India’s doting affection for flat pitches and small grounds extremely hurtful for the game

Indian batsmen and their struggles away from home is well known

Cricket, much like anything else in this perpetually expanding universe, has undergone decades of evolution. We’re ages away from thin sticks labelled ‘bats’ that modern thick, proud and stout bats would scornfully ridicule. Cricket has grown, with new rules, novel bowling styles, deliveries and strategies.

Scoring 300+ in an innings should be the exception, not the norm

This has also led, rather unfortunately in some cases, to the growth of a defensive culture in the Indian think tank – a culture that strives to mask flaws rather than eliminate them. These days, a score above 300 on Indian pitches, once considered a colossal milestone, which made Richie Benaud exclaim “That’s a mammoth score!” every time you passed it in Cricket ’97, is now hardly worth a minute exclamation of shock. Why should it be, when it’s a given with world-class batting line-ups feasting on batsmen doting pitches at the centre of short boundaries?

Fun it may be, even extremely exciting at some stages, yet extremely hurtful for the game. That secretly formed cult of Test cricket enthusiasts that shun T20 cricket like a nasty pest harbour a love for cricket as it should be, and not cricket as it has been catered for the masses. While I don’t belong to that cult, it’s important we appreciate their desire for cricket in its purest form.

This has been a glaring mistake in everything BCCI does, largely reflected in their prodigal son – the IPL. They’re trying to commercialize cricket, serve it on a silver platter to the fans. What they fail to realize is that fans would lap up unadulterated cricket with even more intensity and ardent love.

The battle between bat and ball is lost

Cricket is truly interesting when vicious, brutally cunning bowlers, much like those incredibly challenging video game boss levels, stand at the other end, raring to have a go at rock-solid batsmen trying to predict the pitch and the bowler’s mind in a flash.

With batsmen-friendly pitches on the other hand, it’s like watching your favourite game in cheat code mode. There is no boss to conquer, because you always win.

It becomes a game of huge scores and records, which loses its charm quickly. There is a different league of adulation and joy for a batsman that valiantly battles testing conditions and stands above his teammates in a fighting knock. Every boundary is a breath of life and a bubble of respect.

Cricket should write a story

Most important of all, it writes a story. Cricket should always have a story. Be it the struggling batsmen clawing against all odds to maintain his spot in the team, be it a long-standing revered rivalry between teams or players or even a veteran’s undiluted passion for his country.

Spare a thought for the poor bowlers here as well – ones that have to juice a pitch for all its worth and get nothing but criticism in turn. This is one of the fundamental reasons why Indian batsmen fail spectacularly in swinging conditions, and Indian bowlers are unaware of how to exploit them – they’re just not trained to on home grounds.

It’s important, as fans of a sport we love, to really look within and question ourselves. Do we love a sport that paints a picture of challenge, adversity and ultimately, triumph or a sport that is in essence, a tussle for surpassing records?