Does the Indian public care about test cricket?

[Cricket Tragic]

Did Test cricket ever really enjoy top precedence in India? Will a series-win in Australia ever match the emotional high of a World Cup triumph? Former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi reckoned the problem lies with the fans who are more attracted to the shorter versions of the game. "We are not like Australia or England, where crowds live and die by Test cricket. We just don't get enough crowd support while playing Test cricket, and it's the Board's duty to keep generating interest in the format. "In a way everything that is happening (the heavy loss against England) is for the good. Suddenly, youngsters are realising Tests is the ultimate thing," Pautadi told MiD DAY. In 1998, India played 40 ODIs -- compared to 12 and 25 by England and Australia respectively. India toured England for just six Tests between 1990 and 2002 and suffered seven defeats (of 8 Tests) in Australia between 1991 and 2003. Once the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) even pushed back touring New Zealand for several years just to fulfil Asian Cricket Council (ACC) commitments such as the Asia Cup and mundane tri-nation tournaments in Sharjah. In 2007, BCCI requested the England board to swap an additional Test with two ODIs. However, the minute India catapulted to the No 1 ranking in Tests in 2009, BCCI snapped at an impending marketing strategy. Last year, BCCI propelled Cricket Australia to change its tour itinerary from a seven-match ODI series to a two-Test and three-ODI series. As a result, India's 2-0 win helped strengthen their stranglehold of the top ranking. "Definitely, BCCI saw it as a way to popularise the format. Moving to No 1 was great, we are playing more Tests. BCCI should continue to promote T20 to attract masses but that should not coincide with first-class cricket," added Pataudi. Meanwhile, England will regain the Pataudi Trophy at the end of The Oval Test. Pataudi said the only bright spot was that stalwarts Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were genuine lovers of Tests. "One thing we can hope for is that Dravid and Tendulkar will leave behind a legacy. We cannot teach youngsters to love Test cricket, it needs to come from within. They need to grow up admiring Dravid's technique and Sachin's straight drive, not T20 sloggers. "My solution is make first-class cricket interesting. Youngsters who get their basics in place (by playing more first-class cricket), will also shine in IPL. We will produce better cricketers," he concluded. http://www.mid-day.com/sports/2011/aug/190811-Mansur-Ali-Khan-Pataudi-India-England-Test-Series.htm

[Guest Gunner]

No they don't.

[Trichromatic]

Not at all. Most of the fans are generally "Indian ODI-T20 cricket batting fans" and they prefer to watch highlights of test matches. I won't call them even cricket fans.

[Cricket Tragic]

I've added a poll.

[Trichromatic]

They do care about the result and scorecards though. :P

[Cricket Tragic]

They do care about the result and scorecards though. :P

And statsguru. :nervous:

[vvvslaxman]

It is difficult to guess that. But in ICF we do care.

[Guest Gunner]

^^I don't think anyone even watches test cricket. Not even older people. Absolutely no one has the time or the inclination. A few people here and there watch.

[Pagalpanti]

I enjoy watching test cricket, even when India was losing disastrously , I couldn't stop myself from watching the series.

[ganeshran]

I like watching test cricket. But many people simply dont have the time to follow it. ODIs and T20s enjoy higher billing.

[vvvslaxman]

^^I don't think anyone even watches test cricket. Not even older people. Absolutely no one has the time or the inclination. A few people here and there watch.

Even 20 years back it was like that. Think about 70s where there were no TV. I have only watched very few test matches from ball 1 on day 1 till last ball of 5th day. It is about following it. We certainly follow it. It doesn't have to be ball by ball.

[NareshK]

Nobody I know watches test cricket. They keep track of scores every once in a while but they dont watch it on tv even when they have the time. I'm not even talking about casual cricket watchers but people who love cricket. There is hell of a lot of interest for ODIs and T20s though. Another thing I noticed about Indian cricket fans is they love watching India bat than bowl. This is not just for the present poor bowling attack but even when India used to play at home with Kumble and Harbhajan on song. They first ask who won the toss and if India won and are batting, they would be happy. If its fielding, they would do something else and wait for India's turn to bat.:--D

[Cricket Tragic]

There was a survey conducted recently (not sure about the sample size) in India about the different forms of the game. ODIs emerged as the favourite.

[gaurav92]

Hardly a few watch it closely. Test Cricket is basically followed via Scorecards and Updates in Newspaper. ODIs are followed via radio and T20s are watched by a huge number of people. The discussion in Buses, local trains are that of IPL and World Cup and no one gives a **** about Test Cricket :((. I can see it from here, Test Cricket (although loved by a few) is dying in this era of Tonty Tonty

[Trichromatic]

Best example - I was living at university hostel for last 4 years. There were approx 2000 boys and most of them were so called cricket fans. Whenever India used to play ODIs, over 100s of people would gather in the TV room in each hostel. During WC SF, almost all 2000 people watched the match. During regular ODIs, people skip the bowling part and sometimes batting part after the collapse. IPL also drew attention of significant viewers. Often it was higher than international matches especially during first 2 editions. But I never saw many people watching test matches together. My friend group used to consistent follower of test and ODIs and for us 4-5 people everyone used to say "koi ho na ho, ye log TV room me match ke time jaroor milenge". Number of viewers at a time used to go beyond 20 only when something exciting was happening. For ex - Sehwag's double hundred or when Sachin was batting well. Based on those 2000 viewers, my guess would be something like : Average number of people watching test matches for at least an hour in a day : 20-50 Average number of people watching ODIs for at least 2 hours : 800+ Average number of people watching an IPL match for at least 3 hours - 500. Average number of viewers who watched those 10 overs when Ross Taylor thrashed Akhtar and Co. - 300+ :P

[achilles]

Sure. As long as we are winning.

[Sidhoni]

They dont give a damn about Test cricket. The youngsters are the ones who are more prone towards limited-overs cricket. And the senior citizens who have a decent knowledge of the game and understand it well are the ones who watch real cricket.Thats whats happening majorly. But, we ICFers are proud to say that we watch Test cricket with a lot of interest and most of us are youngsters too.

[Cricket Tragic]

I didn't expect such a lopsided poll. :omg:

[Prakat]

The poll tells it all. Pagalpanti is the only one that says yes.

[Pagalpanti]

^ Well because I think we do care about it, thats why we're seeing such harsh reaction by fans/experts. Its because of this Anna episode that these players have escaped from the heavy criticism they would've received from the media.