I don't know how to watch and enjoy cricket

[Dulex9]

I was a 90s kid and just used to in the UK before I had sky, cable TV, I used to look at the scorecards and squads on teletext

I used to enjoy watching the numerous odi series, Sharjah, singer cup, South Africa odi series, Carlton and United series, Asia cup Dhaka, all sorts of three team odi tournaments played every year

Back then, 250 was a challenging score, until 2012

I used to be so obsessed and into cricket, scorecards, squads, I romanacised it

Come back home and just switched on cricket

DLF cup 2006, 230 defended etc

With 2020 and aggessive cricket, hardly much odi cricket

I just don't have the passion and romanticism anymore, I used don't watch or follow and don't even read previous on websites anymore

What can I do?

[DeadlyVenom]

Find something else to follow man its not farz that you have to follow and enjoy cricket.

[Dulex9]

I'll watch club cricket

[sweep_shot]

I have also lost interest in cricket. I feel like cricket died after T20 leagues became too big.

In other words, T20 has destroyed cricket as we know it. There is still cricket but it feels like something is missing.

Also, I feel like there is simply way too much identity politics in modern day cricket. It is cringy.

Finally, there is simply way too much cricket nowadays. It is hard to follow everything enthusiastically.

[Dulex9]

Scores of 350 are being chased down.

There will be from 3 match 20 20 series to five matches.

Odis are treated less and less nowadays

[SpiritOf1903]

A cricketing puritan?.

Unfortunately then game's evolved but if you have nostalgia, the good news is Pakistan still play cricket from many decades ago

[sweep_shot]

Scores of 350 are being chased down.

There will be from 3 match 20 20 series to five matches.

Odis are treated less and less nowadays

Yeah. Batters are scoring double centuries in ODIs for fun. Teams are scoring 400+ for fun. It is getting ridiculous.

There is no longer any standard.

Cricket has become way too batter-friendly. Need a bit more balance.

[JattMaula]

Golf is the sport for you. Baseball has low scoring. Curling can fill the void of relaxed atmosphere.

Cricket will keep getting more exciting. And ODI may be the format to die first.

Even test have more results now. Less draws nowadays. Not everyone's tea understandably.

[Kroll]

I don't know what team you follow but if its Pakistan, I get where you're coming from.

[gazza619]

Welcome to the club. I am also a 90s kid.

My passion is lower now but I still got it. Perhaps due to the fact that i couldnt fall in love with any other sports or team.

[Rana]

A cricketing puritan?.

Unfortunately then game's evolved but if you have nostalgia, the good news is Pakistan still play cricket from many decades ago

Exactly

How could you hate the brand we play in white ball?

[Dulex9]

I want to see waqur 5fer in Sharjah, inzys and yohanna many Sharjah Knocks

Sharjah a special place for Pakistani cricket

[ElRaja]

lol, its cos this pak team is full of preening self obsessed meek minded cricketers who have had their ego inflated by social media to the point where they can have the worst test season of pakistans history and someone will be tweeting their pics with love hearts in it.

i dont mean to be offensive, but this pak team, and the new crop of social media supporters is not easy for someone who grew up in the 90s to support. at least that team had swagger and some respect around the world despite being bent as hell. this current team is a second tier team, playing second-tier cricket for years, full for the most part of second tier goody two shoes with the personality of a soggy biscuit.

sorry for the rant, i just miss having a team to support i actually liked.

[BunnyRabbit]

Tests are still a joy to watch especially when held in England or SA.

[topspin]

lol, its cos this pak team is full of preening self obsessed meek minded cricketers who have had their ego inflated by social media to the point where they can have the worst test season of pakistans history and someone will be tweeting their pics with love hearts in it.

i dont mean to be offensive, but this pak team, and the new crop of social media supporters is not easy for someone who grew up in the 90s to support. at least that team had swagger and some respect around the world despite being bent as hell. this current team is a second tier team, playing second-tier cricket for years, full for the most part of second tier goody two shoes with the personality of a soggy biscuit.

sorry for the rant, i just miss having a team to support i actually liked.

So true and just to add Tableeghi Jamaat always removed the swagger from our players.

[Bilal Ahmad15]

I have been watching from 2016, so Im different to the OP, cricket was good to watch until the horrible 2019 super over moment. Ever since then I have become very frustrated at the sport. I don't want to write all of my thoughts on this since I am wanting to move on from this rubbish sport.

Basically, to summarise, the problems are;

Disorganisation - a random series after random series that has no purpose, and then a brand new useless T20, or T10 or something else league gets made, and what ends up happening is a screwed up schedule.

Thinking - Continuing on from disorganisation, basically, nowadays, if an ODI or Test Match is not part of a tournament, then it just becomes so useless. We simply cannot be having ODI and test matches that have no purpose, in terms of not being part of a competition. So what does this mean? There cant be anymore Bilateral ODIs, no more Bilateral Test Matches. Bilateral pretty much means useless (not joking).

So You may be thinking, what about ODIs then, if we cant have bilateral ODIs? My solution is to no longer have the ODI world cup, and instead have a ODI world championship, (same thing as test championship, except for ODIs). The reason for this, is because at the moment, ODI cricket is in a dead situation where, for every 4 year cycle, in 3 years and 11 months ODI cricket is dead and useless, but for the one month, it is exciting to watch for most, and that one month is the ODI World Cup. Basically, this is not sustainable, a horrible way to run a format/ sport. And besides, T20 World cup is more popular, as its same format as the trending T20 leagues, IPL, PSL etc. and in T20 there are higher chances of upsets happening, meaning a smaller team bating one of the top teams, which we just saw in the 2022 T20 WC, Netherlands beat South Africa, Zimbabwe beat Pakistan. smaller Teams are essential for sport to exist, and is one of many reasons why test cricket and ODI cricket is suffering.

