Another pointless exercise begins

As I type this, India, or should I say the team batting first has got off to a clichéd flying start. As this completely boring and monotonous series rambles on, there was just about a chance of the game getting interesting today, what with some moisture in the pitch. Surprise, surprise!! That would have meant, the captains would actually have to use some gray matter at the toss and the batsmen would have to be a just a tad cautious. The bowlers would have had at least some hope and the game would have actually been watchable. But no sir, the powers that be, in a mad rush to rake in the moolah, have turned this great game into a no-brainer. The game started an hour late to let the wicket, and consequently the game, go completely dry. With guaranteed flat tracks on the subcontinent, bat first and score a bagful of runs is the order of the day. Under the pretext of “fours and sixes is what the crowd wants”, the game has been reduced to a mockery. It has become artificial to the point of being the WWF of cricket. If plain hitting is what the “crowds” want, then why not give them just that – plain mindless, pointless hitting. Twenty 20 cricket’s the way to go then. Let’s do away with ODIs, just play some rehearsed Twenty 20 stuff and go home feeling nothing at all about the game. Something like a Govinda movie. As for me, I shall only yearn for a 240-260-ish match.