(Photo source: The Statesman)

Cricket, the game that unites the world. Game with 2.5 billion fans across the world is spreading across the globe with franchise league cricket. The Immediate commercial success of Twenty20 that multiple domestic-based and internationally resonant competitions subsequently emerged Leagues like IPL, BBL, Caribbean Premier League, Pakistan Super League etc. has taken the game to a different height. The shorter format became more frequent and more dominant. Local country cricketers are getting platform to show their talent and play with international players. Countries have made these leagues the criteria for the selections. These leagues are making cricketers popular and are making huge money.

Cricketers are choosing these league cricket over national teams. Leagues are happening all over the world throughout the year. Cricketers are choosing league which offers them more money and are working on their skills to hit ball harder rather then timing. Strike rate matter more than the time they spend on the crease.

According to a 2016 survey conducted by the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, an organization that represents professional cricketers, 58.6 percent of players from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, New Zealand and South Africa said they would consider rejecting a national contract, in favor of exclusively playing in domestic T20 leagues. National contracts for a team like the West Indies can often pay their players a quarter of the contract for Australian, English and Indian cricketers.

With these shorter formats of game, the focus is on hitting the ball out of the ground rather than playing along the ground. Cricketers are trying to develop 360-degree shots; they aren’t bound to play strokes in the V direction.

The standards of the game are going low when we compare it with the test cricket. Test cricket doing more dying than ever, as research reveals more and more fans become interested in doomed format. Openers aren’t able to score centuries and every cricket board is facing the same issue. People are retiring from the longer format and focusing on the shorter format of the game. Test cricket which is considered the game’s highest standard isn’t the goal of our generation. Cricketers are finding the small route to knock on the gates of the national team that is through the league cricket or the shorter format.

Cricketers are finding themselves more active in the gym and the social media rather than the practice sessions. Players are becoming a brand with advertisement contracts in their mind and popularity in their heart. Getting their wife and girlfriend along in every tour is seen as common thing.
Fielding is improving day by day. Players are working really hard to pull out catches that seems impossible. Every team has a specialist coach for every department, there is a physio, strength and conditioning coach, masseur, video analyst which were never there before to improve in all aspects of the game.

The level of umpiring has gone low in the past few years. The decision of umpire is always questioned. The idea of using 2 new balls in one innings in one days international has killed the reverse swing and the ball never gets soft. Bowlers aren’t looking for wickets they are looking for the wide Yorkers to stop the flow of runs. Score below 300 looks like achievable in todays cricket with small grounds and highly advance bats.

While Cricket is growing each day, people have made it a business. On one hand where more cricketers are getting chance to play and prove themselves in these league tournaments, there are legal applications to bet on your player and make money for example dream 11, my11circle, halaplay which encourage fixing. With its cheerleaders, loud music, and quick-fire entertainment, T20 was credited with reviving cricket in the 21st century with no tickets unsold. Players began to master the new skills demanded by T20 and to improve their fielding, throwing, and fitness. Traditional cricket however is no more competitive with results coming in 4 days. Cricketers who have slow striking rates aren’t getting sold in twenty-twenty leagues which force them to adapt and learn the power game resulting in forgetting the traditional textbook way of “playing along the ground.”