You may now be asking; At the moment, there is an ODI WC super league being played, which is pretty much identical to my proposed World ODI Championship, but this super league isn't very popular, so why do you think this ODI world championship will work? And I say, its because the ODI super league is not recognised as the premier event for ODI cricket, people still recognise ODI world cup as premier event. And so this super league is viewed as (pretty much) another useless tournament like champions trophy or Asia Cup.

And the idea is for the ODI and Test Championship to have the same time frame, meaning spans across two years. and basically there should be a ODI championship semi finals and finals (both of which are three match series), and test championship 3 match series finals. For example; ODI world championship and test championship both being in July 2022, and the last matchweek for the league finishes in March 2024. Then one country, lets take England, will host the Test championship finals and also the ODI championship semi finals and final in June - July 2024. So they are right next to each other. This two year span should be the championship cycle. and then have the T20 WC every four years, so in 2027, 2031, 2035.

More on Bilateral series. Basically, any cricket matches cannot be organised by anyone except ICC. this will prevent the likes of India and Australia or Pakistan and England playing each other every 6 months, but we all know how greed and money wont stop this.

And now for international T20s; there should also be no more T20 bilateral series, as having too many t20 matches, is useless, despite the fact is does bring a high number of viewers, and financial success. This is a short term success, but this is also long term failure.

What I would do is have a T20 friendly, just like how international football teams play one friendly match against each other, not three or five or seven. I Wont go into more detail.

---------------------------------------------------

And now for the huge elephant; T20 Leagues, and the new formats.

T20 Leagues: I am not one of those people who has the huge unnecessary hate against these "circus cricket" T20 leagues. I understand that T20 leagues are one of the few valuable assets left in cricket, and I understand and accept why pretty much every nation has made a T20 league, while many players spend the whole year playing these "leagues". So instead of ignoring it, we must address it, as the money does the talk and the decisions.

Firstly, in order to achieve a success, in terms of organisation and so better entertainment and understanding, from these T20 leagues:

1) None of These T20 Leagues, Pakistan super "league", Indian Premier "League", Big Bash "League", are actually leagues, they are all tournaments, as they are one month long. My definition of a league is a competition that runs for a longer time period, like 8, 9 - 12 months. Having one month tournaments every single month of the year against an again repeated, is actually a huge reason as to why cricket is suffering and is so boring. One month tournaments are actually supposed to be rare, like once every two years or once every four years (example world cup), but in cricket, they come every month...

2) So lets say we have decided that the T20 leagues will run from July / August in the first year till April/ May in the next year. Firstly, due to weather conditions, only a few number of countries can host a league with this time scale. And those countries are India, Pakistan, Caribbean (which should join with the USA and Canada and create a Major league Cricket), Bangladesh and partially Australia. So, the leagues that should have an expanded timeline to 8 - 9 months, are; IPL, PSL, BBL, BPL and CPL. All the other leagues remain as one month tournaments, and get less screening time on sports channels.

3) In order for this new schedule to work out, the T20 Leagues cannot clash (meaning played at the same time) with international cricket. This is quite difficult to figure out, but if all the useless bilateral series is removed, then there is a lot more space than most think. T20 leagues and International cricket needs to work with each other, not clash. And so, this would mean The 8 month T20 leagues cannot be played form October to November, mid February to mid march, and June to Mid July, because ICC events are regularly held in these months. T20 Leagues also cannot be played from December to Mid January, because a heavy amount of international cricket is held in this time period. So once again its difficult to navigate, however, if we take another example The UEFA champions league, football competition, is successful even though it takes a massive break from november to february. One way to work the schedule out in having a 'T20 franchise break' just like how in football there is an international break.

4) If you haven't figured out already, this means IPL, PSL, CPL, BBL, BPL, and more can no longer there own separate window, most will have an issue with this, but if t20 leagues want to be organised and successful this is how it must be. And this leads me to my next crucial point: Players can only play for one team in one league, one team only.

5) We cant be having the same teams across multiple nations, example a Lahore Qalandars team in Pakistan, South Africa, and Ireland or a kolkata knight riders team in India, Trinidad, South Africa, Dubai. How about some creativity!!!
---------------

Now For the introduction of the new formats such as The Hundred, T10, 6Sixty, Ninety-Ninety, 3IC:

The introduction of these new formats should have never been allowed and should never ever be allowed, the people that made these new formats should be punished, all these new formats should be removed once and for all. My points of reason:

So a person is interested in the sport of cricket, and so he wants to learn about the rules of cricket, different formats, the competitions of cricket. Firstly, this person reads about the rules, the fielding positions, powerplay, of the different formats and is understandably confused. There isn't much anyone can do about this, as it takes time watching match after match to understand this sort of stuff in cricket.

Then this person decides to see the top competitions that are currently happening in cricket, because who wouldn't. He sees there is test cricket, ODI cricket, T20 internationals, and T20 leagues. alright so far. But wait, then he sees there is something called 'The Hundred' where it seems the match has 100 balls per innings, and then something called T10 in Dubai? He turns on the TV and sees a competition in the Caribbean called 6Sixty, but wait there is something called 3IC??? My point is; having Test Cricket, ODI and T20 is already too many formats imo, but these three formats can still work. But having hundred, t10, 6sixty, and all the other new rubbish, creates too much confusion, too much disinterest, not only fo new fans, but fore current fans. Complete disorganisation. Again, there should be no formats except ODI, Test, T20. But again, greed is strong.

