As cricket struggles to find meaning, Asia Cup further widens the gap

If Asia Cup is going to be a warm-up tournament for the ensuing World Cup, does it add any essence to what it had once been perceived as - a continental showpiece event bringing together the best and the minnows to grapple and grow? 

If Asia Cup is designed to ensure India and Pakistan play at least three matches in three weeks, does it hold its value for the lower stakeholders like UAE, Nepal, and Hong Kong? 

More than three decades after the inception of the first edition of the Asia Cup, the tournament has become a power ground for the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to hide behind a saga of self-interest. That neither India nor Pakistan have hosted the tournament for over a decade now points to how quickly ACC have lost its credibility to become a unit to work for the combined interest of Asian nations - the very foundation on which the ACC was originally established.

But another argument comes down to Economics 101 - an India-Pakistan encounter, however scarce that might be, helps the smaller boards sustain. To put things in context, the Asia Cup 2022 encounter between them recorded a massive reach of 125 million viewers and registered 13.6 billion minutes on TV, 30% higher than the previous edition in 2018. While the 13 million peak concurrency on digital created a lot of buzz, the same clash during the last World Cup on television delivered a peak concurrency of 116 million. The demand has never been in doubt.

Now, we have established a strong appetite for an India-Pakistan game, them clashing three times during the tournament ensures a heavy financial windfall for ACC. The generated financial outcome goes into the pockets of smaller Asian nations. Hence, you would never hear a complaint from the likes of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), or Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) for the resultant lack of matches in the first stage of the tournament. 

Further, the clamour doesn’t end there. In broadcasting, ‘packaging’ is the oft-used word. Just bundling a Sri Lanka-Bangladesh or Pakistan-Afghanistan game to the largely narrative-stricken India-Pakistan hoopla ensures that ACC can sell the rights at a comparatively higher price. As a matter of fact, Disney Star has already onboarded 18 sponsors for the Asia Cup across Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar. Hence, the appetite for the advertisers hasn’t reduced a wee bit.

But the sport's growth is far more than just broadcasting numbers or how much money it generates. Nepal may walk away with enough money from the Asia Cup to pay their players for a year, but what about their long-term growth as a cricketing nation? Isn’t it the responsibility of ACC or, by extension, other influential Asian neighbors to advocate for their growth? In that regard, a straight-forward round-robin tournament would have allowed them a better chance to learn and grow.

They are the teams who often rekindle the romance in sport. As much as one would like to believe that the competitive nature of the tournament adds to the charm - no doubt that is the primary differentiating factor - sometimes, the minnows provide the biggest deal. It is difficult to forget the 2007 World Cup for the kind of stories that emerged. 

The widening gap between the haves and have-nots has not only ripped cricket of its beauty but also added a sense of mundaneness. Touch, come, and go - there’s nothing to be excited about for a bilateral cricket match anymore, but come a small team, you at least know it means something to them. Understanding context and relevance is where the primal interest of an audience comes alive.

Let's also acknowledge this. The Asia Cup 2023 has many faulty storylines, but at least there’s some context. The upcoming World Cup 2023 will be one of the most unpredictable events for the sheer lack of consistency among all top teams. The Asia Cup is where India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh will try to end their quest of nailing down a perfect combination. But a slicken formula needs to be devised for the event to succeed at a bigger scale and continue in its current avatar. The foundation of Asian bonhomie can’t stand on a shaky edifice of two teams trying to maximize the broadcasting potential.