Even though the FIFA World Cup fever is over, the craze of football is still on amongst fans of all ages.
Even though the FIFA World Cup fever is over, the craze of football is still on amongst fans of all ages.
On the other hand, the passion of cricket has yet to reach its highest with the likes of Pro Kabaddi League being the toughest competitor.
The likes of Indian Premier League, CLT20 or the major ICC events have taken a backseat amongst the Indian fans. Gone are the days when fans coloured their faces, flaunted merchandise and spent hours practising cricket on fields.
Why so?
That’s because the fervour of football has taken to a whole new level. There will be very few who would go doodling over Ravinchandran Ashwin’s doosra while on the other side; you have the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi or Franck Ribery really getting the blood pumping into your head!
Well that’s debatable but here’s what we thing that might just leave the BCCI and ICC upset as to why Football is better than cricket:
Duration –
Time factor plays an important role here. On a whole, a game of football is decided between two halves (each of 45 minutes) plus taking the stoppage time into context as well. Whereas in cricket, the Test matches are decided after 5 days of gruelling on the grounds and the ODIs take almost 7 hours to complete its quota of 100 overs (50 each side). So, now you decide which game is more efficient of time and play? Any guesses?
Recognition –
Cricket might be opening up to newer countries like Nepal and China, but still the former has the likes of India, Australia and England take the bait of being the frontrunners of the game. 10 teams have been officially ranked on the ICC rankings, Tests and ODIs with the rest of nations termed as ‘associates’. In the case of football, over 200 nations are associated with the sport and children from every country and religion know who are Lionel Messi and Crisitano Ronaldo!
Superstar value –
Last year, cricket saw the back of one of their most celebrated players’ ever – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar as the Mumbaikar finally bid adieu to the sport he craved for since childhood. Since then, no cricketer has achieved ‘star’ value in terms of continuity, runs and stardom. The closest can be Virat Kohli but the former cannot be even come close as far as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Eden Hazard and Xavi are concerned.
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While watching an ‘exciting’ (pun intended) game of cricket, a wicket falls and quickly, the broadcasters turn on the irritating ads. There goes the simple joys of life but in Football, one has to wait at the end of the first half to get hold of the annoying advertisements; till then it’s only the beautiful game!
Equipments –
In football, the player has to gear with up just shin-pads, studs, or goalie gloves but in cricketer, the story is all different. The batsman coming out on the pitch has to wear the following equipments – helmet, gloves, rear guard, pads, male organ guard, thigh guard etc. Phew, that’s helluva stuff!
Weather –
Cricket is such a sport that it requires only the bright sun (at times overcast conditions) to keep the game in motion. But that’s NOT the case with football. Here, the beautiful game can be played under the rains, snow or at a beach!
Complexity of positions –
In football, you have mainly four positions to fill – Goalie, Defence, Midfield and the Forward. But in cricket, for a lay man, the terms and abbreviations can get a bit tacky. Take for example – mid-wicket, deep long leg, short cover, leg gully, deep cover etc and many more that can keep a common man scratching the head.
Thus, the above points are here to draw comparisons that cricket can be the numero uno sport in India and the rest of the sub-continent but football fever is not far behind and might soon gulp down the likes of IPL and CLT20!
