Modernization in cricket- modus Vivendi of Virat Kohli

Abstract

This is an attempt to problematize the conventional understanding of modernization in cricket

with reference to the modus Vivendi of Virat Kohli.  The paper firstly deals with modernization
and role of colonialism in Cricket as per Arjun Appadurai and Habibul Haque Khondker then it
presents brief biography of Virat Kohli.
  The second section of this paper further lays down  how charisma
plays a vital role in modern social life of cricketers like Virat Kohli .This section of paper further
lays down  how charisma plays a vital role in life of cricketers like Virat Kohli.   In previous
times, Cricketers were not-so-known people, charisma has entered the picture. Talking in
English has become very important in the post colonial times, they have become now more of a
public icon and actor than a cricketer. This section also discusses the importance of fans in life of
cricketers because crowd and literature are the two most important ingredients that biographies
of sportsmen are made up of.

.Third section deals with the critical analysis of concepts such as Modernism-Postmodernism,
-Postcolonialism and decolonization borrowed from concepts and techniques of scholars works
such as Michel Foucault, George Lamming, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Arjun appadurai.

Introduction
In India cricket is more than a game; it is a lifestyle. It is considered to be an Indian game
accidentally discovered by the English. Like chilly, which was discovered in south America and
came to India only in medieval times to become an inevitable part of Indian cordon bleu, cricket
too, is now foreign to India only according to the historians and ideologist. To most Indians the
game looks more Indian than English. Cricket in India today is coterminous with nationalism.

Cricket was always organised as a contest between different parts of the British Empire and not
between sovereign nations. The first test match was played between England and Australia at a
time when Australia was still a British colony. But with the disappearance of the British empire,
the organization of world cricket was also undergoing a change and most important was the
name of ICC was changed from the Imperial Cricket Conference to the International Cricket
Conference. The word imperial denotes dominance of elite over bourgeoisies hence it is
necessary to dethrone elite from the game because The Imperial Cricket conference was
responsible for the regulation of the game of cricket throughout the world. It was dominated by
two nations, England and Australia. They had the veto rights. In process of decolonization and
deimperiaism two changes occur which was considered to be foundation of modern form of
cricket. After fall of british empire the veto rights which were given to England and Australia
were abolished and concept of Equal membership was introduced. Headquarter of ICC was
shifted to Dubai from London. This signified that the balance of power in cricket was shifting
from ex-colonial power and white men to South Asia, who has come to dominate the world
cricket.

Cricket has created huge impact of on the Indian society has been that the game has played a
very important role in the unity of the different parts of Indian and it has also become a binding
spirit for the nation. The game of cricket has been expression for the speechless and the
voiceless; it has been the opium and adrenaline, the valium and vitamin for the Indian people.
Indian society has gained a lot from Indian cricket. The entire nation becomes one entity when it
comes to any important match of the national cricket team and the so-called conflict between the
people of the Indian states also get vanished during the matches. When the players from different
states play together for the national team, every Indian supports them anonymously, without
being concerned whether the players are from their states or not. The game of cricket has also
done a great job in decreasing the importance of religion or class or community in the field, as
the Indians support every player always. All diversity, all disparity gets sweep away in every
Indian heart by sheer non-denominational joy. During last decade the game of cricket is socially
evolved. For years, aspiring cricketers in smaller towns would have heard the statement: “It is
impossible to make it to the Indian team by living here. You must go to the big cities to stand a
chance”. The big six cities of Indian cricket (Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad,
and Kolkata), which have remained the power centres, have contributed 40% (116 out of 288) of
the Indian cricketers but according to the present trend of the Indian cricket is that the cricketers
from the small cities and towns are almost ruling the national cricket scenario at the moment.
The players like MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Mohammad Kaif, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma or
Yousuf Pathan have come from the small cities, yet they have become successful to claim the
important spots in the national team.

The most essential component of modernization of cricket is decolonization in cricket because

decolonization forced England to allow South Africa, who did not permit non-white players to
represent their country. And it was decided that the laws of cricket could not continue to be
framed for British or Australian conditions of play. The techniques of 'doosra' and 'reverse swing'
evolved by the Asian bowlers to suit their conditions came to be accepted and endorsed.

