By Shailesh Kapoor
After a disappointing start, India’s cricket campaign in South Africa has found wings. Buoyed by the sharp win in the third Test, India has annihilated South Africa in the three ODIs thus far, in results that make the contest look hopelessly one-sided.
There is already talk about how India will be the clear favorites leading up to the 2019 World Cup in England, with a bowling attack that has the best variety (and available options as backups) the team may have seen in ages. But at the center of all this talk is one man, and deservedly so. ViratKohli.
Kohli’s journey from a brat, chubby, foul-mouthed but talented young cricketer to a suave, fit and sharp captain-batsman is an interesting case study in personality evolution. The aggression, his calling card, remains intact, but he uses it with a lot more purpose now than before.
But it is his batting prowess that has created this air of invincibility around him, and around the Indian ODI team. The records are staggering, and continue to become even more so with each passing series. For the last two years, I’ve been wondering if this is his peak, only to realise the next effort was one notch higher. Kohli is only 29 and his peak may come as late as the 2023 World Cup. At least that’s what Indian cricket fans will be hoping – a five-year period of ODI dominance led by a batting legend.
Kohli is by far the most popular sportsperson in India today. He’s ranked No 1 in the latest Ormax Sports Stars rankings, much ahead of MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar (yes, he still features) at No 2 and No 3. Kohli isNo 1 across all markets except three clusters, where Dhoni leads: UP-Bihar-Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and AP-Telangana.
What does Kohli’s rising popularity and the resulting dominance of India do the fortunes of cricket in India? Cricket needs a boost, especially as the audience ages and a new generation comes in. Test cricket is virtually ruled out as an option for this new generation, whose first exposure to cricket has been T20, especially the IPL. ODIs are somewhere in between, and except for the big-ticket games, like those in the World Cup, have struggled to build viewership in general.
Younger audiences often accuse cricket, especially Tests and ODIs, of being a slow sport, often devoid of entertainment value because of long duration of games and one-sided contests. But Kohli is an entertainment factor in himself. While his rising popularity will be expected to increase ODI ratings season-on-season, ironically, the first impact should be on IPL itself. IPL has a new broadcaster this year, and Star Sports will do well to make Kohli the central face of their campaign, almost like a mascot.
Cricket needs this ratings boost. Football is the other sport young Indians are gravitating towards. At No 4 on the Ormax Sports Stars list is Lionel Messi and at No5 is Cristiano Ronaldo. They are ahead of other Indian cricketers like Rohit Sharma and champions from other sports, ranging from SainaNehwal to Roger Federer.
Importantly, football’s popularity is extremely youth-skewed. Of course, there’s a mass vs. niche difference here, and with patriotism not being a factor in football, cricket is safe for at least one more decade, if not longer.
But cricket’s competition has always been with itself.Ratings mustgrow and beat the previously-set cricket benchmarks, be it IPL, World Cup or bilateral series. With the Kohli era having arrived, and the national team performing at peak level, the situation cannot be more conducive. Now, it needs a smart marketing injection that rekindles the interest in cricket among the small but significant football generation, especially in the 13-19 yrs. age group.
And that’s a challenge BCCI and Star Sports should be taking up together as a five-year plan.