How can cricket become truly global?

Introduction

Cricket, ever heard of that game? You only need a bat and a ball to play it. It's simple and fun and many people in the Indian Subcontinent enjoy it too. But is it really as famous as all other games around the world? Is cricket really the sport that half of the world would tune in to watch the final? In my blog, we will look at some of the possible reasons why this is so.

Explanation

Cricket isn't as global as other sports. If you look at the teams playing in the 2023 ODI World Cup. You will notice one particular thing. These are the teams: -

• Pakistan (Asia)
• India (Asia)
• Sri Lanka (Asia)
• England (Europe)
• Australia (Oceania)
• New Zealand (Oceania)
• South Africa (Africa)
• Bangladesh (Asia)
• Afghanistan (Asia)
• Netherlands (Europe)

As you can notice, there is no team from the North and South Americas. This way, how is cricket global if no team is representing entire two continents in a world cup? Yes, there are more teams in a T20 World Cup than the ODI World Cup but the ODI World Cup is still considered the more prestigious one than the T20 World Cup. Even after that, there are only 3 to 4 teams who can win the World Cup out of those 10. Meaning, that the competition still remains low. The only big rivalry in cricket is Pakistan vs India. Now many people tune in to watch the Ashes. The reason? England and Australia focus more on football than cricket. While it cannot be true for Australia, England certainly focuses more on football.

Reasons

The reason why cricket isn't global can be traced back to its early days. In the start, not many countries played cricket. Till 1950s, it was just 3 to 4 teams that wanted to be part of the game. The reason was the Test match format. You play a game for five days, with the uncertainty looming over your heads that even after giving your best for five days, you can still lose or the game can even draw. This format can be attributed to the main reason cricket isn't popular, as we have seen the crowds of football fans in Europe. 50,000 to 60,000 people attend a game to see their favourite team play in a two-hour match. The reason can also be time. Most of the developed countries except England, aren't very strong in cricket. The thing can be that the audiences don't have time to attend a game and watch it for five days. Football till the 1950s, already had 3 world cups and this is where the competition between football and cricket had ended. Football was just too far off and cricket was still an infant. This led to the popularization of cricket only in those countries that had once been British colonies and now, we have this. No country in the World Cup, that will be representing entire two continents.

How can this change?

The most feasible reason this can change is that, ICC introduces more shorter formats. We have seen the T20 so far. We know that this is the format where we have more countries playing. More countries/ national teams having experience playing. The 2024 World T20 will be featuring 20 teams, representing all continents and this is truly global. We have seen the crowds in league games. IPL, PSL, BBL, CPL and many more. These T20 cricket leagues attract more crowds than the ODI or First class leagues. The first T20 season that was played way back in 2003 in England, attracted many times more crowds than the One-day cup that took pace the same year. Now, the advent of the Hundred and T10 can change cricket forever. More national teams will be able to represent their countries on the biggest stages when the format grows shorter and more money comes in. Globalization also requires a perfect marketing strategy. Last year, Star Sports paid Dwayne Johnson to promote the Pak vs Ind match. The name of the Rock is enough to attract viewers and it happened. We can say that in terms of globalization, cricket is still in its teen years and only time can tell, if the shorter formats really saved cricket.