The irony of it all

[cowboysfan]

http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/21734/only-7-percent-indians-prefer-test-cricket/ Even though players such as Sachin Tendulkar may feel that Test cricket has become more entertaining but an MCC survey has revealed that only seven per cent of Indian fans chose the longest format as their preferred form of the game. The poll, commissioned by the Marylebone Cricket Club, covered 500 fans each from three countries - India, South Africa and New Zealand. In contrast, 58 per cent of the Indian respondents chose Twenty20 Internationals as their favourite format while 31 per cent said the ODIs were their preferred form. Rather surprisingly, the lucrative and successful Indian Premier League got just four percent of the votes, 'The Age' reported. In the three countries overall, 13 per cent said they preferred Tests to the limited-overs contests. The survey also shows that despite reports of public fatigue, ODIs remains the most popular format with 36 per cent of the fans across the three countries choosing it. The findings of the poll were presented to the International Cricket Council's Cricket Committee earlier this month in Dubai, where both groups reaffirmed their commitment to preserving all three forms. In India, 58 per cent of respondents said the emergence of Twenty20 had reduced their interest in Test cricket, while 23 per cent of South Africans and 13 per cent of New Zealanders felt the same. But almost two-thirds of Indians and three-quarters of South Africans said Twenty20 might spark their interest in the longer formats. Armed with the findings, the MCC's World Cricket Committee implored administrators to give the longest form of the game the "loving care and attention" it deserves. "It's not as if the game is falling apart, but it has been scooped by Twenty20 and I think we would be foolish if we didn't think it was universal," MCC's World Cricket Committee Chairman Tony Lewis was quoted as saying by the report. "We just can't sit back and let that happen. Test matches need loving care and attention, and they need to be played when people can watch. Can people afford to support all the brands of cricket? That's a really big question, I think. Australia and England don't feel the pinch so much in Test-match cricket but other countries do." The survey is expected to be presented to chief executives of the Test-playing nations at their next meeting. -------- this is worrying trend which we cannot ignore.bcci might be giving what the people want.

[Celeste]

India problem in 20/20s is bowling. With Sehwag,Gambhir & Yuvi, batting is already at full strength. In 2007 WC, India did well because RP & Sreesanth were in good form.

[vvvslaxman]

Don't take these polls seriously. This means nothing. Probably some horny teenagers voted for T20 because of cheerleaders :hysterical: . Actually India is the one who is affected by T20. Even Padosis play more Tests next year. Look at Australia. They suck in T20 worse than us.

[graphic23]

CBF - 500 fans? Thats akin to interviewing 10 people in the US and 9 out of 10 of them saying that they dont watch baseball. Its an unscientific poll, and not one worth paying attention to. Seriously, do you really think 500 people are going to represent a population of millions of fans? And as vvvs stated, its probably some teenagers who voted for T20.

[cowboysfan]

i admit 500 seems low but i think most polls are conducted with just a few hundred or thousands.The point is most of the ICF members love cricket and that's the reason they interact here.I cant say the same for most other indian cricket fans i know.they all seem to love cricket but will rarely ever watch or even care to watch a whole days play of TEST cricket.i have rarely watched test cricket with my family but have watched many ODI matches with my whole family.this phenomenon cant be unique. I still think its a worrying sign.

[nballa]

We MUST do well in T-20's. its the future of cricket. shame that we are no 8. even Sri Lanka managed to defeat us. its a damn shame. a damn shame.

[Guest Hiten.]

We MUST do well in T-20's. its the future of cricket. shame that we are no 8. even Sri Lanka managed to defeat us. its a damn shame. a damn shame.

Whoever told you its the "future" is wrong. It is "part" of the future. So don't sound too melodramatic, neighbor :winky:

[vvvslaxman]

Whoever told you its the "future" is wrong. It is "part" of the future. So don't sound too melodramatic' date= neighbor :winky:

:hysterical: Test Cricket has withstood recession, 2 world wars, one dayers, kerry packer.. Suddenly it is going to die. Fear mongering crowd from pakiland never cease to amuse us.

[Jersey #10]

The Crowd for THREE TEST MATCHES = 10 * (The crowd for the FIRST T20 GAME) Which format has all the fan following and the craze? :hmmm:

[punjabi_khota]

The Crowd for THREE TEST MATCHES = 10 * (The crowd for the FIRST T20 GAME) Which format has all the fan following and the craze? :hmmm:

If it is really true, I don't think we have to worry too much. The test matches lasted a total of 11 days, so basically on an average every day of the test matches had a crowd equal to that of T-20 match. Or maybe you just messed up the figures ? :hysterical:

[Jersey #10]

We(Indians) pretended to not care about ODIs when it started off with a bang because we sucked at it. Pakistanis took it on a serious note. Today we get to see Pakistani fans come up with a legit list of W/L ratios with pride. We Indian fans try to act as if that list does not hold any importance when it really does. We try to ignore it and say that your team sucks at this time even though they don't. In the reality Pakistan were NUMBER ONE even before the ICC rankings came into the place. This is why their success is not documented properly. It took India decades to get to number one in the tests and also in ODIs (not there yet, but will be in near future). I can see the same thing happening to T20. India will be left behind just like the ODIs and then we will be pretending to not care about it even though we will because the majority of the games in the future are going to be T20s and ODIs. The world is running fast and people have less time to watch sports compared to the old times. I don't see India reaching number one spot in T20 in next 50 years if the attitude remains the way it is right now. Pakis will come out with their list of W/L ratio and India will be far behind in the list. ps. I tried to work out my logic with pakistan as an example because we often compare our team with pakistani team. btw, ICC will come out with T20 rankings right after 25-30 matches are played by 8 top teams.

