SOUTH ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT

Influence across Cricket Formats

in the Indian Context:
An Exploration of a Meta-metric
Framework for Formative Assessment

Subhasis Ray*

There is much debate about the pros and cons of Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) and the
Indian Premier League (IPL) in particular, raising concerns on the fading interests in the
relatively puritanical form of test cricket. In spite of ample availability of cricket data, there is
ironically a dearth of serious academic research in this area. The present expert survey-based
research reinforces the belief that test cricket forms the basis of cricket and that any future
plan should not be devoid of test cricket in the Indian context. The study ascertains that T20I
and tests are the two extreme formats with respect to ratings on skill, excitement and value
for money using technique of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with One-Day Internationals
(ODIs) assuming the mid position consistently. Hence, the study recommends the assessment
of the influence of T20Is and IPL on test cricket and India’s performance in future. In the
absence of any established framework, a meta-metric framework has been derived by using
the expert survey by identifying the set of parameters for such formative assessments.
Key Words: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Cricket Formats, Indian Premier League
(IPL), Meta-metrics, Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is)

INTRODUCTION
Sports are no longer a pastime. Worldwide, over the years it has evolved as an integral
part of entertainment industry providing lucrative and wide range of career options.
Cricket in India is no exception. This is not only the most popular sport in India (Das,
2019) but also has become a passion that excites people irrespective of their caste,
creed, religion, language or economic/political background. Introduced by the British
during their rule in India, the game is played by few commonwealth nations such as
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies,
* Assistant Professor, Business Analytics and Systems Management, Indian Institute of Social Welfare &
Business Management (IISWBM), University of Calcutta, College Square West, Kolkata 700073, India.
E-mail: [email protected]

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Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and some recent entrants. The number of followers enjoying
cricket worldwide had crossed the billion marks (Kadapa, 2013). Currently, there are
10 full members and 92 associate members of ICC (ICC, n.d.).
While the oldest and longest format of the game, i.e., Test Cricket is being played
since 1877, the 50 over one day international format is in existence since 1971; the
smallest and youngest format, i.e., T20 has started only in 2005 but gained instant
popularity. ICC started world cup in T20 format in 2007 making cricket one of few
games that has multiple world championships. For its instant popularity, ICC found it
an important tool to spread and popularize the game globally (ICC, n.d.). Currently,
all test playing nations have included T20I in their bi-lateral series itinerary. Mass
acceptance of this shortest version of cricket was epitomized by the success of the
franchise based Indian Premier League (IPL) started in 2008 (Kohli, 2011). While
spectators started filling up the ground, the lure of big money made cricketers including
the budding ones embrace this format. Team members from national and state level
cricket associations of India and top players from other cricket playing nations play in
the event (Kadapa, 2013). A Franchise owns a team and the players are ‘purchased’
for a season at an auction. Each player commands a price based on his playing record
and current form. The bidding follows specific rules with a cap on the total amount
that each team can spend (The IPL Media Handbook, 2013). ‘Round Robin Play’ system
is used in the initial stages along with knock out stages between top 4 teams. The
objective for the game is to score as many runs as possible in the allotted 20-over and
big scoring shots increase viewer’s interest. While there is little doubt on its commercial
success over the years, more and more countries are trying to mimic the format.
However, since IPL is the pioneering and the most successful tournament (“Never
thought IPL would be so big: Sachin”, 2017; and Kalra, 2017) the key point is to see if
IPL is changing the way the game is played especially in Indian context. There are
conflicting views on the utility of IPL.
On the positive side of purely cricketing effects, it includes (a) Youngsters are
getting early experience of handling pressure, cricketing skills; (b) International icons
playing alongside are sharing invaluable experience; and (c) Presence of many stalwarts
in the support staff for each team is helping the entire team (“Why IPL”, 2012).
Whereas some of the negative effects are (a) Bad scheduling of IPL not providing
cricketers time to recuperate; (b) Possibility of deterioration of Cricketing skills as
T20 is providing the license for improvisation; (c) Motivation to play for country and
longer format especially Test Cricket reduced; and (d) Indian players and conditions
are getting overexposed to the foreign players (“Poor form”, 2012).
Buoyed by the success of IPL, franchise based competition had invaded other sports
as well. A list is provided in Table 1.

