Cricket Tournaments

Cricket is one of the most beautiful games to watch as well as play and I don’t think being from India, where people consider it as a religion, anyone here will have a doubt about it.  With over more than 100 years since the first ever match was played between England and Australia, this game went on beautifying itself with the way it was played.

Playing in true spirits, I’ve always admired some players. But what hurts my sentiment for this game is the way the beautifying effect has been just torn apart by certain players lacking basic sportsman spirit, money and the politics.

Rest aside, getting politics into cricket, just doesn’t seem to be a good idea. Despite being a ‘gentlemen’s game’, cricket and controversies always go hand in hand. Cricketers and their boards are constantly getting engaged in the mind games and the politics of the game.

Spats between cricketers and their respective boards have been going on since a long while. Right from Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly which gave rise to the fact that cricketers are mere employees for the board and nothing more. Chappell’s spat with Ganguly not only saw the worst spat ever occurred between a coach and a player but also showed how a player of caliber like Ganguly was treated in India. BCCI, being the most powerful and financially well-off cricket boards, has its own set of rules and treats players basically like slaves. But what weakens BCCI’s power is the fan base in India. Cricket being considered as a religion, the fans would just protest against BCCI if there’s anything going against a high-profile cricketer. Though media can always turn out to be the culprit.

Nevertheless what people fail to understand, is that politics is everywhere and to think that it’s only in India is just naïve. WICB-Chris Gayle, CA-Simon Katich, PCB-Shahid Afridi and it goes on and on to prove the fact that other boards do get engaged in politics too and it’s just that it hasn’t been openly talked about.

Axing senior players like Chris Gayle, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, what kind of team were they ever going to make? Others kept aside, Chris Gayle was on a mission to prove the board officials what they were missing on. And what he does is in style! Smashing sixes all over the ground in the just-concluded IPL, he was like a tornado coming towards the other teams. And this obviously infuriated WICB officials that he chose to play for IPL, instead of waiting for WICB officials to respond. Keeping him out of the current squad against India made the matters worse with WIPA supporting Gayle too. As the war of words goes on, who would axe senior players like them without even disclosing it in front of them? Politics plays its role.

Being in India, would you ever think of removing Sachin Tendulkar or for that matter any player who’s in his prime form with just the matter of fact that age is not by his side? That’s what exactly Australian cricket board has done! Scoring with an average of around 50 after his return to international cricket, no-one had ever thought of him being axed. Being in as many as 17 century partnership at the top after his return, Australia’s opening partnership was the most stable and effective. And the reason been given, ‘We want to forge a better opening partnership for Ashes 2013’. Is this a reason to give, when Katich has better averages than anyone else in the team after his return to international cricket? Why would you want to get rid of one of your best players? Just a bit baffled!

Even Stuart Clark was treated in a very much similar way, though he didn’t protest as such. And if two players are talking about this, there has to be some problems on the other side. And i’m sure there will be more players, just going against CA will make life worse for them.

Though PCB-Shahid Afridi tussle has been two-sided, where just because of stripping him from captaincy, Shahid Afridi decided to quit international cricket. Later again he was in a war of words with PCB and coach Waqar Younis which made the matters worse. Pakistan already at a point where their cricket doesn’t look like being stable any-time soon, with his retirement it looks even more awful. Being a two-sided mistake, you cannot just comment on what is it all about.

But what surprises me is that the board officials consider their players as mere contracted players and basically slaves who are supposed to do whatever the board wants when under contract. The politics played is intense and can’t get through it. Though the entire thing isn’t out, but what matters is all this is just affecting the game.

On top of that, with match-fixers and bookies all around, it makes worse. Even the fact that players favoring club over country hurts, but then it’s their own decisions though.

Cricket is to get back to the way it was, when there were no tussles, when every-one played their heart-out to represent their country, when match-fixing was never even a word in dictionary.

The Sahara group, a conglomerate owned by Subrato Roy, has once again won the rights of sponsoring the Indian men’s cricket team till December 2013. But what is important is the sponsorship deal. There is no doubt why the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) is the richest cricket board in the world. The sponsorship deal only goes to show the influence that the BCCI has on Indian cricket.

It is due to various sponsors such as Sahara and Nike, who pay millions of dollars for years and years, for marketing. Sahara has bid to pay a whopping $719000 for every match in all three formats of the game.This was because the BCCI set a base price of $541000. In the process, Sahara beat its own previous record of paying $300000-450000 depending on the format of the game played by India, in the period of 2005-2009.

