October 20, 2009 at 7:31 am
· Filed under Cricket India, Indian Cricket League - ICL, Indian Premiere League - IPL, champions league T20 ·Tagged Sanjay Dutt, test cricket, UEFA
Two entertainment products found a similarity amongst themselves last weekend; one in the field of cricket and another in form of a Bollywood flick. The similarity starts in the way both products announced their “sales pitch”. The product never said anything about the script/teams or the actors/players proficiency. According to the promoters of both, their USP was the mullah spent in creating the product. Money took precedence over everything else. The product was almost in your face saying” its god damn expensive, so you better indulge in it”.
Alas both products did not realize that consumers don’t take to a product just because it is expensive. The operative word for success is “value for money” and that is where both products fail. The metaphor of the failure in both products was two towering figures; unfortunately standing in the dusk of their careers; Sanjay Dutt & Glen McGrath. Unfortunately for them the promoters tried to milk their humongous brand equity without reading their present status. Both are in professions where fitness and form is of paramount importance; their expanding bellies puffed up cheeks read a completely different picture. Another towering figure that did a great damage for himself who coincidently played his part in both products was the Mozart of Madras- A.R. Rehman. What on earth was the brief given to the maestro by the promoters of both products- god alone knows! But both the Airtel Champions League Anthem and Chigi Wigi did not work with the audiences. Somehow it was just not something expected from a genius of the caliber of Mr. Rehman. I would however rest the case in favor of the Music maestro by saying that the main culprit was somewhere in the promoters brief to him, for both products
As Bollywood is not my cup of tea let me just concentrate on the Champions League. There are a few fundamental errors in the league and unless they solve these; they can never reach the status of the UEFA; they want to emulate. T20 cricket today has a few fundamental errors. A T20 format player is caught between loyalties to club or country. This is something Soccer players never face. It is high time players choose the format they want to represent. The way forward is to have a separate T20, One Day and Test side across all major cricket nations’ right from the grassroots level. This is aka Rugby structure of the world. IF you play Rugby league you stick to it and don’t switch to Rugby union. However if a T20 player can represent his country in a test format he would need to give up his T20 code to take on test cricket. This is something Rugby league players do as the world cup of Rugby is played in the Rugby Union format. This will take away all discrepancies and statements like “T20 is like dessert”. Every format needs to be respected equally. This would also take away the hypocrisy practiced by many players and cricket experts who enjoy the financial benefits of T20 format while praising test cricket. I would seriously like to see how many players would take up Test cricket and forgo T20 league cricket. I am sure after a certain age it is best to not indulge in too much of desserts!
Most importantly what the bifurcation of players into three different codes –aka rugby; will create a proper window for t20 cricket. The present format of the IPL – One month 60 odd matches is too much burden on the players and fans consuming the game as a sport product. It makes the IPL more of an event rather than a league. A league should ideally be played over 3-4 months with no more than 4 days/week itinerary, very much like the English Premier league.
I am sure most of you would see this as a deathblow for test cricket- but let us bestow some trust on the spectators and beauty of test cricket. I am sure it can survive on its own without any protectionism and embargos on other formats of cricket
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October 15, 2009 at 6:43 am
· Filed under Cricket India, Indian Cricket League - ICL, Indian Premiere League - IPL, champions league T20 ·Tagged indian cricket, Champions league
Two years two world cups, two IPL editions and one champions league later- modern day cricket power BCCI, stands at the cusp of changing the very fabric of the game we all came to love. Today some fractions of the same BCCI that economically benefited from the riches of IPL, find that it is killing its golden goose –International Indian cricket. The latest revelations from none less than the CEO of BCCI Ratnakar Shetty questioning the young Indian players commitment to the national cause, flop show of the champions league( t20 format) and champions trophy( one day format) and emergence of freelance players has dawned the realization that cricket has changed for ever. Personally I find it a far more complex issue than just calling it crass commercialization or lack of player commitment from the present crop of players. How the game will evolve will need time. Can the diminishing interest in the ongoing Airtel Champions league be revived in the next round of matches? Will brand “cricket India “survive post r the high profile Australia series? Only time will tell!
In my pursuit of the above answers I tried to understand the history of the t20 format of the game in India. Going through the archives of sports reports; I was marveled at the U-turns taken by the BCCI. A modern day Greek tragedy sees the most powerful cricket board that resisted the t20 format of the game initially do a flip around to own the biggest T20 cricket property in the IPL. I thought it is right for you the cricket fan to know how the t20 format took birth in India and how the IPL today is proving to be a Frankenstein monster for the BCCI and Indian cricket.
