How does India imagine its cricket
Cricket has probably become the most assimilated legacies of the British rule in India. Indians have not only owned the game but have been instrumental in the sport’s modern-day evolution. The passion evoked for the sport is unmatched, and its reflection on the balance sheet of the Indian cricket administration and other corporate stake holders is telling of that fact. While IPL finds its way in the list of most valuable sporting leagues of the world, cricketing stars have outgrown celebrity status to become valuable brands. While cricket made its way through decades of changing media consumption patterns; from the days of radio to app-based betting today, the sport itself has come to assume various meanings and imaginations amongst Indians. While they do not exist in exclusivity, the gradual change in the meaning system around cricket does reflect the zeitgeist and undercurrents of our cricket crazy nation.
Cricket as Religion
The fact that cricket is a religion, Sachin it’s God and Eden Gardens it’s mecca has been the universal truth for hordes of Indians growing up in the past decades. For the uninitiated foreigner, cricket may well be an introduction to our country’s culture. From the open maidans to the cemented rooftops, Indians have the penchant to turn any free space into a cricket pitch. With temples dedicated to cricketers, rituals conducted before important matches and superstitions galore while the game is on, crickets’ status as a religion cannot be argued against. The numerous social media videos in which one can see CSK fans falling at the feet of their Thala or waiting hours for his elusive darshan is proof enough of the sport’s sway over our collective imagination. Even before being dubbed as religion, cricket had always been perched on distant pedestal for the common Indians. Though the commoners adopted the game in their local ways, for the longest time the sport in its professional capacity was restricted to the colonizers (thought goes back to Lagaan) and later to the crème of the then Indian society; the rajas, maharajas and scions of the wealthy princely states, echoes of a legacy that today exist in the names of our premier domestic cricketing tournaments; the Ranji and Duleep trophies. So when Indians call Sourav Ganguly the Maharaja, bestow Nehra with the title Lord or refer to Viru as a Nawab; it does not sound misplaced. Having been locked in a high society and later within the TV sets, the aura of cricket and its superstars has been an allure that has fascinated most Indians.
Cricket as Primetime Entertainmnet
While the devout fanfare sustained, the cricket administration realised the money minting potential of the sport in the era of satellite tv. BCCI’s revenues increased as private television channels lined up to buy the broadcasting rights, which furthered money making innovations such as jersey rights, in stadium sponsorships, overseas broadcast right etc. As the Indian cricket team became more competent and broadcast technology improved, watching cricket on the TV sets became the favored past time of our countrymen and women. Marquee clashes such as the legendary India Pakistan World Cup matches rake up unprecedent TRP which make for a good business deals for broadcasters and advertisers alike. As the sports changed gears from a 5 day test match to the fast paced T20 format, cricket seamlessly assumed the role of a consumable media and entertainment product. The exorbitant amount of money that rides on IPL is a testament to the success of the sport as a mass entertainer. Monopolizing the television prime time slot for more than a month, the high intensity live sporting action wrapped in layers of emotion, drama and glamour is one of the most entertaining products ever crafted for the Indian consumer. The broadcasters have left no stones unturned in their effort to turn IPL into their primetime drama; complete with over the top set design, dramatic theme music, teams being pitted as armies, players visualized as battle hardened warriors and a scripted production that amps up the personality cult of cricketing superstars without caring much for a sincere analysis of the game at hand. While the IPL with its glitzy parties, match fixing scandals and long drawn court cases gave more fodder, cricket had always been the favorite of tv news channels to rake up TRPs. A cricketing scandal which invariably morphs into a breaking news is a time-tested way to garner eyeballs and you can imagine Indians disgusted but thoroughly entertained at the end of one such segment. In a country where big budget Bollywood movies postpone their release post the IPL season, the entertainment value of prime-time cricket remains unmatched.