Colonization in cricket

Under the captainship of Virat Kohli India has won U-19 world cup in 2008 in kuala lumpur,
Malaysia. But here arise very innocent question that “is there any cricket in Singapore” or
Singapore has participated in any international tournament? Obviously, it is a valid question here
because Singapore like the Indian subcontinent, consisting of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh,
was a British colony. The colonial rulers bequeathed many of the cultural legacies that we have
in these two regions and Cricket is one of them. Then why there is feverish popularity of cricket
in the subcontinent and a rather occasional curiosity by the onlookers. On one hand India ranks
no 1 team in ICC rankings whereas on the other Singapore currently ranked 27th in the ICC
global ranking (17th outside of the test playing countries).

There is difference between popularity of game in

Singapore and in India because now cricket is not only a game it is social and economic process.
For example Pakistan where cricket is so popular but because of terrorism cricket is not possible
so Pakistan cricket board has to shift their home ground to UAE. Likewise Afghanistan has
transferred his home ground to dehradun recently. Similarly two times world cup champion West
indies cricket board is suffering from economic crisis so there cricketers has to play in different
leagues to earn their bread and butter. The popularity of cricket, is a colonial game in India and it
does not point to any contradiction, rather it signals certain important trends in globalization.
First, it shows that colonialism was more than a system of economic exploitation and political
domination. It was also an occasion for opening a cultural and sometimes civilizational dialogue
which in turn paved the way for cosmopolitan possibilities. According to Arjun Appadurai, “For
the former colony, decolonization is a dialogue with the colonial past, and not a simple
dismantling of colonial habits and modes of life”. For example a young man from Kolkata will
be just as comfortable discussing cricket with his Australian or South African counterpart as he
would be in discussing Tagore or Shamsur Rahman’s poetry with a fellow Bengali from
Bangladesh. It depicts that Culture unifies by providing a common subject to talk about. Our
being global does not cancel our being national. Nor does globalization of culture produce a
monotonous homogeneity. This truth is revealed in the evidence that cricket is not uniformly
popular in all the former British colonies.

Cricket is a religion in India whereas it is mere curiosity in

Singapore. The historically formed social structure explains the difference in popularity of
cricket as a sport in these two regions. Sports are not just games; they reflect important social
and economic processes, which in turn are shaped by historical forces and experiences. In
England where modern cricket was born, it was seen as more than a game. “It was invested with
a special moral worth. And it is irony that the world cup which was held in Singapore and gave
Virat Kohli such immense popularity all over the world was not so popular in the country
where it was played. And In absence of any local competitor virat has became youth icon of
Singapore. And now such events are organized in places were cricket is not so popular. For
000fexample recently T-20 cricket match series was organized in united state of America to raise
the interest of people in game of cricket.

Transformation from colonization to post- colonization

Now again there arise a question that if cricket is a colonial concept why does it remain so
popular when the nationalists in the post-colonial societies virulently criticize most other
colonial legacies? The most probable answer would be modernization. The game of cricket of
cricket has adapted itself according to the need of an hour. Previously cricket was considered to
be game of elite where the British rulers sought to imitate the local kings and princes, the local
elite in turn were equally desperate to imitate their English masters in others. But over the years,
cricket has not remained an exclusive preserve of the elite. But now scenario is completely
changed a player mohammed Siraj who is a son of auto driver is proving his metal in the field.
Lagaan a 2001 Indian movie about cricket and colonialism depicts how the British wanted to
subjugate the native under its hegemonic control. The local British officials struck a deal with the
desperate natives that if the natives could beat them in a match of cricket, their annual land taxes
would be forgiven; however, if the natives lost in the match they would have to pay the double of
the normal tax assessment. In a drought –ravaged village the natives had no other choice but to
accede to the demands of the colonial officials. The team of the natives learned the game of their
rulers with some help from the sister of the British officer, the team of the natives won in a
match full of suspense. What was meant to be an exercise of hegemony ended up as an object
lesson in counter-hegemony. The subalterns spoke with their bat.

Cricket is considered to be gentlemen’s game but now modern cricket has paved the way for the
women cricket also. Now we can say that it is gentlewomen’s game also. The most recent
example of modern day cricket is sarah taylor of England woman played men's grade cricket in
Australia for Northern Districts against Port Adelaide in October 2015 . This advancement is a sign of
the times. Nearly two hundred years of vital and relentless intellectual and political activism in
our industrial age has driven social change, especially in the world’s democracies and in the
erstwhile Second World. This has lead to an increasingly prominent role for women in public
life, be it politics, other professions, business or sport.

