India’s BGT tour ended with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Australia. It could’ve been even 4-1 had rain not disrupted the game in Gabba
India is a proud country when it comes to cricket, thanks to its cricket governing body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). After all, it is considered the strongest cricket board in the world that churns out revenue higher than the GDPs of several small countries. India has also seen its share of international achievements, including the recently won ICC T20I World Cup.
However, when it comes to sticking longer at the crease, India has missed the ODI World Cup and now the World Test Championship, thanks to an embarrassing tour in Australia. In short, for hardcore cricket fans, what really matters is Test cricket, and as of now, India is definitely far away from playing good Test cricket.
Reasons? Well, there are multiple reasons, but fees like 50 crore, 100 crore, or millions of followers on social media are some of the reasons why India is facing a downfall in Test.
The combined net worth of India’s top order is above INR 2,000 crore. How did they reach that number when, once upon a time, World Cup-winning squads received merely a few lakhs?
The Indian Premier League (IPL) may have been considered a boon in the early years, but now it seems to be a bane. Play a few matches, collect hefty fees of 5 crores, 10 crores, 15 crores, or even 30 crores, and a player is financially stable for the year.
Not to forget, playing for a team in the IPL also brings a platter of sponsors and brands willing to shower hundreds of crores to boost their products’ marketing.
India has always had a culture of worshipping cricketers, but with the advent of social media platforms, it has reached a new level. Take a look at Shubman Gill—he has 15 million followers at the age of 25 without even achieving significant milestones in cricket. If one scrolls through his Instagram account, there are multiple posts of him endorsing various brands and their products. In short, his earnings are in crores from such endorsements, and cricket isn’t his only source of income.
If we take a look at long-standing Test players such as Ajinkya Rahane or Cheteshwar Pujara, both players have neither the number on social media nor the popularity despite playing slow cricket for 15 years.
While a single-digit crore should be sufficient, the race for money and a luxurious lifestyle has become a major priority, because of which the majority of regulars in the Indian team do not participate in long-format games at the national level such as Ranji Trophy and others. Therefore, their minds and bodies constantly try to play like the fast-paced game of IPL, T20Is, or ODIs, whereas in Tests, one should be in a meditative state to last long.
If money has become the factor, then it is BCCI’s responsibility to create a separate and better pay scale for Test players and lure them with a hefty fee so that their focus remains on Tests. The BCCI calendar also needs to be tweaked so that players have the option to play in the IPL or, if they wish, play international games during the IPL season.
If we look at the five games of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), India played nine innings, out of which the team failed to go past 200 in six innings. However, on the other hand, Indian bowlers picked up 10 wickets in seven innings because the continuous pressure in the shorter format of the game has helped them maintain a constant pace. On the contrary, it has hit their physical capability to such an extent that Jasprit Bumrah missed a crucial day of the last game in order to visit the hospital for scans.
The condition of the Indian Test side has been exposed, and it is high time that the BCCI and the players prioritise Test cricket over everything else. After all, Test cricket creates heroes, and right now, India doesn’t have many heroes in Test cricket, because of which fans turn to IPL—another reason why turnover in stadiums during Test cricket is incredibly low, leading to lesser revenue and so on.
