Are modern Gen cricketers dumber ?

[ravishingravi]

Looking at Ashes. India Eng series. And every other big series. The strategic sense and tactical thinking has gone to the dogs. 

 

There are some auto pilot decision by both batsmen and bowlers that belies logic. If a batsman comes in why would you have an in and out field and give him easy single. As batsman, why would you take on that field early in your innings. 

 

Looking at this stupid short pitch tactics. It's almost like clockwork that bowlers forget that ball has a seam which can be used. Bouncer is an effective tool if it surprised the batsmen. But I find the stupidity of both batsmen and bowlers exasperating. Bowler has set the field back for a pull. Batsmen know what's coming. But yet they go for the pull and hook with low percentage. 

 

So can't blame the captains because this works. But then begs the question of it's battle of the stupid. Yesterday Australia could have just played England out of the game. Just duck and bowlers will lose steam in 30 min. Same for India at Lord's. 

 

T20 like smartphone has rotted the brain is what I think. 

[Number]

Attention spans have gone for a toss due to smartphones, quick and accurate search engines and social media apps. I hate to be a nostalgia merchant but across fields I see a decline in quality of human talent be it almost every sport or other things.

 

Machines made an average human physically weaker and less enduring as they could do work on their behalf.

 

May be in a few generations cognitive abilities of humans will also decline as there is no need to read and remember anything.

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2025 by Number

[R!TTER]

1 hour ago, Number said:

Attention spans have gone for a toss due to smartphones, quick and accurate search engines and social media apps. I hate to be a nostalgia merchant but across fields I see a decline in quality of human talent be it almost every sport or other things.

Nah, we're processing too much info that our brains can't cope with! I've grown up in an era where we didn't have telephones at our home, then we had 1 rupee STD/local(?) call revolution from BSNL, then RCOM did the free(unlimited?) calls bundling with device back in 2003/04 & then Jio with unlimited free 4g around 2014/15 or so!

 

Basically our brains were never meant to handle that much data, given the sensory overload we already have with our organs. This is why this AI arms race is so *ing dumb 

 

You are literally making something smarter than you - also potentially "immortal" as well.

[Mariyam]

Cricketers are an extension of society in general.

 

Modern Gen aka Gen Z people are dumber than all their predecessors. Cricketers are just a jock subset of that already dumb generation. 

[MK55]

In and Out fields are typically set if u don’t have much runs to defend or if the team has the tendency to score quick and tear the game apart in a session. I don’t have a problem with that. Cricket is a game of confidence and scoring runs helps the batter and vice versa for the bowler. But yes can’t always be a given - depends on the match situation too.

 

Many batters are just compulsive pullers. By setting a field like that, u make the batsman conscious and that can make him even more uncomfortable. But yes there has to be some element of surprise too regardless of the field. And the most important with a short ball strategy is raw pace and accuracy with the short ball.

 

I would say the quality of stroke play is many levels above what we had in the past but test match endurance has dropped down concurrently.
 

Edited December 6, 2025 by MK55

[vvvslaxman]

Australia is one of the most practical team going around. There is a method to their approach. They strike a balance between freedom and responsibility. Anyway brain explosion happens in any era. That is where team management has to play a role, partner has to play a role. Laxman was often criticized for exposing tail too much. But it kinda worked for him. Most recent brainfades iinvolved Pant. One due to Kela's mile stone obsession. 

[BacktoCricaddict]

More like the average ICF poster is of Grandpa age going "it was better in my day."

 

First, It's not that the generation is dumber. They play much more short form cricket and are applying tactics from there to red ball cricket. Oldies knew only one way.

 

Second, we are wiser observers. I'll contend that stupid decisions were less obvious to us when we were starry eyed youngsters watching our heroes play. 

 

To me, cricket today is much more robust and innovative. The shots that are played, athletic fielding and different bowling tactics needed in different formats, different ball types etc are more exciting to watch than the dull dreary draws of previous decades.

