Bat Out Of Hell

• Batting techniques suffer, bowlers becoming incidental
  
• Test and first-class cricket could become sidelined. Even number of ODI matches could fall.
  
• Big money means players might put club before country
  
• Lesser time for players to recover from injuries
  
• Game's corporatisation brings ignorant managers into orbit

• Better money for even on-the-fringes players
  
• Professionals organise/market cricket more efficiently
  
• Interaction with big-name players helps youngsters
  
• Newer audiences for the game

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Neeraj Chopra, who coaches at Delhi's Modern School, says that sort of scene has been happening a lot lately. "They've been watching the IPL...and they want to play the shots being played there." Chopra is a firm supporter of change, but wants power cricket to be encouraged only after the kids are 16-17, once they have learnt correct technique. He says he would not curb adventurous strokes if a batsman shows the ability to pull them off successfully. Chopra agrees that his views are are not exactly those of the cricket purist but adds: "When change comes, there will be resistance. But in a few years, T20 cricket will be everything, and it's good to move with the times."

Change, it seems, is sweeping playgrounds across the nation, with the unforeseen success of the IPL playing catalyst. For instance, Delhi's Lala Raghubir Singh tournament, a summer breeding ground for aspiring players, has changed its 40-over format to T20 even though "the expenses are more, floodlights and generators have to be installed," according to tournament president S.P. Bansal.

And you can't just blame the kids, even grown men are clamouring for it: they've come out of retirement to play in the IPL and, in at least one case (Adam Gilchrist), opted out of international cricket as anyway the money was better here. Money being the last arbiter, some have even played without fully recovering from injuries, in turn affecting their place in the national side. The marketing men of the franchise owners held sway, some of whom were even seen trying to teach the pros "how to win". In a strange twist, the IPL matches themselves have had little or no recall value. Yet, there looms the threat of a second season in a year, which might even affect domestic competition schedules.

And it's the coaches who don't have a stake who seem worried. Delhi-based Tarak Sinha, who's been guru to Manoj Prabhakar, Ajay Sharma, Atul Wassan, Ashish Nehra and Aakash Chopra, is certainly not enamoured of the format. "Twenty20 could be fatal to cricket," Sinha says. "We counsel the kids to spurn the attractions, but it's not possible because it's all over. ..the media has given it massive coverage."

Former Indian captain Bishen Singh Bedi believes the fruits from the seeds sown now will be bitter. "Just what are you going to learn in four overs? You're giving a PhD degree to a primary-pass kid," he told Outlook. "It's a tamasha for the public...59 games in 45 days in this heat, this hiring and firing, it's not cricket. It's too unreal, I don't remember a single game."

Bedi's somewhat quixotic views though run contrary to the spirit the IPL has imbued in the game in India. Even some of the international players admit T20 is nothing more than a spectacle, a made-to-order tamasha, an FMCG for the masses. As one young India batsman put it, "There's no question of getting your eye in. We're playing strokes now that were barred earlier! And in this short a format, who can really blame us if we fail?" Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan wizard who was pulverised by Yusuf Pathan in the IPL final, said in an interview: "It's fun, nothing more than that. Do you think you can call it proper cricket?" Yet, Murali also said he would gladly play in two IPL seasons a year. Clearly then, it's not cricketing excellence that's luring the Lankan genius to India.

That's not to say the cricket hasn't been competitive. The smell of a contest, whether in Tests or T20, must rouse sportsmen. The IPL, beginning with a lopsided whimper at Bangalore, was capped by a last-ball thriller in which pre-tournament no-hopers Rajasthan Royals vanquished the Chennai Super Kings. "Even though I'm not a fan of T20, I'm sure I'd have enjoyed it," Imran Khan, former Pakistan captain, told Outlook. "When you step on to the ground, playing before those huge crowds cheering for you, you do get involved. You'll fight to win...in any contest."

But a passion for the contest can be dangerous, as also the excess of sport. Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar missed his team's first seven games as he had not recovered from a groin injury; he played the next seven, but pulled out of the Bangladesh tour due to, according to physio Nitin Patel, a "chronic groin ailment". Zaheer Khan, recovering from a heel injury, played a few IPL games and has now been declared "not fit for national duty". A hectic calendar, involving play and travel, leaves players raw in body and soul. "Players need time to recover from injuries, and that time is being denied to them. The injuries will only get worse," says Imran.

Indeed, dark clouds hang heavy over the pitch. Writer Mukul Kesavan even believes the end of first-class cricket could be nigh. If the IPL continues to expand, as it will, there might be a second season, and it will take up a larger part of the cricketing calendar, devaluing first-class and even Test cricket. A Swapnil Asnodkar or Dinesh Salukne, who have been dazzled by what cricket can be, may now find no love in playing to an empty stadium, without the media spotlight. This could severely diminish player ambition. A Ranji trophy star, refusing to be named, says he can't bear not playing for India, now that he's seen so much money and adulation.

The flip side is that finally even for the fringe players financial security is just a match away. They get serious money now, not as largesse but as a right—after all it's they who have enabled the organisers to reap the huge profits. M.S. Dhoni, India's odi and T20 captain, says "it'll help them focus on the game without worrying about anything else."

Other benefits are of course the oft-quoted ones. Playing with the modern greats of the game will always help hone the skills. As Yusuf Pathan put it, "Playing with coach-captain Shane Warne was an education...we've learnt much from his attitude, how to face the pressure, how to play the game. Also, we've never had this kind of support staff, fan following in domestic cricket. " Mumbai coach Lalchand Rajput talks about two other spinoffs—better fielding and running between the wickets, though the second point is debatable.

What's beyond debate, according to Kesavan, is the peril domestic cricket faces. "Will first-class cricket become so demoralised so as to virtually collapse?" Kesavan asks. "There's money, power, and popularity with the IPL. If the IPL sucks the oxygen out of the room, so to speak, how will first-class cricket survive?" He proposes a league involving clubs from the South Asian nations—India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. "It will introduce an element of national passion, keep alive the base of first-class cricket in the region. I don't know who would do it, because Sharad Pawar (BCCI chief) and Lalit Modi are only interested in popularising T20 rather than reviving first-class cricket."

Coach Sinha too isn't sanguine about the future: "The damage to the game will be visible in a few years. Good spinners will disappear, they'll be just limited to stemming the run flow. Scoring runs without the right technique is impossible. It's OK to get 20-30 runs in T20, but there's much cricket beyond it. First-class cricket, Test cricket, will be finished. Those who play cricket seriously will be fewer." Can't say how that would affect the new fans though. They'll perhaps be thinking there's enough runs to make a match of it.