Has India Lost its World Dominance Over Cricket?

By Guest - April 25, 2023 - Last updated on Apr 25, 2023 02:34 PM

For a game that much of the world finds incomprehensible and an equally large number of people find deeply boring, it’s incredible that cricket generates so much passion in some countries.

The electric atmosphere of test matches played in Sydney and Melbourne is legendary, especially during Ashes series. But no other country in Earth can hope to rival the passion that it elicits in the Indian sub-continent.

Find any spare patch of ground in the vast country and the chances are that you’ll find an impromptu game of cricket being played. India’s star players like Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar are generally given the status of major royalty figures and much of the nation grinds to a halt when the team is involved in international matches.

The controlling body of the sport, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is also arguably the most powerful in the sport. For example, for many years it opposed the use of DRS technology in matches and it was only the intervention of Tendulkar that led them to reconsider the matter.

But there is a feeling that the country’s grip on the worldwide game might be starting to loosen and to see why let’s first look at some of the more recent results.

Testing times

England may be a country where the national sport is undoubtedly soccer and football betting leads the way but, second to Australia, matches against India attract the greatest excitement and anticipation.

In home conditions, India have historically been the stronger side but their away record has not been nearly as good with England definitely dominant. This was amply demonstrated in last August’s postponed 5th test at Edgbaston which saw the home side enjoy a convincing seven wicket victory thanks to centuries from Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow.

This managed to level the series 2-2, and earlier in the year India had lost a close three-match series in South Africa 1-2.

However, we shouldn’t overlook the fact that India are still ranked second in the ICC test team rankings after Australia who they are due to meet in the final of the 2021-2023 World Test Championship Final. This is to be played at the Kennington Oval over five days starting on June 7th and promises to be an intriguing encounter.

One day woes

This will come after many cricket fans were confidently predicting that India would be dominant in the home ODI series against Australia in March of this year.

However, they faltered and lost 1-2. By far their worst performance was a 10-wicket loss in the second match, having been skittled out for just 117 in 26 overs with Mitchell Starc taking 5 for 53.

This has been symptomatic of some of the team’s one day defeats and the same has been true in some T20 matches too.

A classic example of this came in the semi-final of the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup when they were up against old adversaries, and eventual champions, England. Posting just 168, India were undone by Alex Hales and Jos Butler who cruised to the target score with 86 and 80 respectively, inflicting yet another 10 wicket defeat.

So the evidence is very much pointing to the fact that the main failing of India at the moment may well be one of inconsistency when playing at the highest level.

The IPL effect

It can have escaped no-one’s notice that when it has come to T20 cricket they, to mix a metaphor, India has really picked up the ball and run with it. Now undeniably the biggest tournament the sport has ever seen it gives players the chance to earn huge sums for a few weeks’ work each year.

Because this form of cricket is all about hitting sixes, bowling to get hat tricks and generally creating a spectacle it has had an inevitable effect on the ways that players carry out their roles.

One of the areas in which this has had the biggest effect is in test cricket.

Gone are the days of steady progress at two runs an over and playing for the draw. Now it’s all about trying to recreate the levels of excitement that white-ball cricket can generate.

England’s now famous Bazball approach has shown that it can and does work and the first time India came up against it was in the already-mentioned Edgbaston test last August. Needless to say, they were left somewhat shell-shocked by the experience.

Looking to the future

But now it looks like this is the way forward, India are well placed to get in on the act. While many key players may just have a few seasons left in them yet, a new generation of names like Shubman Gill and Yashavi Jaiswal are ready to take over.

So it would be very surprising indeed if India don’t very decisively assert their dominance in the test arena once again.

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