SMALL IS THE NEW BIG

Andrew Flintoff remains poker faced but despite the lack of audio it is clear that he and Yuvraj Singh aren’t discussing the weather. With the bat held like a club, Yuvraj moves menacingly towards the English giant. But on second thoughts he decides hitting the ball would be a better idea. Minutes later a glum faced Flintoff sits in the dug-out contemplating how he hasn’t learnt from his mistakes. Ticking off the Indians isn’t the best mental disintegration strategy and he is ready to bet his shirt on it now
India’s last action hero Robin Uthappa showed in England that he is a man of substance. In South Africa, he proves that he has style too. After hitting the stumps during the bowl-out against Pakistan he doffs his cap in all four directions. It’s the kind of a bow theater performers take after the final act

The Twenty20 World Cup hasn’t just added more spokes to the wagon wheels of players but the supplementary on-field drama has blurred the lines between the channels competing for eye balls on television’s prime time. As cricket is crunched to the time-span of an average feature film — by shedding the mid-over boredom of a 50-over game — the marketing men are calling Twenty20 a concept that’s a combination of all that sells. It has the melodrama and the twist in the tale of a daily soap opera, the tangibility of a reality show and even the in-the-face aggression of pro-wrestling.
All this has meant that cricket-lovers in homes across the country are winning the long-running battle to control the television remote. Not just that, even the cricket-cynics and the cricket-challenged have been wooed by the sexed-up version of the game, no longer forcing a channel change.
The Indian Television Audience Measurement Programme, more popularly called INTAM, has recorded this rare temporary ceasefire in homes with people of varied television viewing interests.
“As far as Test matches and one-day internationals are concerned, it always depends on whether India are playing, and normally if it is a day match, it has seldom made a difference to the TRPs that soaps and reality shows have recorded. Only if it is a day-night encounter or India are playing at night in an exciting match that television viewership is affected,” says Siddharth Mukherjee, spokesperson, INTAM.
And that’s when he is reminded of Yuvraj’s Gary Sobers act. “The thrill of a daily soap or a music reality show or even a movie cannot match up to Yuvraj’s innings. That is precisely what Indian cricket thrives on. And that is the reason cricket is now actually an entertainment industry,” explains Mukherjee.
As an example, the Twenty20 World Cup had viewership figures of 75 to 85 per cent in the first week. This means about 7 to 8 television viewers out of 10 across India know what the song and dance in South Africa is all about. The last time such TRPs were recorded was when Amitabh Bachchan was busy promising television viewers that they could come and meet him, answer his questions and go back home pocketing a crore.
Suddenly it seems the rapidly changing close-up frame of mother-in-laws rolling their eyes to give conspiratorial looks, boys from north-east belting out Bollywood songs flawlessly and stand-up comedians have been given a 15-day break.
Renowned ad-maker Prahalad Kakkar tries to understand this sudden bolt from the blue on television. “If I get to watch two hours of cricket, packed with fours, sixes and commercials, it’s on par with any good movie or a musical show,” says Kakkar, who rates cricket at par with Bollywood when it comes to entertainment.
Alyque Padamsee, president, London Institute of Corporate Planning, seconds Kakkar’s opinion about cricket’s entertainment value. But he opts to talk about the future and has a warning too. “Like WWF, there might be a time when all this will be stage-managed. It will be a rehearsed show, perhaps on the lines of a Bollywood movie,” Padamsee explains. “In America, the Yankees are as popular as Hollywood stars because they provide entertainment,” he adds.
Both Kakkar and Padamsee are quick to remind of days when Sachin Tendulkar had made his debut at the age of 16. “What was cricket then, in terms of television market?” asks Padamsee. Tendulkar’s batting, he says, made him an icon that was as big as the Bollywood bigwigs like Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. “Over the years, partly because of India’s passion for the game, partly because of great performances (the 1983 World Cup victory) and partly because of entertainment (Yuvraj’s sixes) cricket has managed to keep the viewer glued to the television,” Padamsee adds.

IF The Twenty20 World Cup has managed to trigger this overwhelming interest in the game’s shortest version, there is more to follow. India play Australia in a one-off Twenty20 game next month and this will be followed by the Zee Group promoted India Cricket League later this year. And next April will see the much-hyped Twenty20 tournament of BCCI, based on the European club football format. But wouldn’t that amount to killing the golden goose?
“There is a lot of space for co-existence in the television industry,” says Manish Porwal, managing director, Starcom. “Cricket sells in the country, but only international cricket. Right now, domestic cricket is not selling. Twenty20 may bridge that gap also. It may create a space for itself on television,” explains Porwal.
There is already precedence across the world when it comes to sports dominating prime time television. Baseball enjoys the same popularity as Hollywood does in the US. While in England, the TRPs of Manchester United and Chelsea games are on par with that of reality show Big Brother.

AS is evident from the inaugural World Cup, Twenty20’s biggest USP is its ability to provide a level-playing field to all participants. India are proving that big names don’t really matter as its young team enjoys a brilliant run despite the absence of stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. And when Zimbabwe defeated Australia in the early part of the tournament, it was clear that, unlike in the West Indies, this World Cup was really open.
Even former cricketers who in the past had their share of reservations about Twenty20, are changing their opinion. “The purists could be left wondering but this format certainly has a lot riding for it as far as financial improvement of the game or even the demand of more excitement is concerned,” former Australia fast bowler Dennis Lillee had recently said. He compared the advent of Twenty20 to the 1975 World Cup in England when one-day cricket had first been introduced formally. “This version will force other versions of the game to spice themselves up in terms of providing entertainment,” he says.
India was among the last few nations to accept the Twenty20 format and this is not merely because it is a country ridden with purists. It was the financial aspect to this version of cricket that had made BCCI sceptical. “Earlier, the basic fear had been whether Twenty20 would succeed in raising enough advertising slots and thereby any hefty income, if it was telecast live. It was decided to step into this format slowly, and only after taking the view of those who pump the money into the game,” says a top official.
However, considering the kind of frenzy it has brought about, in the wake of the ongoing World Cup, there is little for the BCCI to worry about.
Uthappa doffing his cap at the end of the bowl-out against Pakistan sums up the market mood regarding Twenty20. This happens to be the shortest and surest way to catch those eyeballs.