Why the COVID 19 Lockdown may actually be Good For Cricket Long Term

Cricket has a great way of coming in its own way unlike most other global sports. Trying to spread cricket around the world? No Thanks. Trying to provide context to every single game played? No thanks. Making sure the weaker teams are given enough financial backing to aid in their overall development? You guessed it, no thanks!

There are not too may positives to look at during this global pandemic that has brought the world to its knees, however, we prefer to focus on the positives. Let us start with some things that may actually end up making cricket stronger in the post COVID-19 world.

1. More Context to Every Game
The T20 World Cup in 2020 is around the corner and then another one in 2021 is going to roll around pretty quickly as well. This means that every single international game being played to the leadup of the T20 World Cup is going to be important.

Teams are going to be struggling with rusty players, possible fitness issues, and a lack of playing time. Online betting sites in India and around the world are already factoring in how this extended layoff is going to affect teams moving forward.

Every win is going to be counted and every loss is going to matter. No matter who is playing where. Hopefully, cricket and its administrators will learn why this is a good thing and move to implement it in the calnder moving forward.

2.The Best Playing Eleven Every Single Time
The sheer amount of cricket that has been played around the world has forced players to pick and choose their series. It is not uncommon for a couple of big payers to be missing for most of the bilateral contests.

Now that everyone has been forced to take an extended break and the time leading up to the World Cup 2020 is so limited, expect teams to be playing with their best players in every match to get them match fit and ready for the big tournament.

3.Renewed fan hunger
Cricket does not really suffer from a lack of passionate, however, even the most ardent of fans are not lining up to watch India play Sri Lanka in another quickly schedule bilateral ODI series. That is just a fact.

Now that fans have been deprived cricket for an extended period of time, every match is going to be worth watching. We would get up in the middle of the night to watch the West Indies take on Zimbabwe at this time and we don’t think we are the only ones that feel this way.

Cricket has been guilty of trying to kill the golden goose and trying to extract a little too much from its fan base. Give them occasional breaks and space out the calendar. The energy and the hype that will emerge for cricket matches after the COVID 19 lockdown could be an eye opener to cricket administrators of why ‘less is more’.