Day 133 - A Boring World Cup

Do you know that the T20 World Cup is on?  If yes, do you even care?  Is too much cricket killing the game?  Why do I get a strange feeling that the way the game is run today by administrators worldwide is eerily similar to the famous story of the goose which laid a golden egg every day?

The current T20 World Cup is a boring affair.  There are many reasons for it:

• It has been scheduled immediately after the IPL extravaganza, which this year was even more hyped due to the off-field goings on.  It is quite difficult to root for the players playing for different countries, when a few weeks back they were all in the same team.  I think there should have been a cooling off period after the IPL.  Moreover, we just had two months of non-stop cricket culminating in the Chennai Super Kings winning the IPL.  Some more cricket?  Naaah.  The players are tired; so are the spectators.
• The World Cup is being held in the West Indies.  Now, I am aware that in the past the West Indies were a strong force in cricket.  However, I am also aware that in the last few years the carribeans have tended to follow other sports more like football and basketball and cricket has been on the decline.  The rains are another problem here.  The West Indies gets unseasonal rains all the time.  Hence, many matches are getting affected.  Resorting to the Duckworth Lewis rule repeatedly to decide the fate of a match is the ultimate way to kill the game.  Moreover, the timings for the matches are weird late night ones.  I know that they have treid to schedule the matches early in the morning to catch the Indian TV audience after work.  However that works only for the first match of the day.  If it is a double header, I would be interested in knowing the TRPs for the second match late in the night.
• Another reason for the World Cup to seem boring is the performance of the Indian team.  Cricket fatigue is probably taking its toll on the players.  So, is the inability to adjust to the wickets in the Carribean.  It is a selfish reason, but isn't that natural? World Cups are played on the premise of national loyalties.

I am intentionally not mentioning the other oft-spoken reason for the Indian team not doing well in the World Cup.  Money.  There isn't enough in the World Cup compared to the IPL.  But I think, money cannot be a bigger consideration to joy and pride of representing your country.  But then, I might be wrong.

Personally the last week was interesting for me.  Friday and Saturday were especially enjoyable.  Friday due to the news that Suryanksh got the admission in Bombay Scottish School!  Couldn't wait to get back home to kick off the celebrations (pizza party at Papa John's).  However it took me 60 minutes to cover the 3.5 kms from office to home, because of the insane traffic at peak hours in Mumbai.  Saturday was good as well.  The townhall was well conducted and I am told that my presentation and speech was also well recieved.  Had a good time dancing with the team after the presentations, though a lot my bones did complain the next day morning.

I expect this week to be busy as well.  Have a few hurdles to cross this week.  If I get through them without any major blowups, I will be a relieved man by the end of the week.

More about that, next week.  Take care.