My Journey from Test to T20 Cricket and More

In this post, motivated by the T20 Cricket World Cup being co-hosted here in America, I will reminisce about cricket, laced with some socioeconomic reflections, and share my thoughts about the potential of T20 cricket in the US.

Cricket hooked me for life after I first began following it during India’s back-to-back Test series against New Zealand and Australia in 1968-1969.

My cricketing hero was India’s captain, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. To my utter dismay, the selectors, led by Vijay Merchant, unexpectedly replaced him with Ajit Wadekar as captain for the 1971 tours of West Indies and England. I was so upset that initially, I secretly wished Wadekar to fail and India to lose.

That was a tantrum by a ten-year-old, not worrisome, unlike, for instance, the irrational disappointment of some adults with recent data showing India’s robust GDP growth, solely because they despised the ruling party.

But worry not; while political loyalties destructively polarize Indians, cricket is a unifying force across India’s many divides.

At the time of Merchant’s disruptive decision, Indian cricket had a poor performance record, so a fresh perspective made sense. On a larger canvas, imagine how transformative it would have been if, around that time, we had similarly held our political leaders accountable for the gross mismanagement of the Indian economy since independence. But alas!

Never mind. At least Wadekar’s captaincy ushered in a defining phase in Indian cricket. Defeating the West Indies and England on their turf for the first time was a turning point for Indian cricket.

What a heady time that was for a cricket-loving, impressionable Indian schoolboy! No wonder I preserved my childhood cricket scrapbooks into my twenties.

Cricket underwent transformative changes, like I did, as I transitioned into my teenage years. The one-day format emerged, and the World Series Cricket (WSC) rebellion challenged the status quo. WSC was short-lived, but it paved the way for the professionalization of cricket in the 1980s.

Much like cricket, my life got pulled in different directions in the 80s as I graduated, worked, savored India’s maiden World Cup victory, and moved to America in the late 80s, where it became difficult to keep track of cricket.

Once a walking cricket encyclopedia, my cricket knowledge was sketchy in the 90s. It seemed my active association with cricket was over.

Fortunately, in the 2000s, communications and informational technology advances reopened the world of cricket, allowing me to experience the advent of T20 and T20 leagues, most notably the Indian Premier League (IPL).

IPL’s success has made the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) one of the world’s richest and most powerful sports organizations. BCCI’s significant power and willingness to exercise it to further India’s interests foreshadow India’s future role in the world, propelled by power derived from India’s large economy, which appears to be firmly in the “take-off” stage.

While T20 has been fantastic for Indian cricket, it is unlikely to transition from its niche status to something even close to a mainstream sport in America.

In the few instances that a new sport became mainstream in a country, such as baseball in Korea or basketball in China, specific conditions facilitated their adoption; no facilitating conditions exist that could propel T20 cricket into the US mainstream.

The American professional sports arena is saturated and fiercely competitive, with no apparent unmet need.

T20 cricket doesn’t offer a significant advantage over popular American sports, is not aligned well with the existing sports culture and infrastructure, and has limited public visibility. Americans perceive it as a complex game, and its equipment requirements make it less accessible for trial participation.

Overcoming the above impediments, although possible, is very challenging. Even soccer, the world’s most popular sport, has struggled to compete with traditional American pastimes despite tremendous soccer-building efforts over 50 years.

T20 might not take off in the US, but it is the future of cricket globally.

T20 provides instant gratification, while Test cricket offers an extended tussle based on classical cricketing skills. The one-day format positioned between T20 and Test cricket faces a stuck-in-the-middle problem, which might cause its decline.

An aging conventional audience cherishes Test cricket, but newer generations, raised on instant gratification, will likely have limited interest. Due to this generational preference shift, Test cricket could become irrelevant in the coming decades despite valiant efforts by the powers that be to balance modernity with tradition by sustaining Test cricket in every way possible.

That’s too bad!

As a child, I was captivated by Test cricket during its heyday. Since then, it has been like a steadfast companion through the different stages of my life. Eerily, its gradual decline coincides with my inevitable biological decline. The world, however, will continue, and T20 cricket will enthrall future generations, just as Test cricket charmed mine.