------------------------

Lastly, the things everyone talks about. In ODI, scores of 350 are chased down, while t20 teams make 220, and so many nations have flat pitches for test that one sided matches where team score 500, 600, 400 are frequent. Lets not also forget the boundaries that make me sick...

In summary, the game nowadays is too heavily favoured towards batting. The biggest problem that needs to be solved is the pitches. The best example to prove this. in 2016 - 2018, England was developing as a greta LOI team, in their home they smashed Pakistan for 441, smashed Australia for 482, scored 350,360, 370 (and still do today) like it was nothing, and its mainly because of flat pitches. but in the 2019 world cup, when ICC has more control the pitches are more neutral, and guess what? The matches in the 2019 world cup were a lot better, less useless slogging, less 350, 400 scores, and it was a great world cup.

The best argument I have read (which was on PP), as to why Pitches are so flat, and the game is batting favoured, is; lets say England makes 400 and the other team is a smaller team that has no chance of chasing this, a flat pitches means its less challenging for batsman, and so it increases the chances of this smaller team getting bowled out early and so the whole 50 overs is completed which means broadcasting time is not lost. This is an understandable short term issue but in the long term its a decline, because competition is essential. Scores fo 400, 350 on flat pitches is not competition.

And also if one batsman is scoring a quick blazing hundred or fifty, it looks unique and great, but if everyone in team scores quick fifty, hundred, fours here from a tail ender, six there and everywhere from number 10, it becomes useless, no competition, means no sport.

But end of the day nothing is going to change about this rubbish sport, which is filled with greed, greed and greed. The people who run cricket alos don't realise that things in the confusing sport of cricket needs to be simple. They also lack the creativity and cricket entertainment smartness. I don't like to criticise but I've been heavily frustrated by this rubbish sport and ICC.

Which is why I only want to watch PSL now. I do have some ideas on PSL also.

So my advice to the OP is to either deal with it, or if you are like me and you cant, then best to stop watching cricket frequently.

[hafizexpress]

I started watching in 2009 since Pakistan lifted the t20 wc trophy and even watching since then I can see how much cricket has changed and evolved. We went from having 2 t20s, 5 ODis, 4 tests full series to having 5 t20s, 3 ODis (sometimes), 2 tests series. The standard scores are getting higher and higher. Bowlers are being dominated and the quality ones are getting injured more often. I remember when 160 in t20 cricket would be a huge total.

But despite all that, and following pretty much every series that has happen in the last 12-13 years and seeing how the game's changed, there is just something about this sport that keeps me glued to it. New players, new era, new playing style, but I'm sure many people can agree with me that if you were ever a cricket nerd once in your life, then you'll always somehow somewhere and sometime find yourself watching it again. It's this innate interest.

It is important to note though, that quality cricket is not dead. There are some brilliant moments. Although it was almost 4 years ago but the 2019 wc is not so in the distant past and that was an incredible tournament. The last t20 world cup wasn't that bad either. It's just not that much importance is being given to maintain consistency in keeping cricket competitive and less Hollywood. The t20 leagues and the rise of social media has made things worse.

[Double Trouble]

I am 90s supporter actually 80s watched Eng V Pak in 87 at Headingley live was obsessed with cricket going forward. Test cricket was over 6 days with Sundays generally a rest day making you wait in anticipation for the game to resume.

Ashes was 6 tests which was awesome.

Now we have 2 test series being played with so many T20 internationals as well as leagues cricket has become a bore fest.

Cricket is now at a stage even my kids don’t watch even if i force them.

End of watching cricket in general as other sports are taking more interest.

[Ryw]

I feel you OP, I am in the same boat,one of the biggest reason is non stop Cricket all year without pause.
I still remember to sit and wait for triangular series in Australia or sub continent middle east etc, its not T20, I m fine with it, its the non stop meaningless matches from jan to dec and repeat circle has destroyed everything, the charm the excitement.

I blame it on ICC, they are the governing body and come up with some solution to this, 2 top tournaments every year which includes top four teams( according to ranking ) , every two year champions trophy, every third year T20 World Cup and after every 4 years ODI Worldcup

[Colorblind Genius]

I was a 90s kid and just used to in the UK before I had sky, cable TV, I used to look at the scorecards and squads on teletext

I used to enjoy watching the numerous odi series, Sharjah, singer cup, South Africa odi series, Carlton and United series, Asia cup Dhaka, all sorts of three team odi tournaments played every year

Back then, 250 was a challenging score, until 2012

I used to be so obsessed and into cricket, scorecards, squads, I romanacised it

Come back home and just switched on cricket

DLF cup 2006, 230 defended etc

With 2020 and aggessive cricket, hardly much odi cricket

I just don't have the passion and romanticism anymore, I used don't watch or follow and don't even read previous on websites anymore

What can I do?

Switch to American baseball.
Once you get the hang of it, cricket would be even less appealing. It's just TOO MUCH of it now and many are in the same boat with you.

Quantity has taken over quality and supply is a lot more than demand.

[proud_pakistani]

I too don't enjoy the game as much as I used to. In the 90s cricket was an actual contest between bat and ball. Nowadays its more about the hitting ability. Major thing is the decline in fast bowling and lack of reverse swing. In the 90s the array of bowlers we had to watch in every team was brilliant.

[pakrock]

I just switched to watching 10 min highlights and just check cricinfo. Unless match is really interesting or world cup.. back in day used to follow and watch almost full matches but guess age and responsibilities catches up with u and things change as well...