The news comes as a shock to many cricket fans as the Sahara Group had won the bid of owning the Pune franchise of the IPL, paying a mind-boggling $370 million. This had happened two months earlier and since Sahara would need cash in order to handle their IPL team from next year onwards, Subrato Roy wasn’t sure in his statements to the press whether Sahara would continue to sponsor the Indian team.

However, the conglomerate has put this sponsorship deal, in similar terms as the Pune ownership, calling it purely ‘emotional’ as the firm loves cricket. Sahara Group has been sponsoring the Indian team since 2001 and has also been sponsoring the Indian hockey team for a long period.

The company’s interest in sports was also evident when they donated additional money to the hockey team, which was in a crisis, last year. In the light of recent events, their so-called ‘emotion’ could be justified, according to statements made by Abhijit Sarkar, the corporate affairs head of Sahara Group.

However, is this what they call ‘emotion’ towards sport? According to many critics of this deal, Sahara has only ashamed themselves by paying $719000 per match to sponsor only the men’s team. They have stopped their sponsorship for the India A, India U-19 and the women’s team respectively.

This is unfair if they love Indian sport and in particular, Indian cricket. This is a clear example of a failed marketing campaign. They have won the bid to sponsor India for three years; however their corporate image could be in tatters soon.

This is purely a business deal as according to market sources, Sahara had earlier paid approximately $88 million for four years. And now, if they only sponsor the men’s team, they would have to pay $106 million on estimation. This will not hurt the group’s cash flow so much.

Cricket in India has become commercialized so much so that the game is totally dependent on money and the IPL’s growing stature is a clear proof of this. It is due to these sponsorship deals that board officials become more corrupt, and hardly spend any of this money for the welfare of young, aspiring cricketers across the country.

So, if Sahara really believes that they are doing this for goodwill, fulfilling their corporate social responsibility (CSR), they need to think again. Instead, they would be doing good perhaps to the entire state of Maharashtra, through the Sahara Pune Warriors team. Young talent will be brought up in the team and Sahara could also create jobs for those young cricketers who are not upto the mark.

Thus, its time that companies like Sahara think about their marketing strategies. They shouldn’t fall prey to the BCCI’s money-making tactics and instead use the sponsorship money to actually improve the Pune team or build new cricketing academies or improve hockey facilities in our country so that Indian sport and in this case, cricket benefits the most.

Sahara is already known by Indian fans as many matches have been played over the last eight years. However, the sponsorship deal makes sense as long as the BCCI uses the money with the right intentions.

If the board can help improve the standard of cricket offered by tournaments such as Ranji Trophy, then I don’t think that Mr. Roy and his company has committed a mistake of sponsoring India as Sahara would actually wish to maintain its pan-India image through the sponsorship, in the eyes of the avid Indian cricket fan.

There are cricket stadiums and then there is Eden Gardens. Yes, a match at the Lord’s of India brings along with it humongous expectations every time, that of a historic Indian win. Mohammad Azharuddin always scored runs here — even when he batted with his eyes closed, his protégé of sorts VVS Laxman has scored four hundreds and over a 1,000 runs in nine Test, and Harbhajan Singh would die to play cricket over here game after game.

Undoubtedly, this ground at Kolkata holds special memories for India. Can we ever forget that miraculous turnaround in 2001 against Australia? It was only fitting then at India retained their numero uno status with yet another superlative performance against the chief contender for the throne, South Africa.

So what is it about the Eden that makes cricket viewing such an amazing experience? The main reason, without an eye blink, has to be the wonderful crowd (1996 being an exception of sorts) that turns up in huge numbers to witness a Test on all five days of a game. Rarely, even in India, will we see a full house for the traditional version of the game.

It happens only in Eden! Sad then that the venue doesn’t get a chance to host enough Tests, while lesser venues keep getting opportunities time and again despite producing dull draws. A lot of it must be due to the political battle between Bengal’s cricketing association and the BCCI in recent times. True, the crowd too isn’t the most sporting when India loses, but then that isn’t reason enough not to give the ground its due, at least not yet.

After all, the Eden Gardens has given us so many wonderful, unforgettable memories. It was here that VVS Laxman became Very Very Special and Harbhajan Singh turned into the Turbanator. Some of the shots Laxman played during that knock of 281 will be etched in our memories till time immemorial.

And for not one moment during that innings did he ever come even close to getting out. Once again, it was the Eden magic at work. The unbelievably high decibel of noise the crowd makes gives the opposition the illusion that they are playing against 60-70 thousand people instead of 11. Laxman has played many good knocks elsewhere, but it’s at Eden that he has always looked at home.

