[V.Narayan]

I don't follow cricket at all. Hence these questions out of ignorance.

1. Do our cricketers suffer loss of income in any substantial manner when they get their pants taken to the cleaners like this time? These chaps are paid an obscene amount of money. Is there an incentive to not lose.

2. Why do we play cricket all year round now like a circus. Surely the players' bodies need rest and time off for training. When I was a kid cricket had a season but now it is a 24x7x365 show. Why so.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I don't follow cricket at all. Hence these questions out of ignorance.

1. Do our cricketers suffer loss of income in any substantial manner when they get their pants taken to the cleaners like this time? These chaps are paid an obscene amount of money. Is there an incentive to not lose.

2. Why do we play cricket all year round now like a circus. Surely the players' bodies need rest and time off for training. When I was a kid cricket had a season but now it is a 24x7x365 show. Why so.

One point answer to your questions- MONEY.

The cricketers are paid contract money as well as paid on per match basis. They win or lose, they never have any loss of income, never ever.

As for the second question, MONEY MONEY and more MONEY. Almost every country still maintains a sanity regarding the seasons, at least for the national team matches, but not INDIA. If they can, they will squeeze any inconsequential match just to generate some MONEY. IPL came and destroyed everything, of course someone can have a alternate view as well.

In a country, where the Board President is seen promoting an online cricket game brand which is borderline gambling, during an ICC World Cup, nothing surprises me anymore !!

[hothatchaway]

The BCCI is no longer a sports federation in the classical sense, that is a body whose primary objective is to further the interests of that sport in the nation it operates in. One key indicator of this is the performance of the first eleven in international competitions, which is the highest level at least in cricket. With the IPL being a several billion dollar event and its mere staging a sufficient condition to ensure revenue for its promoter, the BCCI is now more an entertainment and content conglomerate

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

When I was a kid cricket had a season but now it is a 24x7x365 show. Why so.

I'll leave the money part out, since its already mentioned.

Indian cricket team wasn't playing full-time until sometime after the World Cup win in 1983. When you were a kid, cricketers were working full time jobs Things were little more saner till IPL was introduced in 2008. Now this adds 2.5 months of additional workload excluding the international tours.

Unlike England or Australia, most Indian players play across all formats as if we have dearth of talent in the club or domestic circuit.

Apart from this there is politics also in play, Ashwin has been warming the benches through the tour of England and T20 World Cup while Hardik Pandya gets a free rein.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

2. Why do we play cricket all year round now like a circus. Surely the players' bodies need rest and time off for training.

BCCI does not allow Indian players to play in any leagues other than IPL, to maintain the primacy of IPL. Consequently, the players have no choice to plan their own schedules or workloads. And then, BCCI packs the calendar year long to maximise money.

To put it bluntly, BCCI is a modern era slave owner.

Many foreign players, especially in the last couple (Covid) years, take breaks from cricket to take care of their mental health but not Indian players, because the slave owner wouldn't let it happen.

I really don't think the players give less than their best when they play for India or play only for money. It is just that they are frazzled out. The blame rests fully on BCCI.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

One point answer to your questions- MONEY.
....In a country, where the Board President is seen promoting an online cricket game brand which is borderline gambling, during an ICC World Cup, nothing surprises me anymore !!

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

....the BCCI is now more an entertainment and content conglomerate

Originally Posted by narayans80

Unlike England or Australia, most Indian players play across all formats as if we have dearth of talent in the club or domestic circuit.

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

To put it bluntly, BCCI is a modern era slave owner.

Thank you for your prompt answers. It confirms my suspicions of the BCCI being a "syndicate" run by politicians. Unfortunately the Romans love year long gladiator fights so the colosseum is always full. In ancient Rome too many of the gladiators were owned by politicians. Here the BCCI is owned by them.

[harry10]

I believe we can't blame BCCI alone. Players are equally responsible.

Players aren't slaves. They are contractually obligated to play but they always have an option to opt out. No one is stopping a Kohli or a Rohit Sharma or a Bumrah to take a break and skip IPL. But, how many people can leave 15+ crore for a month and half working, just 14 or so matches. Even the richest like Dhoni can't leave it.

An average cricketer has a playing life span of 10-15 years max. If they get injured and out of contention it's even shorter. So, they will try to play and earn as much as they can. Playing for the country has taken a back seat, it's all about playing for Money now.

BCCI wants to make money, players wants to make money. And the cycle will continue.

It's only the fans who are net losers in this. They invest their money, time and emotions and feel betrayed when team can't even reach semis or win any ICC tournament.

Trust me, NZ series is starting on 17th Nov. We will defeat them and this world cup debacle will be forgotten in few days. It's happening since ages. I have hope from Rahul Dravid but at the end of the day he is part of BCCI machinery and can't go against them.

On a side note. It's not just BCCI alone. ECB with their 'NatWest' and 'The Hundred' and CSA with their 'BBL' are equally greedy. Just that cricket isn't as popular there as in India so they don't get so much limelight.

[Emvi]

In addition to what has been already posted, I am presently a slightly different perspective on the sub-par performance of the Indian team. Of late we have seen that it has become a sort of norm for top players to skip bilateral T20I series on the pretext of workload management. Mostly it is done at the behest of the players and or otherwise the selectors take a call to "rest" certain players. This being the case, the star players or the first choice players rarely get to play T20Is together as a team. While franchise cricket is super competitive, International cricket is a different ball game altogether IMO.