[Varun]

I have been watching from 2016, so Im different to the OP, cricket was good to watch until the horrible 2019 super over moment. Ever since then I have become very frustrated at the sport. I don't want to write all of my thoughts on this since I am wanting to move on from this rubbish sport.

Basically, to summarise, the problems are;

Disorganisation - a random series after random series that has no purpose, and then a brand new useless T20, or T10 or something else league gets made, and what ends up happening is a screwed up schedule.

Thinking - Continuing on from disorganisation, basically, nowadays, if an ODI or Test Match is not part of a tournament, then it just becomes so useless. We simply cannot be having ODI and test matches that have no purpose, in terms of not being part of a competition. So what does this mean? There cant be anymore Bilateral ODIs, no more Bilateral Test Matches. Bilateral pretty much means useless (not joking).

So You may be thinking, what about ODIs then, if we cant have bilateral ODIs? My solution is to no longer have the ODI world cup, and instead have a ODI world championship, (same thing as test championship, except for ODIs). The reason for this, is because at the moment, ODI cricket is in a dead situation where, for every 4 year cycle, in 3 years and 11 months ODI cricket is dead and useless, but for the one month, it is exciting to watch for most, and that one month is the ODI World Cup. Basically, this is not sustainable, a horrible way to run a format/ sport. And besides, T20 World cup is more popular, as its same format as the trending T20 leagues, IPL, PSL etc. and in T20 there are higher chances of upsets happening, meaning a smaller team bating one of the top teams, which we just saw in the 2022 T20 WC, Netherlands beat South Africa, Zimbabwe beat Pakistan. smaller Teams are essential for sport to exist, and is one of many reasons why test cricket and ODI cricket is suffering.

You may now be asking; At the moment, there is an ODI WC super league being played, which is pretty much identical to my proposed World ODI Championship, but this super league isn't very popular, so why do you think this ODI world championship will work? And I say, its because the ODI super league is not recognised as the premier event for ODI cricket, people still recognise ODI world cup as premier event. And so this super league is viewed as (pretty much) another useless tournament like champions trophy or Asia Cup.

And the idea is for the ODI and Test Championship to have the same time frame, meaning spans across two years. and basically there should be a ODI championship semi finals and finals (both of which are three match series), and test championship 3 match series finals. For example; ODI world championship and test championship both being in July 2022, and the last matchweek for the league finishes in March 2024. Then one country, lets take England, will host the Test championship finals and also the ODI championship semi finals and final in June - July 2024. So they are right next to each other. This two year span should be the championship cycle. and then have the T20 WC every four years, so in 2027, 2031, 2035.

More on Bilateral series. Basically, any cricket matches cannot be organised by anyone except ICC. this will prevent the likes of India and Australia or Pakistan and England playing each other every 6 months, but we all know how greed and money wont stop this.

And now for international T20s; there should also be no more T20 bilateral series, as having too many t20 matches, is useless, despite the fact is does bring a high number of viewers, and financial success. This is a short term success, but this is also long term failure.

What I would do is have a T20 friendly, just like how international football teams play one friendly match against each other, not three or five or seven. I Wont go into more detail.

---------------------------------------------------

And now for the huge elephant; T20 Leagues, and the new formats.

T20 Leagues: I am not one of those people who has the huge unnecessary hate against these "circus cricket" T20 leagues. I understand that T20 leagues are one of the few valuable assets left in cricket, and I understand and accept why pretty much every nation has made a T20 league, while many players spend the whole year playing these "leagues". So instead of ignoring it, we must address it, as the money does the talk and the decisions.

Firstly, in order to achieve a success, in terms of organisation and so better entertainment and understanding, from these T20 leagues:

1) None of These T20 Leagues, Pakistan super "league", Indian Premier "League", Big Bash "League", are actually leagues, they are all tournaments, as they are one month long. My definition of a league is a competition that runs for a longer time period, like 8, 9 - 12 months. Having one month tournaments every single month of the year against an again repeated, is actually a huge reason as to why cricket is suffering and is so boring. One month tournaments are actually supposed to be rare, like once every two years or once every four years (example world cup), but in cricket, they come every month...

2) So lets say we have decided that the T20 leagues will run from July / August in the first year till April/ May in the next year. Firstly, due to weather conditions, only a few number of countries can host a league with this time scale. And those countries are India, Pakistan, Caribbean (which should join with the USA and Canada and create a Major league Cricket), Bangladesh and partially Australia. So, the leagues that should have an expanded timeline to 8 - 9 months, are; IPL, PSL, BBL, BPL and CPL. All the other leagues remain as one month tournaments, and get less screening time on sports channels.

3) In order for this new schedule to work out, the T20 Leagues cannot clash (meaning played at the same time) with international cricket. This is quite difficult to figure out, but if all the useless bilateral series is removed, then there is a lot more space than most think. T20 leagues and International cricket needs to work with each other, not clash. And so, this would mean The 8 month T20 leagues cannot be played form October to November, mid February to mid march, and June to Mid July, because ICC events are regularly held in these months. T20 Leagues also cannot be played from December to Mid January, because a heavy amount of international cricket is held in this time period. So once again its difficult to navigate, however, if we take another example The UEFA champions league, football competition, is successful even though it takes a massive break from november to february. One way to work the schedule out in having a 'T20 franchise break' just like how in football there is an international break.

4) If you haven't figured out already, this means IPL, PSL, CPL, BBL, BPL, and more can no longer there own separate window, most will have an issue with this, but if t20 leagues want to be organised and successful this is how it must be. And this leads me to my next crucial point: Players can only play for one team in one league, one team only.

