This is such a beautiful articulation of what some of us are feeling. I wonder if it feels particularly dry this time around because it has come so soon after a high-octane WC, in the same venues, with the same players, the same din, the same cliches by the commentators, and (almost) the same fans.
There have been some classic hits, like Bhuvi, Virat, Rabada, Narine. But somehow it all feels a bit blurry, like one song hasn’t quite faded out before the bass drops on the next.
Thank you, Rachna! The World Cup definitely adds to it, but I've felt it's the lack of variance in tempo. Every game is 220-plays-200, many times more lol.
I watched the 4th innings highlights of the Aus-Eng 1981 Headingley classic on YouTube recently. Some standout aspects:
1. No aggressive exultation from the fielding side after taking a wicket. No gesticulating to cameras. In fact, after taking his 3rd or 4th wicket, Bob Willis turns back so quickly, after appealing, to walk towards his mark that I thought the batsman was not out. He didn't even venture to meet the exulting fielders. Only when I saw the batsman walk, did I realize that he was, in fact, out. Listening to Bob Willis in his later years, one could see that he was quirky and different. Maybe, he was still fuming at the ignominy of not getting the new ball. It is said that Mike Brearley did this deliberately to get him worked up so that he would bowl with hostility, but I digress.
2. No aggressive commentary. No speaking in breathless tones continuously as if a war is going on out there. Lots of pauses. And almost unbelievably, no clichés. Just observations.
3. No aggressive camera angles following the departing batsman closely, all the way to the boundary, whereby the batsman feels duty-bound to show so much remorse for his dismissal that it makes you squeamish.
4. No aggression from the spectators, aided and abetted by the aforementioned camera angles.
Just a smattering of claps/appreciation/oohs and ahs for anything happening on the field of play.
What I then realized is that, it is that sport that I grew up watching, reading about and loving to bits. It has no connection to the sport that is playing out now, irrespective of the format.
Sarthak, while i share your sentiment, i remain humble enough to know that everything evolves, even sports!!
You write from a place of ‘nostalgia,’ wanting the sport to entertain you the way you liked it and somehow ignore the millions born decades after you who today matter and decide the trajectory the sport has to take!
Maybe exactly five decades from today, the next gen Sarthak will ruminate about how fun the IPL format used to be when compared to its evolution then!!
I remain humble to the fact that we oldies will always ruminate about progress and want things the way we liked it!!
Thanks for writing this, Sarthak! If you add to this inanity, the details such as the unknown characters sitting in the dugouts, with so much suspicion around the extent to which some of these matches are enacted vs. played, it boggles my mind that it still attracts full houses at every venue. Not sure what to make of it. Also, is there any evidence that crowds don’t like close, low-scoring matches as opposed to these matches that are taking the bowlers out of the equation?
Thank you for reading, Mohan! I am not sure there’s enough data-backed evidence of this, because crowds are packing up and digital audiences are consistent. But, at some point, I am sure they’ll get a bit bored too. How long can you stay attached to this exhibition of excess?
Agree 100%. It's become boring. Even the cheer leader girls dancing, look fatigued. The "boundary fatigue" will catch up for sure. Maybe, just maybe, the crowds will also thin out, and not just because ticket prices become unaffordable among global and economic tensions, but watching a copy paste kind of game that has lost its texture. Might as well replace bowlers with a bowling machine and batters with Robots. IPL is now just an evening out for entertainment. It's blood sport in a way - every "fan" cheering nay demanding victory each time "my team" goes out on the field and egging the gladiators to somehow slay the lions. It will perhaps evolve to 10 overs and then just 5...who knows? It all depends on how long we can focus and if our ADHD keeps falling.
Renuka, I am here to report that T10 is a thing and we might see it mainstreamed over the next decade. 😂 Fives won’t happen because it won’t have enough return of money for sponsors/advertisers.
"the near-photographic clarity with which I remember Sachin Tendulkar’s six off Andrew Caddick at the 2003 World Cup—a match I haven’t watched in years. I could draw the line of Caddick’s delivery, point to where it pitched, trace how Sachin swivelled onto his back foot, the arc of his downswing, the exact roof of the Kingsmead Cricket Ground the ball sailed over"
Wow memories. I could visualise it as I read it.. Brilliant memories. Brilliant writing
This is such a beautiful articulation of what some of us are feeling. I wonder if it feels particularly dry this time around because it has come so soon after a high-octane WC, in the same venues, with the same players, the same din, the same cliches by the commentators, and (almost) the same fans.