My first glimpses of t20 cricket were when English county teams started playing it. I saw a prophetic Ravi Shastri claim in England; on an India overseas series that the format did not make sense to him and could never succeed. Back home the czars of Indian cricket too tried to avoid the format with the primal fear of it eating into the money spinner of those times “One-Day cricket”. As ICC and rest of the world embraced the shortest format of the game BCCI resisted it.
Again during India’s tour of England in 2007; BCCI had to reluctantly select an Indian team for the inaugural t20 world cup. Somewhere down, the Indian establishment did not want to add to the success of the T20 format with its humongous financial clout and support base. It strategically asked five of its top players Tendulkar, Dravid , Ganguly, Zaheer and Kumble to withdraw themselves from the world championship. An Underdog side led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni was sent to South Africa. The rest of that campaign is history.
At around the same time India was witnessing its first comprehensive private participation in cricket in form of Essel group’s ICL. ICL looked to work around creating a brand out of the much languished and abandoned domestic Indian cricket and its players. Their sport product was packaged with some International players not part of their respective national squads. It was a masterstroke- without affecting the fabric of the international game. The private entrepreneurial effort suddenly was foreseen as a solid sports product with the best of India’s domestic talent pool and high quality broadcast. The BCCI knew that a private entrepreneur had realized the opportunity to create a viable economic sport product at the domestic level never before tried by any cricket board of the world. Instead of collaborating and encouraging private involvement in its operations; the BCCI took an antagonistic approach to the ICL.
The situation provided an opportunity for the megalomaniac marketing wizz kid of the BCCI ( Lalit Modi) who also harbored dreams of starting a private cricket league like the ICL in the 1990s. Modi had flirted with sports broadcast with limited success till then. He brought ESPN to India but soon cut off the tie up. He had invested some money in trying to poach international players to create a private league with the 50 over format but was met with stiff resistance from BCCI. On pretext of countering the ICL, Modi sold the IPL concept to the BCCI – who without thinking of the long term repercussions joined his bandwagon.
Most experts had predicted that the IPL was a global giant that would swallow the international fabric of the game. However in their approach to destroy the ICL –cricket establishments around the world (some readily, others reluctantly) agreed to support the IPL and block out the ICL. In reality the IPL was a bigger threat than the ICL for the world cricket establishment. The ICL was based on working with domestic Indian players and mixing them with former or over the hill but recognized international players to create competent t20 cricket teams with city based following. On the other hand IPL was based on creating a league on basis of their star value of present day international players. Imperial franchisees were brought in with the bait of owning the game of cricket. This worked completely opposite to the initial ideology of the BCCI which wanted to restrict the T20 format to protect the other two longer versions of the game, especially its golden goose One day – 50 over format.
The irony of this eventful T20 chronicle today sees the BCCI facing a Frankenstein monster in the IPL . The IPL was created to blunt out a domestic ICL, but more than the ICL it has managed to hit on BCCI’s biggest brand – “ the national cricket team” fondly known as the men in blues.
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October 9, 2009 at 7:44 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged bhandarkar, bollywood, hadippa, kaminey, lalit modi, percept, shahid kapur
Dear percept and Madhur Bhandarkar,
Than-thanan, what an idea! Percept and madhur bandharkar you guys rock. You guys wanted to make a dark movie with a principal character full of grey shades. I am glad your search took you to lalit aka lalisp Modi. Well the most talked about dark character in recent Hindi filmdom has been Charlie of kaminey fame. Well what better for percept to borrow the character from Vishal bhardhwaj and take it forward as lalisp modi. After all Charlie and Lalit have one thing in common their incorrigible lisp. Life for them never sucks…….. ooops never f*ks .
Well brilliant idea I must say. Lalit falls completely in the zone of a Bhadarkar genere of movies. Dark, grey, materialistic and go getter.
Character profile of lalisp : Born in a rich family . Travels to the US for studies; brushes the law on the wrong side is charged with attempt to murder and other serious charges…… Runs back to India. Gambles away 2 crores in a diwali night card game against another business scion lalit suri. Marries his mom’s best friend…………… Is thrown out of the family business. Works as a points man for his chief minister friend. Starts a cricket league and becomes the most powerful man of world cricket.
Alright Shahid kapur enough of hadippa. Time to work on the lisp again coz its going to be lisp lisp Lalisp and a great colorful character to portray on 70mm.
So tighten your seat belts as Charlie returns with his legendary lisp as lalisp Modi.
