What do you hate about Cricket ?

[CommonMan]

The ads between overs.. :headshake: channels starts the ads, as soon as the 6th ball of the over is delivered..

[Herculus]

any more ??

[achilles]

Yes. The Australian form of sledging coz its everything but decent.

[Herculus]

Anyone hates too much of T20??

[retterimp]

our factory of trundlers :mad:

[Chalks]

Playing every second game against Sri Lanka. :banghead:

[Pak_Forever]

T20 - small boundaries and flat tracks ODIs - win toss-win game, no-ball limit and flat tracks Test - watching matches in sub-continent Over-all: Useless ICC throwing book of code of conduct and penalties on sledging to minor hand gestures (especially at Asian teams). Enough of gentleness in this game, it just makes it more boring.

[Mr. Wicket]

Good to see you back SJS. Agree with all of your points, though this one in particular hits the mark.

3. The increasing levels of "cricket-illiterates" amongst the game's followers. I understand that this is not a very popular and palatable comment amongst cricket lovers for many seem to consider it a personal affront. Trust me this is meant as nothing of the sort. A very miniscule minority of cricket lovers have first hand knowledge of the game's intricacies and nuances from the direct experience of having played it at decent levels. This is not something new. This has always been the case. However, a very large number of those outside this group, were very knowledgeable (some amongst the more knowlegeable even when compared to the finest cricketers) and their knowledge was acquired. It was acquired from the written word and from the spoken word (from the time live commentaries on radio or TV became common). Unfortunately this source has dried up considerably. Firstly because reading cricket books for anything except knowing the 'masala' of the cricketers experiences, isn't most people's idea of spending precious time. The print media has lost out majorly from the electronic media and the last named considers "eye-candy" a much more important item on their menu than hard core cricketing bread-and-butter. It used to be an absolute delight to sit in a pavilion and talk cricket to the vast number of really knowledgeable people one met there. Today it is impossible. If you are interested in screaming, waving 4's and 6's and "I love you mama"placards, and wave frantically at the camera and join in the Mexican waves, you must go and see a Test match in India. If you want to be able to sit and get completely absorbed in the battle between bat and ball, discuss whether a man should be removed from the off side and brought to forward short-leg and why, you better look for your cricketing friends and invite them home to watch the game on TV.

The other big issue in recent years is that Twenty20 and IPL in particular have appealed to a lower common denominator, a type of fan who normally would not have either the patience, understanding or intelligence to follow and appreciate the other formats of the game. This may have expanded the number of fans in general, but it continues to dumb down the game (particularly with things like IPL increasingly focusing on crude slogging, commercials and crassness like DLF maximums as Manny had commented on). The focus shifts away from the game, you get more and more folks from Bollywood and other media taking more relevant roles, and meanwhile older, more knowledgeable fans begin to drift elsewhere (look even here, where people like BossBhai and Dhondy have spent less time following the game than earlier) while you get a rush of fans coming in to lap up the fireworks, cheerleaders and DLFs with about 20 brain cells between their collective heads. When you look at what's happened because of IPL, it's clear the fan base has increased - but probably the overall IQ of these fans hasn't changed too much. Heck, you only need to look on the board here to see signs of how much lower the average cricket fan's intellect and understanding has become, with keyboard warriors who treat an innings in a test as a single match, who can think of 20 ways to 'jinx' a batsman from reaching a milestone or take shots at Pakistan but wouldn't know mid off from square leg and the ways top players like Dravid and Laxman so often get marginalized and frequently insulted for their "slow" and orthodox batting. But we have hundreds more fans now who'll worship Yuvraj on both knees because he can hit six sixes and is "cho chweet". Not surprisingly with this shift towards a lower common denominator, standards of journalism and coverage on the game have similarly plummeted - 15 years back you had the likes of Roebuck, Bhogle, Guha, Selvey, Frith and co. whose commentaries (in print or by mouth) on the game would be intelligent and informative for anyone. Before that of course you had other great folk covering the game; the Fingletons, Arlotts, Ray Robinsons, etc. These days we get the usual regurgitative and paint by numbers crap from most journos on places like CI - and this is considered good, because of the alternatives of the 15 second soundbites on which club XXX was seen in, and how chweet a couple Dhoni and his wife really are.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

