Cricket and Rodeo together in the state of Texas. Carnival of cricket had a landfall in the Sunny Big Texas when most mere mortals are afraid, in the month of July. One sends their enemies or someone they do not wish well to Texas at that time. Pajama cricket or Fast-food cricket as some purists have called T20 has now called Texas home for 20 days. I have lived in Texas for 28 years (I know, I know I don’t look that old, but that flattering is for another day) and I can tell you Texas wouldn’t have been the first state that would have come to mind if someone had even put our local Texas toy (gun) to my head about hosting a major league of cricket.
Cricket has been around for almost for 400 years which makes it one of the oldest sports played, not too many sports can claim that level of longevity. Cricket is followed by 2.5 billion people of this world making it the second most followed sport after soccer. Why would someone write about something that may have had eons of ink already spent. I am writing about the game’s foray into the world’s most powerful market and mainstream league cricket making its glitterati debut onto the American runway. Any global citizen would attest to the fact that the Americans have the world’s thickest wallets and once there is a buy-in from them, then the marketing and advertising dollars can be injected in the sport. This also marks your arrival onto the world’s sports marketing scene and your acceptance into the global pantheon of marketeers.
Americans haven’t just woken us suddenly to invest in the sport nor have taken fancy to the game which till about 40 years back was only played in the whites and was invented in their once nemesis England. There are no emotional but business drivers for this newfound love. They are looking at the largest per capita making immigrant populace on their shores and the large pie of 2.5 billion people who could well be the target market their companies showcase their products to. This huge global market is a dream for marketeers. Game has even got recognition from some of the best known names in the world, Roger Federer, Harry Kane, some of the Hollywood A-listers, such as Russell Crowe (who is first cousin of legendary NZ cricketer Martin Crowe), Daniel Radcliffe, even newly minted Prince of Wales William who even took the heir apparent George recently to watch the Ashes but what this fan board is devoid of is some of the best known American counterparts.
Cricket is largely still followed across Southeast Asia and commonwealth countries, once under the Queen’s rule. However, the popularity and subsequently the money that is being poured into the sport has made this sport attractive across the globe with more and more countries making this as a business case to attract talent from southeast Asia. Over the years, Americans have also realized that all Indians especially even maybe the CEOs of top tech companies still have their heart beating for cricket and would go a long way to relive their childhood favorite sport.
Let me start with the evolution of the Gentlemen’s Game (as it has been called) and the game that was once perceived to be played over a period of 5 days (there have been a test that was played over a period of ten days but then again that was an exception rather than a rule).
Test cricket once the boring big brother has now been revamped and all these tools and techniques learnt from the younger limited over cousins have been adapted and test cricket has really been on steroids of late and runs are scored at a very fast clip which is bringing the spectators back especially the England team is playing test cricket at a really fast clip.
What has made cricket still so popular is that it is relatively no barriers to entry for the sport and being a team sport, lot more people can partake. Cricket also doesn’t require huge investment to kick off unless you are looking at a career where you will need some fine tuning. You need a bat and ball as basics and an open ground, and you are off and running with the game. This sport can even be played on a beach which has fueled the growth on the islands and countries where you don’t have to be rich to play a sport. Cricket has even helped bring smile to the war-torn Afghans.
Cricket is treated like a religion in countries like India and Pakistan. They have fan(atic)s who have been crazy about sport and the sheer populace these countries bring to the table, makes this a compelling business case. Number of leagues across the world have proliferated over the last decade and a half, with Indian Premier League (IPL) leading the pack well ahead with the most competitive and complete package which has been the most attractive because that is the only league which is open for Indian players who have the most fan following as this is BCCI (Indian Cricket Board) approved.
There are not many sports especially with this type of longevity which can stake claim to undergoing some major feature changes and yet getting enriched and continuing to augment the fandom and increase the outreach. A sport which proliferated in countries to keep the homesick Englishmen occupied when they ruled over the countries has expanded like no other and now 100+ countries are playing the sport one way or another. A sport which only like the Wimbledon was played in the whites and red leather ball, now offers an entire palette of jersey colors and player’s wardrobes look stacked with these colorful jerseys as they ply their trade across various leagues.
The sport itself has evolved in many new formats and added many more variations apart from the test cricket and ODIs (50 over One day internationals). Now there is T20, even T10. There were few other fun segments introduced such as single and double wicket tournaments, six a side, even cricket on ice (played in Switzerland few years back), legends and masters cricket featuring the silver haired men. The popularity of the sport has been gender agnostic and women’s cricket has seen some major advances and investments over the last decade or so. They even have their own T20 leagues and are only getting bigger. Actually, these are the greatest of times for sports as number of former cricketers and enthusiasts who had to retire after a long career or some whose careers were cut short by a freak injury have got second wind with all these leagues and some double as coaching staff, ones with better baritones and gift of gab make it to the air-conditioned commentary room, another bunch write on it. This has even opened up plethora of opportunities for data scientists and analysts who like to dissect stats and be advisors or consultants. Number of retired cricketers almost are starting to have equal number of years playing legends cricket.
World cup win for India on June 25, 1983, and the coffers of cricket got exponentially richer both in terms of popularity and more importantly, moolah it generated. Add the inaugural T20 world cup win in 2007 and India took over as the supreme authority in cricket and now defunct Indian Cricket League and then Indian Premier League, most powerful T20 league was born in 2008. I always joke England ruled over India for many years but the three things especially that they left behind, no Indian would think about returning them – English language, Tea (Chai) and the game of cricket.
Win for India in 1983 and then commoditization of IT services with Indians at the helm of it, meant they took these three and their movies and food where they went. Indians for those who know them are pretty stubborn of their possessions and are a unique bunch and require some personalized approach as multinationals such as Mercedes had also realized that they can spend money as long as you serve them cutting edge stuff and not down market dated models. Need for IT professionals has only increased over years and who better to meet those needs than Indians. Wherever the Indians have gone, they have formed their habitats as few things unite India and they are chai, cricket, movies, vegetarian food, and the ecosystem starts taking shape. Cricket takes the center stage, and every new country starts reveling in the sport. Cricket is somewhat contagious as soon more and more people start trying their hands at it.
Cricket 3.0 will depend a lot on how the land of the free warms up to the sport. For the first time, I heard the Star Spangled Banner being played in the cricket game – not a bad start for the country which doesn’t really play the sport. The due recognition has been given to the sport; however, it will take more than bunch of diasporas to take this mainstream. Cricket 3.0 is ready for change, but it needs more than the wallets of the immigrant desis to make the big splash and bigger reckoning for the sport. A section of the society will only be able to make this game known to the larger audience but till the larger mainstream population at least attempts to have a dekko at the sport, the reach will be limited.
Overall, cricket 3.0 has debuted well in the world’s strongest democracy but the jury is still out for the commercialization and expansion of the game in the world’s richest market which will have strong ripple effects on the ceiling of the sport. Cricket over the last couple of decades has been following in the footsteps of world’s most popular sport soccer and has dually attained the second most followed sport label. Americans have shown they can make one nation game American Football watched in 200 countries during the Superbowl and it is imperative that they take a liking to Cricket and their marketing prowess and analytical engine can propel the sport in another orbit. Countries are ready to adopt cricket to woo the middle class but for how long, is that just a foot in the door technique to create a new sales channel or a culmination of partnership that can benefit the very sport that helped create the inroads? Sincerely hope this major league returns stronger and bigger and also builds on the lessons learned from the first dance. United States is World’s third most populated country and does offer a unique opportunity to expand the outreach. Truly, this if played right, could have the best of both worlds.