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October 9, 2009 at 5:55 am
· Filed under Cricket India, Indian Cricket League - ICL, Indian Premiere League - IPL, champions league T20 ·Tagged boycott, Champions league, clt20, gambhir, holding, IPL, shewag, sunil gavaskar, t20, test cricket
Cricket metamorphosis is in its top gear at the moment. A lot of discussions are taking place as to what shape modern day cricket will take. Can the 50 over format survive? Will t20 work as an overkill for cricket? What will be the fate of test cricket? Et al! One major question that has been pondering my mind, since over a year, is the vanishing role of a specialist opener. When I first started following cricket religiously; some of the big stalwarts where opening batsmen. Indian fans worshipped openers, because our first cricketing superstar was an opener in the form of the little master- Sunil Gavaskar. The names Gavaskar, Boycott, Greenidge, Haynes, Rameez Raja & Graham Gooch were revered specialists; epitome of technique and concentration. However the last decade has thrown in openers who were not originally bestowed that position. Look at the names. Players like Jaysuriya, Shewag, Gilchrist and Tendulkar (50 over format) to present day tormentors like Dilshan and Shane Watson prove that openers are not born they are made.
I guess the easiest inference for this new breed of lower middle order batsmen transforming into successful openers will be blamed on shorter formats of the game! However I think there is a bigger reason for this phenomenon- covered pitches and an attacking approach to all formats of the game including Test cricket. When the likes of Gavaskar and Boycott started off in their careers pitches were green and uncovered. Gavaskar is famously quoted with approaching the opener’s role with the idea that “give the bowler the first 30 minutes and the rest of the day is yours”. I guess today covered and protected tracks have become batting havens. Additionally with bouncer restrictions; the game has heavily tilted in favor of the batsmen in the modern context.
An opener today does not need to play the role of wearing off a fast bowler and seeing off the shine on the leather cherry. He no longer needs to protect his teams’ best batsman- ideally batting at the no-4 position. This throws the inference that in modern day cricket and especially the T20 format you need your best three batsmen playing at the top three batting positions. The new genetically modified batsman first took the role of a pinch hitter. First seen in the case of New Zealand’s mark Greatbatch in the 1992 world cup, and further perfected by Jaisuriya and Romesh Kaluwurthana in the famed Sri Lankan 1996 world cup campaign. The biggest genetically modified opener is modern day great Sachin Tendulkar. A classical No-4 middle order batsman; Sachin opened in the shorter format of the game to take advantage of playing a full 50 overs. This phenomenon is most relevant today in the T20 format where you would want your best batsmen to play as many overs as possible. I believe that T20 will result in batting positions depending on form and talent rather than an orthodox approach of specialist openers, middle order and lower middle order batsmen.
It has already been well documented that every new format of the game has a positive effect on test cricket. If one analyses the best test team of the last decade you will realize that the Australians have scored their runs at nearly 4 runs per over in the longest format of the game. 20 years back such a phenomenon would have read as the opposition bowlers displaying poor form and eventually losing their positions in the test side. Today a bowler returning with an economy rate of 3, (even in the longer format) would read as a good day in the field for that bowler.
A classical opening batsman in the mold of a Gavaskar or Boycott is an extinct species in today’s’ game. That is quite a misfortune because blocking and seeing off a hostile spell of fast bowling is one of the toughest arts of batsmenship. It almost feels nostalgic to remember a Gavaskar or Boycott seeing off the new ball from the great West Indian pace quartet. I wonder if we will ever see a new young batsman in the mould of a Gavaskar or Boycott. If the answer is “NO”, then the coming generations of crickeut fans will surely miss one of the best contests between bat and ball in the game of cricket.
I am not sure of many other cricketing nations, but in the Indian context two such cricketers who faced the axe despite being classical openers are Wasim Jaffer and Akash Chopra. I remember watching a test match between India and West Indies in the Caribbean in 2007. The slippery and sharp Fidel Edwards was peppering the Indian openers ( Jaffer and Shewag) with some serious leg line short bowling. The marveling observation was the ease with which Jaffer was fending off the deliveries as compared to his more illustrious opening partner. But unfortunately such situations are far and between in modern day test cricket. Therefore an opener in the Shewag mould is any day more effective as compared to an aka Jaffer mould batter, even in the longest format of the game.
All I can say is a big goodbye to the classical test opener. It is sad that today’s game does not need your high-level skills of batsmanship. Batsmen like you encountered the fiercest contest between the bat and ball. Unfortunately modern cricket with covered and batting friendly pitches, military medium pacers on the opposing ends & rules tilted heavily in favor of batsmen- need just a stroke maker and not a classical opening batsman an epitome of defense, technique and concentration.
