Published: Mar 16, 2014, 11:27 AM (IST)
Edited: Mar 16, 2014, 11:59 AM (IST)
The numerous Twenty20 tournaments around the world have almost reduced the once high-profile World Twenty20 to insignificance. Abhishek Mukherjee tries to find the relevance of the tournament.
When he had “ditched” the national team to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Chris Gayle had sent a message to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB): he did not care whether he gets picked for West Indies. Indeed, he did not play a single international match between March 23, 2011 and June 19, 2012 — a period of close to 15 months.
Gayle’s reasoning made sense to him: he knew sportsmen have short careers; he has not been the fittest cricketer himself (he had undergone a heart surgery in 2005 after he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect that had led to cardiac dysrhythmia; he had felt dizzy and short of breath while fielding.
He chose the way that suited him best: a shorter duration that matched his style of batting; less time to be spent in the field; not having to play for a side at the bottom of the rung; more money at the end of the day; and winning the heart of millions of fans.
Despite everything, Gayle reached an agreement with WICB that led to his comeback in 2012. Why did he choose to do so, given that he was fine with playing for franchises all over the world?
ICC World T20 2014 schedule: Match time table with venue details
A parallel can easily be drawn with the world of soccer football. Billions of football fans all over the world (a lot of them for countries who are not even in the top hundred in FIFA ratings) tune in to catch the action in English Premier League (EPL), Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, Bundesliga, and, of course, the UEFA Champions League (accepted by many as the most intense football tournament given the quality and aggression of the teams).
What about the World Cup, then? Despite all the quality of the leagues, why is World Cup Football held in the highest esteem? Why is it that everyone remembers the fact that Brazil had won the Jules Rimet Trophy for good in 1970, but few remember Real Madrid’s Champions League streak in the late 1950s?
[inline-quotes align=”left”]What is it about the World Cups, then? Is it about the sense of pride, belonging, and camaraderie that comes with playing for the country? Is it about the fact that cricket, despite the franchise-driven efforts of late, still remains a sport dominated by national boards and international tournaments?[/inline-quotes]
One can say there can be no honour more than representing your country: but is that a valid factor? Let us dig some numbers: John Traicos and Kepler Wessels were the last two cricketers to play international cricket for two countries for a long period of time; had South Africa not been banned, Traicos would probably not have shifted to Zimbabwe and Wessels to Australia. If you take them away, the last man to play for two countries was Sammy Gullien.
Have things changed in the 2000s? Let us have a look at the list: Clayton Lambert (West Indies and USA); Gavin Hamilton (Scotland, England, then back to Scotland in the 2000s); (Anderson Cummins (West Indies and Canada); Dougie Brown (England and Scotland); Ed Joyce (England and Ireland); Eoin Morgan (Ireland and England); Dirk Nannes (Netherlands and Australia); Boyd Rankin (Ireland and England); Luke Ronchi (Australia and New Zealand); Geraint Jones (England and Papua New Guinea); and more. And the list will, in all likelihood, keep on increasing with time.
What is it about the World Cups, then? Is it about the sense of pride, belonging, and camaraderie that comes with playing for the country? Is it about the fact that cricket, despite the franchise-driven efforts of late, still remains a sport dominated by national boards and international tournaments?
Of course, it is part of the responsibility of a journalist to lay down bare facts in front of the readers without bias. However, let us consider two cases:
– It is often heard that several Brazilians sell their assets (often leading to bankruptcy) to follow their team in World Cup football every four years; on the other hand, there may exist AC Milan or Arsenal fans who do the same to follow their team around in Europe during the Champions League, but it is certainly not the most common news.
– India’s victory in World Cup Cricket 2011 had sucked the entire nation outside their homes: Marine Drive, Janpath, and Park Street were flooded with strangers hugging each other at two in the morning, uttering incoherent shrieks to celebrate their victory — making a billion forget their daily stress and bask in a night of glory that comes once in a generation. Did Mumbai Indians fan the same way previous season after their twin victories?
There must be something, then, about playing for your country; something that charges your mind during the quintessential national anthem goose-bumps before every ICC match; something that make you give that extra bit of effort that had been so synonymous to Leander Paes’s efforts in Davis Cup ties and the Olympics; something that makes you prouder than winning an IPL match; something that pushes you to win a tournament (that has taken four times in five years) for your country.
This “something”, alas, confined to the domain of psychologists. Gayle may be a good person to ask. Kevin Pietersen, on the other hand, may not be.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Deputy Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in and can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ovshake42)
