Run machines

In recent times, ODI cricket has seen a surge of big impossible-looking scores. Is that helping the game at all? Read what our expert has to say.

There was a time when 300 was considered almost unthinkable and just over ten years ago, when India chased down 314 against Pakistan at Dhaka, we reacted as if a summit had been reached. 300 is still an outstanding score and guarantees more wins than losses but it must remain a distant target. Anything more than that should be the result of an extraordinary batting performance. But when you start nudging 400, and 350 starts appearing a little more frequently you start to wonder if the contest is getting redefined.

At its heart, cricket must remain a contest between bat and ball, and anything less than that demeans the sport. When it becomes a contest between one set of batsmen and another, it robs the game of its very essence. And that is why scores in excess of 350 leave me a bit cold. I have always felt that a boundary should be an event, where the batsman triumphs over a bowler’s skill and his field placement. That event cannot be trivialised. I still believe that the best one-day game is where a side makes 270 and the side batting second struggles to get there.

Having said that, there is something else that must worry supporters of good cricket. India’s fielding is hitting rock bottom and we aren’t even talking about singles becoming twos as a matter of routine. In days gone by, we used to joke that if India made 300, the opposition had to chase 275 and that if they made 300, India needed to get 325. Those days are upon us, just as the days of routinely delayed flights are. The quality of fielding is a barometer of the attitude of a team and I hope a lot of the Indian players are feeling a bit stupid watching their own replays.

But this giant cloud has a pretty silver lining. Virender Sehwag, in this form, presents a spectacle that is eminently watchable. He is perhaps Indian television’s biggest TRP grosser at the moment!