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October 6, 2009 at 11:30 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged Cricket Australia, english county, indian cricket, new zealand, south africa, Sri Lanka, west indies
The game of cricket sits at the cusp of changing from a lazy colonial type, day long sport…. to a modern day high octane commercially driven sport. Like transition phases in other sectors of life and society; cricket too will see a difficult turnaround period (presently faced). Despite the present day turmoil, I am confident that commercially interest, humongous support & consumer base will see the game through; well into the next decade. The final analysis of the story however is that cricket will follow the football way. The gentleman’s game will take a step forward (hope it turns that way instead of regressive commercialization) to coming close to the beautiful game. I know I may disappoint cricket connoisseurs and a large fan base with the future trajectory the game of cricket we all love so much. But that is another topic altogether. Through this article my aim is to draw a parallel between these two wonderful games and see how the new cricketing world would look; when club and franchisee take precedence over boards and bilateral cricket series. I personally believe that the international test cricket itinerary should confine to an Ashes series and a Asian test championship between Indian, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. If Bangladesh progress in the skills department they would be the fourth inclusion in the Asian test championship. South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies will have to find a market of their own. I feel sorry for South Africa as it is a strong test nation but the only solution for the protease, kiwis and Caribbean cricket centers would be to fall back upon their colonial motherland England and look for a series called a Greater Ashes; where they can fight for the Holy Grail along with England and Australia. I believe that the players of the near future will be freelance cricketers. Their agents will manage their careers. Official cricket boards like old world institutions will perish and will pass on the power to franchisees and the corporate world. Majority cricket will involve club cricket ( read IPL, ICL, T20 offshoots in other cricket nations) and will be played in the T20 format. The cricket world in the next three years will look similar to the present day soccer world.
Below are my “cricket- soccer” parallels. I look forward to your feedback and would love to know what you the true aficionado and expert of the game feel about the same
- India – the financial power center of world cricket -will look similar to present day England in the soccer world.
- Australia- The most talented cricket land. Similar to what Brazil is to the soccer World.
- Pakistan- Mercurial and unpredictable and will produce logic defying world class talents. Similar to Argentina in Soccer.
- South Africa. Clinical, methodological and an assembly line of top notch players. Similar to Germany in Soccer.
- Sri- Lanka. Enterprising, rich history and effervescent talent. Close geographical location to India makes them parallel to Spain in soccer. Sri Lanka has the opportunity to tap the resources of ICL& Ten Sports (Zee group) to form a parallel cricket’s Premiere le ga. Why Sri- Lanka? Also because of the new found peace and geo political situation in the beautiful island country.
- New Zealand. Parallel in soccer is a top notch eastern European country (Czech- republic, Serbia, Croatia- lacking flair but producing an assembly line of disciplined sportsmen of international level.
- England – the mother nation of cricket. Soccer parallel reads Italy. The English county will be the Seria-A of Cricket. Never quite achieving the dynamism of IPL (EPL-English premiere league) or ICL (Premiere le liga – Spanish soccer)
- West Indies. Their parallel will be South American or African football nations like Mexico, Nigeria, Cameroon or Colombia. Natural flair and aggressive players.
So how does the future of the cricketing world look to you? Look forward to your comments. The only sad part it is the obituary of the most powerful brand of world cricket “team India “& “Men in blue”. Don’t know however if I would miss the dinosaurs BCCI!!!!!!
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May 12, 2009 at 6:14 am
· Filed under Uncategorized
If you are a fan of free markets and open economy along with a true die hard sports spirit; you would want the ICL & IPL to co exist. If the BCCI recognizes ICL as a second division league then that means you get more out of the T20 format of the game. All the players (just retired and domestic talents) will have better earning potential and Lalit Modi will get what he wants- a larger window for the T20 league concept. All that the Moses of cricket needs to do is be magnanimous and recognize ICL as the second division. It may cause him a few initial hiccups. ICL as second division means that the top two teams from ICL will replace the bottom two in the IPL in the next years’ IPL. This may not go down well with the existing IPL franchisees, who in the present format are cushioned. Performance plays no role in the success or the brand equity of the team. This has also been the IPL’s biggest critic that cricket and performance are taking a backseat on its platform.
BCCI could monetize the game further by garnering broadcast fees for both IPL and ICL. Zee would broadcast the ICL and BCCI can get a cut out of it. Maybe a few IPL franchisees may resist such a move, but they can be shown the door and new ones roped in. Like every other business industry some parties will object to safeguard their vested interests ,but like a government .BCCI needs to concentrate on the larger picture and see the benefit of the proposed move.