5) We cant be having the same teams across multiple nations, example a Lahore Qalandars team in Pakistan, South Africa, and Ireland or a kolkata knight riders team in India, Trinidad, South Africa, Dubai. How about some creativity!!!
---------------

Now For the introduction of the new formats such as The Hundred, T10, 6Sixty, Ninety-Ninety, 3IC:

The introduction of these new formats should have never been allowed and should never ever be allowed, the people that made these new formats should be punished, all these new formats should be removed once and for all. My points of reason:

So a person is interested in the sport of cricket, and so he wants to learn about the rules of cricket, different formats, the competitions of cricket. Firstly, this person reads about the rules, the fielding positions, powerplay, of the different formats and is understandably confused. There isn't much anyone can do about this, as it takes time watching match after match to understand this sort of stuff in cricket.

Then this person decides to see the top competitions that are currently happening in cricket, because who wouldn't. He sees there is test cricket, ODI cricket, T20 internationals, and T20 leagues. alright so far. But wait, then he sees there is something called 'The Hundred' where it seems the match has 100 balls per innings, and then something called T10 in Dubai? He turns on the TV and sees a competition in the Caribbean called 6Sixty, but wait there is something called 3IC??? My point is; having Test Cricket, ODI and T20 is already too many formats imo, but these three formats can still work. But having hundred, t10, 6sixty, and all the other new rubbish, creates too much confusion, too much disinterest, not only fo new fans, but fore current fans. Complete disorganisation. Again, there should be no formats except ODI, Test, T20. But again, greed is strong.

------------------------

Lastly, the things everyone talks about. In ODI, scores of 350 are chased down, while t20 teams make 220, and so many nations have flat pitches for test that one sided matches where team score 500, 600, 400 are frequent. Lets not also forget the boundaries that make me sick...

In summary, the game nowadays is too heavily favoured towards batting. The biggest problem that needs to be solved is the pitches. The best example to prove this. in 2016 - 2018, England was developing as a greta LOI team, in their home they smashed Pakistan for 441, smashed Australia for 482, scored 350,360, 370 (and still do today) like it was nothing, and its mainly because of flat pitches. but in the 2019 world cup, when ICC has more control the pitches are more neutral, and guess what? The matches in the 2019 world cup were a lot better, less useless slogging, less 350, 400 scores, and it was a great world cup.

The best argument I have read (which was on PP), as to why Pitches are so flat, and the game is batting favoured, is; lets say England makes 400 and the other team is a smaller team that has no chance of chasing this, a flat pitches means its less challenging for batsman, and so it increases the chances of this smaller team getting bowled out early and so the whole 50 overs is completed which means broadcasting time is not lost. This is an understandable short term issue but in the long term its a decline, because competition is essential. Scores fo 400, 350 on flat pitches is not competition.

And also if one batsman is scoring a quick blazing hundred or fifty, it looks unique and great, but if everyone in team scores quick fifty, hundred, fours here from a tail ender, six there and everywhere from number 10, it becomes useless, no competition, means no sport.

But end of the day nothing is going to change about this rubbish sport, which is filled with greed, greed and greed. The people who run cricket alos don't realise that things in the confusing sport of cricket needs to be simple. They also lack the creativity and cricket entertainment smartness. I don't like to criticise but I've been heavily frustrated by this rubbish sport and ICC.

Which is why I only want to watch PSL now. I do have some ideas on PSL also.

So my advice to the OP is to either deal with it, or if you are like me and you cant, then best to stop watching cricket frequently.

I nominate this post for POTW.

[Major]

After Misbah retired I also lost interest. I loved his way of captaining the side, how he would be defending 230-250 targets, his usage of bowlers and his method of playing the game.

However, over the years I have become a fan of T20 cricket especially the PSL and World T20.

I dont watch international cricket anymore. Only ICC tournaments or PSL. I follow PSL religiously

[JattMaula]

Switch to American baseball.
Once you get the hang of it, cricket would be even less appealing. It's just TOO MUCH of it now and many are in the same boat with you.

Quantity has taken over quality and supply is a lot more than demand.

MLB season has only 162 games. Quality over quantity indeed.

[Bilal Ahmad15]

MLB season has only 162 games. Quality over quantity indeed.

I tried to get into Basketball, and I stopped watching it one reason why it became boring is because each team plays 82 games... Its just overkill imo, since first of all teams have to play everyone in their conference twice then (if I remember correctly) they play in this division group thing and then something else. I guess that's how Americans like it.

But anyways, now I just watch NBA one month in the year, during play-offs and finals, as Basketball is actually very entertaining to watch every now an then, whereas Cricket really isn't now.

[Mamoon]

A lot of people in the 90’s would not have enjoyed the game because of too much ODI cricket. They would be living in the past, i.e. 70’s and 80’s just like you are living in the past now.

It is understandable to a certain level because we all have an emotional, nostalgic attachment with the things that we enjoyed during your childhood.

However, you have to move on at some point and learn to adapt. Things will not stay the same forever. Change is the only constant.

[Tera Gawaandi]

TBH ODI cricket was bit boring in 90s, most excitement was either in first 15 overs or last 10 overs. Middle overs were drag. You knew that if Anwar, Sachin or Jayasuriya clicked in first 15 overs then contest is on otherwise it used to be one sided affair.

Australia changed the face of the game, no team dominated like they did. Every team started to look for their own version of Gilchrist and Bevan.

