Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin opined that cricket has to keep up with the changing taste of the viewers and that outdated concepts should be altered with the massive changes the game has undergone in recent times.
Ashwin touched up on the contrast between the modern T20 game and traditional cricket, and voiced that the concept of top run-getters and wicket-takers need to be refined a bit to honour the Most Valuable Players and those who perform selflessly for their side.
“For a long while, top-order batter used to squabble over the chance to get their hands on the orange cap. And as for the bowlers, they used to toss the ball hoping for a catch at deep mid-wicket, so they could climb the purple cap rankings,” Ashwin began.
“And
thanks to the Gen-Z players, it seems like those trends are coming to an end,” he said.
“A double bluff works when the batter is behind the game. But when the batter is on song, bowling a double bluff is basically flirting with danger,” the former spinner explained.
“I feel the concept of this purple and orange cap needs to be altered.”
“I feel two caps make sense. One is for the MVP. And the other for the most selfless player, who works for the team. For instance, someone who shuts down the opponent, increases pressure,” Ashwin stated.
“T20 cricket isn’t traditional cricket. The game has changed from how it was played back in the 2010s,” he opined.
Ashwin went on to justify his point by holding up old-age cliches to the state of modern cricket and revealed that outdated metric should be changed going forward.
“The game has defied cliches, and the game has to be presented in a different manner altered to the viewer’s change,” he said.
“We are still stuck with the highest run-getter and wicket-taker tables, which is rather outdated metric,” Ashwin concluded.