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Table 1: List of Franchise Based Leagues in India

Year Sports Name of the League No. of Teams in 1st year
2008 Cricket Indian Premier League 8
2013 Hockey Hockey India League 6
2014 Football Indian Super League 8
2014 Kabaddi Pro-Kabaddi League 8
2014 Tennis Champions Tennis League 6
2015 Wrestling Pro Wrestling League 6
2016 Badminton Premier Badminton League 6
2016 Kabaddi Women’s Kabaddi Challenge 3
2016 Futsal Premier Futsal 6
2016 Mixed Martial Arts Super Fight League 8
Source: Big Money in Sports (2016, Sep 9)

There had been changes in the format, playing rules for these competitions (e.g.
Hockey is played in 4 quarters rather than 2 halves, Badminton games are played on
a 11-point basis, Tennis matches are decided in 1 set rather than 3 or 5 sets, Futsal is
5-a-side shorter variant of Football etc.). However, the base version of no other sport
had been challenged as much as cricket’s (i.e., Test matches) which is obvious by the
amount of articles/interviews of this game’s stalwarts published in the mediaas cited
in the next section.

LITERATURE REVIEW
In order to formulate the research problems, a thorough literature review was
conducted. Experts of the game are divided in their opinions on IPL. While some are
counting benefits from IPL, others are skeptical about future of test matches. Former
captain of Australia, Greg Chappell applauded India captain Virat Kohli’s penchant
for longer format of the game and wrote “Test cricket is under threat from within and
without like never before and it needs India, as the game’s powerhouse, to show
leadership, persistence and faith in the longest form of the game... All of this augurs
well for the oldest format as the new kid on the block, Twenty20, is making huge
waves and incursions around the world and is putting pressure on the time available
for Test cricket” (Chappell, 2017). Famous cricket columnist and former England
captain, Mike Atherton was analyzing the decline of West Indies that used to be a
great cricketing region. He stated that “Players, for so long at the mercy of a
monopolistic employer had other options ... At a stroke it was clear that cricket’s
business model had changed and that international cricket, and especially Test cricket,
would be challenged ...” and cited the example of West Indies’ stars like Chris Gayle,
Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo opting to play Big Bash (Australia’s IPL equivalent)
over test match against Australia (Atherton, 2015).

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Former Indian speedster Zaheer Khan stated “the future stars are going to come
from the T20 format, make no mistake. There’s immense pressure and those who
come through, make a quick impact, will become stars.” When asked whether “emerging
generation is targeting the IPL and not test cricket”, Zaheer opined that “they do
look to play at the highest level, but will only get there if their basics are strong.”
(Sahi, 2016c).
While assessing whether “test cricket is seriously threatened”, former India captain
Sourav Ganguly opined “It’s threatened because of the pace at which the T20 format
is growing. However, I feel that T20 will have value only if Test Cricket survives;
eventually the 50-over game will suffer, not so test cricket” (Sahi, 2016a). Former
India coach and captain Anil Kumble is bullish about test cricket and said “One
thing I would like to say to every cricket lover, opinion maker and various stakeholders…
let’s stop discussing about the death of Test cricket. I am sure people would have
spoken about the death of Test cricket probably during the times of Kerry Packer…. I
am sure Test cricket will survive. Let’s not keep talking about death of Test cricket. If
all of us keep doing that, then ultimately it would happen... Test cricket’s following
will remain irrespective of how many turn up and watch the game” (“Test cricket will
survive: Kumble”, 2016).
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen said Monday’s (February 20, 2017) auction
for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition was “another slap in Test cricket’s
face”. He clarified “A T20 specialist becomes one of the current England team’s richest
players... I love how T20 is growing the game. I’m just saying that Tests are falling way
behind at the moment. The ICC (International Cricket Council) needs to act and
quick” (“Kevin Pietersen says IPL auction is a ‘slap in Test cricket’s face’”, 2017).
There is plethora of research papers on predicting the outcome of a game (Jayalath,
2018; Jayanth, Anthony, Abhilasha, Shaik, and Srinivasa, 2018), on evaluating
performance of players (Mukherjee, 2014; Saikia, Bhattacharjee and Bhattacharjee,
2013) or on IPL being the catalyst of India’s leading dominance in the game and its
finance (Majumdar, 2011; and Agur, 2013). However, there is a dearth of academic
research involving more than one format. In order to rank three formats of cricket
with respect to spectators, it was necessary to pinpoint viewers’ criteria for their interest.
The game was thought to be a service and the viewers were treated as service-seekers
who invest money, time or both to follow a match. As per Kotler’s (1972) core concept
of marketing, a transaction happens when two willing parties exchange values. Smith
(1995) suggested that the value for money combining the price paid and quality of
service achieved is critical to the consumer’s evaluation of a service. Rust and Oliver
(1994) seconded the thought that value assessments include quality and price
perceptions. A service can be rated poor if the price is too high despite excellent
quality. So value for money as perceived by a spectator was chosen as the first criterion

