2000s: Cricket's roller-coaster decade

Call it turning of the wheel or irony, the game of cricket was engulfed in a crisis 10 years ago and as the noughties draw to a close, cricket again finds itself in a mess. Not surprisingly, the reasons for the crises within the 10-year span are the same: money

The start of the decade saw eminent cricketers and former captains like South Africa's Hansie Cronje, Pakistan's Salim Malik and India's Md Azharuddin have a dalliance with shame: they got banned for life for their nexus with bookies and match-fixers. Others like Ajay Jadeja, H Gibbs and Nicky Boje too received varying degrees of penalties. While the ICC tried to counter the greed of the players by hiking prize money for top events like the World Cup, the often powerless body had to surrender to two hungry masters, the BCCI and TV networks whose appetite for non-stop cricket kept getting bigger.

Nowhere in the world was it seen more than in India. In the previous decade, the Indian team figured in 69 Tests and 257 ODIs while in the 2000s, Indian players were milked for 103 Tests and 307 ODIs, 20 T20s and two frenetic IPL seasons, the second of which was played in South Africa. The More is Better malaise caught up with other boards too as players were asked to play day in and day out. Burnout started becoming a serious issue.

India not only became the go to destination for sponsorship, it also started producing cricketers of note who were fearless. Under Sourav Ganguly and John Wright, the team started playing aggressive cricket and exhibiting an in-your-face attitude. And it started the journey to the No. 1 spot in Tests.

While the rise of India as Test cricket's No. 1 nation is laudable, what is not is its board's growing reputation as Lord & Paymaster. A cricket-mad population, a cricket-hungry media and 90% of the sponsorship money coming from India, gives the BCCI the bragging rights; the right to act like dictators and indulge in some vulgar and often unreasonable bargaining.

From the removal of umpire Steve Bucknor midway through a series, backing Harbhajan Singh despite a blatant violation of rules to towing the Government's line and supporting Zimbabwe's inclusion in the international arena despite its shocking human rights record are classic examples.

As if boards bending over backwards to accommodate India and its rockstar like team wasn't enough, the IPL, introduced on the back of India's great T20 World Cup win and the hype and money it generated, made it cricket's Frankenstein. The monster killed the ICL and gave itself more power to demand windows in the FTP. Crucially, these demands had the implicit backings of the players too -- an issue that worried rival boards no end. While the ICC hasn't succumbed to the pressure, it knows that it will have to sooner or later.

Other boards were guilty of succumbing to the dollar and the host broadcasters too. Hence, instructions were given to curators to produce wickets that lasted five days. It meant, rising batting averages and worsening bowling averages. A score of 600-plus, once considered rare, was registered 50 times in Tests in this decade. Eight triple hundreds were made in Tests with Virender Sehwag achieving the feat twice. Batsmen went past the 250-run mark 17 times and Brian Lara scaled Mount 400.

In ODIs, boundaries were made smaller. It basically sounded the spinner's death knell and took flight and guile out of the window. Rules were tweaked to suit the batsmen and the ICC even introduced the ‘supersub’ rule in 2005, but that didn't last. The Decision Review System introduced in 2008 caused a lot of debate and continues to trigger heartburn as it undermines the authority of on-field umpire, reducing him to a walking-talking shirt-hanger.

T20 arrived in England in 2003 and was universally accepted as cricket's saviour. It certainly has spiced up the ODI game just as the ODIs spiced up Tests. The game has got faster, but it also has prompted people to question the existence of the ODIs.

It's clear that the viewers are greedy and hungry for instant entertainment. The broadcasters are selling ad spots for T20s like hot cakes. The IPL and the money it offers has allowed players to choose one form over the other and remain content just to play IPL.

How much more can a 22-yard game of 22 men take? Cricket survived the greed of players and bookies in the last decade. Will it survive the greed of the administrators, advertisers, franchises and viewers in the next one?