Heck' date=' you only need to look on the board here to see signs of how much lower the average cricket fan's intellect and understanding has become, with keyboard warriors who treat an innings in a test as a single match, who can think of 20 ways to 'jinx' a batsman from reaching a milestone or take shots at Pakistan but wouldn't know mid off from square leg and the ways top players like Dravid and Laxman so often get marginalized and frequently insulted for their "slow" and orthodox batting. But we have hundreds more fans now who'll worship Yuvraj on both knees because he can hit six sixes and is "cho chweet". Not surprisingly with this shift towards a lower common denominator, standards of journalism and coverage on the game have similarly plummeted - 15 years back you had the likes of Roebuck, Bhogle, Guha, Selvey, Frith and co. whose commentaries (in print or by mouth) on the game would be intelligent and informative for anyone. Before that of course you had other great folk covering the game; the Fingletons, Arlotts, Ray Robinsons, etc. These days we get the usual regurgitative and paint by numbers crap from most journos on places like CI - and this is considered good, because of the alternatives of the 15 second soundbites on which club XXX was seen in, and how chweet a couple Dhoni and his wife really are.[/quote'] Sums up the state of affairs. Another thing is, and this is related to the people you generally see on these forums - with the advent of statsguru and other cricket stats websites, it has become very easy to crunch numbers and falsify knowledge about an event. people may never have watched someone play, but a quick look at the stats and the preconceived notions that come with those numbers immediately makes them feel like experts who can comment on that particular player. but in reality they arent experts at all, they are just morons who know how to manipulate stats guru and have no first hand knowledge of what happened. before statsguru became the fountain of knowledge, people learned about the game by actually watching cricket matches, reading articles in the papers afterwards, discussing with other people. that's real knowledge. stats were never really a focal point of discussion, because people would be able to talk about the value of the player based on what they had seen of him and how they thought he could play. that doesnt even happen anymore. you see this in journalism as well. take a look at the stats heavy articles on cricinfo - lots of pointless stats brought up, being made the focus of the article, instead of being used as something to supplement a broader qualitative observation or argument. i dont even bother reading the articles on cricinfo anymore - the site is only useful for tracking news and for looking at pictures, live scores, etc.

[Desi Cartman]

SRT vs Bradman comparisons Lara Vs SRT Vs RP comparisons

[Ranjha]

I hate that I haven't got to see India winning a 50 over worldcup.

[EnterTheVoid]

Agree with Salil, SJS and Manny, I also want to add the following: Those who uses Statsguru to explain a players averages, strike rates (tests) etc without having any understanding of the context of the match situation, the team composition etc, please do yourself a favor and go watch a test match live. Watching a test match LIVE is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences one can enjoy and when you're in the stadium amidst thousands of spectators, and experience the crowd, the atmosphere, the pressure, only than you will better appreciate the skill and talents of the players. Statistics without context are meaningless.

[ludhianvi]

Its impossible to hate anything about cricket because one loves it so much but then there is cricket and there is cricket :-) I have tried, hard trust me, but am not able to accept what goes on at the T-20 format as cricket. I don't hate T-20 but it does nothing for me, nothing whatsoever except, sometimes to be able to see great 'cricketers' playing and I can watch Sachin playing even if it was in a gully with ten year olds. But the games themselves do not excite me. Coming back to the question, while I do not hate anything about the game, I do feel very disappointed at a few things. Here they are off the cuff and in no particular order since I am thinking them up as I type . . . 1. The spectator's apathy to the first class game which in turn has led to the decline in interest in Tests. Connected to this, I am disgusted that the authorities at ICC as well as the individual boards are doing so little to resurrect the first class game. Top international cricketers do not, in many countries most notably India) do not think it worthwhile to play in the FC game thereby denying the game of the attraction for spectators, the test of skills that those in the fringes of international cricket need and the eventual revival of the game at the levels that matter the most. The media, both print and electronic does not seem to realise (again most glaringly in India) how much they could have contributed to the game if they covered FC cricket as they did 20 years ago and the damage they are unwittingly perhaps, causing to the game by not helping to market the FC game more effectively. Finally the BCCI (and others like them) for not giving the above any thought.

Good Post SJS :two_thumbs_up: You should post more often . I think there is a market for FC matches and a lot of fans actually would like to watch the players at the domestic level. While TV coverage has improved slightly for the knockout matches in Ranji, its still very difficult to watch the group stage matches, especially for those not in India. I would love to follow Ranji's if there was coverage.

[ludhianvi]

Aimed at the arrogant assumptions some make here: The next bit is a general assumption that a few make and its disappointing when one makes such assumptions. I recall my gym teacher saying this once, dont ass-u-me as you will make an a.rse out of u and me. I would like to clarify. There are few of us who can watch any form of cricket be it Test, 50 over, or T20's and like the different flavors that each format provides. Just because a few dont mind watching T20's, it does not mean that they do not like to watch the 50 over game or Test cricket. I enjoy watching cricket whether it be a park cricket game played by my friends. Heck, a lot of people have been watching and following cricket for more than 20 years Was there t20 back then? NO!! t20's are only a couple of years old. Give me good TV coverage of First Class cricket or u19 World Cup, and I'll be eager to watch that as well as will a lot of others here.

[Herculus]

Playing every second game against Sri Lanka. :banghead:

you are RT this shows that the ICC cant make a proper INT calender Read my other threads to find out ways of improving it

[Herculus]

Agree with Salil, SJS and Manny, I also want to add the following: Those who uses Statsguru to explain a players averages, strike rates (tests) etc without having any understanding of the context of the match situation, the team composition etc, please do yourself a favor and go watch a test match live. Watching a test match LIVE is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences one can enjoy and when you're in the stadium amidst thousands of spectators, and experience the crowd, the atmosphere, the pressure, only than you will better appreciate the skill and talents of the players. Statistics without context are meaningless.