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for comparing 3 forms of cricket. By definition, value for money is assumed to be the
amount of satisfaction per unit spends. Wakefield and Blodgett (1999) concluded
that close competition is a very important outcome of any sporting event as excitement
is often the main goal of spectators for watching it which led to the selection of
excitement as the second criterion. Madrigal (2003) also concurred with the idea
that viewers’ leisure behavior compels them to watch a sporting event provided it is
competitive. He also argued that skill execution is not only important for a team to
accomplish its goals, but also the same have an appeal to its viewers; hence skill was
selected as the third criterion for current research. The purists still consider test
cricket to be the ultimate ‘test-bed’ of a cricketer/team’s cricketing ability and advocate
a cricketer’s progression from long term to short term cricket rather than the other
way round. But the reality is that many established cricketers are retiring from long term
cricket for better longevity in shorter versions and budding cricketers are getting noticed
more in shorter version due to the popularity of T20/IPL. Also T20 is helping cricket to
be more popular in associate and even non-member countries. Cricket regulatory bodies
(e.g., ICC, BCCI, CA, CSA etc.) are facing a unique problem of how to strike a balance
between various forms of cricket (e.g. Test, 50 over and 20 over). Table 2 lists number of
Test Matches, One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is)
that India played since its inaugural T20I match in 2006.

Table 2: India’s International Games from 2006 to 2018

Year # Tests # ODIs # T20Is
2006 12 30 1
2007 10 37 8
2008 15 29 1
2009 6 31 10
2010 14 27 7
2011 12 34 4
2012 9 17 14
2013 8 34 1
2014 10 24 7
2015 9 23 4
2016 12 13 21
2017 11 29 13
2018 14 20 19
Source: Espncricinfo (2019a; 2019b; 2019c)

There are quite a few opinions available in the print media (as discussed earlier
also) but they are at best unstructured thoughts. For example, former captain of India,
Sourav Ganguly also opined that “Batsmen have got better and wickets have become

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flatter. Most significant, perhaps, is that the mindset of batsmen has changed. Because
of the influence of T20, they play a lot more shots nowadays” while answering a question
on how batting has changed over last 20 years. Commenting on influence of T20
cricket on Test cricket, he stated “One sees a lot more decisions in Test cricket and
the pace has quickened. Hundreds can be posted a lot faster. Look at the way David
Warner gets his hundreds” (Sahi, 2016b).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

ICC is bringing in lot of changes in this game, e.g., day/night test match using a pink
ball, 4 day test match, world test championship and 10 over match etc. While this
augurs well for the game (not becoming stagnant), the continuous trimming of the
game is endangering the relevance of test matches. The sheer volume and variability
in opinions triggered this research work (vide Literature Review). The first hypothesis
under study here states that Test cricket is essential for overall progression of cricket.
Since pro-test experts are blaming the T20, more specifically the IPL for sagging interest
in test matches, it is pertinent to check the relative position of 3 versions of cricket
with respect to spectator which is the second objective. This should help in prioritizing
the study of influential effect (e.g., T20 on ODI, T20 on Test or ODI on T20) between
3 formats. In absence of any recognized meta-metric framework for assessing the
influence across formats and for measuring IPL’s influence on India’s test cricket
performance, establishing such a framework becomes the third objective.

