India suffering from ‘cricket fatigue’ with too many games, driving viewers away
Rhys Blakely in Mumbai
It is a love affair that has spanned centuries — but there are fears that Indian fans may now be losing interest in the national game.
A mere 1 per cent of the nation’s television audience tuned in to watch the recent ICC Champions Trophy, a much-hyped international competition held in South Africa. The figure was a far cry from the days when a big cricket match could bring silence to the streets of Mumbai and Delhi.
Interest in the first match of the Champions League — a tournament in India featuring the world’s best club teams — was even weaker. Only 0.8 per cent of households watched. Television bean-counters had expected an audience of at least 3 per cent.
The conclusion seems inescapable, according to one news magazine this week. “Indians are bored with cricket,” it stated.
The list of possible culprits is a long one: match-fixing scandals, the threat of terrorism at big stadiums, the growing popularity of football, rampant commercialism, and even the high-kicking routines of imported, American-style cheerleaders. Many suggest, however, that the problem is, quite simply, cricket fatigue.
In the past year the Indian national side has played 27 one-day internationals (ODIs), nine five-day Tests and eight shorter Twenty20 matches. That works out to more than one match a week — and that is only the national team. At club level, cricket is desperate to compete with international football, with a growing number of matches and competitions. The feast of action this weekend offers an illustration of this, pundits say: last night the final of the first international Twenty20 Champions League was played in the southern city of Hyderabad, between the star-studded New South Wales Blues and Trinidad and Tobago.
Then at 9am tomorrow, India will meet Australia in the western city of Baroda for the first of seven ODIs. Four days after that series finishes, India will meet Sri Lanka and begin three Tests and five ODIs.
Critics say it is as if the football World Cup final were being played in the same week as the Uefa Champions League final, with the European Championships to follow a few days later. “The fans are being given no time to relish a team’s success, or be dejected over failure,” said Gaurav Kalra, sports editor for CNN IBN, an Indian television station.
The same complaint is heard everywhere — from taxi drivers to professionals and those in the sport’s highest positions. “I used to watch too much cricket, but I’ve stopped trying to keep up,” said Pramod Tiwari, a taxi driver from Mumbai. Amit Sinha, 26, an office worker from Gurgaon, outside Delhi, agreed: “I was a cricket freak, but now you have normal Indian team matches, IPL, Champions Trophy and now Champions League. I’ve forgotten which player is playing for which team!”
The sentiment is recognised by some at the top. Ratnakar Shetty, chief administrative officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India — which runs the Indian Premier League, the wealthiest tournament — sympathised. “Some of my friends say there is too much cricket,” he said.Mr Kalra blames the huge financial incentives on offer. “Money has been dangled in front of the best players and cricket has fallen prey to an overstuffed schedule,” he said.
However, it may not be quite time to write the sport’s obituary. Indian teams have played terribly in recent months — and, above all else, fans like a winner. “There’s definitely fatigue, a feeling the Indian side has been playing non-stop,” said Bobilli Vijay Kumar, sports editor of
The Times of India. “But let’s see what happens if they start winning.”
India suffering from ‘cricket fatigue’ with too many games, driving viewers away - Times Online
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