. When cricket was born it was compulsory for players to wear all white because symbolizing
purity and puritan values. cricket is transformed from pure white to black caps( popularly known
as new Zealand) now colour of jersey of represents nationalism for example Indian cricket team
wear blue colour jersey because There's a blue Ashok Chakra in the middle Chakra is considered
as soul of the Indian flag thus it is indirectly soul of our country. Green was already occupied by
our immediate neighbor Pakistan due to Islamic reasons. Saffron is too strong color and it's
relation to Hinduism could have negative effects on the secular state of India.
Hence blue automatically became a choice to adorn India’s jersey. The blue colour also signifies
sky and ocean and thus, became a symbol of vastness - vastness of achievements in sports,
vastness of dedication and passion to do well and vastness of scope of improvement to achieve
unprecedented heights. Now cricketer like Virat Kohli started to play with Indian flag on helmet
They want to say that though they play for the BCCI but actully they represent their country
India at the International Level. Hence it shows that the feeling of nationalism arises in modern
format as compare to the older one.
“Cricket stands for law and order… The umpire gives you out: out you must go. The man in the
white coat is a symbol of constitutional government” but now DRS( decision review system) was
introduced through which decision of umpire can be questioned and with the help of highly
advanced gadgets such as Hawk-Eye, Snick-o-meter, Hot-Spot human error can be corrected.
This mean that improved form of game became more accurate and reliable with the help of
technology than previous one.

There is no doubt that media and telecasting industry played an important role in making cricket
as a religion in India until the early 1980s, while cricket was popular, hockey was the ‘national
game’ and soccer was equally popular in large parts of the country. From the 1980s onwards
cricket assumed centre-stage, not necessarily stemming, as many have written, from some
peculiar Indian affiliation for the game, but inextricably linked with the expansion of Indian
television and a confluence of other factors: the creation of a large middle class, economic
reforms, the politics of identity, the birth of the satellite television industry and broader trends in
globalization. Media is a great wellspring of wage for cricket administrative body. Through
commercial and broadcasting rights BCCI procures gigantic benefit. What's more, through media
advancement of diversion is additionally done for example- For the Cricket World Cup 2015, the
BCCI has partnered with Twitter through a missed call service. When given a missed call on the
provided number, you become a follower of their twitter channel and you get tweet updates via
SMS, which includes score updates, photos and video links.

Effect of modernized form of cricket in life style of Virat Kohli

During 1991- 2007 there was a batsman known as Inzamam-ul-Haq He is regarded as one of the
best batsman of the sub-continent He is the leading run scorer for Pakistan in one-day
internationals, and the third-highest run scorer for Pakistan in test cricket. He was the captain of
the Pakistan national cricket team from 2003–07 and is considered to be one of the best leaders
in Pakistan Cricket history. Though he has mastered in his game and complete control over his
technique but modern format of cricket does not allow him to play because he is not so fit. In
Indian team Virat Kohlli has set an fitness level and in order to be a part of team every player
has to paas a test called YO-YO test which tests players speed and strength. Virat kohli is fitness
freak and according to him in order to play all three format of modern cricket one has to be
physically and mentally fit. He spend one and half hour daily in gym. Modern cricket require
fitness which was not so much important during sourav- sachin era.

Now cricketer is more public icon than cricketer. I see the modern club cricketer as a mercenary.
charisma plays a vital role in modern social life of cricketers like Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli is
currently the biggest brand in India and the top most sportsperson when it comes to
endorsements and earnings and was recently named in the Forbes list for the wealthiest
sportsperson across the world. The captain of the Indian cricket team is currently going through a
purple patch and every brand or company wants to associate with Kohli and he is reaching the
level of Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and pretty soon could become India’s
richest equity. Kohli’s performance on the field has made him the darling of the masses and to
add with that his personality off the field is a killer combination when it comes to selecting a
brand and Kohli’s popularity across age groups works perfectly.