[Colorblind Genius]

I tried to get into Basketball, and I stopped watching it one reason why it became boring is because each team plays 82 games... Its just overkill imo, since first of all teams have to play everyone in their conference twice then (if I remember correctly) they play in this division group thing and then something else. I guess that's how Americans like it.

But anyways, now I just watch NBA one month in the year, during play-offs and finals, as Basketball is actually very entertaining to watch every now an then, whereas Cricket really isn't now.

Obviously you don’t have to watch EVERY game!
And I do understand if it’s a little harder to pick on it when you are not a resident of United States.
Mostly fans of every state follow and support their team and it turns into a fever in the play offs.

But then it’s not the number of games, but more so it is for the format.

I like baseball two major reasons.

One.
The rules are so fairly balanced that you don’t have to bend them in order to create short term shallow interest, just as they did by introducing T20 in cricket, which worked for lil bit. Then they started shortening the boundaries, which again, worked for a little bit, and then they started bending the rules heavily in favor of the batsmen.

And eventually, the batsmen became MONSTERS with hardly any class or elegance as it used to be.

And I think this is one of the reasons why cricket is not that appealing anymore because we feel that something is missing - which is class, elegance and quality.


Baseball in contrast is being played with the same rules for decades but the fans’ interest has no reduction.

Number 2
The way baseball is structured; there is a lot uncertainty behind every pitch that keeps the fan on the edge of their seats - it results in low scoring games. And low scoring games are always fun.
In baseball, if a team scores a lot of runs and the lead is 5 to 8 runs, the game gets sorta boring because fans could already guess the result.

Watch the excitement of the fans when a home run is hit in the home ground.

If baseball was played like T20 where you would see 6 after 6 after 6, and miss hit (instead of getting caught) also landing for a 6, fans would yawn at home runs.

[ElRaja]

TBH ODI cricket was bit boring in 90s, most excitement was either in first 15 overs or last 10 overs. Middle overs were drag. You knew that if Anwar, Sachin or Jayasuriya clicked in first 15 overs then contest is on otherwise it used to be one sided affair.

Australia changed the face of the game, no team dominated like they did. Every team started to look for their own version of Gilchrist and Bevan.

it was boring in historical context, but having one ball, reverse swing, fairer pitches, more level teams, 5 outside the ring, and a lack of overkill in league and other games meant even bilateral were something to look forward too.

for odis games with aggregates around 500 runs were the most entertaining. but now i dont think id watch a whole odi unless it was Pakistan in a world cup semi or final.

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Today’s cricket is designed for those who think the sport began in 2005. They think T20 is the pinnacle of the sport because it is ’fast’ and ‘short’ and will eventually be the only surviving format.

Sadly, they may be right on the last account.

[topspin]

After Misbah retired I also lost interest. I loved his way of captaining the side, how he would be defending 230-250 targets, his usage of bowlers and his method of playing the game.

However, over the years I have become a fan of T20 cricket especially the PSL and World T20.

I dont watch international cricket anymore. Only ICC tournaments or PSL. I follow PSL religiously

That's an understatement. I remember by your account that his retirement made you so emotional.

I appreciate it was a difficult time for you and it was akin to losing a loved one.

How did you deal with setback and how long did it take to get over it?

[Firebat]

I'm a Test cricket lover above all but the last 3 PAK home series have been slowly beating it out of me. Hoping this India-Aus series will reignite it with some good drama and competitive spirit. Already enjoying the pre-match pitch drama.

[Sunny_majoka]

I am watching since 2003 and i can say that my interest for watching cricket has only increased with time, absolutely love this sport no matter which format it is,

[Major]

That's an understatement. I remember by your account that his retirement made you so emotional.

I appreciate it was a difficult time for you and it was akin to losing a loved one.

How did you deal with setback and how long did it take to get over it?

When Misbah was captain, I would watch every game of his. I used to understand his method, his captaincy and his approach. For me, a series never started when the ball was bowled. THe series used to start when the PCB meetings would be taking place on selection. I would follow Twitter, and keep track of each news who is being considered. I even added his 1-2 friends on social media through whom I used to get bits on who is being considered and who Misbah did not want to be added in the squad.

Every decision he made on the ground, I understood the logic and I was able to to predict his moves. Loved watching him captain our test, odi and t20 side.

After the West Indies series, i stopped watching international cricket, as he retired after that. I did follow his domestic than and I was over the moon when Islamabad, my city, got Misbah in their PSL team. I couldn't believe it, he could had landed in any other franchise, but thank god my city got him. I always wondered if ISB united had planned to get him or some other team was going after him.

Anyways, at ISB untied he amde his own team, almost got kicked out, but ended up making a come back and winning the first ever psl an also the third psl. I even followed him at Peshawar Zalmi and got a shirt of the Zalmi with Misbah's name.

After he completely retired, I couldn't follow the teams. I felt lost and had little interest. You see, I couldn't enjoy the champions trophy as i would had when i was a bit younger. I only watched bits of it and watched the whole final.

I started to follow cricket again due to PSL. I started supporting Islamabad united again in 2020, and followed them. I enjoy the psl alot. Matches are at night, i have time to watch. The memes are just hilarious. I think its the social media that keeps us interested in cricket more, becuase every event that takes place on the field, the jokes and memes are flying in on facebook and its just entertaining.

Like when Iftikhar performs, you know the Chacha memes are coming on facebook .

Anyways, when Misbah was made coach, i started to follow the team again internationally, but i wasnt really watching the matches as didnt have the time for test and odi. Than came the world t20 2021. The way this team ended up beating India was just lovely and than our campaign in the 2022 world t20 which was the typical Pakistani campaign. Lost to a minnow, yet made it to the finals, while Indian posters kept crying on Pakistan as they departed after losing the semi finals.