Same is the case with Harbhajan. This was the same ground at which he had resurrected his international career with a match-turning bowling performance against the Aussies. Before this game, he was miserably struggling to find his rhythm. But look what the return to his favourite venue did for the heavily under-fire off-spinner.

Not only did his performance lift to incredible heights, but the team’s fortunes turned around astoundingly as well, despite a Nagpur-like start for the South Africans with the bat. One is not sure if Harbhajan will repeat such heroics at other venues, but be rest assured that the next time he steps on to the Eden turf, he will deliver something out of the ordinary.

Yes, that’s the magic of Eden Gardens!

Cricket in India has been governed by the BCCI since 1928. Today, we see India on the top of the cricketing world map more due to the financial power of the BCCI and not the quality of cricket. The BCCI can make the ICC; cricket’s so-called ‘most powerful governing body’ easily dance to its tunes. Therefore, in the future, it is likely that the BCCI would continue to dominate Indian as well as world cricket due to the rapid commercialization and globalisation of the sport thanks to T-20 events like the IPL which is backed by the BCCI.

So, cricket is a monopoly in India. But the question rises – Can the BCCI encourage and recognize new talent in the long-run on its own? Here come the basics of economics. Today, most economies across the world are either mixed or free-market economies. The belief that only the government can help bolster an economy is no longer accepted by economists and intellectuals.

Similarly, when it comes to Indian cricket, the BCCI must look to privatize cricket with the help of the IPL where corporate honchos such as GMR or Reliance could be encouraged to form their own four-day teams and an annual competition could be held in all formats of the game.

The franchise which produces the best results in the three formats on aggregate could be named champions of Indian cricket. Or, perhaps private leagues such as the ICL could be allowed to prosper as tournaments like the IPL and the Ranji Trophy might not bring the best out of players nor they would be noted by the BCCI for being potential players for India in the future. It is only a monopolistically competitive market which succeeds in the long-run.

The BCCI could continue to rule Indian cricket but they could encourage competition as competition is healthy and usually brings out the best of the players. Since, the IPL is BCCI’S brain child it could probably be for the international established players. The ICL could act as a stepping stone to reach the IPL.

Having said that, the BCCI is the best when it comes to handling cricketing affairs due to its experience and the fact that it can survive easily due to greater profits, like an established enterprise. Unlike the ICL, which could hardly make an impact in a span of two years. There are no questions about the IPL being a raging success and the ICL a failure. The BCCI have already asked the ICC for a window in the FTP (Future tours Programme) to accommodate the IPL.

If given the window, other cricketing boards would come up with their own lucrative cricket league and would demand a window too thus destroying the FTP. This would be horribly unfair to other cricket boards. So, when it comes to world cricket, definitely the ICC has to take a tough call on the BCCI’s dominance. However, if in the future other boards do come up with lucrative cash-rich leagues like the IPL then it would be better for the ICC to either take control by having a window for 2-3 franchisees from each country thus not jeopardising the FTP.

But in Indian cricket, the BCCI can do well as a monopoly as long as it removes money as their top priority. BCCI officials need to understand that excellence is the way of making profits. Focus needs to be on strategising of India’s success as a team which produces better cricket than other teams, rather than have being paid a lot of money undeservingly.

BCCI must have former cricketers who have played for India as these players would have the reverence and love for their country rather than the desire to earn money. Otherwise, it is time that Indian cricket becomes an economy in transition which will be mixed in the long-run. And this is possible if the sports ministry of India does intervene if they want cricket to remain the No.1 sport of the country.

Cricket was first played over a span of five days between a few teams like England, Australia and South Africa. This five-day format is called test cricket. Soon, other countries too joined in and started playing cricket, taking it as a serious sport.

Test cricket was at its peak until the first ever 60-overs one-day international match was played between Australia and England at MCG in January 1971. Soon, this format of the game became so popular that the first limited-overs World Championship of Cricket was played in England just four years later, which West Indies won.

Ever since then, the one-day game has been prone to changes. For example, in the 1980s, the ICC reduced the amount of overs in a limited-overs fixture from 60 to 50, making the game more interesting for spectators. And till today, a one-day international (ODI) game remains a usual 50-over affair.

Since the era of commercializing cricket perhaps began in the 90’s, it was expected that the ODIS would be a hit among sponsors as well, who would be willing to advertise as viewers across the world are glued to their television sets watching a cricket match intensely as ever. More World Cup tournaments were held with coloured clothing introduced in the 1992 edition of the World Cup, which was the idea of Kerry Packer, the Australian who advocated cricket with coloured clothing as early as the 70’s.

