Cricket fans all over the world, get ready for a rollercoaster ride over the next decade. Do not worry if your team failed to win a world championship. There is always the next year. Yes, now teams do not have to feel sad that they failed to win a ODI World Cup or T20 World Cup. There is always one around the corner. Really, ICC is out of their minds. Also Paine has resigned his captaincy. Let me offer my two cents in ICC is out of their minds and Tim Paine.
ICC schedule
According to ICC’s release, if the World T20 2021 is included, there will be one ICC event, it could be ODI World Cup or T20 World Cup or Champions Trophy every year till 2031. India will host 3 of these events with England and Australia being the other beneficiaries. Pakistan will host the 2025 Champions Trophy. This does not take into account the Test Championship that will be held once every 2 years.
Already, the fans are reeling under excessive cricket. Just 3 days after the completion of World T20, India against New Zealand has started. Sooner or later, cricket fatigue will set in and the game will start to lose fans. ICC seems to be helping that to happen sooner rather than later.
Rameez Raja, the PCB chairman has expressed happiness
“By allocating a major global event to Pakistan, the ICC has expressed complete confidence and faith in our management, and operational capabilities and skills,” PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said soon after the announcement. He added that the 2025 event will be a “boon for millions of home fans” who will watch their “favourite international players from close quarters.”
ICC is short-sighted
ICC wants to boost its coffers quickly. That seems to be their only intention. Otherwise, what is the point in scheduling so many tournaments so soon? ICC may claim that they need the money to spread the game globally. It is hightime ICC realises that cricket can never become a global sport. It will never be understood by a majority of the nations. Already, attendance in most of the grounds within the cricket playing nations have dwindled down for test cricket.
Spectators just do not turnup in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa and in some grounds in India. It is not like the olden days when fans especially Indians went to watch cricket at the ground for want of entertainment. The environment has changed. Now, there are lot of distractions. At lot of fans would not mind to sit through 30 minutes of soap rather than spend almost a day at the stadium. Anyway, the stadiums in India aren’t good to watch the game from. None of the stadium in India is decent. Leave alone Corona, other viruses will linger longer in the Indian stadiums. It is better to watch the game from the comfort of the home rather than from the stadium.
Twist of events before the Ashes
Tim Paine the Australian captain has resigned his captaincy just ahead of the Ashes. This is a jolt just before the Ashes. Paine has resigned because of some lewd messages that he had exchanged with a colleague some years ago.
“Today, I’m announcing my decision to stand down as the captain of the Australian men’s test team. It’s an incredibly difficult decision, but the right one for me, my family, and cricket,” Paine said as he read out a statement.
“As a background on my decision, nearly four years ago, I was involved in a text exchange with a then-colleague. At the time, the exchange was the subject of a thorough CA Integrity Unit investigation, throughout which I fully participated in and openly participated in.
With Paine’s resignation, the image of Australian cricket has gone down even further. Remember, Paine became the captain after the Newlands fiasco where Steve Smith, Bancroft and David Warner were caught for ball tampering. All of them were banned for about a year. Paine who was thought to be a clean took over the captaincy. It is a different story that he did not conduct himself in a dignified manner during his time. The words battle with Ashwin and a few other episodes certainly brought the image of Paine drastically down. Especially in the light of the fact that he did not match that with performance. Neither with the bat nor with his captaincy skills. Now, his tryst with sexism. The Australian board will need to introspect seriously. They will want to appoint a captain who will not drag the image of the Australia down. Will that be Pat Cummins?
Will Pat Cummins be able to handle?
After this fiasco, It is likely that Pat Cummins will take over the captaincy. It will certainly be a huge load on the shoulders of Cummins. Not only is he the main strike bowler but someone who keeps the opposition in check. It is extremely tough to get Cummins away. Not for nothing is he ranked number one for a long time. However, will captaincy affect his bowling? Will it affect his thinking? If it does, Australia will have a tough time during the Ashes because Cummins is Australia’s premier bowler. Australia usually plays only with 4 bowlers. If Cummins is affected by captaincy, they will be left with just 3 bowlers. Starc’s and Hazlewood’s performance deteriorates gradually throughout the series whereas Cummins’s does not.
Usually, Cummins will only have to think about his plans to dismiss the opposition batsmen. Now, if he becomes the captain, he will have to wear lot of hats. He will have to think about the playing 11, strategy to defeat the opposition, field placing, batting order and so many other things. These are bound to take a toll on him. If Cummins loses his potency because of captaincy pressures, Australian defence of The Ashes will be seriously compromised. On the otherhand, if Cummins does not want to become the captain or if Cricket Australia does not want to burden him during an important series, will Smith return as the captain? If that happens, Australian cricket would have come a full circle.
Other blogs related to ICC can be read here.