Teesra Does It Right

I’ve long been a fan of Devanshu Mehta’s blog Deep Backward Point, but I am an ever bigger fan of his side project, Teesra. It started off as a sort of “What if The Onion covered cricket?” but it’s now something more. Devanshu understands that cricket blogs — and blogs in general — are outdated; we prefer tweets, gifs, and images, and in many ways, they are often better in the service of a good argument. For an excellent example, take a look at Devanshu’s post on the Dominica Test match, in which he nicely weaves together statistics, graphics, and text in one compelling narrative.

I’m aware of the irony of using a blog to condemn blogging, but that’s not what I’m trying to do. I think there’s a proper place for people like Kartikeya who need thousands of words to diligently analyze a particular issue. And there’s demand for that! But blogging, at least done traditionally, also tends to encourage a top-down relationship between author and the reader. That’s not necessarily a bad thing (I bow down everyday to my Old Batsman shrine), but it’s not taking full advantage of the Internet’s possibilities. Too much of cricket is top-down, and that’s a trend that will likely worsen as more corporate money floods the market. For too long, the reigning image of the cricket fan has involved him/her sitting idly in front of a television screen. But now we too have the power to create our own stories, to remix our sport, and to make it ours. If that means dressing up like a big bear (a la The Two Chucks), or turning Chris Gayle’s power into a series of GIFs, or approaching the ICC cricket rules as a lawyer would, or reaching out to cricket greats and interviewing them for a podcast series, or getting a bunch of friends together to provide your own brand of commentary…then, you’re doing something right and great. This is our generation’s pitch invasion.

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