I woke up this morning, poured myself a cup of coffee, and reflected on the possibilities. India are playing a test match in Bridgetown, Barbados. Has India's batting crumbled again? Did Fidel Edwards bounce out Virat Kohli? Did my home town openers, Mukund and Vijay, do well? Are we scoring runs quickly enough to declare and force a win? Did it rain?
I had experienced hope, dread, and technical curiosity even before I checked the score on Cricinfo, when I was flooded with relief. My mind then went on to consider further possibilities. A thrilling Dhoni blitz before a lunchtime declaration? An Indian batting collapse followed by an attritional run chase? A bathetic century nurdled out en route to a tame draw? More rain?
This is the beauty of test cricket. I haven't been watching this test match on TV. But it is on my mind. The game has been playing on my imagination. Test cricket is spacious enough, rich enough in its range of narrative possibilities, to capture the imagination. No other cricket format, perhaps no other sport, has that ability.
People who look at Television Rating Points to measure the appeal of test cricket are missing something big. Enjoying the game and watching it on TV are not the same thing.
4 comments:
Couldn't agree more Prithvi. Test Cricket is the most beautiful thing in all of sport. It has the space to create and hold so much drama. I don't think it is possible (indeed as unavoidable), for any sports fan to be so tense, as it is during certain passges in Test Cricket (or during the high knock-out stages of a one day game in World Cup). One thing is that the second chances you get in cricket are few and far between. You have a momentary lapse in concentration, get a brilliant ball, bad call from the umpire, the pitch misbehaves, brilliant fielding, whatever, and you are done for the innings. There is no other impact you can create in that innings unlike almost any other sport, where you are in the game all the time, no matter how many chances you missed. Then, there is the context of the match and the series. Your innings might hold the key for beating Australia in Australia, or South Africa in South Africa, for the first time in the history of your country, and you get out and the opportunity passes, and the next opportunity you *may* get will be 3 or 4 years later. For sheer drama, for pulsating passages of play, for the ebb and flow of chances to win, lose or draw a game or a series, Cricket has no parallel.
The trouble however is that there is a few people that enjoy playing it, and a few people that enjoy watching it / following it. It doesn't make money, and the other formats make money, so unfortunately, it is only a matter of time that Test Cricket is going to die. I just hope it doesn't happen in my lifetime.....
Prithvi - I too am a test cricket lover. There will never be anything more spellbinding. Every ball, over and session has the potential to change the momentum of a match. I hope we continue to keep the next generation of Indians excited by the test cricket. As long as "our" generation is alive, it will have a captive audience
@ Vikas, Ajit...the third test against the Windies is turning out to be every bit as thrilling.
Why do TRPs and advertising revenues need to be what cricket is about?
@ Prithvi
Criminal that umpires chose to do that!
The best crowd of the series should have been given the right to intervene and continue the play, but they could not!
Looking forward to England.
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