Friday 3 May 2013

A Revolution in Cricket Industry

Twenty 20 format of cricket was introduced in English County Championship in 2003 by ECB. Since the introduction of this format of cricket, it has created revolution in its industry. It is getting popular very quickly as compared to other formats of the game. Twenty 20 cricket is fast, entertaining and adds new color to the game. Twenty 20 normally ends within three hours so it is fast. We see the most attacking form of the game as we see more 4s & 6s plus dance & music makes it entertaining. Music, cheerleaders & dances adds new color to the game. The first twenty 20 international was played in 2005 since then it has never looked back. Soon after that first twenty 20 world cup was played in South Africa which was won by India & the current champions are West Indies as they won the fourth twenty 20 world cup recently.

Now let's go back in 2008 the year in which Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) launched Indian Premier League (IPL). IPL changed the definition of club cricket. For the first time in any sport players were auctioned to play in IPL. IPL invested huge amount of money in this format of cricket. IPL offers such a huge amount of money to players that they have started prefering to play in IPL instead of playing for their country. IPL teams were bought by great Indian tycoons such as Vijay Mallya, Shahrukh Khan, Mukesh Ambani, Preity Zinta etc. So it became second highest paid league in the world beating English Premier League (EPL) in that matter. This entire star studded event became a huge success & it gained lot of popularity over its five seasons. With its success Champions League T20 (CLT20) was launched in which champion teams of twenty 20 leagues around the world competes to become the champions of campions.

You might be thinking that why am I writting about it as every one knows about it. I am writting about it because I can say that with start of IPL, revolution speeded up like a fire in the forest. With the advent of IPL cricket became popular in non playing nations like U.S and China with its shorter format, star studded nights, music, dance, exciting games etc. By witnessing the success of IPL many countries has started their own t20 leagues like Cricket Australia launched Big Bash League (BBL), last year Bangladesh cricket board launched Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Sri lankan cricket board launched SLPL & Pakistan Cricket board West Indies Cricket board is about to launch  Pakistan Super League & Carribean Premier League.

At present the situation is that the International Cricket Council (ICC) is doing changes in the longest format of cricket to keep people interested in that too as tests are finding it hard to survive. The condition of test cricket is because of T 20 cricket as people are getting the result within three hours rather than waiting for five days for the result of match. Popularity of T 20 cricket has reached to a level that it is on the verge of becoming an olympics sport. By seeing its popularity even players are diverting themselves towards it by retiring from test cricket to concentrate on the shorter formats of the game.

Twenty 20 format has won advertisers also along with its fans. Advertisers are always ready to advertise where viewership is highest and twenty 20 cricket generates viewership and high involvement. Moreover its unlike soccer and tennis, here much longer duration is available for advertising. So it offers several opportunities for branding and communication. Be it celebrity endorsements, commercial time on television, contest and promotions, team and umpire uniforms, cricket bats and stumps, boundary ropes, sight screen, and just every imaginable space is being used as commercial medium.

Twenty 20 cricket is like the grand son of test cricket, but here it is like grand son kicking his grand father out of the house. Its one way of looking on other hand Stuart Robinson, the former marketting manager of ECB said it is "intended as a stepping stone for people to watch longer version of the game." In the end I want to say that launch of twenty 20 has helped the game a lot as it has started matching the popularity of football, basketball, etc. twenty 20 surely ha created hysteria among its fans but it has also attracted many new fans. So twenty 20 cricket has definately been a revolution in the cricket industry but a good one.  

3 comments:

  1. Twenty 20 cricket is like the grand son of test cricket, but here it is like grand son kicking his grand father out of the house.....

    This sentence is like a "kicking in the guts".

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  2. Well written !!!

    But I have strong objection over the 4para. If you think that shorter T20 format is making TEST cricket run for its existence, then you are certainly mistaken. I'll very briefly justify my point; Go and ask Sanju Samson, the latest IPL finding; as a cricketer, what his dream would be? and l'm sure that his reply would be 'Wearing a Test Cap for INDIA.'

    And can you please give me one example of the player who retired from TEST cricket, only for playing and concentrating on T20.

    T20 and Test cricket is a different ball game, and they can't be compared at the same level.


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    1. Ya as a player I would also choose test cricket & it is the real cricket. I have written there that by seeing t20 cricket's popularity players are choosing that over test cricket. I haven't said that anywhere that test cricket is not important.

      There are lot of players who has retired from test cricket to concentrate on shorter formats best example of it are Malinga, Kulasekra & Afridi etc from current players who has done that & from the retired players Jayasurya & Shane Bond did that.

      You are absolutely correct mate that t20 & test cricket are different ball games. But If you see from viewers perspective it is compared at same level & it is a fact that ICC is trying to do changes in test cricket to get its viewers back.

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