Why do cricketers not perform at the same level as footballers during twilight of their careers?

Cricket and football are two of the most popular sports in the world. While football fans can be found in impressive numbers all around the globe, cricket fans are predominantly found in Asia.

Especially in South Asia, cricket is like a religion. The duration of a game of cricket, played in the shortest format - T20, is about three hours. Meanwhile, football is played in two halves of 45 minutes each, with a 15-minute break in between them. The shorter time span and less complicated rules are some of the reasons behind football's massive craze. However, the reintroduction of cricket in the Olympics in 2028 is going to help the sport reach a wider audience.

Most of the time, cricketers tend to have longer careers than footballers, mainly because of the physical demands of the game of football. However, there are some reasons why cricketers are not as successful as footballers in the twilight of their careers. CricTracker lists some of them below:

3. Decreased hand-eye coordination

Hand-eye coordination plays a major role in the game of cricket. Batting against pacers bowling at over 140 kph isn't an easy task. A 140 kph delivery reaches the batter in about 0.5 seconds (depending on the surface and the bowler's release point). The batter has to pick the length, judge the line, decide whether to play or leave, choose the apt shot if he decides to play, and finally, execute it. All this has to be done in 0.5 seconds. As most cricketers reach the fag end of their careers, their hand-eye coordination goes down considerably. This makes it hard for them to continue batting as well as they used to in the younger days.