After his transformation from chubby guy to handsome hunk “Brand Kohli has been steadily on
the rise after the T20 event in 2012. According to viewership analysis by TAM Media Research,
Kohli’s per day exposure was at 196 minutes across all television channels, promoting brands
such as Colgate, TVS, Vicks, head and shoulder Shampoo, herbalife, boost, Pepsi, Audi,
Britannia, smaaash , valvoline , manyawar , shyam steel , Punjab national bank , united sprit
limited,nitesh estates , samsonite, gionee, tisscot, Lloyd and MRF. More importantly, in 82% of
these advertisements, Kohli was the solo star, which according to brand experts is a testament of
the aggressive player’s popularity and bankability. In 2015, by contrast, he appeared solo only in
40% of the ads. Virat Kohli has become the first Indian sportsperson to sign a Rs 100-crore
endorsement deal with a single brand. The Indian cricket captain has struck an eight-year deal
with sports lifestyle brand Puma worth about Rs 110 crore. Kohli is now set to join the likes of
Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, and footballers Thierry Henry and Oliver
giroud among others as a global ambassador for the brand. The unusually long eight-year deal -
which could go on to cover the 28-year old's remaining career with the Indian team - involves a
fixed payment and royalty depending on the brand's business performance. This shows his
dominance in advertising world. Before year 2000 not so many cricketer had such brand value
and this brand value is outcome of modern day cricket. Recently in a commercial advertisement
of luggage company American tourister Virat kohli was opposite to football star cristiano
Ronaldo was symbolizes that virat kohli is now popular at international level also.

But apart from all these Head and shoulder advertisement is special for him because virushka
met during the ad shoot in 2013 and it did not take too long for the sparks to fly. While Kohli, by
then, had taken big strides to become one of the key components in the Indian side, Anushka too
had found her feet in Bollywood. The most important thing to notice is now cricketers are casted
opposite to highly famed bollywood celebrities. This advertisement is turning point of his life
because He claimed that his transformation was all due to lady luck, his then girlfriend and now
wife Anushka Sharma. From a man who had zero intelligence, he's become “the man” with
manners, poise, and knowledge about how to use his position for good. All because of her.

The couple has seen the pendulum of popular support swing dramatically back and forth in the
four years since they made their first public appearance together. But our society might preach
about embracing feminism, but deep down we are still a very sexist, patriarchal and misogynistic
society and would not tolerate a woman achieving success on the world stage. For example,
Anushka was brutally ripped apart and trolled for Virat Kohli’s failure in the 2015 World Cup
semi-final against Australia at Sydney and it left a pretty big scar on Anushka and Kohli had to
take a public stand to address the issue.

Apart from ups and down Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma tied the knot. Their wedding
ceremony took place at Borgo Finocchieto, a countryside resort in Italy which also happens to be
one of the most expensive holiday properties in the world. And hours later, made it Instagram-
official. Even before Anushka and Virat's wedding was confirmed, Twitter went into meltdown
mode. The hashtags #VirushkaWedding and #VirushkaKiShadi started trending. Their wedding
photographs became one of the most liked photos on instagram with more than 6 million likes.
The couple has also hosted a reception in New Delhi for relatives on December 21, followed by a
celebration in Mumbai on December 26 to be attended by Bollywood stars and cricketers. This
depicts that their life is no longer remain private it became public now because previously many
cricketers like Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore bridged the Muslim-Hindu and
the royalty-commoner gap when they married in December 1968. Mohammad Azharuddin and
Sangeeta Bijlani went a step further by having an extra-marital affair, only marrying in 1996
after Azharuddin divorced his wife Naureen. But none of them marriage got as much hype as of
virushka.

It was believed that in India, the British Army officers, businessmen from England and senior
civil servants helped implant cricket as a sports and with the growth in cricket the associate
Victorian values were also transplanted in the Indian settings. From the Indian side, the prices
were readily available to adopt this cultural practice. Cricket along with golf, polo, rifle shooting
gave the princes an opportunity to express their loyalty to their British masters whose protection
they needed but it also gave them an opportunity to display their prowess and elite qualities to
the masses thus renewing their loyalty. As part of their noblesse oblige, the princes not only
played the game they began to patronize the sports of the elite to the non-elite. But now scenario
became totally antithetical as English woman cricketer Danielle Wyatt, proposed virat Kohli on
Twitter, on April 2014, Wyatt had tweeted, "Kohli (sic) marry me." Now Indian cricketer is
dominating the game which was believed to be englishman’s game.

