Virat Kohli is the man of the day!

He is making his debut as a test-captain on the Indian soil and it is not going to be an easy beginning. He doesn’t need to prove his credential to anyone what with coming from behind and snatching victory in Sri Lanka and showcasing his master skills.

However, in India it is going to be different and that too against South Africa, a team that is in its full elements!

There was a time when India was really strong in its own backyard at least, with players like Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Lakshman, Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag ruling the roost and ensuring that no one was able to defeat us in India.

Things have changed now. The senior most player of the current lot, M.S.Dhoni, like others, has also retired from the longer format of the game and there is no one experienced enough in the time to guide the younger lot. Virat knows it very well that he will have to lead from the front and that’s where his challenge lies. Openers like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Cheteshwar Pujara are still not settled and despite being powerhouse of talent, each one of them is still miles away from being consistent in their performances.

On their good day, they can beat the best teams of the world single-handedly, but that one “good day” comes rarely!

On top of it, our bowling unit is still not fully functional. Either our pacers are going after pace or trying to maintain right line and length. Either they try to stop runs or they try to take wickets. There is no perfect balance and no leading senior bowler, who can really come forward, take the onus of producing results and inspire juniors in the team!

In this backdrop, the test series with South Africa looks really difficult and very challenging as the visitors are very well settled and having enormous talent amidst their ranks to create chaos for us. While Indian team is still looking to find the right combination of batsmen as well as bowlers, the visitors are looking sure of their strategy on how to contain India and give us a knocking punch!

Virat knows it all, but the question is whether he is ready to take the bull by its horns or are we going to just see a lot of experimentation without productive results?

Let’s hope our youngsters come out all guns blazing and prove their mettle! When fighting against the best, one’s best comes out!

Here’s hoping that Virat is able to bring out not only his, but his teammates’ best as well and come out victorious!

Good luck boys!

The post Virat Kohli Knew It Coming, But Is He Ready? appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

There is a famous saying these days which says that if you sincerely wish for something, the whole Universe conspires to give it to you. It seems the collective wishes and prayers of a host of sportspersons across all kinds of sports except cricket are being answered right now!

The writing is on the wall!

Cricket is dying, day by day, week after week, year after year and the slide is quite phenomenal!

However, the silver lining is it is dying at the cost of other sports which are taking the space which was single-handedly grabbed by an entertainment giant called Cricket.

But first, let’s share with you some figures about cricket’s slow and steady decline.

Hard Facts!!

Firstly, cricket’s reach in India has declined from 77% in 2010 to 70% in 2014.

If one compares the income distributed by BCCI to players, it has declined from Rs. 49crores in 2012-13 to just Rs. 11 crores in 2013-14! Now that is a huge drop!

So what is happening?

Nothing much, except the fact that fatigue is setting in. In this age of really fast life, people are not finding enough time to sit through an 8-9 hour long One-day match without the crowd-pulling power of some outstanding players. It is a fact that the era which took cricket to its stupendous heights was due to some heavyweights of Indian cricket comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. One by one everyone retired, but the final blow was Sachin’s retirement. A whole generation who got stuck to their TV sets due to maestro’s batting suddenly felt a void and couldn’t relate to his absence. No player has been able to fill the big shoes even though Virat Kohli does look promising. In short, the attraction isn’t that huge now that one gets the tendency to leave everything to just watch a match! Moreover, there are other means of entertainment for quick gratification instead of spending five days or even 8hours on a cricket match when it is not inspiring enough!

Who is winning?

The obvious winners are other sports leagues launched in recent years, including comprising of sports like football, hockey, kabaddi, badminton and tennis. These sports take almost as much time as a T-20 takes so it easily squeezes in the busy schedules. The working population is going for variety and the youth isn’t connecting to cricket the way their elders did almost 20years ago. In a way it is good because the money available to promote sports gets distributed for the development of other neglected sports and sportspersons. Instead of only one sports body getting richer and richer, everyone gets a pie of the action and benefits from it.

The Way Forward..

The only question to be answered is whether BCCI and ICC are in tune with changing realities or living in their cocoon? Globally, only 14 countries play cricket and the sports bodies have plans to cut short the number of teams playing in the next World Cup to only 10. In a scenario when cricket is losing its sheen in the biggest market, India, and no major development is happening to promote the sport in other countries, what is the future of cricket not only in India, but world over?

Till they ponder over it, let’s enjoy our IPL games!

At least they are not going anywhere, anytime soon!

The post Cricket Is Dying In India And So Are The Generated Revenues! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.