METHODOLOGY USED
The schematic diagram for the adopted research methodology is given in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Schematic Diagram of the Adopted Research Methodology

Source: Authors’ Analysis

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An expert survey was conducted involving cricket practitioners as part of this

research work. The goal for the expert survey was to get opinions from professionals
directly related to cricket. Their opinion will not only depict the situation on the
ground but also help collecting additional insight supporting exploratory nature this
research. A total of 24 professionals, using purposive sampling, were contacted. The
set of experts included current and former cricketers(15), Umpire (1), Coaches (2),
Technical Analyst (1), Physical Trainer (1), Administrators (3), and Journalist (1).
Due to logistical limitations, it was decided to conduct face to face interviews for
Kolkata based professionals and telephonic interviews for outstation professionals based
on a questionnaire (Appendix 1). The questionnaire has a personal details section
followed up by a battery of questions consisting of multiple choice questions and ratings
on 5-point Likert scales. Since it is extremely difficult to get interview slots from the
experts, some open-ended questions were added so that they can express their views
on the subject in a free-flowing manner. As all the interviews were conducted by the
researcher, the data quality like outlier, invalid or missing data did not arise.
Consequently, the question of ambiguity and interpretational errors were largely absent.
However, data collected for question numbers 8 and 9 where 5-point Likert scale was
used were put to test for consistency and multi-collinearity tests as elaborated in next
section.

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
As the first observation, the expert survey yielded a unanimous mandate, i.e., 100%
voting for (a) Test cricket provides the ultimate test of cricketing ability; and
(b) Budding cricketers should focus on playing longer term games early on and adapt
the shorter version at a later stage. The above finding reinforces the hypothesis that
Test cricket is essential for overall progression of cricket. No statistical test was conducted
since the observed sample yielded 100% concurrence.
In order to rank three formats of cricket with respect to spectator’s interest area,
the chosen criteria were skill, excitement and value for money, as mentioned in the
literature survey section. An easier construct could have been rating each format (on
a 1 to 5 scale) with respect to each criterion and averaging them over all respondents.
However, the same would have produced opinions in interval scale with no way of
checking internal consistency. De Montis, De Toro, Droste-Franke, Omann, and Stagl
(2000) came up with a summary comparing the features of various Multi-criteria
Decision Making (MCDM) methods. The study showed Analytic Hierarchy Process
(AHP) developed by Saaty (1977; 1980; 1994; 2001), to perform well with
interdependent criteria and quantitative and qualitative issues in a social problem.
Pairwise comparison, conducted by the experts is an important step in AHP. Since this
matches the present scenario, AHP based technique was adopted. Over time it has
proved to be one of the more widely applied MCDM techniques (see Zahedi, 1986;
Shim, 1987; Golden, Wasil and Harker, 1989 for summary of applications). It is worth
noting that AHP had not been used in totality here since the study does not aim to
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find out the best form of cricket amongst test, ODI and T20I – rather seeks to compare
three formats separately for each criterion. All the experts were asked to rate by
comparing manifestation of skill, excitement and value for money for these 3 formats
pairwise on a 5 point scale. Even though, the original construct was devised on a 9
points scale, the same had been questioned for being bounded and also its relationship
to a linguistic scale (Jensen, 1984; Lund and Palmer, 1986; Schoner and Wedley, 1988).
Similar mentions are found in Department for Communities and Local Government
(2009) as the link between the 1-9 scale and the corresponding descriptions does not
have a theoretical foundation and may be confusing. Also the 1-9 scale has the potential
to be internally inconsistent as A:C may not tally with A:B and B:C. Keeping in mind
the difficulty level to distinguish between 3, 5, 7 and 9 for the respondents, the
comparisons were done on a 5-point scale. Considering 5-point response as a special
case of the original 9-point scale, rest of the derivations of AHP are expected to hold
good without loss of generality. Aggregation of feedback from multiple respondents is
a discussion point amongst AHP users. Holgado, Maya-Jariego, Ramos, Palacio,
Oviedo-Trespalacios, Romero-Mendoza and Amar (2014) used AHP technique to
assess the relative importance of school attendance and basic teaching content, current
involvement of the child in school, and basic subjects taught in the centers for
determining the academic performance factor. This was based on average of pairwise
comparisons made by experts. Lee and Chan (2008) employed AHP to work out the
most sustainable design proposal for an area undergoing urban facelift. This was based
on geometric mean of pairwise comparisons made by experts evaluating economic,
environmental and social sustainability at the second level and each of them had six
criteria at the lowest level. For simplicity, the Arithmetic Mean (AM) was adopted
and for each of the 3 criteria, the comparison matrix A was created as follows:
A c = ((acij)) for i, j = 1(1)3 and c being the criterion
a cij = AM of k values of bcijk for i < j (the upper diagonal)
= 1 for i = j (the diagonal)
= 1/acji for i > j (the lower diagonal)
For the upper diagonal, each individual’s ratings while comparing i with j (e.g. test
with ODI) for criterion c, are coded as follows:
bcijk= the actual judgment value of the kth expert, if the rating is on the left side of 1
= the reciprocal of the judgment value of the kth expert, if the rating is on the
right side of 1
The normalized principal eigen vector of Ac provides the priority vector. In present
scenario, the same reflects the relative weights of 3 forms of cricket in ratio scale with
respect to criterion c. Since the order of Ac is only 3, the principal eigen vector was
estimated by first normalizing each column of Ac, such that each column sum is 1 and
then taking average row-wise (Department for Communities and Local Government,
2009).
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The method allows checking the consistency in rating as it mapped all formats into
a continuum of ratio scale, i.e., if a person likes T20I more than ODI and ODI more
than test, then the person should like T20I more than test. This can be achieved by
first calculating the Consistency Index (CI) and then the Consistency Ratio (CR)
where CI = (max – n)/(n – 1), max= the principal eigen value corresponding to the
principal eigen vector and CR = CI/RCI. The Random Consistency Index (RCI) is
taken to be 0.58 for n = 3 as per Saaty( 1980).
Summary result is shown in Table 3. Since CR is < 0.1 for all 3 criteria, it can be
concluded that the ratings provided by the experts are consistent for each case.
Consequently, the principal eigen vector can be considered as representing relative
importance of three formats for all three criteria. The result suggests that skill
manifestation is highest in Test followed up by ODI, and T20I whereas the same for
excitement and value for money had ranked three forms of cricket just the opposite
way. However, it is to be noted that skill and excitement are far more polarized than
value for money. This is expected since by definition, value for money = amount of
satisfaction per unit spends and a T20 ticket is more expensive than a day’s ticket for
test match and the former provides more excitement, thus nullify each other.

