India is a cricket crazy nation. We are all so much in love with the sport that the wife, the kids, the freaking office, almost everything takes a back seat while a cricket match is on. Earlier we used to be glued to radios, then TV’s and nowadays smart phones. The technology has changed drastically, but not the craze. And I don’t see it dying anytime soon either. From hilarious ‘Mauka Mauka’ advertisements to Team India jerseys, we are a gold mine for anyone who wants to tap into the passion of an emotionally charged up country. We desire more cricket and we are fed more cricket. The IPL as an example is usually a 50 day affair with 2 games played every weekend apart from the ones played on the weekdays. So, if my calculations are correct, the IPL will give us more cricket matches than the World Cup!!! Moreover, the World Cup happens every 4 years, not every year!!!
I have been playing and following cricket for the last 20 years or so. So, to be fair to myself, I believe I have a good understanding of the game. Just so that you know, what I am going to write about might make me a villain in your eyes, because in India nobody speaks ill about Sachin Tendulkar or an Indian Cricket team that is winning..:). It’s just a NO NO! But what I write are just my thoughts, a little skeptical/critical, but they make sense to me. Let me know if they make sense to you as well.
I firmly believe that the World Cup has been designed in such a way that India plays as many matches as possible. That they don’t crash out early, that they make it to the semifinals, if not the finals. I am not suggesting that the matches are fixed, but I have no doubt that the BCCI’s clout over the ICC as well as creative marketing strategies have ensured this pans out in favor of India. The more games India wins, the more will be the viewership. The more the viewership, more will be the revenue generated. And who doesn’t like more revenue, but sadly, this doesn’t benefit the country much. It just helps BCCI fill its pockets up. We all know that a World Cup without India is doing well, will lose almost half a billion people’s interest. Interest lost, money lost!
First, I would like to talk about how the Indian team was allowed to acclimatize to Australian conditions. Indian cricket teams have always been poor travelers. From the dead sub continental pitches to lively green tops abroad, an Indian batsman can transform from a tiger to a jumping rabbit. So how does the BCCI make sure India does well at the world cup? They arrange a 3 month long tour of Australia, finishing within a couple of weeks of the world cup. A Japanese farmer could have scored a century in the world cup games had he been given that much of a practice. The Indian bowling which looks like a school boy attack on a bad day has been consistently dominating oppositions. Kudos to them, they have performed really well, but then again, they have been doing the same thing on the same damn pitches for the last 3 months. They probably can walk the entire stadium blindfolded without stubbing their toe, by now. It’s interesting to note that India played only one game out of Australia (in New Zealand, the other host) that too against Zimbabwe (a weak team by my assumption).
Next is the division of the groups. India was placed in a group with South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and UAE. Pakistan is a young team, without any great talent, led by a 40 year old captain. If I had to describe their Captain, I would describe him as the ‘Internet Explorer’ in the age of Google Chrome. Let’s accept it, Pakistan was not going to be a challenge. West Indies, well, I think their maroon uniform with yellow stripes is more of a threat to the viewer’s eyes than they are, on the cricket field. On top of that, the Geniuses in their cricket board dropped 2 of their top cricketers (Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard). So to cut things short, I think the win against South Africa was the only one we can rejoice about. The rest were just very obvious.
My problem is not with the Indian team, I think they are really great cricketers. My problem is with the BCCI. And it should not be just my problem alone. They are trying to turn the sport into a money making spectacle. Trying to commercialize it so much that, it’s hard to believe that players play for the country rather than money/career. Which is not wrong, but not at the cost of the public’s gullibility. That for me is just not acceptable. Srinivasan, the BCCI President who was on a roll until he was rebuked by the Supreme Court also owns Chennai Super Kings. If this is not a clear case of conflict of interest than what is? A dominant BCCI run by power hungry Srinivasan coaxed ICC into providing a 50 day window in the Cricket calendar for the IPL, EVERY YEAR!!! That’s like stuffing a fat Adnan Sami into an already overloaded elevator. Again, the IPL is not a problem. It is, in fact, a very good platform for young cricketers to make a mark and it brings in a lot of money into India. But what troubles me is that, the BCCI has a mind boggling 213 cases of tax evasion amounting to thousands of crores against it, mostly on the money they make from the IPL. Where is that unpaid tax money going??
MS Dhoni, an exceptional cricketer and a genius captain. Also, overly ambitious. He has or had a 15% stake in Rhiti Sports, the same firm that manages Ravindra Jadeja. No wonder that Jadeja finds his place in the team, regardless of performing below par for the last 4 years. Interestingly, Dhoni is also the Vice President of Srinivasan’s India Cements. The Chennai Super Kings is owned by India Cements. So why wouldn’t Dhoni back his IPL team’s players to play in the national team? I may be wrong, but this could be a vicious money game that is taking the Sport in the wrong direction.
You would be surprised to know, and you can google this. The BCCI is not a Government Body. It is an autonomous body, and is not even recognized by the Government of India. So technically speaking, the team that we cheer for is not even a National Team….LOL!
The Indian team did not win any games in South Africa, none in New Zealand, zero games in Australia in the last one year. So, basically we won nothing against the Semi Finalists of this world cup in the last one year. Which makes us quite inconsistent, if I may say so! A couple of days from now, we have our semi-final against the Aussies which being a patriotic Indian, I hope we win, but, being patriotic doesn’t mean being happy about winning alone. I want to win fair, by the rules and without being given an upper hand by a powerful board which holds the whole cricketing world to ransom. But then again, these are my thoughts, as crazy as they might sound, the sad part is, they could be true!!!
[ssba]