There have been some classic hits, like Bhuvi, Virat, Rabada, Narine. But somehow it all feels a bit blurry, like one song hasn’t quite faded out before the bass drops on the next.
Thank you, Rachna! The World Cup definitely adds to it, but I've felt it's the lack of variance in tempo. Every game is 220-plays-200, many times more lol.
I watched the 4th innings highlights of the Aus-Eng 1981 Headingley classic on YouTube recently. Some standout aspects:
1. No aggressive exultation from the fielding side after taking a wicket. No gesticulating to cameras. In fact, after taking his 3rd or 4th wicket, Bob Willis turns back so quickly, after appealing, to walk towards his mark that I thought the batsman was not out. He didn't even venture to meet the exulting fielders. Only when I saw the batsman walk, did I realize that he was, in fact, out. Listening to Bob Willis in his later years, one could see that he was quirky and different. Maybe, he was still fuming at the ignominy of not getting the new ball. It is said that Mike Brearley did this deliberately to get him worked up so that he would bowl with hostility, but I digress.
2. No aggressive commentary. No speaking in breathless tones continuously as if a war is going on out there. Lots of pauses. And almost unbelievably, no clichés. Just observations.
3. No aggressive camera angles following the departing batsman closely, all the way to the boundary, whereby the batsman feels duty-bound to show so much remorse for his dismissal that it makes you squeamish.
4. No aggression from the spectators, aided and abetted by the aforementioned camera angles.
Just a smattering of claps/appreciation/oohs and ahs for anything happening on the field of play.
What I then realized is that, it is that sport that I grew up watching, reading about and loving to bits. It has no connection to the sport that is playing out now, irrespective of the format.
Sharing with my husband, who keeps saying that the game is unfairly favoring the batsmen, and therefore is now boring.
Sarthak, while i share your sentiment, i remain humble enough to know that everything evolves, even sports!!
You write from a place of ‘nostalgia,’ wanting the sport to entertain you the way you liked it and somehow ignore the millions born decades after you who today matter and decide the trajectory the sport has to take!
Maybe exactly five decades from today, the next gen Sarthak will ruminate about how fun the IPL format used to be when compared to its evolution then!!
I remain humble to the fact that we oldies will always ruminate about progress and want things the way we liked it!!
Lovely writing Sarthak💙 I am not a cricket follower but I absolutely understood the emotion of "eating an entire bar of Tobelorone after every meal."
Thank you Aditi!
Thanks for writing this, Sarthak! If you add to this inanity, the details such as the unknown characters sitting in the dugouts, with so much suspicion around the extent to which some of these matches are enacted vs. played, it boggles my mind that it still attracts full houses at every venue. Not sure what to make of it. Also, is there any evidence that crowds don’t like close, low-scoring matches as opposed to these matches that are taking the bowlers out of the equation?
Thank you for reading, Mohan! I am not sure there’s enough data-backed evidence of this, because crowds are packing up and digital audiences are consistent. But, at some point, I am sure they’ll get a bit bored too. How long can you stay attached to this exhibition of excess?
Agree 100%. It's become boring. Even the cheer leader girls dancing, look fatigued. The "boundary fatigue" will catch up for sure. Maybe, just maybe, the crowds will also thin out, and not just because ticket prices become unaffordable among global and economic tensions, but watching a copy paste kind of game that has lost its texture. Might as well replace bowlers with a bowling machine and batters with Robots. IPL is now just an evening out for entertainment. It's blood sport in a way - every "fan" cheering nay demanding victory each time "my team" goes out on the field and egging the gladiators to somehow slay the lions. It will perhaps evolve to 10 overs and then just 5...who knows? It all depends on how long we can focus and if our ADHD keeps falling.
Renuka, I am here to report that T10 is a thing and we might see it mainstreamed over the next decade. 😂 Fives won’t happen because it won’t have enough return of money for sponsors/advertisers.
Really? OMG! The world is truly changing faster than you can say T20. Sigh! Might as well gear up for this T10 thinggamajig.
"the near-photographic clarity with which I remember Sachin Tendulkar’s six off Andrew Caddick at the 2003 World Cup—a match I haven’t watched in years. I could draw the line of Caddick’s delivery, point to where it pitched, trace how Sachin swivelled onto his back foot, the arc of his downswing, the exact roof of the Kingsmead Cricket Ground the ball sailed over"
Wow memories. I could visualise it as I read it.. Brilliant memories. Brilliant writing