Table 3: Summary of AHP Output

Measures\Comparison Skill (Test:ODI:T20I) Excitement Value for Money
(Test : ODI : T20I) (Test : ODI : T20I)
Principal Eigen Vector 0.6574 : 0.2334 : 0.1092 0.1216 : 0.2733 : 0.6051 0.2993 : 0.3186 : 0.3821
Principal Eigenvalue 3.11 3.01 3.00
Consistency Index 0.057 0.007 0.001
Consistency Ratio 0.099 0.013 0.002
Source: Author’s Analysis

The above findings helped prioritizing the study of influential effect of T20 on test
rather than the other combinations since test and T20 were at the two extremes on
each of the three comparisons. So the third part of this research work started with the
objective of establishing a meta-metric framework for measuring T20 cricket’s influence
on the way test matches are being played and for measuring IPL’s influence on India’s
test cricket performance. A thorough literature survey revealed no such similar work
related to sports, cricket in particular. As far as research involving multiple formats of
cricket is concerned, Cannonier, Panda and Sarangi (2015) did an analysis on T20
and ODI. The study concluded attacking batting and bowling is the optimal input
combination for winning a 20-over and 50-over international matches. However for
IPL matches, attacking batting and defensive bowling provide the best combination.
This work may have implications with future player development, choice and popularity
of formats. While creating meta-metric format for comparing tests with T20I in present
research, the attacking and defensive nuances of batting and bowling had been

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considered. Stefani and Xenos (2009) created a meta-metric model to decide which
metrics should be used and how in order to evaluate an e-commerce system. McQuillan
and Power (2006) created a prototype tool called Defining Metrics at the Meta Level
(DMML) to bring in formalism in defining metrics for evaluating the quality of software.
Drawing similarity, a meta-model layer had been attempted (e.g., decisiveness, volume
of run, run rate etc.) here so that actual metrics can be defined (e.g., percentage
matches ending in a draw, average first innings score, average run rate in the first
innings etc.) at the model layer with the data layer providing the actual value for
metrics. While the meta-model items were picked through discussions with the cricket
experts, special care was taken on describing them in the questionnaire not to make
them too abstract for the respondents.
Bar charts were used as the Data Visualization Technique. In order to assess T20’s
influence on Test Cricket, majority of the respondents voted to keep all these
parameters, namely: (a) Decision in Test matches; (b) Average runs scored per over
per match; (c) Length of the matches (number of overs played); and (d) Average runs
scored per wicket lost per match, as evident from Figure 2. Accordingly, all these 4
parameters were kept in the meta-metric framework for future study.

