Oct 01 2009
IPL: Bigger, Grander, Greater, Well heeled Goals!
It is the biggest showcase event since the inaugural World Twenty20. (Make no mistake, the Indian Cricket League- the ICL- was a showdown). By the time you read this, the atmosphere will be building –towards deriding the Indian Premier League into a damp affair or pushing it towards a frenzied euphoria. More likely, it will be the latter. The IPL has greater goals to achieve than the ICL can even aspire for. And that is what makes it that much more fascinating to observe.
National entity with international identity.
The IPL features eight blockbuster teams – blockbusters not only because of their mega city status but also, because of the names they boast from contemporary (or near contemporary) cricket. The four metro teams (Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Nightriders and Chennai Super Kings) compete with four aspiring metropolitans (Bangalore Royal Challengers, Hyderabad’s Deccan Chargers, Mohali’s Punjab Kings XI and Jaipur’s Rajasthan Royals). Arguably a mouth watering prospect for Indian spectators, still trying to decide home loyalty versus player loyalty.
IPL’s greater challenge lies in making these teams household names not only within country limits but also, getting them acquainted to those cricketing nations unfamiliar with the vast hinterlands of India. With teams foreign to an international spectator, it is hard to imagine an ‘Aussie Rules’ fan suddenly supporting the IPL because of the presence of a handful of Australians. Over the course of forty-four days, the IPL hopes to find resonance, commercially and otherwise, with an audience spanning the world and not merely NRIs abroad.
Money- only means.
The first ever auction of cricketers in the IPL, hopefully the last of such conspicuous trade (but unfortunately, may only be the beginning of many) has already had its share of lure and allure. Now comes the tricky business of justifying the gargantuan disparity in pay scales. Beyond a point, a greater majority of the players are just happy to be part of the extravaganza that is not too taxing on their bodies while coming away with hefty pay cheques. Easy money scheme has taken on new meaning with international players resigning by the dozen or curbing their too much cricket woes for lots more moolah.
Only lucrative monetary interests will spur the clash (or compromise) of the ICL and the IPL. Lalit Modi has chosen not to bite the bait for the moment, choosing to view both as mutually exclusive entities. But once the IPL is firmly established and the ICL gains ground (it will because of the hold cricket has on the nation and on the universal need for cricketers to also double up as breadwinners), future cricket may be dictated by team representation (in a Champions League scenario) rather than by an individual nation.
The demise of Zimbabwean cricket through politics and the disintegrated future team building in the West Indies has seen cricket nations decline. Nations like South Africa battling to prevent player exodus through the Kolpak agreement (Riki Wessels, son of Kepler, being one amongst the latest), the ICL (promising talents such as Johan van der Wath, Nantie Hayward and Justin Kemp already surrendering their national cap for alternative cricket; Andre Nel threatening to do likewise) under what is being termed as the makings of a reverse apartheid crisis, and New Zealand whose cricket board’s failure to recognise the huge migrating player contingent to the ICL after initial promises to do so under BCCI-instigated ICC pressure, has led to a few rumbling disturbances in the team balance. When players find their faith in the system misplaced, it will give rise to minor mutiny (although the ICL has proved more than that)
Foothold and footnotes, courtesy ICL.
Shocking statistics state -more than fifty percent of the Australian cricketers are willing to forfeit the ‘baggy green’ for an opportunity to play in one of these cash rich Indian adventures even as Cricket Australia is pushing its players to reconcile their differences after the rather acrimonious tour by India which did the game a disservice, no less. While these obvious differences have meant that Sachin Tendulkar preferred a relatively unknown Dominic Thornely over the latter’s better known predecessors, the IPL’s objective to highlight the domestic wealth and exposure of talent must not be forgotten. It’s okay to feed foreign pockets but one must not neglect or do it at the cost of one’s own. The idea is for a cultural mix of professionalism that sees elevation of the quality of the sport domestically.