I only follow ICC tournaments and PSL, as I have to go to work, do a 9 to 5:30.... So get no time to enjoy the game like I used to.

I wish I could had live in England, enjoy the game and play in sunday leagues. You lot have no idea the privileges you enjoy over there, especially if you are a cricket fan and eat halal food.

[Dulex9]

People who watched cricket in the 70s, 80s would've loved to watch odi cricket in the 90s.

India Vs Sri Lanka 2007 world cup 250 defended good example of this.

Even 70 off the last ten in the 90s batsmen panicked.

Faisal iqbal, Azhar mahmood, razzaq I miss those Asia cup 2000, Sharjah games.

[SpiritOf1903]

lol, its cos this pak team is full of preening self obsessed meek minded cricketers who have had their ego inflated by social media to the point where they can have the worst test season of pakistans history and someone will be tweeting their pics with love hearts in it.

i dont mean to be offensive, but this pak team, and the new crop of social media supporters is not easy for someone who grew up in the 90s to support. at least that team had swagger and some respect around the world despite being bent as hell. this current team is a second tier team, playing second-tier cricket for years, full for the most part of second tier goody two shoes with the personality of a soggy biscuit.

sorry for the rant, i just miss having a team to support i actually liked.

Potw

[JattMaula]

Potw

Seconded.

[Saj]

There used to be a time when you would wait and look forward to watching cricket.

Nowadays there is a constant diet and overload of low level crash, bang and wallop cricket.

Too much cricket, too many average players equals a lack of enjoyment.

[IAJ]

I have a different issue. Here in Norway you can not watch much cricket legally. Either you watch it illegally (IPTV) or you just follow the games here at PP or Cricinfo. Or of course watch highligths on YouTube when available.

[ElRaja]

Potw

Seconded.

thanks guy, wd be ironic if i a rant won potw, lol.

[uppercut]

A lot of people in the 90’s would not have enjoyed the game because of too much ODI cricket. They would be living in the past, i.e. 70’s and 80’s just like you are living in the past now.

It is understandable to a certain level because we all have an emotional, nostalgic attachment with the things that we enjoyed during your childhood.

However, you have to move on at some point and learn to adapt. Things will not stay the same forever. Change is the only constant.

well said as always but I find the brand of Test-Cricket thats played these days to be absolutely fantastic to watch ... Even the BD vs India series was fabulous. And the main reason is the pace at which the game is played ( thanks to ODI/T20 ) and top notch TV Coverage which can give you a far better view than what the umpire and wicket keepers have. Just brilliant and fascinating to watch.


And there is no better cricket than the BG trophy IMO. These 2 teams have produced some classic games in the last few years and this series wont be any exception.

So as long as people are not fixated to the hamare zamane mey aisa hota tha nonsense I feel the quality of Cricket on offer today is just brilliant.

[Colorblind Genius]

thanks guy, wd be ironic if i a rant won potw, lol.

You could've used commas instead of full stops to give it all in one breath to get QOTW nomination - and who knows if you would win it.

[Colorblind Genius]

well said as always but I find the brand of Test-Cricket thats played these days to be absolutely fantastic to watch ... Even the BD vs India series was fabulous. And the main reason is the pace at which the game is played ( thanks to ODI/T20 ) and top notch TV Coverage which can give you a far better view than what the umpire and wicket keepers have. Just brilliant and fascinating to watch.


And there is no better cricket than the BG trophy IMO. These 2 teams have produced some classic games in the last few years and this series wont be any exception.

So as long as people are not fixated to the hamare zamane mey aisa hota tha nonsense I feel the quality of Cricket on offer today is just brilliant.

I am sure you will get the taste of your own medicine in a few years. "Hamara zamane mey T20 hota tha" .. lekin aaj kal ye "one over game" ka wo maza nahi hai.

[Saj]

lol, its cos this pak team is full of preening self obsessed meek minded cricketers who have had their ego inflated by social media to the point where they can have the worst test season of pakistans history and someone will be tweeting their pics with love hearts in it.

i dont mean to be offensive, but this pak team, and the new crop of social media supporters is not easy for someone who grew up in the 90s to support. at least that team had swagger and some respect around the world despite being bent as hell. this current team is a second tier team, playing second-tier cricket for years, full for the most part of second tier goody two shoes with the personality of a soggy biscuit.

sorry for the rant, i just miss having a team to support i actually liked.

Low expectations, fans who are happy with a team that does ok in T20Is and has a couple of world class players.

I'm from the generation when our team was challenging and beating the great West Indies team in Test cricket.

Those were the days.

[uppercut]

I am sure you will get the taste of your own medicine in a few years. "Hamara zamane mey T20 hota tha" .. lekin aaj kal ye "one over game" ka wo maza nahi hai.

except I am not a teenager

[Colorblind Genius]

except I am not a teenager

That makes it even worse.

[KingKhanWC]

The issue is its just no cricket anymore.

Cricket is a battle between bat and ball. For this there must be an even contest between the two.

Bats are so thick , short boundaries, more fielding instructions, flat pitches are the main cause in LOI cricket.

Test cricket is simply not played enough. Having a World Test Championship without India/Pak playing makes a mockery of the whole thing.

Finally too much pjyama cricket leagues. Indians have historically had avg bowlers, they prefer high scoring on flat pitches to enhance their batsmen to some sort of Gods. Their large population meaning control of the game has also made the sport boring.

Overall to watch 3 hours or 7 or 5 days it has to be interesting, its not anymore.