Figure 2: Bar Chart Showing Percentage Mandates

from Experts on First 4 Questions of Query 3

Query 3 (1 of 8): Decision in Test matches

Query 3 (2 of 8): Average runs scored per over per match
Query 3 (3 of 8): Length of the matches (number of overs played)
Query 3 (4 of 8): Average runs scored per wicket lost per match

Source: Authors’ Analysis

Continuing on the same objective, most of the experts voted for the parameters, e.g.
(a) Percentage score in boundaries (4’s and 6’s); and (b) Emergence of ‘non-specialists’.
However, the experts chose to ignore two parameters, viz. (a) Average number of run outs
effected per match; and (b) Average number of spectators per day (refer to Figure 3).

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Figure 3: Bar Chart Showing Percentage Mandates

from Experts on Last 4 Questions of Query 3

Query 3 (5 of 8): Average number of run outs effected per match

Query 3 (6 of 8): Percentage score in boundaries (4’s and 6’s)
Query 3 (7 of 8): Emergence of ‘non-specialists’
Query 3 (8 of 8): Average number of spectators per day

Source: Authors’ Analysis

In order to measure how T20 and IPL, in particular had influenced India’s
performance over the years, the experts mandated for keeping the indicators like
(a) India’s test performance on home/subcontinent/outside basis; (b) Number of years

Figure 4: Bar Chart Showing %-Age Mandates

from Experts on 4 Questions of Query 5

Query 5 (1 of 4): India’s test performance on Home / Subcontinent / Outside basis

Query 5 (2 of 4): Number of years of 1st class cricket before debuting in a test match
Query 5 (3 of 4): Players’ longevity to continue playing test matches
Query 5 (4 of 4): Man of the match performance by Indian players in IPL

Source: Authors’ Analysis

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of 1st class cricket before debuting in a test match; and (c) Players’ longevity to continue
playing test matches. The parameter “Man of the match performance by Indian players
in IPL” had been ignored (refer to Figure 4).
Lastly, the research deals with possible measures for improving test cricket
experience. Due to scarcity of formal research work in this area, the genesis of nine
improvement suggestions had been the opinions by cricket experts on various media
and discussions during the expert survey. As per iconic former West Indian captain
Clive Lloyd (Sahi, 2019), test match continues to be very relevant as people enjoy the
ultimate test of character and skill. He favored day/night test matches but disapproved
four day test matches. This had found support from former English batsmen (“Pietersen
wants more D-N Tests”, 2018; “Tests matter most: Jonny”, 2018; “Michael Vaughan:
Four-day Tests worth a try to rejuvenate format”, 2018). However, former Indian skipper
Vengsarkar advocated four day test but was against day/night test matches (Sahi,
2017). Lloyd (Sahi, 2019) also stressed for proper marketing and making it a family
affair. Similar opinions were raised by former Indian and South African openers Gambhir
(“Gauti’s opinion”, 2018) and Smith (“Kohli key to keeping Tests relevant: Smith”,
2018). Prolific Indian batsman VVS Laxman stressed on the need to take test cricket
to small centers and stressed on the need to make it “an occasion for the family to
enjoy and get entertained like in T20s” (“Test cricket will survive: Kumble”, 2016).
Figure 5: Bar Chart Showing Average Ratings
of 9 Improvement Suggestions Given in Query 8

Comment 1: Day and Night match

Comment 2: 4 days instead of 5 days
Comment 3: Introduction of Session tickets as opposed to Daily / 5 day ticket
Comment 4: Different pricing of ticket based on the day of the match
Comment 5: No local telecast
Comment 6: On-field entertainment
Comment 7: Cricket clinic during lunch break
Comment 8: Special incentives for local clubs and coachingcamps / schools
Comment 9: Longer version as a qualifier for shorter versions

