it will provide them sheer entertainment but it may become the life-saving one for their dear format.