[topspin]

When Misbah was captain, I would watch every game of his. I used to understand his method, his captaincy and his approach. For me, a series never started when the ball was bowled. THe series used to start when the PCB meetings would be taking place on selection. I would follow Twitter, and keep track of each news who is being considered. I even added his 1-2 friends on social media through whom I used to get bits on who is being considered and who Misbah did not want to be added in the squad.

Every decision he made on the ground, I understood the logic and I was able to to predict his moves. Loved watching him captain our test, odi and t20 side.

After the West Indies series, i stopped watching international cricket, as he retired after that. I did follow his domestic than and I was over the moon when Islamabad, my city, got Misbah in their PSL team. I couldn't believe it, he could had landed in any other franchise, but thank god my city got him. I always wondered if ISB united had planned to get him or some other team was going after him.

Anyways, at ISB untied he amde his own team, almost got kicked out, but ended up making a come back and winning the first ever psl an also the third psl. I even followed him at Peshawar Zalmi and got a shirt of the Zalmi with Misbah's name.

After he completely retired, I couldn't follow the teams. I felt lost and had little interest. You see, I couldn't enjoy the champions trophy as i would had when i was a bit younger. I only watched bits of it and watched the whole final.

I started to follow cricket again due to PSL. I started supporting Islamabad united again in 2020, and followed them. I enjoy the psl alot. Matches are at night, i have time to watch. The memes are just hilarious. I think its the social media that keeps us interested in cricket more, becuase every event that takes place on the field, the jokes and memes are flying in on facebook and its just entertaining.

Like when Iftikhar performs, you know the Chacha memes are coming on facebook .

Anyways, when Misbah was made coach, i started to follow the team again internationally, but i wasnt really watching the matches as didnt have the time for test and odi. Than came the world t20 2021. The way this team ended up beating India was just lovely and than our campaign in the 2022 world t20 which was the typical Pakistani campaign. Lost to a minnow, yet made it to the finals, while Indian posters kept crying on Pakistan as they departed after losing the semi finals.

I only follow ICC tournaments and PSL, as I have to go to work, do a 9 to 5:30.... So get no time to enjoy the game like I used to.

I wish I could had live in England, enjoy the game and play in sunday leagues. You lot have no idea the privileges you enjoy over there, especially if you are a cricket fan and eat halal food.

This was a great read. Thank you Major bhai.

Even though our views on Misbah are very different, the fact that you still back him shows how loyal you are to those around you.

[Mamoon]

well said as always but I find the brand of Test-Cricket thats played these days to be absolutely fantastic to watch ... Even the BD vs India series was fabulous. And the main reason is the pace at which the game is played ( thanks to ODI/T20 ) and top notch TV Coverage which can give you a far better view than what the umpire and wicket keepers have. Just brilliant and fascinating to watch.


And there is no better cricket than the BG trophy IMO. These 2 teams have produced some classic games in the last few years and this series wont be any exception.

So as long as people are not fixated to the hamare zamane mey aisa hota tha nonsense I feel the quality of Cricket on offer today is just brilliant.

The last 10 years of Test cricket has been fantastic, much better than late 90’s and 2000’s. My uncle is in the same boat - he was a cricket fanatic from late 70’s to early 90’s and couldn’t move on from the great players of his era.

He wouldn’t watch cricket anymore and would keep saying that there are no great players anymore until I persuaded him to follow cricket again.

Now a year later, he can’t stop singing praises of the great players playing today and agrees that they are every bit as good as those who played in his time.

I find it hilarious when people living in the past tell us that the great players of their time were so much better than the great players of today. That’s a load of nonsense.

Clive Lloyd’s West Indies will probably get smashed by India in India today but I do agree that they will beat India on Caribbean pitches.

Great players are great regardless of the time and era. People need to stop disrespecting the greats of today and it goes the other way around too. The greats of the past should not be disrespected.

Cricket, like any another sport, will not stop producing great players. It is up to you and move on with time instead of fixating on a particular period that is long gone. If that is what you want then you can stick to watching highlights on YouTube.

[Kroll]

The issue is its just no cricket anymore.

Cricket is a battle between bat and ball. For this there must be an even contest between the two.

Bats are so thick , short boundaries, more fielding instructions, flat pitches are the main cause in LOI cricket.

Test cricket is simply not played enough. Having a World Test Championship without India/Pak playing makes a mockery of the whole thing.

Finally too much pjyama cricket leagues. Indians have historically had avg bowlers, they prefer high scoring on flat pitches to enhance their batsmen to some sort of Gods. Their large population meaning control of the game has also made the sport boring.

Overall to watch 3 hours or 7 or 5 days it has to be interesting, its not anymore.

Great post, not to mention their doctoring of home pitches have made their average bowlers some sort of demi-gods. Indian dominance of cricket financially is such a drag for the sport, its even made the Aussies meek and subversive in front of them.

[KingKhanWC]

Great post, not to mention their doctoring of home pitches have made their average bowlers some sort of demi-gods. Indian dominance of cricket financially is such a drag for the sport, its even made the Aussies meek and subversive in front of them.

Yep, there are too many factors involved when one has so much power over a sport.

The principle applies to any sport, when the competitive nature declines so does the sport. Ie. T20 was introduced to even it up, make matches go to the wire but now we mostly know who wins after 10 overs in the 2nd innings.

The so called greatest match(by most) is Aus v SA where over 400 was scored but it was a poor match imo, so flat a school player could have scored 20-30.

Best match was probably Eng v NZ final in 2019, lower score and a good contest between bat and ball.