Does cricket need a reboot?

Sachin Tendulkar has been the greatest batsman of this generation. For the better part of 15 years, he was arguably the best batsman in the world. He dominated bowling attacks world over in Test and limited-overs cricket. The numbers speak for themselves. Over 100 international centuries is no mean feat. Sure, he has been criticized for the time and the way he brought up that elusive 100th, but that is somebody else’s argument to make.

As he approaches the twilight of his career, there is one question that has always eluded me. Why did Tendulkar not play too much county, Sheffield Shield or South African domestic cricket? The first argument is definitely India’s busy schedule every year. But Sachin’s contemporary greats have had time to play domestic cricket. Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan and Rahul Dravid have all had the time to play county cricket. They have all come out better players.

Sachin, of course, was plagued by injury due to too much cricket. There was a back injury, a tennis elbow and even a toe injury. He came back strongly after each injury with changes to his game. He cut down on the pull and the hook and started playing the upper cut over the slips. This was very evident during the 155 he made against South Africa in 2001. He played similar shots during the 2003 World Cup match against Pakistan. Once in a while, he has played the pull or the hook, but he usually ducks under the bouncer.

For the last five years, Sachin has not made himself available for many home and away ODI series. During this time, he could have spent sometime playing in Sheffield Shield or being part of the English County season. Imran Khan played for New South Wales, Sir Gary Sobers played for South Australia, and more recently, Brian Lara played South African domestic cricket. Familiarizing himself in these conditions would have probably made him a more complete batsman than he already is.

Cricketers have always spoken of their experience playing county matches. They talk of their county teammates, who have become rivals in international cricket. They talk of their strengths and weaknesses. The way they can get them out easily. Sachin has exploited this in the past. During an Irani Trophy match between Mumbai and the Rest of India, Sachin Tendulkar set fields for Sourav Ganguly, exploiting his weaknesses. Ganguly barely lasted a few balls. However, when New Zealand was touring India at that time and capitalized on this, it worked against Ganguly for the remainder of the series.

This is where cricket boards need to take initiative. Just like the IPL, what if all the leading cricketing governing bodies come together and start exchanging players to play in their team. For example: instead of playing for Mumbai for a Ranji season, what if Abhishek Nayyar or Ajinkya Rahane played for Western Australia or South Australia respectively? What if someone like George Bailey played a Ranji season for Tamil Nadu or Vernon Philander for Services?

There is one thing for certain if this can actually happen. Cricketing skills will definitely improve. The Australians, South Africans, and English will adapt to playing spin in foreign conditions. Players from the subcontinent will learn how to bat and bowl in conditions that are conducive to pace and bounce. There will be greater competition amongst players.

The best bit of course will be Test cricket seeing greater intensity again. This is like a DC and Marvel Comic reboot. And let’s face it, with a huge gap separating the best teams from the rest in the longest format of the game, cricket is in dire need of one. Sachin may not be part of it as a player, but he can strongly advocate it to keep the game alive.