White balls were introduced, making it possible to host day-night matches using white balls. Soon white balls were given the thumbs-up to be used in day matches as well which even required new, black sight-screens. Thus the one-day game became a favourite amongst every cricket lover.

But then came perhaps the golden phase of cricket. In 2003, a new version of limited overs cricket called the T-20’s was introduced in England. This format meant that unlike matches in which each team had to bat 50 overs, here the teams have to bat just 20 overs each or 120 balls in simple terms.

This implied that matches would get over quickly and runs would be scored at a faster rate. Twenty-20 became a hit in England and thus like the one-day game was spread across the world. And it has also become internationally-acclaimed when the ICC introduced the T-20 internationals concept in 2005. Since then, T-20 has taken the world by storm. It has reached heights as spectators would be more willing to watch a much more exciting and short T-20 game rather than a relatively boring and a longer 50-over game.

So the question rises – Can the 50-over survive for long?

It may not, as the inaugural T-20 World Cup in 2007 in South Africa, saw a large number of audiences in the stadium as well as on television, bettering the 2007 50-over World Cup in the West Indies by far. And to top it, India won the T-20 World Cup, resulting in more fan-following as India is a popular team in most cricketing countries.

As a matter of fact, the T-20 was a mode of cricket getting globalized and not just commercialized through India. Soon, the Indian Premier League (IPL) followed which was the Indian cricket board’s (BCCI) brainchild. And this tournaments played between the top 8 cricketing cities across India, became a hit amongst viewers across the world as well as international players in the first edition itself in 2008.

Then Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, made sure that the tournament took place in South Africa in 2009 despite security threats. South Africa, too embraced T-20s like never before. Looking at this, other countries like England and Australia are planning to form their own tournaments based on the concept of IPL as cricket then would reach to a new level in the countries due to the dwindling interest of people there in the one-dayers. The ICC too is reckoning whether the IPL must have a place in the future tours programme (FTP), which is basically the international cricket calendar.

However, the one-day game still has a place in cricket even if cricketers give importance to either test cricket or T-20s. The one-dayers determine whether a batsman is wholesome, i.e, if he can defend as well as attack, reacting to the situation as demanded. It shows whether bowlers are skilled enough to face challenges in test cricket. It tests the pressures of fielders, therefore one-dayers can determine fielding standards of a team.

So, the one day game can survive as long as the ICC gives meaning to it in its FTP. It could foster national pride within players as well rather than they wanting to play in tournaments such as the IPL. Or like Sachin Tendulkar suggested that the one-day format could be further revamped by making it like a longer T-20 in the test style where each team bats 25 overs in two innings each and are followed by strategic time-outs.

This makes the scoring rate faster like the T-20s and could rekindle the interest of audiences across the world. Perhaps more matches could also take place with top one-day teams clashing against each other, such as India, Australia and South Africa. The ICC has tried to make the one day game survive by the successful organizing of the Champions Trophy every two years in different countries. They have also taken a risk by making the game batting-friendly by allowing 20 overs of the power play for the batting side, i.e. fielding restrictions.

However, the one day format of cricket is falling apart thanks to all countries accepting T-20’s as the future of the game. T-20’s seem to be a practical way of playing cricket these days. With events such as the IPL, the one day game is nowhere at the moment. Even Tendulkar’s idea will take time to be implemented by the ICC and accepted by people warmly.

Reducing ticket prices won’t help if people aren’t interested and patient in watching 50-over cricket. So, its true that cricket needs to respect the 50-over format and recognize players appropriately for their achievements, like in the 90’s. The 50-over game can survive if the ICC doesn’t act like a puppet to the BCCI and respects the quality of cricket rather than the money involved in it. In fact, I believe that if 50-over cricket will grow money if its quality is good enough to appeal fans across the world.

The IPL Season 3 isn’t too far away from wooing Indian viewers yet again. However, Pakistani players will not being playing, just as the second season. Remember, Pakistan are the champions in T-20 cricket having won the World Cup last year. So how is it that none of the eight franchisees were interested in buying Pakistan’s players?

Well, there are three sets of people who are responsible for the snub according to me.

The Indian government which has been accused of secretly persuading the franchisees not to buy Pakistani players in revenge of the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, which has seen sour political relations between the two countries ever since. The scenario is possible as the IPL’s governing body might have acted as a medium of communication between the Indian government and the franchisees.

It could be the IPL directly who might have instructed the franchisees to act in the manner they did, in the best interests of the BCCI. The BCCI and the PCB, like the governments, have been in a tiff since India cancelled a scheduled tour of Pakistan in December 2008, right after the Mumbai attacks. Sri Lanka had to act as mediator and played ODIS against both the countries.