Source: Authors’ Analysis

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A bar chart on average ratings received by each of the improvement suggestion is

shown in Figure 5. It is clear that the experts recommended five suggestions (average
rating >4), namely: (a) Day and Night match; (b) Different pricing of ticket based on
the day of the match; (c) On-field entertainment; (d) Cricket clinic during lunch
break; and (e) Special incentives for local clubs and coaching camps/schools. Whereas,
the least recommended suggestions (average rating < 2) are a) 4 days instead of 5
days; (b) Introduction of Session tickets as opposed to daily/5 day ticket; (c) No local
telecast; and (d) Longer version as a qualifier for shorter versions.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The study showed that the test cricket forms the basis of cricket and any future plan
should not be devoid of Test cricket. As per The Telegraph Bureau (2018), ICC
conducted first ever market survey on cricket. It revealed the fan count had exceeded
the billion mark and 70, 88, 92% fans globally are interested in Test, ODI and T20I
cricket respectively. Hence the volume of test following is significant.
Relative position of three forms of cricket with respect to skill, excitement and
value for money had been shown in Table 4. This corroborates Sourav Ganguly’s
comment, i.e., “However, I feel that T20 will have value only if Test Cricket survives;
eventually the 50-over game will suffer, not so test cricket” (Sahi, 2016a). The study
revealed that T20 and Test matches are the two extreme formats presently, ODI being
rated at the mid position for all the three criteria. ICC can also take a note of it and
work towards enhancing the excitement factor in test matches to increase its following.
Table 4: Manifestation of Traits in Different Cricket Formats
Cricket
Skill Excitement Value for Money
Format/Trait
Test Highest manifestation Least manifestation Least manifestation
ODI Median Median Median
T20I Least manifestation Highest manifestation Highest manifestation
Source: Authors’ Analysis

The study dictates measuring the effect of T20 on test matches to see the influence.
However, there is no accepted framework for measuring such influence. The present
work adds to the body of knowledge a Meta-metric framework for assessing T20’s influence
on test cricket from which suitable metrics can be formed during future studies (Table 5).
Currently, experts blame T20 and IPL, in particular if a test match finishes within
three days and others praise them for making test matches more decisive. Cricket
boards can carry out an influence analysis using the framework and can empirically
decide the positive and negative influences. The study also suggests a framework for
assessing IPL’s influence on India’s test performance, in particular (Table 6). Being at
the fulcrum, it’s high time that BCCI assess how its test performance has changed
from pre to post IPL era.

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Table 5: Constructs for Meta-Metric Framework

Research Questions Underlying Rejected Parameters Additional Comments
Construct
Are test matches more Decisiveness Average number of run 1. Emergence of new
decisive now? outs effected per match shots, bowling styles
and also fielding
Are we experiencing a surge Power Hit Average number of
positions
in “runs per over (RPO)” spectators per day
2. Improved fielding,
Are the matches getting Duration
catching and running
over quickly i.e. is the “length
between the wickets
of the matches” shortened?
3. Overall deterioration
Are we experiencing a Duration
of bowling skills
change in “runs scored per
wicket (RPW)”?
Are we seeing a surge in Power Hit
“percentage score in
boundaries”
Are we experiencing Flexibility
“emergence of ‘non-
specialists’”
Source: Authors’ Analysis

Finally, the study unearthed certain measures to make test cricket more
exciting, viz., day and night match, different pricing of ticket based on the day of the
match, on-field entertainment, cricket clinic during lunch break and special
incentives for local clubs and coaching camps/schools. Experts also felt that sporting
pitches are the need of the hour if test cricket is to be popularized and ICC need to
somehow take care of the dew factor to minimize its influence on day and night
matches.
Table 6: Constructs for Assessing Influence
of T20 on India’s Test Performance
Research Questions Underlying Rejected parameters Additional Comments
Construct
Is India losing fewer Test Demonstrated Man of the match To young unemployed
matches at Home/ Performance performance by Indian people of India, Test
Subcontinent / Outside? players in IPL matches may be wastage
of time but it will remain
Are players debuting Test Accelerated
matches for India playing less Recognition for overall love of cricket.
number of years of 1st class
cricket?
Has players’ longevity to Players’
continue playing test Sustenance
matches reduced?
Source: Authors’ Analysis