Players will get to earn more and BCCI and Lalit can increase their revenue streams by only stamping approval with the pending ICL case. If approved all nine ICL teams will get ready sponsors – at the present rates ICL makes an attractive investment proposition for prospective franchisees, provided the approval is got. The amount that BCCI can get for nine teams in a second division is best left to your judgment. So, why the BCCI should look at the ICL approval route for growth of league T20 cricket? The answer lies in the following two facts; first the only way the IPL can grow with the present international calendar and window restrictions is by making ICL its second division & secondly tap of the impressive resource pool at the disposal of the ICL.
The IPL and BCCI can increase their revenue by the following way:
They can have 9 ready made teams, some with international flavor like the Lahore Badshahs & Dhaka Warriors to earn franchisee fees.
Charge Zee & ICL as broadcaster and league operators a license amount in return of recognition.
More player transfer fees as larger talent pool will result in more selling and buying where a transaction fee can be charged by the IPL board. (Rumors have it that ICL talents like R Sathish, Vignesh, Rayudu & Abhishek Jhunjhunwala are being offered over 1.5 crore deals from IPL franchisees- a percentage of same can be taken by IPL/BCCI if ICL is recognized and player transfer take place like they do in the European soccer circuit)
Finally the above makes sense for a simple reason. The talent pool in the world and especially India is so big that the IPL today faces an embarrassment of riches. Players of the likes of Collingwood, McGrath, Nitini, Vettori are warming benches. It shows that as a global tournament IPL is too small to accommodate the talent pool. Secondly if the IPL adds two more teams in its franchisee list it means at least another 14 matches to the present calendar which may not be possible. It already has a problem with accommodating its present month and half tournament so how will it accommodate more teams and more matches.
So if you are a T20 fan and want the league concept to grow further then the easiest way to achieve this would be to get the ICL as a second division league.
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May 6, 2009 at 12:00 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged ICL, IPL, kapil dev, kiranmore, lalit, modi
So the league cricket system is precariously placed with the ICL players receiving the amnesty offer from the all mighty BCCI. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi has gone on record saying that it will be good for the game as he gets more players to choose from. Not a bad thing ! It will help a few top quality players in the ICL like R Sathish (easily the best young talent in the country), Ali Murtaza, Vignesh, Stuart Binny et al. The usual suspects like Ambati Rayudu, Deep Dasgupta, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala , Badani & Mongia too will get IPL offers along with the likes of Rohan Gavaskar . However my concern is about players like Abu Nechim, IS Reddy et al, along with around 70 odd domestic players who are neither a certainty with their state Ranji teams or on the IPL radar. Some would say it is a fair call ; the top performers will get their due while the rest will have to settle for a life back in obscurity of league cricket on barren grounds. This would be a sad situation if sport is only judged on basis of the survival of the fittest- the spirit of sport means that even underdogs should get the opportunity and that is what differentiates sport from business. ICL transformed player remunerations and made it possible for a decently talented young cricketer to play at the domestic level to earn a decent livelihood. IPL & ICL made it possible for a young man to take up the game even if he did not have it in him to make it to the competitive Indian national team. I believe if there is a player exodus from ICL to IPL , a lot of domestic talents in the IPL too will face the heat now. IF some of the top ICL performers are to replace them in the IPL teams , it is certain they will not get renewed contracts from their team owners. This is a point that Lalit Modi and BCCI have to introspect upon as custodians of the game. An ideal stance for them is to buy a majority stake from Essel Sports in the ICL or licensee out domestic players to formulate the ICL as a second division league to the IPL. It also takes forward the T20 format of the game and allows more broadcast revenue & earning potential for the BCCI. As the present ICL & IPL calendars are separate from each other it makes it ideal for both leagues to continue as second and first divisions respectively. What the above policy would do is to encompass a larger talent pool to earn the perks and lucrative packages offered by the T20 league format of the game.
By now you would have realized that I have a special affinity for the ICL and you may ask me the question why? For the simple reason that the gritty Baroda wicket keeper batsman Kiran More & the great Kapil Dev managed to produce a serious cricket tournament despite all the difficulties faced by them. The ICL could have easily gone the Hong King Sixes way as a recreational tournament, but these two gentlemen at the helm of ICL cricket managed to produce a serious and high quality cricket product. The contribution of Michael Bevan, Steve Rixon, Moin Khan & Daryl Cullinan should not go in vain and am sure that their cricket acumen would be tapped by other cricket bodies if ICL takes a sabbatical from the game. The ICL has done its job in identifying and developing young talent like VIgnesh, Binny, Murtaza & Khaleel. The two red hot players for me however would be R Sathish & Ambati Rayudu. These two have it in them to make it to the big league and I am sure they will prove to be ambassadors of ICL’s cause- if they get to perform in the IPL and larger platforms. Having followed cricket as a true patron for over two decades, I am sure these two young players will prove to the world that ICL too has quality acts in its talent pool and will probably bring justice and vilification to the concept of ICL not in the court of law or TV ratings but purely with their cricketing talent.