Followed by which Pakistan didn’t permit their players to participate in the IPL Season 2 in South Africa despite the best security assured as the tournament shifted from India. The BCCI might have then felt insulted, believing that Pakistan doesn’t want to get involved in cricketing ties featuring India in the near future, resulting in the snub of the Pakistani players this season.

3) Worst, it could be the franchisees themselves who must have had a consensus that none of them would pick the Pakistani players perhaps due to strained political relations or the fact that the players hardly played in the first edition of the IPL and didn’t play in the second. This meant that the franchisees’ investing in Pakistani players in the future won’t make much of sense as many of the contracted players had been signed for three years by their respective franchisees.

The government has washed off their hands over this major issue on the pretext that they had issued visas to the Pakistanis which made them eligible to play in the IPL this time around. India’s home minister P Chidambaram also feels that Pakistan’s exclusion is a ‘disservice to cricket’. These comments come after an outrage in Pakistan has occurred with the PCB threatening to snap ties with Indian cricket unless there is no change seen in the immediate future.

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, has himself denied any role of the BCCI in this issue saying that IPL is a completely different entity from the BCCI even if the tournament is the board’s brainchild. So, BCCI might not be involved.

The franchisees have also taken blame partly by agreeing that they felt that their investments won’t be safe by buying Pakistani players. However, they may also not be blamed as they have followed what they believe is right for the team’s benefit as they didn’t pick many Australian or English players for that matter.

I believe that whoever is responsible for this debacle has facilitated miscommunication between the IPL and the franchisees. Cricket needs unity at the moment and not discord, especially between India and Pakistan. Indian cricket has almost died by showing that they are not willing to welcome players from countries like Pakistan to come and play the game in India. The IPL is a major event in international cricket, but it has fallen in the eyes of its lovers for this outrageous exclusion.

David Morgan, the ICC president, recently expressed his desire to hold talks between India and Pakistan to persuade them to start playing cricket against each other, therefore renewing their rivalry which is good for the game. However the million dollar question arises –

‘Would India and Pakistan ever be united, especially after this ‘royal snub’?

ICC T20 World Champions 2007 India, in ICC T20 World Championship 2009 turns out to be IPL millionaire’s underdogs. They didn’t sustain for long in T20 World Cup due to injuries, underperformance, listlessness and controversy over Shewag’s injury. ICC T20 World finished with the Pakistani’s becoming champions and just after that cricket fans have been provided with another dose of cricketing; India touring Caribbean for four match ODI series against West Indies. West Indies have proved its talent and potential in ICC T20 World. Now Indies going to face retarded India which is having its important player injuries.

India is going to face West Indies in four ODI matches in Caribbean from 26th of June 2009. 1st ODI will be played in Jamaica on 26th June, 2nd ODI again in Jamaica on 28 June, 3rd ODI in St Lucia on 3rd July and 4th match in St Lucia on 5th July.

Gayle has warned India that Indies can sting like a bee; we can sense the toughness and expect Gayle proving the same expression true. We have seen that Gayle often been true with his words and not only fired with mouth but with bat also. Indies have been performing well enough with powerful set of bowlers, Gayle’s stewardship and stronger batting line up; India could be eating humble pie.

India during the ICC T20 World was much in controversy due to Dhoni’s attitude towards Shewag injury. And at the same time they were facing heavy pressure as they were 2007 T20 World champions. It was important for any side to beat India during ICC T20 World to establish their potentiality for T20 World Cup. That was another reason for their losing even though greater reason was their surrendering to pressure. That’s not all team was having injured players playing for the team which was recklessness from Indian Cricket Board (BCCI). BCCI knew that most of the players were retarded as they just appeared in millions dollar event Indian Premier League matches. Indian cricket players kept themselves engaged in advertising, earning more money besides doing net practice.

In ICC T20 World it was apparent India lacks focus, team spirit and concentration. With the much hype up series of controversies and off field drama and stress, India lost before appearing in the match. Still in these tough and perturbing time Star player Yuraj Singh performed well as expected. But rest his teammates where their just in the name of “Indian team”. Dhoni’s company with exception of Yuraj none performed consistently and none came out match winner for Team India.

Indian team arrangement has been kept unchanged, except Nehra included to the Indian Team. West Indies lineup has also been unchanged consisting of commanding young and experienced batting line up and excellent mix of bowling set. Lot of drama, action and entertained will surely be in this 4 match ODI Series.

Now, question is will India be again going down with humiliation or will it rising to play with dignity?