THE IPL-GATE – from the eyes of a Commoner

For any cricket lover, the last 10 days have been full of mixed emotions to say the least. I still remember a panicking Swathi (my wife) calling me at noon to inform me that the RR Trio had been caught spot fixing. And since then it has been a parade of arrests including the mighty ‘Guru’. There has been media frenzy with 24/7 channels airing the same news over and over, and as Milind Rege rightly put it on one of the TV shows I participated in as a caller, “the common man will now tend to see all cricket with jaundiced eyes”. On the other hand unnoticeably England and New Zealand have been indulging in some good old test cricket which has been long forgotten in this country called India and Rahul Dravid has been carrying the torch of Integrity and Class, albeit all alone.

We have had experts from all fields, talking about IPL saga from legal, criminal, economical, moral, ethical, sporting and governance points of view. So what does a common man (or woman) think of all these. Because end of it all it is us, the cricket fan, who pays for the entire circus directly and indirectly.

Though I do not represent the entire creed of common people, I think the cricket fan is at the least saddened. However this does not mean they may be driven off the game. Yes, there is outrage on the streets, there is anger in social media but the stadiums are still full. And if the TV reports are to be believed the TRPs of IPL have gone skywards since the scandal broke out. The reason behind this is the eternal hope of “everything will be alright soon” which even I exude. The common man though angry wants his heroes to come out of this clean. Though MSD skipped the pre-final conference to avoid tough questions and though there have already been murmurs about how he is in a precarious position, the real MSD fan (and cricket fan as well) hopes that he has nothing to do with the scandal and he comes out of it as the hero he always has been. Only time will tell.

Beyond the angst however, I want to also ask several questions. These are issues that not many media houses or experts are highlighting. However, these are pertinent questions in my humble opinion. The first issue that seems to have missed the limelight is the IPL after parties. It has been a well established fact by now that the bookies have been contacting these players in these parties. And if one observes the nature of these events it is clear that there is an unprecedented access to cricketers.

Not just in the olden days but even as late as 2007 and in cases of Test and One Day cricket even today, the cricketers have always been a lot which people had less than limited access to. When on 2-3 month tours the team used to stay in a hotel and partied together in almost zero outside access environment. The IPL after parties have completely changed the scenario. I am sure the bookies and the fixers were thankful to the person who came up with this idea. I strongly believe that the most efficient step towards curbing corruption in cricket will be to monitor who has access to players. If this means keeping the businessmen who own the teams out of the hotel, dressing rooms and dugouts, so be it.

The second question has been raised across platforms but only occasionally and that too without too much fervor. The large question of conflict of interest. I could not help laughing out loud when I read in one of the news feed that BCCI is going to question the CSK ownership on the Guru issue. Imagine it for a moment. Mr. N Srinivasan in his capacity as the President of BCCI and part of its disciplinary committee will write to Mr. N Srinivasan the owner of India Cements and thus the owner of Chennai Super Kings seeking explanation. And then may be go on and give a clean chit to himself as well. How kool is that?

Dig deeper and you will notice that this is not only limited to Mr. Srinivasan. Krish Srikkanth was the chairman of selectors and mentor of CSK. MSD is the captain of CSK and India (in that order I believe) and therefore a part of the selection committee and also the Vice President of India Cements. In fact even the great Rahul Dravid is a Vice President at India Cements and captains their corporate team. In fact a glance at India Cements team in the BCCI corporate trophy will introduce you to about half of the Chennai Super Kings side. Then the greats like Sunny Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri who was/is on the IPL Governing Council are paid commentators of BCCI for IPL. No wonder you do not hear factual commentary. This list is certainly longer than then entire length of this article. While I am not at all suggesting that all these people have been indulging in malafide practices, one cannot but overlook the scope that such an overlap brings.

To sum it up I think the common man also has a tendency to forget or forgive and sometimes both. Therefore there certainly no threat to the gate collections and to those consumer brands associated with cricket. All will be merry too soon for comfort. And finally, I am certain of one thing. Cricket has to come out this as a winner and I am pretty sure it will. Whether it does so by cleaning up or by shoving everything under the carpet remains to be seen. I am hopeful at best.

 

IPL: Show of Brand India or Boon for Cricket??

 

The juggernaut has started rolling. Soon you would see the Hyderabadis cheering for Aussies, the Delhites Cheering for Indians and the Mumbaikars cheering for Sri Lankans. Well this is not a dream. Welcome to the latest money spinner in sports. The Indian Premier League seems to be here to stay.

 

When Subhash Chandra, the visionary behind ICL (Indian Cricket League) the breakthrough cricket, would have thought about incepting something that was anti BCCI (!) as thought about by the BCCI themselves, not even in his wildest dreams would he have seen a 19 year old Delhi lad who was learning to bowl quick against the GOOD batsmen of the world, contracted for a whopping $950000. As the telecom users thanked Reliance Infocomm in 2003 for lowering the overall market prices in spite of them not having great services themselves, the cricket fraternity of the country should felicitate Mr. Chandra for having pioneered a revolution in cricket where the money goes to its deserving creator, The Players. Though ICL itself was not an out and out success, it at least made sure that the poor Ranji Trophy player who used to earn 5000 to 10000 per match and had to struggle to keep the ends meeting after his playing days, had a scope to make enough money to support him for life.

 

Everyone would agree that there is money in cricket. And when there is an opportunity to earn and that too legally, why not take it. I mean, if someone does not take a money making opportunity we will label him a fool instantly!! So that is one way the whole ICL, IPL story sounds pleasant. The lower rung cricketers are getting opportunities to look up and choose which, 5 years down the like seemed impossible. “If you want to play cricket, don’t take any panga with the BCCI” was the mantra every coach used to teach his wards apart from the customary batting stance and the bowling action.

 

So if IPL is giving opportunity to people and paying for the same why is there a hue and cry about how it can harm the game? Well personally, as someone who is a devotee of the game, I think they are not entirely wrong.

When Kerry Packer rolled out his then infamous and now historically famous World Series, the first thing happened was the clash between the authorities of cricket and his company. While BCCI has taken due care to please the akas of the cricket world, the ICC, there will be scope for spats and clashes. The bitterness will start the day when an IPL tournament clashes with the schedule of an international tour for the contracted player. Though the player will give his country the priority, there may be instances when the whole scenario turns bad because of the non-cricketing franchisees. Yes, the boards may understand the game and so do the players, but none of the franchisees do. So after paying hefty sums to buy the teams and the players, if absenteeism hurts them in the pocket, they will for sure react to it at cricket’s loss.

 

Apart from that, there also rises the question of whether or not the people prefer to watch such a cricket. Again, that seems to be of less importance because even if the crowds don’t gather at the venues, they will for sure want to see a good 20-20 match from the comforts of their lounges without paying anything. And that sounds like music to an advertiser. TV revenues have already broken the roof and now are heading skywards. So more money in store…

 

What then happens to the poor old Ranji trophy??? Now that is where the real problem is. Why would an Ishant Sharma play for Delhi at a meagre 1 lakh when he is getting 100 times more for playing for IPL? Though both Ranji Trophy and IPL have a common parent, I am sure the treatment would be very different. And this is the long term problem. Today we may enjoy the attention of the world, become famous as cricketers and retire with large sums of money. What will happen to the next generation who have been playing the Ranji Trophy without any serious competition, because all the good domestic players have already gone to the IPL? If Lalit Modi has an answer to this, then I think IPL will stay. If not the future does not look too good for the INDIAN NATIONAL CRICKET TEAM, though it looks great for the current cricket teams.