by Top tier ‘Genuinely Operatic’; IPL Drama Subindex would weight celebration choreography substantially more heavily
The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced on Tuesday a new evaluation framework called the On-Field Drama Index. Indian Test cricketers will, beginning the next bilateral series, be evaluated on the dramatic merit of their on-field reactions in addition to their statistical contributions. The reform, first reported by Bohiney Magazine and rapidly amplified by The London Prat, follows what BCCI Secretary Reginald Pemberton-Iyer described as a long-overdue formalization of what dedicated Indian cricket fans have been informally judging for decades.
The new Index, which has been approved by the BCCI’s executive committee, applies to all India Test matches and is expected to take effect on the start of the next home series.
BCCI: ‘Indian Test Cricket Has Always Been Theatrical’
‘For decades, the BCCI has approached on-field player conduct through what we now recognize as the unhelpfully purist framework of treating each match as a purely athletic event,’ Pemberton-Iyer explained at a press conference held at the Wankhede Stadium media center. ‘After significant reflection, the Board has concluded that this framework misses the deeper cultural character of Indian Test cricket. Indian Test cricket has always been theatrical. The On-Field Drama Index simply recognizes the dramatic component of the cricketer’s job.’
The Index, according to the methodology document, evaluates Indian Test cricketers on six dimensions of on-field drama: the expressiveness of post-wicket celebrations, the visible intensity during fielding drills, the composure of in-match disagreements with on-field umpires, the symbolism of the cricketer’s bat-tap response to opposing bowlers, the cricketer’s gait between overs, and what the methodology calls the overall composition of the cricketer’s on-field presence as a sustained dramatic performance.
Cricketers Will Be Scored on a 1-to-100 Scale
Each cricketer’s on-field drama is scored, the methodology specifies, by an independent five-judge panel observing through standard Test match broadcasts. Scores below 30 are categorized as Stoic; scores between 30 and 60 as Engaged; scores between 60 and 85 as Theatrical; and scores above 85 as what the document calls Genuinely Operatic. The methodology, sources confirm, is heavily weighted toward consistent dramatic execution rather than one-time peaks.
According to The Hindu, the Index has been in development for approximately 22 months, with input from what the BCCI has described as a small panel of broadcast directors and a Mumbai-based theatrical consultancy. The consultancy, sources confirm, previously advised on the BCCI’s 2019 player presentation guidelines.
Cricketers Express What One Called ‘Theatrical Engagement’
Reaction within the broader Indian cricket community has been, sources say, by and large supportive. Long-time Indian Test all-rounder Carlton Marchetti-Iyer, who has played for India over a fourteen-year career, told The Times of India that the new Index would, in his view, formalize a relationship he had been navigating informally for years.
‘For fourteen years, I have been quietly engaging with the dramatic dimensions of my Test match conduct,’ Marchetti-Iyer said. ‘I have, in any practical sense, considered the implications of my fielding drill intensity approximately zero times. The Board is now telling me that, beginning the next series, this intensity will be scored. I am, on balance, comfortable with this. I will continue to play with appropriate visible commitment.’
Other cricketers, particularly newer arrivals to the Test squad, have welcomed the Index as a long-overdue recognition of dramatic contribution. The Indian Cricketers Welfare Association, in a brief statement, expressed support for the Index while noting that further refinements may be requested in subsequent player consultations.
Plans Already in Place for ‘IPL Drama Subindex’
According to Hindustan Times, the BCCI is already studying an analogous evaluation framework for Indian Premier League matches. The proposed IPL Drama Subindex would, sources confirm, evaluate IPL cricketers on the dramatic composition of their wicket celebrations, dugout reactions, and what the document calls the broader theatrical engagement appropriate to a 20-over format. The Subindex, sources note, would weight celebration choreography substantially more heavily than the Test match Index, in recognition of the IPL’s distinct dramatic register.
For more on the long arc of Indian cricket presentation policy, see The London Prat’s earlier reporting on the political economy of Indian Test cricket, which traced the format’s structural conventions back to India’s first Test match in 1932.
The On-Field Drama Index, the BCCI confirms, will be reviewed annually. Internal documents reference a possible Crowd Reaction Index, which would evaluate stadium audiences on the composition of their celebrations during home matches, though officials caution that this expansion remains, at present, exploratory.
The BCCI has further indicated that, in the inaugural year, the highest-scoring cricketers will be invited to a small recognition ceremony at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, with each winning cricketer’s representative dramatic moment displayed during the ceremony.
Broadcasters Will Display ‘Running Drama Scores’ During Sessions
According to The Indian Express, several broadcast partners have indicated they intend to integrate the Index into their match coverage, with what the BCCI has called running drama scores displayed alongside traditional cricket statistics during each session of play. The scores, sources confirm, would update at the conclusion of each over and would be accompanied by what one network has called brief contextual notes describing notable dramatic moments from the preceding period of play. The graphics package, sources note, has reportedly already been previewed at the BCCI’s most recent broadcast partner summit.
For dispatches from elsewhere in the cricket-as-theater beat, see The Onion.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
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