Is the next Cricket era in safe hands?

India and cricket in general are going through a transition period, with the retirement of major players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from Tests, along with the retirement of other players like Heinrich Klaasen, Glenn Maxwell, Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis, and others from one or more formats of the game, which has led to concern for the future of the sport.

The retirement of Virat and Rohit from Tests means they will now play only ODIs and the IPL with certainty, which also means the golden trio of Virat, Rohit, and MS Dhoni cease to exist in international cricket. It means a huge loss of revenues and viewership for cricket without a doubt, given the fanbase they have and the ability to fill stadiums with their might.

The Indian Premier League would not be affected a lot, at least for the next 2–3 seasons, as both Rohit and Virat are likely to be a part of MI and RCB, respectively, till the upcoming mega auctions. However, there has been concern about cricket with the big three not playing as often as they used to before the pandemic.

In their absence, the biggest cricket stars would be the likes of Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, and Shreyas Iyer. It is worth wondering if they can fill the void of the current set of superstars like Rohit and Virat, to attract fans to watch them play. The answer lies in how cricket is consumed in world cricket in general.

Cricket windows and fan following

A cricket window usually has a major period in countries like Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand during November, December, and January, where the Christmas season is celebrated with all-format matches. Australia hosts international matches and the T20 leagues, like the BBL and WBBL, in this period. Similarly, New Zealand hosts their international matches in this period.

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South Africa also has their international matches and the SA20 in the period. The window witnesses a great reception from fans, especially in Test cricket, where the Boxing Day Test and the New Year Tests are celebrated by the fans in Australia and South Africa, given the major holidays. Fans visit stadiums irrespective of the players they get to see.

In these countries, cricket is not based on the following an individual has, but rather on the national cricket teams. Hence, irrespective of the retirement or the presence of star players, good attendance can be expected, unless the boards fumble in promoting their international window or the T20 leagues.

The subcontinent window is from February to May, where Pakistan hosts their home matches along with the PSL. India hosts international matches along with the IPL and the WPL. Similarly, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka host their international matches along with the BPL and LPL, respectively (the latter is usually scheduled a month after the aforementioned window).

In India and Pakistan, even the November–January window is used to host some series, as there would not be rain in this period. The United Kingdom and the West Indies have their cricket calendar mostly from June to September, where a majority of their international matches and T20 leagues are hosted.

While England hosts a lot of international matches, especially Tests, other teams like the West Indies, Ireland, and Scotland also host other teams during this period. Major T20 leagues like the CPL, MLC, and the Hundred take place in this window. While viewership is an issue in the Caribbean Islands, fans in the United Kingdom come in great numbers to watch matches irrespective of formats and the players they get to see.

So, irrespective of how many star players come and go, the fan following remains constant, as it is the game of cricket that makes individuals stars. It is the same in all parts of the world. Even in the subcontinent, star players have had their prime and retired with time, only to see the emergence of new stars, to continue the endless cycle.

Several popular cricketers like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Dennis Lillee, Allan Border, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Gordon Greenidge, Javed Miandad, and others were the major players in the 1970s and the 1980s.

After their retirement, new stars emerged in the 1990s, such as Sachin Tendulkar, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Arjuna Ranatunga, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis. It was probably the period in which cricket boomed and had a lot of stars. It continued even in the 2000s, where many other stars emerged, such as Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, AB de Villiers, Brett Lee, Kumar Sangakkara, Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Dale Steyn, James Anderson, and so on.

One could see the pattern that each decade had a major superstar with many other highly popular cricketers. After the slow and steady retirement of each of these cricketers, the notion of a lack of popularity of the sport was relevant for a fair period of time, only for none of it to come true.

Fans continued to watch cricket even after the retirement of all these stars. Currently, the biggest names in cricket are the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam, Pat Cummins, Mohammad Rizwan, Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Shaheen Afridi, and others.

Given how cricket has evolved, it is unlikely to witness a fall in popularity, as new faces like Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Rachin Ravindra, Phil Salt, Jacob Bethell, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sami Ayub, Naseem Shah, and others are capable of becoming future stars to keep the cricketing culture and popularity alive.