If the ICL has inadvertently let in on a few pointers, it is that the Indians are only too happy to watch some exciting cricket action. If that happens to come in the format of a Twenty20 match of lesser known talents, so be it. How else does one explain Hyderabad taking to the ICL like fish to water, in a watershed scenario for the ICL whose first season was far from being a runaway success? Chris Harris was considered done and dusted but the way he has led the Hyderabad Heroes and made himself a name rather innocuously while pushing forth some of the names discarded by the Indian management makes a valid case for the sprouting of similar ventures. The endeavour to bring to the forefront equally talented Indian players given a new lease of life has paid dividends even within the obvious limited framework for growth opportunities.
IPL’s efforts lie not in snubbing these ventures but to negate their effect through an enterprising execution of their own with the added advantage of the ICC’s sanction. While the merit of a player has been the contention for selection, monetary disparities in the auction have suggested that remuneration had little to do with international standings. Further more, while some deserving Indian names have been thrown into this pot boiler of international stars, there are cases to suggest that some of the even more deserving ones have still been left out, bringing into contention the case for prospective rebel leagues to get a hold of such aspiring, talented but ignored men. IPL’s success lies in upsetting this applecart through a viable execution that can only be perfected with time.
Nobler challenges lie ahead.
There are certain advantages of being a ‘rebel’ league. With characteristics of a breakaway league but with enough gumption to boast of a rival body, the ICL has achieved a few pointed goals, having predominantly sprung Indian names that the BCCI and the country have previously chosen to ignore. They have also managed to assimilate them into a formidable unit thereby, making the take off from a city based team to a unit representing similar national interests through a world series more integrating and thereby, interesting.
But by bringing in a few younger talents, and those destined to make a name anyway and devise them as fresh prospects for Indian cricket is planning misplaced for IPL. Twenty20 does not make a Test player although the Test player is entitled to show he is a man for five day battles as he is for five hours (or less as is the case). In that, the BCCI and the IPL committee have greater responsibilities of not only plucking those talents with long ranging prospects but also, grooming them to earn their place in the higher echelons of the game without the corruption that comes with secondary achievements of fame and fortune. The dangerous game that could play out between the game’s administrators and industrialists fuelling the game or rather the individual teams could create potential dilemmas as regards to where the young man’s loyalties should lie.
There is also the case of having your cake and eating it too! The England Cricket Board, who for long, has maintained a strict diet of international cricket, especially one day cricket, is now facing dissension amongst its players with its decision not to let the England players share a piece of the multi-million dollar pie in view of Ashes commitments. While most boards have willingly sanctioned their players, there are underlying rumblings about players shifting loyalties (not to mention focus) from their national duty to the IPL. While the Indians were accused of indulging in promotional activities at the cost of concentrating on the visiting South Africans, West Indies is facing the prospect of fielding a weakened side without its three big guns against Australia while players of other countries are letting go of domestic cricket commitments for IPL duty. There is the case of the double forfeit in the prestigious Indian domestic event- the Times Shield ‘A’ division semi-final matches- in the absence of key players, making this already a pandemic crisis, unless the IPL finds its place without causing fault lines.
But unlike the free wheeling ICL, the BCCI and the Lalit Modi-led enterprise has a wider horizon when it comes to dispensing responsibilities. In their responsibilities are also the possibilities of giving the domestic cricket a much needed shot in the arm even if fiscal health be the only barometer by which the BCCI chooses to act (case to cite: the haste with which it had to launch or rather re-launch its ‘golden goose’ project-formerly known as the Indian Cricket League!- accelerated by India’s unprecedented success at the World Twenty20 and rebel league establishment enticing mass player departure from previous nomenclature, despite its earlier reluctance to adopt cricket’s youngest baby).
When viewed in this manner, Twenty20 is not an easy game as it looks for the BCCI. The tournament will kick on a high; but scantily clad dancers and filmy tamasha are not going to do the trick, not for cricket anyway. Keeping it there will be at the back of the mind of Lalit Modi and his enterprising IPL designates who have the benefit of hindsight through rebel struggles. Those that are viewing the IPL as only Twenty20 should quickly brush aside their myopic perspective. There is a lot more at stake here. Temperatures are set to soar with the world warming up for cricket in the steamy Indian subcontinent and it has nothing to do with global warming, at least not of the climatic kind.