 

 

 

[maniac]

They are fitter, faster, have less patience so play a much faster game. The althelticism has improved by leaps and bounds but you still see a lot more dropped catches and chances because there are lot more risks being taken and lot more chances being created.

 

they are fully geared up, have powerful bats so their attacking instinct instead of self preservation mode also goes up.

 

Just because someone plays a blocakthon doesn’t make them smarter.

[Chakdephatte]

34 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

More like the average ICF poster is of Grandpa age going "it was better in my day."

 

 

I mean, how do you ever assert that one generation is smarter than another? There is no objective ground for this. No methodology apart from hamare zamane mein bias. 

 

The op is based on this assertion without any evidence. 

[vvvslaxman]

Brook was criticized for throwing it away when they had the game in their hands at the oval. But fact is that is how he got there. Playing risky inside out shots. Same goes for Pant. Ofcourse there are scenarios where batsmen ocan take a step back. MSD, Kohli are all calculative in the ODIs. Smith in Tests.

[coffee_rules]

Dumber to keh nahin sakte.  Par alalmand ya bewakoof jaroor keh sakte 

 

— Kapil Dev

[cowboysfan]

England have made a mockery of Test cricket and we are not far behind,the 2 richest boards are not producing good Test cricketers. 

 

[Laaloo]

Just now, cowboysfan said:

England have made a mockery of Test cricket and we are not far behind,the 2 richest boards are not producing good Test cricketers. 

 

Both the boards will be insanely better if they both get rid of the idiot coaches.

[Lord]

It's also because so called 'aggressive' cricket is lauded by fans and experts alike.

 

People would take Baz over Kallis/Dravid today, in Tests

 

Pujara was last of his kind.

[Lord]

1 hour ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

More like the average ICF poster is of Grandpa age going "it was better in my day."

 

First, It's not that the generation is dumber. They play much more short form cricket and are applying tactics from there to red ball cricket. Oldies knew only one way.

 

Second, we are wiser observers. I'll contend that stupid decisions were less obvious to us when we were starry eyed youngsters watching our heroes play. 

 

To me, cricket today is much more robust and innovative. The shots that are played, athletic fielding and different bowling tactics needed in different formats, different ball types etc are more exciting to watch than the dull dreary draws of previous decades.

 

 

 

 

Hey I'm in my 30s

[maniac]

2 minutes ago, Lord said:

It's also because so called 'aggressive' cricket is lauded by fans and experts alike.

 

People would take Baz over Kallis/Dravid today, in Tests

 

Pujara was last of his kind.

Pujara would have played Odis if he was in the 90s/ early 2000s Indian team. I remember Ganguly suggesting him for SENA Odis  

 

players play 3 formats, because of the modern gear they are better equipped for playing 140+ and can back to clear boundaries against spinners in mishits too. 
 

you can’t have a smartphone and use it like a old school flip phone.

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

Nasser actually pays tribute to how smartly Australia batted today. Just spent time so that they could bowl at the perfect time

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tdlv-XRZyQ

 

[Lord]

4 minutes ago, maniac said:

Pujara would have played Odis if he was in the 90s/ early 2000s Indian team. I remember Ganguly suggesting him for SENA Odis  

 

players play 3 formats, because of the modern gear they are better equipped for playing 140+ and can back to clear boundaries against spinners in mishits too. 
 

you can’t have a smartphone and use it like a old school flip phone.

 

 

 

90s ODI pitches were lot spicier tbh. Some of the modern greats wouldn't have a career then.

 

Yes boundaries getting shorter, pitches getting flatter have sort of dictated the approach

[vvvslaxman]

As far as Engand goes they don't know how to bat time. THey have lost a lot of tests because they couldn't defend their way out .  E

[vvvslaxman]

Just now, Lord said:

 

90s ODI pitches were lot spicier tbh. Some of the modern greats wouldn't have a career then.

 

Yes boundaries getting shorter, pitches getting flatter have sort of dictated the approach

2023 final exposed our "modern day" ODI greats. Just a little tacky pitch booom we got stuck. We scored more in 2011 final than in 2023 final