While cricket has rightly had to take a back seat during the global pandemic that we have all been struggling through, the fans are greatly looking forward to its return, writes Ishan Kamdar
Covid-19 has already had a dramatic effect on the world. We all know that. Though even after it is brought under control, whether this month, this quarter or this year, its legacy, like long covid itself, will remain with us and the road to normalcy will be long and slow. So, rightly for now, cricket has to wait. Large-scale entertainment has to wait, especially where the risk of spreading the virus is especially high, and caution is paramount and required. Though we are all waiting with baited breath. There is a multiplier effect to entertainment that cannot be underestimated in the global recovery, and in India, live action cricket will be leading this. We have to appreciate the value live action has on the human psyche, the positivity and distraction it provides and ensure that when we reopen, it comes back with a bang. We miss the big hitting, fast bowling, tight spinning and importantly noise and atmosphere of live action cricket, and I can’t wait for it to return.
Let me start by saying that the coronavirus is extremely serious and over the last 15 months have taken over life all over the world. It is a dangerous virus, easy to spread between people, lethal to those with health issues or elderly, and in many cases debilitating to those who catch it with bad reactions. It is completely right that the world stopped and gave it the respect that it deserved. Non-essential entertainment, such as sport, was too big a risk and rightly has taken a back seat. One hundred thousand people shouting and screaming in the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai wouldn’t be appropriate given the situation.
The pandemic hit us in March-June 2020, which incidentally fuelled me to write my live action story, and slowly and cautiously opened thereafter. With the second and third waves hitting in late 2020 and early 2021, once again the sport world had to look at itself and continue to adapt and adjust to the prevailing requirements. Now, we do have some live action, but in general stadia are still closed or limited attendance, but thoughts have started to turn to the return. In the UK we have cricket: India lost to New Zealand in the World Test Championship, and England are taking on Sri Lanka in a T20 series. In India we are still waiting. The IPL has been postponed to a September window after the superstars return from the UK, but it is coming. In any case, it is all over the TV. So we are getting there, but until we are allowed back inside the ground it will not be the same. But why is cricket so important?
Firstly, for its fans, live cricket has a therapeutic attraction that engages and enthrals us. It’s cat and mouse, bowler vs batsman, mano-e-mano. Each ball a new opportunity to see something special. That slog over mid-wicket 10 rows back into the stands for 6, or sliced 70ft in the air to be caught with a flamboyant and maybe camera attentive dive. If you have an allegiance to a team or a particular player you sit on your edge of your seat when they are in the mix, in the fire, and hope that they will come good today. That they will win. The energy you get from not know what will happen next, the hope and desire you pour into the game as a spectator, is something that we need, and have very much missed over the last year.
For many people this entertainment is a necessary part of life. It could be a chance to experience emotions and feeling that they don’t normally have. A chance to get the adrenaline flowing through their bodies and to get excited about something. It could also be a big distraction to the humdrum or worse, difficulties, of normal life. Life is hard, even when we are not all hiding away from a killer virus, and entertainment provides the welcome distraction from this. It allows us to take our mind off the woes that surround us daily and step into an alternative reality and think about something else for a while. For sure this in not a permanent distraction, and life bites back as soon as its over, but for a short while, whether 20-20, ODI or even 5 days of a test match, our attention is occupied. As the old adage goes, it keeps you young.
Live action is different and worthwhile. It is not Netflix which you can watch over again, or pre-read a synopsis for. You truly don’t know what will happen. That is exciting. You think you know, perhaps you have a favourite team or you know that a top player is just coming into form. But you can not be sure. Until they stride out to the middle and line up their marks, face that first ball, you cannot know what type of performance they will put in on that day at that time. Add to that the randomiser of “pressure” and circumstance and anything can happen. David could just beat Goliath, or the favourite could bully home with pomp, style and swagger. I don’t know, nor do you. And they will do it all again tomorrow. Why would you ever turn it off.
In the stands is a further step up still. You have to pay for the privilege of course, with UK tickets now costing an expensive £100 each. But the demand suggest that it is worth it, with the upcoming England vs India series being sold out with a waiting list. The atmosphere and to “be there when it happened” is why they come. Any match with India has atmosphere, and if you have been lucky enough to be at India vs Pakistan you will certainly remember that, probably more than what happened on the pitch. Energy, enthusiasm, vehemently partisan but everyone just out for a good time. Loud celebrations and a party when things go well, perhaps a boundary or milestone, eerie silence when something unexpected happens. A proper rollercoaster of emotion that you experience with 50-100 thousand other people. Some on your side, many probably not. The atmosphere makes the game. It pushes the players to fight harder, play better and creates a backdrop to the action that has been missing for 15 months. England vs Sri Lanka this week looks about 10% full and you can tell something is missing. The game is still going ahead, tv rights are powerful, and some noise has been pumped into the background, but it doesn’t fell the same. It probably feels even stranger for the few people that made it inside.
The loss of cricket in India, such as the delaying of the IPL, has had a palpable knock on effect on people’s mental health but one we perhaps will never be able to quantify. Not on its own for sure, but as everything was closed down, the world was turned off, people lost an escapism that they were used to. They lost their distraction. With the news only talking about one thing - coronavirus and its death toll — the negativity of life will have crept up on many people. In India, where cricket superstars are treated as deities, and the IPL is one of the most widely telecast programs across the county, getting into all the nooks and cranny’s of the country, the loss completely last year and the early termination this year has been devastating from a mental health point of view and made life just a little more difficult for those near the edge.
Finally, cricket is big business in India. Not only at the top of the game where media and television rights run into the billions of dollars, but all the way down the different leagues, all the way to the local teams playing on a Sunday. I’m not talking about those superstars, they will be fine, but as the main entertainment avenue for the country the amount of money that is invested in cricket by broadcasters and in particular advertisers flow and fuels the economy.
At national level advertisers use the IPL to enter the nations consciousness. The ABC maximum, the XYZ catch of the match, the shirt sponsors, the ground sponsors, the media sponsors, each subtly but forcefully influencing consumers habits and purchases. At a grass roots level advertisers spend money to keep these smaller clubs alive, allow them to employ the groundsman and the bar staff, pay for the rent of the ground etc. With thousands of grounds across the country this can add up to a reasonable impact. Money always finds the path of least resistance and always finds a way. They were never going to cancel the money-spinning IPL, just move it. But at a grass roots level there will be many grounds and players struggling to find a way through, with no other back up or support, and they may close or give up, which will have a long-term permanent deterioration on the game.
So while cricket has rightly had to take a back seat during the global pandemic that we have all been struggling through, us fans are greatly looking forward to its return. Personally, I really missed the live TV and in person action through the first lockdown, when the world shut down. So I created my own. I filled that excitement void with my own ODI between England and India and I hope you can check it out and enjoy it while we wait for cricket to return and give us back what we have been missing for so long. We have a fantastic summer of cricket ahead of us, with India touring the UK for test matches and shorter thrillers. Then the conclusion of the IPL, the World T20 and Ashes to follow before the end of the year. It’s exciting and we need that excitement to keep us all distracted from life. We need something to hope for, we need something to drive us. We need it to keep us sane.
The writer is an author with passion for all sports and is a keen golfer, with a single-digit handicap. He is also Managing Director, Comline Auto Parts. His recent book, It’s Only Live Once, is based on cricket