Quite
interestingly, one of the first things that caught my eye as I stepped out of
the immigration checks and into the gulf Kingdom of Bahrain was a prominent
hoarding of, of all possible sportsmen from around the world, Ricky Ponting;
endorsing an expensive watch brand.
The
first magazine that I picked up in the non-cricket playing, neutral country had
a small inset leading on to an article about the History of the Ashes.
Admittedly, it wasn’t a fantastically well written piece, and it was more
reworded research than knowledge, but there it was. And now, the more than
decent reception that the current Lanka- Pakistan series in Abu Dhabi received
shows that the Gulf has a lot of latent interest in Cricket, interest waiting
to be tapped.
Of
course, Cricket isn’t the most popular sport here, possibly not very close
either. For every 10 groups of kids playing football in empty playgrounds there
you will possibly find one group – usually expats from the sub-continent -
playing Cricket. There is little doubt about the fact that Football is the
number one sport in the world – or number two, possibly second to sex, (or then
again, maybe not, Brazilian men chose to abstain for a whole month when the
World Cup was on in Germany.
But then that’s Brazil,
boys there turn football pros before they lose their virginity. Or more likely,
they lose their virginity because they turn pro). But well, if you can’t beat Australia,
it is still something if you can be second to them.
The
CBFS series spearhead by Asif Iqbal added a useful dimension to the game. Dramatic
evenings under lights involving the best from the cricketing world (and not
just India and Pakistan) squaring off in front of packed, full houses - or at
least ones where you could see more people than chairs – and most importantly,
in a neutral venue.
But apart from the fact it gave us a fair
amount of exciting cricket, what it also did was keep live cricket alive in the
Gulf, and bring the hidden, latent interest in the game to the forefront. Interest
in any activity can be sustained or grown over a period of time only if the
audience has first hand access to the highest level of action in that
particular activity.
The Sri-Lanka – Pakistan
series in Abu Dhabi
seems to have gone some way in doing what its predecessor in Sharjah did.
Friends and acquaintances tell me that the series has received a fair amount of
media coverage, has seen good attendance and basically caught people’s
attention.
Cricket
is now at a stage in its evolution where it is beginning to grow truly global,
with cricket being played at various levels across all continents, but with a
fair share of problems that need to be sorted out before it’s too late.
It's the sort of spring board from where it can either complete a fantastic leap and
through various forms of the game – Tests, ODI’s, Twenty20 – grow bigger and
better than it ever was, but at the same time it stands a chance of not
grabbing the opportunities at hand and slipping down a few steps.
At such times, reviving the game and developing it in countries and regions which have a history of Cricket
behind it will be a huge plus. The Gulf is a useful market with interest,
disposable income and some global aspiration value. Let’s hope international
cricket returns in full swing, and we see some more fantastic Arabian nights .