But along with these talented players a thought should be spared to the likes of Abbas Ali, Reetinder Sodhi , Rakesh Patel and Thiru Kumaran- may be age is not on their side to make it to the Indian team , but they still have a few years of cricket left in them. They may not be a Warne or a Mcgrath but they sure are quality cricketers who will enhance domestic Indian Cricket. Of course ICL would not be needed if IPL could add another 8 teams on their list –but that doesn’t seem to be a realistic possibility. So why not find the best solution in taking league cricket forward by recognizing the ICL as a second division to the Indian Premiere League. If Lait Modi & his BCCI colleagues are true connoisseurs of the game then they will do a big favor for averagely talented domestic talents to get their due from the riches of T20 league cricket; by allowing or recognizing ICL as a second division T20 league. At the risk of sounding repetitive I would again like to state that one IPL is too small to encompass the entire talent pool of domestic Indian talent and either the IPL has to accommodate more domestic talents or outsource some domestic portions to private sports management firms like the ICL.
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April 30, 2009 at 8:15 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged bcci, gavaskar, rajeev shukla, Shahrukh khan
It is lot of restructuring at BCCI. Ever since the ICC pushed for an early resolution with ICL and the Essel groups’ response to failed negotiations with strong legal actions have caused a lot of concern for the BCCI. The IPL cash-cow too has left a lot of loop holes in the second season. The announced deal and revised hike by IPl broadcaster Sony; is not all black and white. According to sources it seems that Sony will not part with cash and some parts of the revised hike, is in format of barter to the IPL & its franchisees- in terms of free air time for promotion. Tickets are being sold at a low rate of only about Rs 100. Even this low rate is not educing full houses and false propaganda of sell-out matches have become part of the IPL fictional folklore. This has left the franchisees with lot of heartburn; the central revenue (largely coming from the Bradcaster fee) may not see a hike in actual cash-flow as is being proclaimed by IPL officials. Gate receipts are a long foregone history making the red on franchisee balance-sheet’s far more prominent and dark.
SRK ill- advised to drop his city loyalty base and reposition his team into a pan global identity has met with dust. Latest reports that the Bollywood Badshah is on his way out of the IPL circus, further compounded by his teams’ disastrous cricket performance. Despite better cricket performances Rajashtan Royals & Kings 11 Punjab are financially bleeding and are looking for stake holders to keep the ship floating. The only way IPL franchisees’ can be bailed out is in form of additional central revenue from IPL. However that seems a distant reality with Sony officials admitting that offering additional broadcast fees was a mistake, especially after learning that the competitive suitors NDTV & ESPN were never serious about paying the revised rates demanded by the IPL body. Sony now has offered the IPL and its franchisee a strict part payment in barter (free air time for promotion) that results in lack on additional cash revenue from the central revenue system offered by IPL to its franchisees.
The BCCI changing its ICL stance largely lies on the fact that –an aggressive Essel group is going on the offensive. Sources at Essel, state that time for negotiations are over & they are looking at legal suits being filed both in India & internationally. Its strong legal ground means that BCCI has to try to break the ICL player pool by offering them the IPL and domestic cricket carrot. However, most ICL domestic talents are skeptical about the BCCI offer. Reason being, most are being paid about 30 lakhs plus by the ICL – returning to BCCI hardly guarantees them a place in the Ranji sides or IPL teams. A ranji player would pocket 20 lakhs in a financial year and no player wants a dip in his income. Secondly except for a few players like Rohan Gavaskar, none of the players are certain of a place in the Ranji or IPL Squads. The total number of ICL players from the domestic stable is about 80. SO no more than 10% are assured of an IPL or Ranji place! The only way they can be accommodated in the IPL is by addition in number of IPL teams; strongly objected by existing IPL franchisees as that reduces their share of the pie in regards of the central revenue. The ICL players are also aware of the treatment meted out to Md kaif, Vidhyut Shivramakrisnan, Sanjay Bangar , Akash Chopra et al by the IPL franchisees- making the transition from ICL to IPL a very risky financial proposition. The international guys like Shane Bond are drawing salaries to the tune of $ 8,00,000 ( 4 crores) from the ICL so they would not make the shift unless IPL offers the same amount. Post the Peterson & Flintoff debacle it seems IPL franchisees would not loosen their purse strings easily ;having burnt their fingers with expensive propositions. Therefore it may not seem as easy for the BCCI to break the ICL player pool ; justified that no single individual ICL player has been mentioned other than Sandeep Patil, who according to sources did not fair well in the ICL called – Sports performance evaluation. His side Mumbai Champs always figured last in the ICL tournaments and major restructuring was on the cards as far as that team was concerned.