Sums up the state of affairs. Another thing is, and this is related to the people you generally see on these forums - with the advent of statsguru and other cricket stats websites, it has become very easy to crunch numbers and falsify knowledge about an event. people may never have watched someone play, but a quick look at the stats and the preconceived notions that come with those numbers immediately makes them feel like experts who can comment on that particular player. but in reality they arent experts at all, they are just morons who know how to manipulate stats guru and have no first hand knowledge of what happened. before statsguru became the fountain of knowledge, people learned about the game by actually watching cricket matches, reading articles in the papers afterwards, discussing with other people. that's real knowledge. stats were never really a focal point of discussion, because people would be able to talk about the value of the player based on what they had seen of him and how they thought he could play. that doesnt even happen anymore. you see this in journalism as well. take a look at the stats heavy articles on cricinfo - lots of pointless stats brought up, being made the focus of the article, instead of being used as something to supplement a broader qualitative observation or argument. i dont even bother reading the articles on cricinfo anymore - the site is only useful for tracking news and for looking at pictures, live scores, etc.

Good to see you back SJS. Agree with all of your points, though this one in particular hits the mark. The other big issue in recent years is that Twenty20 and IPL in particular have appealed to a lower common denominator, a type of fan who normally would not have either the patience, understanding or intelligence to follow and appreciate the other formats of the game. This may have expanded the number of fans in general, but it continues to dumb down the game (particularly with things like IPL increasingly focusing on crude slogging, commercials and crassness like DLF maximums as Manny had commented on). The focus shifts away from the game, you get more and more folks from Bollywood and other media taking more relevant roles, and meanwhile older, more knowledgeable fans begin to drift elsewhere (look even here, where people like BossBhai and Dhondy have spent less time following the game than earlier) while you get a rush of fans coming in to lap up the fireworks, cheerleaders and DLFs with about 20 brain cells between their collective heads. When you look at what's happened because of IPL, it's clear the fan base has increased - but probably the overall IQ of these fans hasn't changed too much. Heck, you only need to look on the board here to see signs of how much lower the average cricket fan's intellect and understanding has become, with keyboard warriors who treat an innings in a test as a single match, who can think of 20 ways to 'jinx' a batsman from reaching a milestone or take shots at Pakistan but wouldn't know mid off from square leg and the ways top players like Dravid and Laxman so often get marginalized and frequently insulted for their "slow" and orthodox batting. But we have hundreds more fans now who'll worship Yuvraj on both knees because he can hit six sixes and is "cho chweet". Not surprisingly with this shift towards a lower common denominator, standards of journalism and coverage on the game have similarly plummeted - 15 years back you had the likes of Roebuck, Bhogle, Guha, Selvey, Frith and co. whose commentaries (in print or by mouth) on the game would be intelligent and informative for anyone. Before that of course you had other great folk covering the game; the Fingletons, Arlotts, Ray Robinsons, etc. These days we get the usual regurgitative and paint by numbers crap from most journos on places like CI - and this is considered good, because of the alternatives of the 15 second soundbites on which club XXX was seen in, and how chweet a couple Dhoni and his wife really are.

Good Post SJS :two_thumbs_up: You should post more often . I think there is a market for FC matches and a lot of fans actually would like to watch the players at the domestic level. While TV coverage has improved slightly for the knockout matches in Ranji' date=' its still very difficult to watch the group stage matches, especially for those not in India. I would love to follow Ranji's if there was coverage.[/quote'] The statistics of World Cricket is in a chaos too. Thats why i was proposing to start World Cricket afresh after the 2011 ICC WORLD CUP. Remove the 50 over format and T20 for men.Let us start from zero with Pro35. But still have T20 for women and U-15 but not for men. Let IPL and all other LOI leagues be played with Pro35. Also press the Refresh button for FCs and Tests with better TV coverage and commentry and World Test Championship.

[King]

The games such as the one last night Bangladesh vs England. Any test match involving Bangladesh and to a certain extent West Indies (right now). The ODIs can be boring, test cricket is great and Twenty20s do give close games.

[EnterTheVoid]

Also, the IPL owners who have shown no compromise in reducing the number of games out of fear of financial losses. 96 games is completely untennable. Its not as if they are welcome, they are an unwanted distraction. You'd go to a cricket match to watch, errr, .... a cricket match (:idea:) not some singing, dancing theatrics. The current number of matches in the IPL (54?), I feel is too much. I wonder how anyone can stomach 90 odd matches next year.

[Don Sharma]

Decline in the number of sporting wickets worldwide.

[Pak_Fan_4_Eva]

T20, dead tracks,power play and too many matches :@