T20 Tournaments Worldwide: A Comparison
Indian T20 competitions
IPL 2011
- Teams: 10
- Matches: 14 each, plus the knockout round
- Duration: 51 days (Apr 8-May 28, 2011)
- Total Matches: 74
Mushtaq Ali Trophy
- Teams: Ranji Trophy teams
- Matches: 59 matches
- Group matches: Oct 16-25, 2011
- Knockout matches: Mar 23-27, 2012
England
- Teams: 18, divided in two groups
- Matches: 16 each, plus the knockout round
- Duration: 88 days (Jun 2-Aug 27, 2011)
- Total Matches: 151, but centrally contracted players restricted to a limited number of games. A player like Graeme Swann would play less than 10 matches.
Australia
- Teams: 6
- Matches: 6 each, plus the knockout round
- Duration: 38 days (Dec 30, 2010-Feb 5, 2011)
- Total Matches: 20
South Africa
- Teams: 6
- Matches: 5 each, plus the knockout round
- Duration: 44 days (Jan 28-Mar 13, 2011)
- Total Matches: 20
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The Indian team is creaking and groaning under the weight of the cricket they're playing. As India lost disastrously to England, a senior player told Outlook that the team's tired, in body and mind. It was mentally exhausted after the World Cup victory and the preceding tour of South Africa. Then there was the IPL tamasha, in which several players participated, aggravating injuries they were already carrying. The IPL was followed by the practically conjoined tours of the West Indies and England. "How much cricket can one play in one year? We're getting drained. We now realise that our careers aren't going to be as long as that of Sachin," the player says. "We have aching bodies and tired minds, and we know that it could end one day suddenly, with the amount of cricket we're playing, if we pick up an injury that interrupts our careers."
But why don't the players opt to rest, as the Indian cricket board (BCCI) says they are free to? The senior player points to the dilemma: "We always want to play for the country, and we must play in the IPL because that's where most of our income is coming now."
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We're the world ODI champions but, having lost the No. 1 ranking in Test cricket so spiritlessly, are we doomed to remain only one-day wonders? However much the fan may hate it, sooner rather than later Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Zaheer Khan are going to go. What happens after that? "I fear we'll get thrashed in Test matches—as we were in England, and it will get worse when players like Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman are gone," says Ramachandra Guha, historian and cricket writer.
The BCCI has called for a review of the deplorable performance in England. But much of the review should focus on the BCCI's handling of its most precious assets, the players. It needs to decide between commerce and sport, and set the exchange value between playing for India and playing for a private club. As sports enthusiastic and activist Rahul Mehra, who has worked tirelessly to make the BCCI accountable to its biggest stakeholders, the fans, says: "The BCCI wasn't created for profit. The officials are not paid a penny because they all hold honorary positions."
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There's a proliferation of T20 cricket around the world. England's 18 county teams played 149 matches this year; in Australia and South Africa the numbers were lower, 20 matches. But there's one crucial difference. England, which prizes Test cricket over other formats, protects its players from an excess of T20. A player like Graeme Swann, for instance, plays around eight T20 matches a year, including the ones played for England. Those England players who're not national regulars can run up large numbers—Ravi Bopara has played 104 in his evolving career, Luke Wright 98. A key bowler like Stuart Broad has played only 45 T20 matches. It's up to coach Andy Flower to determine whether to release an England player for counties or not.
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Ironically, India has got that very man as coach now. But Fletcher could help transform England cricket because England gave him power to put country above county. For him to get this authority in India is well-nigh unthinkable. Booth foresees a frustrating time for Fletcher, for he's a meticulous man who likes to control everything concerning the team's welfare. "It could be a frustrating time for him," Booth says. "He's a brilliant one-to-one coach, but can he change the Indian cricket set-up? I'd be very surprised if he is able to. There are a lot of irrelevant Twenty20 and ODI matches, and I think he'd probably think it's not ideal. But I don't really see how the IPL issue is going to be resolved, because the BCCI is in bed with the IPL, it makes too much money from it, and there are so many conflicts of interest in it."
The third England-India Test in progress at Edgbaston. (Photograph by Reuters, From Outlook, August 29, 2011)
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Senior Indian players, including Tendulkar, believe that the toughest form of the game, Test cricket, should be monetarily the most rewarding format, making it more attractive and prized for younger players. But with the BCCI sold on the IPL circus, this off-season tournament is an immovable reality. Also, for the sake of financial security of friendly cricket boards, the BCCI commits to lots of senseless one-day cricket with them. Which means that the players keep on being mercilessly flogged.
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This player says that it's not fair of the BCCI to tempt the players with massive amounts of money, and then let them be open to the accusation of being "unpatriotic" if they opt out of national duty. Sunil Gavaskar wrote recently that the BCCI must designate players to be rested. England is doing it this way, as planned by Fletcher years ago. If only he had his way, and do the same with India!
AUTHORS: ROHIT MAHAJAN
TAGS: CRICKET | CRICKET - BCCI | CRICKET - IPL | CRICKET - TWENTY20
SECTION: SPORTS
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AUG 21, 2011 10:35 AM 1 | BCCI could modify the Tata Steel ad and claim, with a straight face, that we also play cricket. |
AUG 24, 2011 02:05 PM 2 | Someone like Sachin, who will never face any negative consequences from saying what he thinks, should make a Katich- or Sangakarra-like speech slamming the Board's policies. |