Cricket – a new Avtaar

Cricket - A gentleman’s game has seen many avtaars in recent past. From an ever-lasting & most exhilarating beginning of One Day Internationals & Tests to avant-garde Hong-kong sixes and Twenty-twenty matches in Premier League & Cricket leagues. The game is in all forms of evolution and is slowly working as a great business proposition, or to be rightly stated as young tycoons’ game instead of gentleman’s game or the gentlemen’s game played on business lines, the metaphors can go on endlessly. If it did not matter till today about the number of spectators vying for cricket in all forms and at all places, and the amount of mullah it carried over years, for the Olympics, it certainly would matter in coming times owing to its ever-evolving Avtaars. Till recent past, it has been argued for inclusion of games like Football, Cricket etc. in Olympics which are played widely in entire world and watched over by zillions of people. Even if the proposition arises, how do Olympics authorities take cricket into consideration? Simply, by its new Business Avtaar, where this game can become an individual’s take to prove his mettle in coliseum of sports arena. This would be a format where eleven diverse individuals, that is, from different cricket playing countries would play a match for the same time duration as duration of an ODI. This would make every individual to fight for self, or more apt description would be to fight for his country. The game would involve 55 over’s match (nearly longer than 20-20 format) with each player given 5 over’s to play for. No runners involved, but every man for himself. The format would be scoring maximum points at the end of the match by scoring maximum runs out of eleven players, best fielding, taking maximum wickets, and maximum number of catches & finally for being the wicket keeper on relative grading scale(higher points for being the only wicket keeper in a match). Rest 10 players would field & bowl and the only objective would be to get each batsman out as soon as possible. As soon as one is out, one of the fielders (in predefined order before commencement as per past relative performances) would grab the armor to score maximum and exiting batsman would take the covers of the field. The wicket-keeper would be the last person to bat, but would already have few points to start with for being the only keeper in the match. The burden on cricket community would decrease all the more by having just one umpire, the 3^rd umpire watching every movement from the control room. As every player, fights for his cause, it would be a game of just & fair play with no wrong signage’s to be seen. Taking maximum wickets and scoring runs would be the biggest determining factors for overall points tally. Diverse companies, sponsors from all across the participating nations can chip in for sponsorships and tournament holdings. This would generate more revenue both for the players, companies, cricket world, with gargantuan increase in viewership and a better reach to the sport for non-cricket playing nations. It would come handy as a tournament where a number of matches are played with all players (an exhaustive list) playing league & subsequent matches as per their ranking (similar to Lawn-tennis tournaments like US Open etc) and then proceeding to tougher and testing levels.

There is exponential money riding on game of cricket, yet untapped, and unfazed. The money involved in this sport would one day incorporate this game into Olympics for sure, but can that day be the one when cricket would enter this sporting arena on basis of its viewership, demand & a platform to search the best athletes in the world?? Any prospective takers?