These look interesting times for the BCCI president Shashank Manohar. His dislike for Lalit Modi is well documented by his absence at both the first and second seasons of IPL. His boss and mentor Sharad Pawar too has distanced himself from Lalit Modi in season-2. Srinivasan, Rajeev Shukla and Niranjan Shah ( BCCI powerbrokers) are fence sitters and waiting for the election results. Rumors are also afloat that if the congress returns to power Lalit Modi’s stint in Indian cricket would be history.
If the ICL issue was not enough then the BCCI also has to content with the APL ( American Premiere League). The BCCI wants to monopolize the game but an over priced IPL has broadcasters and prospective sponsors looking at private leagues like the ICL & upcoming APL as a more value for money proposition. These are interesting times in cricket Will the monopoly of BCCI continue or will it have to share space with ICL & APL? It’s an answer that only time will tell.
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April 29, 2009 at 12:27 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged harbhajan singh, IPL, Jo, saurav ganguly, Shane Warne, Zaheer Khan
The primary thing to identify with the ongoing IPL is that the golden rule of sports, applies to even this so called young-man’s game. Age certificate is no criteria for success in this format of the game. The biggest stars last year were Warne, Mcgrath & Jaisuriya & this year too seems to continue in the same vein with Tendulkar , Dravid & Gilchrist right backing contention in the T20 format of the game. The matter first came into prominence when people and a gullible fourth estate tried to run down the pioneers of the league cricket-ICL, due to the age of its international player-pool base. Then came the IPL and the biggest stars last year were Warne, Mcgrath & Jaisuriya. The experts did a turn around and followed the cliché mantra – “form is temporary, class is permanent”. So my strong request to especially the media; next time around judge the tournaments of both IPL & ICL objectively on basis of the cricket on display and not pre-conceived notions. After-all despite the facts that ICL is at the moment unofficial; its young players are domestic Indian talents who deserve more than just an ostracized rebel tag.
I am principally not against league cricket as it helps identify new talent and also provides economic prosperity for professional cricketers. It has helped prolong the otherwise short careers of some fine international cricketers, alongside helping some make comebacks like that of Shane Watson. However I have a minor disagreement with the way IPL is positioned as an entertainment tamasha. Such positioning does disservice to the game and its cricketers;e forced to take the backseat to overenthusiastic corporate czars & Bollywood personalities. I think it will also affect the IPL in the long run because it’s biggest critics are questioning the quality of cricket on its platform. Soon players will approach the tournament with a casual approach and the core consumer of the game –‘ hardcore cricket fans’, will turn away from it. I guess Lalit Modi’s advisers will do a great service to advice the self proclaimed Moses to reposition his product as a serious cricket tournament, with entertainment a critical but peripheral product extension.
Coming back to the game – kudos to Shane Warne, every time he takes the field he brings cricket back in the limelight and puts the entertainment quotient in its right place. What makes Warne special is that he has laid emphasis on what is a critical factor for a successful T20 league side-“ develop your domestic talent”. Success in both IPL & ICL depends on the contribution of the young domestic talents. After all every side is composite of 7 domestics and 4 internationals in both leagues and therefore the differentiating factor between a good & bad side is the quality of its domestic pool. This is what makes two coaches especially special, Shane Warne (Rajasthan Royals –IPL) & Michael Bevan (Chennai Superstars-ICL). Both are champion cricketers with supreme confidence in their abilities, both have been integral part of the most successful cricket team in the last 25 years & most importantly have delivered results. This is the whole purpose of ICL & IPL identify new talent not only from the player pool but also support staff and coaches who can take forward the international format of the game.
