ICL- Beggars can be choosers


Choice is always welcome, especially if it involves something that’s remained a monopoly for 80 years. In fact, it’s quite surprising that this didn’t take place concomitant with the liberalization of the economy. We had newer cars, the congress lost power regularly, more variety of soap (both TV and bathing) but the same cricket board.
The problem with the BCCI, for ever and recently has been that non- cricketers have been taking decisions on behalf of cricketers. So you have an agricultural minister who runs both Baramati and BCCI, the man who preceded him was a seasoned baniya. Cricket some might argue is serious business; my contention is that is its cricket first and business later.
So do we have genuine choice now, I don’t think so. Subhash Chandra is a shrewd businessman, don’t know too much about how much he loves cricket. He’s roped in the man who brought tears to eyes in 1983 and tears to his own eyes in 2000. The Haryana Hurricane is now an emotional whirlwind with a financial windfall on the side am sure. His eyes light up when he speaks about ICL, is he seeing something that most of us cannot see. Mr Chandra shrewdly remains in the background, pulling strings and opening purse strings, ensruing that ICL is not seen as a ‘business’ venture. He’s got all the ingredients that makes this venture succeed- he’s got media, he’s got the players and he’s got large hearted patrons like Laloo who’ve promised him railway grounds to host matches on.
The line up of players is mostly one that would qualify as archives today more than players. Well past their prime, they look like they have relented to what seems to them like a last resort. There is ample talk of the big guns coming, am sure they will. So we’ll have a mix of Ranji players, India discards, India hopefuls (whose hope remains just that, a hope) discards from other nations, players past their primes and some legends. Such line-ups, in pre- ICL days, made up exhibition matches or charity games. Never imagined someone would actually make a business proposition out of it.
What is working for ICL? The fact that it’s so difficult to make it to the Indian cricket team. Just 16 spots for grabs of which 4 seem fixed forever. What makes it worse is that Ranji trophy pays peanuts and all you have for spectators is mongrels, crows and the two umpires. Everybody wants to secure their future might be a done to death line in insurance, but for these players it just might be what they are hoping to do. For people like Kiran More and the rest, it’s clearly the limelight and the lucre, for Kapil Paaji, just might be the passion.
ICL might not do to cricket what Kerry Packer managed to do. But they sure are hitting the BCCI where it hurts the most… money.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Begs the Question

Beggars are as much a part of Mumbai as the Gateway of India. Over the last 10 years of actively roaming around the city, the no of cars have increased and so have the no of beggars. What has also changed is the kind of beggars in the city. The first kind of beggar that I encountered was the simple woebegone face kinds who would sit by the roadside and keep uttering monosyllables the year round. There was no strategy of any kind in place, and the adage beggars can’t be choosers used to get played out. Most of them seemed fatalistic. As the economy evolved and liberalized, so did beggars. For one, I think even the beggar economy opened up. There were a lot many more beggars because there was a lot many more economic activity (and hence money to be handed out) and a lot many more people. The quality of begging also changed. Some beggars, in order to differentiate their pitch, started to exhibit their skills. So you had harmonium totting kids and adults causing disharmony in trains. Strat
Read more

Plane Truths II

Image
Continuing my series of what happens to me in relation to airplanes, I have a gem to share. The wrestle of the arm rest can be quite irritating especially when both adversaries want it equally badly. The war of course is lost right at the beginning if one of the adversaries has an arm that's armrest size! My Chennai to Mumbai flight was spent in half a seat, with me folded up around an imaginary vertical axis, actually measuring kilometers to Mumbai and counting down time. I thought I was lucky to get a window seat, my luck ended the moment the middle seat next to me and half of my seat got occupied by a gargantuan who was impersonating a human being. Arm rest was the first casualty, I gave it up in the first 5 secs; my midriff also was being molested constantly by the elbow of the beast. Am not slightly built either but I know how to mark my territory out and contain my body within. Land grabbing was being rendered a new meaning by my sizable neigbour and I felt a bit like Papua N
Read more

Footpath- quite pedestrian

Image
I grew up in a Govt. colony in Mumbai. This meant that I had the luxury of a lot of things that were absent in the city outside campus. One of these was the footpath. Right since I was a toddler, I was instructed to keep to the footpath, lest I get in the path of a ‘speeding’ Fiat (that’s an oxymoron). That might sound funny, but the inherent message was clear, steer clear of the motorist. In a city where cars outnumber themselves everyday, it’s become a challenge to find a footpath. Most of you might have noticed this but its worth reiterating. 1. Footpaths do exist. Just that above them also exist a layer called hawkers. This layer is more permanent than pedestrian aspirations and difficult to remove. 2. Footpaths do exist. Just that above them frequently is a mosaic of human excreta, with some dog poo thrown in between. Nearby slums can’t do their bit on the highway can they and there’s nowhere else to go. 3. Footpaths do exist. Just that often the BMC or MTNL or MMRDA or such body
Read more