Cricket is considered to be gentlemen game but in modernist concept aggression is part of game
and virat kohli has proved that if you are performing well in game and your team is winning
matches than aggression is acceptable. Now red card system is introduced in gentlemen’s game
which was popularly used in football but now it is introduced in cricket because in modern
definition of cricket certain amendment is necessary. Cricket discourses stressed that it was
permeated by a spirit of sportsmanship and fair play which expressed English character and
extended to other areas of life” but now concept like fare play award is introduced in shorter
format league like Indian premier league popularly known as IPL to encourage players to
maintain game sprit and not to indulge into such activity which harm the reputation of game.
And players are quite happy in playing such leagues because these league bring huge amount of
money in their amount. Like in year 2018 virat kohli is retained by royal challengers banglore
(RCB) in mind boggling amount of 17cr.

Cricket has evolved from a strictly amateur game into a multibillion-dollar industry that is
starting to grow exponentially as the developing world embraces the sport. Modern day cricketer
is thought to be allrounder. In the field as well as they are similarly great off the field. Cricket
isn't just wellspring of salary now, player put resources into other division likewise to secure
their future after cricket. Virat has also invested a huge amount in different field. The right-
handed batsman has a great passion for football and is the co-owner of ISL team FC Goa. He
also co-owns the international tennis premier league (ITPL) Tennis team UAE Royals. He has
his own fashion brand WROGN, a youth fashion venture. He is associated with Sport Convo, a
multi-sport tech-startup based in London. A fitness freak, Virat has set up his own chain of
gyms, named ‘Chysel Gym and Fitness Center’ with CSE. Apart from investment in business
sector Virat has a taste for luxury cars and has a particular affinity for Audi cars. He has an Audi
R8 LMS and an Audi R8 V10, an Audi S6, an Audi A8 Quattro and an Audi Q7. He also has a
Toyota Fortuner and Renault Duster, as well as a number of sport bikes.Virat recently purchased
a ‘Sky Bungalow’ in Mumbai, for $5.3 million. The bungalow, in Worli, is on the 34th floor and
offers a view of the sea. It can be made into a five-bedroom apartment upon completion.
Cricketer Yuvraj Singh also has a house on the 29th floor in the same building. Thus modern
cricketer lifestyle is more lavish as compare to cricketer from 20th century because some of the
finding really difficult to earn their livelihood.

Conclusion

The central argument of this analysis has been that modern cricket is composite consequence of
cultural, economic, colonial and political evolution. And the question that if cricket is a colonial
concept why does it remain so popular when the nationalists in the post-colonial societies
virulently criticize most other colonial legacies? The popularity of cricket, a colonial game in
India does not point to any contradiction, rather it signals certain important trends in
modernization. With every decade it keeps on amending its rules so that it can catch up with the
present developed society. But still one can’t deny the fact that it still has traces of the colonial
era for example now spectator can easily book tickets online. He doesn’t need to stand in queue
for match ticket this is modern concept but still there is VIP box in every stadium which is
allotted to only few citizen like in colonial era special seats are reserved for elite and their
family.

Now cricketer is more public icon than cricketer. I see the modern club cricketer as a mercenary.
charisma plays a vital role in modern social life of cricketers like Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli is
currently the biggest brand in India and the top most sportsperson when it comes to
endorsements and earnings and was recently named in the Forbes list for the wealthiest. Now
cricket is not just a game it is converted into path to luxurious lifestyle. As kohli earns a salary of
$2.5 million playing for Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore and match
fees of $ 1 million per annum for the national and international matches. Now feeling of
nationalism is suppressed by cash relations. Cricketers play cricket because they were paid for it.
for example player like Rahul Dravid has appeared in Indian premier league but taking
retirement from international cricket because IPL provide huge amount of money another
example can be taken of Caribbean cricketers who cancel their international matches just to
appear in IPL. It is considered as dark side of modern cricket.

This assignment also focuses on how cricket is transformation of cricket from pure white to
black caps( popularly known as new Zealand) how colour of jersey of represents nationalism. A
transformation from colonial to post colonial society and introduction of modern technique in
cricket which make it more reliable.