What's Eating Indian Cricket?

Neil Young, that ageless rocker, once sang, “Hey, hey; my, my; rock ‘n’ roll can never die”. He could have sung the same about cricket, that wonderful game. Most Indians are cricket fanatics. The team at Forbes India is no different. Almost half of Forbes India’s staff—editor included—suffers serious productivity issues when an exciting cricket game is on. Come IPL season and all of us here indulge in serious probability calculations to pick winners in each game.

Over the last eight months something has changed. The mood has been distinctly downcast. Productivity of the staff—other things being equal—has remained high in spite of India playing fairly frequently and that too against some strong opposition like England and Australia. This would have been an unthinkable situation a year ago.

There are reasons to believe that across India, cricket fans are experiencing a long winter of discontent. Barely had they begun to savour the after-taste of the fantastic World Cup win, the IPL season started. The 70-odd matches sapped everyone’s patience and enthusiasm. Then came the disastrous tour to England. When everyone thought the misery would end with 2011, things got even worse with the Aussies too handing out a clinical beating to India.

So will someone tell us what exactly is going on with Indian cricket? The best man to answer such a question is N Srinivasan who is the most powerful man in Indian cricket. Shy, cricket lover, conservative, canny, but above all an able administrator, Srinivasan has to keep the cricket gravy train chugging along smoothly. Does he have an explanation? A plan?

Get the answer in Abhishek Raghunath, Udit Misra and Mitu Jayashankar’s cover story on what’s eating Indian cricket.

If cricket leaves you a bit downbeat, help is at hand. The latest issue of ForbesLife India, our quarterly ode to fine living, is now out on the stands and is devoted to the elusive concept of ‘class’. It is classy, as it should be, and has many memorable pieces but read the one by Shabana Azmi and the one on AR Rahman. Both are guaranteed to lift your spirits.


Best,
Shishir Prasad
Deputy Editor, Forbes India
shishir.prasad@network18online.com
Twitter ID: @shishir1969