Two other coaches who come to mind are the combative Moin Khan who leads a mercurial Pakistan side – Lahore Badshahs on the ICL platform and Steve Rixon former New Zealand coach, who has championed the cause of Hyderabad Heroes (ICL) and the ICL –India team. The final word is written by deliverables and this is where fancy coaches like John Buchanan, Greg Chappel & Jeff Lawson have bit dust. A special mention for Moin needs to be added for the simple reason that he has created the old Pakistani magic with the Lahore Badshahs- they are unpredictable, combative, maverick , cheat with the ball to produce reverse swing, produce aggressive Pakistani cricket; true flavor of the troubled nation’s rich cricketing history. The Greatest achievement of Moin has been his ability to combine mercurial raw talent with discipline; making the Pakistani outfit at ICL a potent deadly unit.
As a cricket fan one can only hope that sanity prevails and the game (Cricket) & the above magnificent gentlemen take the center stage at especially IPL. One quality that Warne, Bevan & Moin had in common in their playing days was their gritty approach to the game and that opportune’s, food for thought for the most troubled IPL side –KKR. We all know that Saurav Ganguly may be a bit over the hill- but his grittiness provides for a great opportunity to make him a player cum coach of the Kolkata side! Ganguly has always shown interest in coaching- his greatest quality as an Indian captain, was his recognition, nurturing & backing of young talent like Harbhajan,Zaheer & Yuvraj.
I repeat the crux of success for a T20 League side is dependent on how well the coach harnesses the domestic talent available to him- Bevan has done that with R Sathish, G Vignesh & P Syed Mohammad. Warne has done it with Asnodkar, Kamran Khan & Ravindra jadeja & my bet is Saurav Ganguly has the credentials to do better with young domestic boys than good old “Buck”- whose expertise lies with managing big players rather than young upcoming domestic boys.
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April 24, 2009 at 10:41 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged bcci, ICL, IPL, lalit modi, ravi shashtri, set max
Well Moses is what Ravi Shastri called you for inducting IPL on the cricket map. I am sure Shastri will soon realize that his own no- nonsense and gritty image as commentator earned after his famous whiplash at Mike Denis in South Africa after the infamous Indo- SA test is diminishing fas and replaced by a puppet of the commercialized cricekt world .THe infamous press conference post Mike, the match referee banning six Indian players including Sachin Tendulkar saw Shastri win over the audience for his sharp and incisive comments that followed for years in his stint at ESPN. Since his shift to the IPL Shastri, is left with nothing but a peripheral role of a known-commentator; milked by the IPL commissioner to propagate his white lies.
Lalit Modi in his latest avtar is now seen as blogger on his monetized website www.iplt20.com and in his inaugural post he takes a dig at the fourth estate covering his cricket circus as – “ill-informed media commentary that we have introduced strategy breaks simply to squeeze in more ads does us a disservice.”
I cannot fathom the fact that this man gets away with murder every time he and his IPL circus is doing disservice to the game and its true patrons -the cricket fans. Why does he just not admit that the strategy break is for additional revenue as he has arm-twisted his broadcaster to pay extra 400 crores.
The panic in his camp was realized as soon as the TRP’s were released. Sony and the advertisers are seething in anger according to well placed sources. I mean the biggest joke is when the IPL camp say that tickets have been sold out (empty stands show a completely different picture though!). The justification given by poor commentators says that tickets were sold but people have backed out due to bad weather. Which sane person would buy a premium ticket and not turn up for a match. I guess top angle shots on a doctored audience section – trying to justify a packed attendance is nothing but what in filmi lingo is known as cheat-shots. I am amazed how come nobody from the media covering the tournament, clicks a true picture to show the true picture to the fans of the game . I am sure they are in agreement with me that this is the least the Indian fan deserves – a honest appriasal of the tourament.
You may ask me why so much anger against Lalit Modi . My answer is simple- I just cannot take the following facts
Some questions for Modi and please to answer them through his blog or more importantly I would urge you as custodians of the forth estate to poke him with the same :
1. You call your product recession proof and at the same time, pack back domestic Indian boys. MD Kaif & co are considered excess baggage while IS Bindra , Niranjan Shah , Rajeev Shukla sip on wine shamelessly at the matches.
2. Teams are not known by the players but either through their franchisees or filmstars owning exaggerated stakes in various teams. I would seriously want to know if Shilpa Shetty has paid the said $ 15.4 million for a 12% stake. ? Would you make available the relevant documents on a public forum? More imporatanly are you addressing the issue as the BCCI president – on why Indian cricketers are bestowed with second class status on what you procalim to be a domestic Indian tournament?
3. You are interviewed by Ravi Shastri in a doctored interview during the live telecast of the match and you say that ratings are sky high & the tournament is picking up? But opening figures for your matches show a completely different picture can you clarify?
I guess three questions are enough to fill your second blog and you would do a great service to the people of India who have given cricket the pedestal it enjoys today.
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