[Jersey #10]

If it is really true, I don't think we have to worry too much. The test matches lasted a total of 11 days, so basically on an average every day of the test matches had a crowd equal to that of T-20 match. Or maybe you just messed up the figures ? :hysterical:

exactly my point, look at the efficiency. (11*7) 77 hours (tests) = 3 hours (T20) T20 game can excite same amount of people in 3 hours compared to 77 hours in Tests. As far as craze is concerned there should be no doubt neither arguments. as far as my figures are concerned, Ravi Shastri said that there were roughly 3-4 thousand people during the second test. In today's T20 match it was a full house of 45,000 people.

[ludhianvi]

i admit 500 seems low but i think most polls are conducted with just a few hundred or thousands.The point is most of the ICF members love cricket and that's the reason they interact here.I cant say the same for most other indian cricket fans i know.they all seem to love cricket but will rarely ever watch or even care to watch a whole days play of TEST cricket.i have rarely watched test cricket with my family but have watched many ODI matches with my whole family.this phenomenon cant be unique. I still think its a worrying sign.

I agree. The general crowd attendance at a t20, ODI, and a Test Match can be a good indicator for the popularity of each format in India. The attendance at t20's and ODI's outnumbers that of Test matches by a BIG margin. Yeah there are still people who come to watch Test matches and those that watch on TV but those tend to be the die hard fans IMO.

[punjabi_khota]

exactly my point, look at the efficiency. (11*7) 77 hours (tests) = 3 hours (T20) T20 game can excite same amount of people in 3 hours compared to 77 hours in Tests. As far as craze is concerned there should be no doubt neither arguments. as far as my figures are concerned, Ravi Shastri said that there were roughly 3-4 thousand people during the second test. In today's T20 match it was a full house of 45,000 people.

In your original post, you said Crowd in 3 tests = 10 *(crowd in T20). Now you are not mentioning that factor of 10 ? You probably meant the other way. So much for UVA > VT :hehe:

[vvvslaxman]

If it is really true, I don't think we have to worry too much. The test matches lasted a total of 11 days, so basically on an average every day of the test matches had a crowd equal to that of T-20 match. Or maybe you just messed up the figures ? :hysterical:

Ahem.. people watch test matches at home. They prefer that. Just because there is no crowd on the stadium it doesn't mean nobody follows it. Probably the aunty crowd is more for T20 :hysterical:. For T20 game at MCG they had a crowd of 100,000 plus. More than for a Test match. If you go and tell an Australian that T20 is more popular in Australia because of that they will laugh at you.

[Jersey #10]

In your original post, you said Crowd in 3 tests = 10 *(crowd in T20). Now you are not mentioning that factor of 10 ?

Your claim was that there were 11 days of test. Assuming that all 3-4 thousand people showed up each of the 11 days we would have 33-44k of audience for total of 3 Test matches(3 matches = 11 days =77 hours) now 33-44k people of all three tests (11 days or 77 hours) = 3 hours of T20 game with roughly 45 thousand people.

[punjabi_khota]

Your claim was that there were 11 days of test. Assuming that all 3-4 thousand people showed up each of the 11 days we would have 33-44k of audience for total of 3 Test matches(3 matches = 11 days =77 hours) now 33-44k people of all three tests (11 days or 77 hours) = 3 hours of T20 game with roughly 45 thousand people.

You suck at math man. Change your major.

[vvvslaxman]

I agree. The general crowd attendance at a t20, ODI, and a Test Match can be a good indicator for the popularity of each format in India. The attendance at t20's and ODI's outnumbers that of Test matches by a BIG margin. Yeah there are still people who come to watch Test matches and those that watch on TV but those tend to be the die hard fans IMO.

When India won a historical Test at MCG in 1980 the stadium was practically empty. :winky:. Back in the mid 80s lot of India/Pakistan matches were played infront of near empty stadium. It is an unsubstantiated theory that is floating aroun, less crowd means less interest. Make a 5 over game. You will have more crowd. Main reason the crowd is more for T20 is because of its brevity. Nothing more.

[Jersey #10]

People watch T20 at home too I would assume that majority of the crowd at the ground was from Nagpur. What about the other fans all around the country? I bet they watched it on their TVs. Why only India? My dad also bought the T20 package from Dish network in the US. We didn't buy a package for tests..

[Jersey #10]

O sh!t, I got the equation wrong :poink: It should be other way around :wall: Well you get the point :D 10 times more crowd for a T20 match...