Cricket as Science
While private broadcasters were busy turning the game into a dramatized soap opera, the strategic and analytic aspect of the game took a merry turn on the back of tech interventions, big data management and digital content distribution platforms. Cricket has been hailed as one of the more tech friendly sports, adoption of which has made the game more enjoyable (spider cam, stump cam, bat power meter etc) as well as credible (ball tracker, snicko meter, DRS system etc). Apart from facilitating an improved play, tech interventions have helped collect a huge swathe of data over time. Cricket statistics today are not limited to recording the runs made, wickets scalped or centuries scored. A world of contextual data points which accounts for analysis based on the venues, conditions, time period of the play, and specific match ups between players are available. With the help of data management and analytical tools, a nuanced understanding of a player’s performance with regards to his/her role in team, venue of play and potential opponents can be gained. The analyst busy on his/her laptop on the IPL auction table leverages this data to help create the ideal “moneyball squad”, and so do the Gen Z YouTubers who recommend the most potent fantasy cricket squad for the impending game. On the preparational backend, coaches and players are increasingly employing various biometric data points such as power generated off the bat, angle of bowling and play and fitness screenings, such as the controversial yoyo test, to increase the player and squad effectiveness. Virat Kohli has been a vocal advocate of a scientifically curated training and diet regime to meet the demands of the fast-paced modern-day cricket. As cricket witnesses an increased deployment of cutting edge tech, the sport promises to become more interactive for the fans, more strategic for administrators and more efficient for the players involved.
Cricket as Story
The audacious Dream 11 ads in which cricketing superstars of our country are being told that “yahan sab same hai” (everyone is equal here) in the midst of a gully match is a world which is a fry cry from the idea of inaccessible and divine fandom. Social media has disrupted the traditional celebrity-fan relationship by providing a democratic platform that directly connects the two, the insta live generation having eliminated the need for the Page 3 gossip columns. Having been locked in statistics and television interviews, cricketers through their social media profiles have become consumable content. Storytelling in cricket is not new, in fact the earliest memories of cricket broadcast in India are those of the colorful radio commentary by the likes of Pearson Surita and Lala Amarnath. More recently it has been the brilliance of media professionals like Harsha Bhogle, the official voice of cricket for millions of fan worldwide, who with his sincere passion, profound analysis and romantic articulation infused life in the dusty game of willow and leather. Culturally, the scribes of our epics are held in the highest of regards and Harsha Bhogle is the Vyas that cricket deserves. With the emergence of next generation storytellers, the last degree of formality between the journalist/professional broadcasters and cricketers is also being eliminated. Gaurav Kapoor comes across as the enviable “bro” to the Indian cricketers, where the interview is a “chill hangout sesh” rather than a formal volley of questions. His YouTube series “Breakfast with Champions” which brings out personal stories, inside scoops and humorous anecdotes over a cup of tea, makes fans feel that they understand their heroes from close quarters at a personal level. As cricketers become more human than God, success mantra garbing as mythical legends turns into practical and achievable personal goals. The story of a teenage Sachin turning heads on the world stage captures our imagination, while that of Virat giving up his favorite butter chicken and dedicating himself at the gym sounds more practical and doable. At the same time, a generation of professionals who had been previously associate with playing and managing the sport have entered the bustling broadcasting and streaming world. While former players such Brett Lee and Brian Lara diss out credible analysis and interesting stories from their playing days, management professionals such Joy Bhattacharjya add a whole new dimension by bringing forth the incognito world of auction table strategies and team dressing room meetings. For a nation obsessed with its cricket, such stories provide the utmost satisfaction.
In India cricket is power and globally her potent soft power. Culturally it has a significant sway over us and monetarily there is huge money riding on it between various stakeholders. For the corporates involved it is instrumental for their healthy balance sheets and for aspiring politicians managing cricket is a ritualistic rite of passage for a successful career. Though the BCCI has often found itself on the wrong side of murky controversies, power and politics are not necessarily doomed evils as they respond to market incentives, in this case the cricket crazy Indian fans. The dizzying scale of IPL’s success is proof enough that cricket can be a commercially successful product while facilitating the grassroot development of the sport in our country. Success stories such as those of the Pathan brothers, Umesh Yadav, Yashashvi Jaisawal or Abdul Samad to name just a few have replaced the legends of provincial princes. Indians are the best ambassadors of this sport and the BCCI has an instrumental role in facilitating it’s global development, their support to the Afghan national team being a strong guiding example. And for the Indian fan, cricket would continue to evoke devotion, entertain with stories, instill inspiration and as the latest fantasy game fascination promises, help the strategist in him/her make some quick buck!