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LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE

Functionally, this is a pioneering work that establishes that test and T20 are the two
extreme formats as far as manifestation of skill, excitement and value for money are
concerned. It lays a meta-metric foundation for assessing (a) the effect of T20 on test
cricket, in general; and (b) the effect of IPL on India’s test performance. The study
analyzes expert opinion on how to make Test cricket interesting from spectator’s point
of view.
The logistic constraints restricted reaching out to more than 24 cricket related
professionals. However, this was somewhat compensated by their interviews and articles
published in the media.
Since the meta-metric framework is now available, the same can be used to measure
the actual influence of T20 on test cricket for formative assessment of evolution of
test cricket. Also it will be wise to analyze the viewer’s expectation and corroborate
the finding from expert survey. The end goal of this work is to enable the cricket
regulatory bodies so that they can take effective policies related to evolution of formats,
cricketing mix (e.g., percentage break up of each format in each cricketing region)
etc. This study should be treated as a first step and can provide stimulus for more in-
depth research.
Acknowledgment: The author is grateful to the reviewer for conducting such an in-depth
review. The same had enhanced the rigor of this work significantly.
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Appendix 1
Questionnaire Used for this Study
This is a self-volunteered survey on how to enhance mass appeal of test cricket especially with
onslaught of shorter version of cricket, T20 in particular. Is forward defensive stroke losing its charm
compared to reverse sweep or a dilscoop? While evolution of new batting shots, bowling deliveries or
fielding techniques are very much welcomed but the combating skills of cricket should not decrease.
Please share your thoughts on measuring T20 cricket’s effect on Test cricket and how test cricket
can be made more interesting.
Personal Details:
Name:
Age:
Occupation:
Gender:
Phone Number:
Questions
1. Test cricket is the ultimate ‘test-bed’ of a cricketer / team’s cricketing ability:
Agree: Disagree: No Comment:
2. Budding cricketers should focus on playing longer term games early on and adapt to the shorter
version at a later stage:
Agree: Disagree: No Comment:
3. We are trying to assess the effect of T20 cricket on test cricket. We need your input as a practitioner
on finalizing the set of indicators which may be probed:

Set of Indicators Agree Disagree No Comment

Decision in Test matches
Average runs scored per over per match
Length of the matches (number of overs played)
Average runs scored per wicket lost per match
Average number of run outs effected per match
Percentage score in boundaries (4’s and 6’s)
Emergence of ‘non-specialists’*
Average number of spectators per day
*In general, bowling performance by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and batting performance by 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

4. List any other indicator that you think should also be investigated:

1.

2.
3.

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Appendix 1 (Cont.)
5. India is in the fulcrum of IPL. We want to see if India’s performance has improved post IPL. We
need your input as a practitioner on finalizing the set of indicators which may be probed:
Set of Indicators Agree Disagree No Comment
India's test performance on Home/Subcontinent/
Outside basis
DMML Number of years of 1st class cricket before
debuting in a test match
Players’ longevity to continue playing test matches
Man of the match performance by Indian
players in IPL

6. List any other indicator that you think should also be investigated:

1.

2.

3.
7. Here we want to compare different formats of cricket. Tick the appropriate box to share your
viewpoint on each parameter as per their manifestation:

Compare/ Test Vs. ODI Test Vs. T20 ODI Vs. T20
Parameters

Skill

Excitement

Value for
money

ANY OTHER?

8. Rate the following parameters on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the most important) that can help create
more interest on test cricket:

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Appendix 1 (Cont.)

Parameter Your Rating

Day and Night match
4 days instead of 5 days
Introduction of Session tickets as opposed to Daily/5 day ticket
Different pricing of ticket based on the day of the match
No local telecast
On-field entertainment (e.g., past legends in conversation with spectators)
Cricket clinic during lunch break
Special incentives for local clubs and coaching camps/ schools
Longer version as a qualifier for shorter versions*
ANY OTHER?
*To encourage younger generation to play longer format, can there be any restriction or pricing differentiation
to play in IPL?

Thank you very much for your precious time and volunteering to provide your inputs to further
enrich this beautiful game of cricket.

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Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction
prohibited without permission.