On paper, past(and present) Indian teams have always looked unbeatable, but time and again the star studded teams have failed to deliver in knock out and crunch matches. The current team is probably better than any other international side man to man. But as a team/unit, the performance has been just ordinary. Even though the present day players are paid insanely high, I still think they all play to win, at-least Kohli's lads do is what I believe. Is too much emphasis on franchise cricket showing up now as far Indian cricket(and carribbean to an extent) is concerned!? I have said this before, reiterating it again, players are HUMANS and not MACHINES. Money involved is enormous no doubt, but at the end of the day, only the matches/series/trophies won will be remembered the most, nothing else. Isn't this the very essence of sports? No? Ask Clive Llyod's Windies or the Aussies of late 90s and early 2000s.

[VWAllstar]

In the midst of all the explanations on BCCI running behind Money and how our beloved Game has turned commercial, Ravi Shastri may be taking up the role of Head Coach for Ahemdabad IPL Team. Along with him B Arun and Sridhar will also be part of the coaching staff.

Get the link, money is never enough and it should never be. Harry mentioned how even the richest of Indian Cricketers Kohli & Dhoni cannot miss playing a cash rich tournament like IPL.

Leave these underlying intentions of BCCI or Players and just enjoy the game. We would never know what is happening behind closed doors so why get so contemplative about it?

[Ananthang]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

In the midst of all the explanations on BCCI running behind Money and how our beloved Game has turned commercial, Ravi Shastri may be taking up the role of Head Coach for Ahemdabad IPL Team. Along with him B Arun and Sridhar will also be part of the coaching staff.

Get the link, money is never enough and it should never be. Harry mentioned how even the richest of Indian Cricketers Kohli & Dhoni cannot miss playing a cash rich tournament like IPL.

Leave these underlying intentions of BCCI or Players and just enjoy the game. We would never know what is happening behind closed doors so why get so contemplative about it?

League will get more priority over Country. I think we should satisfy ourselves with League matches going forward.

Yes except Food, we can keep accepting anything and everything without limit. I am surprised that Govt is silent on Gambling apps related to cricket. They are making money from public and some stupids are spending their hard earned money for nothing. Shocked to see BCCI Chief and one of richest cricketer in India advertising for a Gambling app when lottery tickets were banned in most of India.

Either it is some politics forcing them to do or their hunger for aggregating money.

Even ex cricketers who are on media is unfortunately supporting these Apps. There is no ethics or moral here Sir, anymore. Pure Money that’s it .

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by Ananthang

Even ex cricketers who are on media is unfortunately supporting these Apps. There is no ethics or moral here Sir, anymore. Pure Money that’s it .

During each advertisement they do tell you the element of risk involved. If we go by the logic you mentioned then advertising of investing in stock equity should also be not permitted. India is moving towards a more open nation with the responsibilities been put on individuals.

However, I agree that there need to be stringent regulations on such apps especially with sports which are followed by a 7 years child to 70+ year old people. The game has been highly commercialized and people like you and me cannot change that fact even if we put up posts after posts on this or any forums.

Hence the smartest thing to do is to enjoy the cricket on field like how it was in the 90's or earlier. Look at league games purely as entertainment and not bother if they are scripted or not. I am of the strong opinion that cricket at large cannot be scripted hence I enjoy the game with no suspicious thoughts.

[Thermodynamics]

Feeling sad to recollect two of the qualified teams i.e. Australia and England had lost to India during the warmups. Also feeling sad for South Africa, despite winning 4 matches they got to exit so early. I really feel this tournament format is ill designed. At least a quarter final is required.

Originally Posted by Ananthang

There is no ethics or moral here Sir, anymore. Pure Money that’s it

For this very reason, a lot of people have stopped following Cricket. In a way this is good, it would lead our attention towards other sports.

[fhdowntheline]

Keeping the "technical" game of cricket aside, as a sport, cricket is a failure. It is limited only to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh where it can be termed as a major sport. In other countries like UK, SA, NZ it is less popular than other sports like soccer, rugby etc. In the Caribbean, cricket is in a terminal decline.
I am not getting into the lesser countries like Afghanistan, Scotland, Namibia, etc where it is an absolute amateur level although Afghanistan has progressed better.

In this overall scenario, ICC and its chief constituent, BCCI are just money spinning monopolies exploiting the eyeballs of South Asian viewers. In my view, it does not deserve to be played in the honour of our national flag in the same manner as other Olympic sports.
Lets enjoy it as a technical game, if at all. I dont think it deserves any other recognition anymore. Yes, if it had spread to another 40-50 countries in the last 100 years, with at least 15-20 major teams, definitely.

[landcruiser123]

No one has the time to see the exhibition of real talent in the form of hard fought Test cricket. Very few of todays cricketers have the skill too.

So, the cricket boards (all of them with BCCI leading the charge) are forming their own version of daily entertainment (tamasha). Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZGLHdcw2RM&t=2s

As a result it is a vicious cycle: Nobody has time -> Quality of Test cricket is on the decline -> T20 cricket is prioritized to make big $$$ -> Budding cricketers are building skills for T20 -> Cricket eventually becomes this daily circus

Also, I feel like taking a 'mental health' (like Ben Stokes did) break is somehow taboo in Indian cricket. Indian cricketers are expected to show bravado and man-up.

[harry10]

The issue is our fast paced life and time. We simply don't have the time to watch a 9 hour test match which goes on for 5 days or a 7 hour ODI. Mostly we catch highlights for them.

T20 is popular because it takes just 3 hours of non-stop entertainment and you are done. Plus most matches starts at night time when most people are relaxing so they can watch it. Boards know this so they have invented so many leagues around it.

Anyways, I am skipping the irrelevant India vs Namibia tonight and instead going to watch Sooryavanshi