‍‍Cricket’s Problematic Bid For The Olympics

What is a true representation of the sport?

The irony of only two teams competing for cricket’s gold and silver medals at the Olympics in 1900 is not lost as cricket contemplates a re-entry with an eight-team pool that is not likely to feature any team outside of the so-called big league, making it a largely a redundant affair on the world stage, not to mention a problematic representation of the sport.

There is strong reason to believe that even the Olympics courting cricket is not for the right reason which is why the idea sits somewhat uneasily on cricket minds.

Almost stealing the thunder from the Indian medallists being felicitated in the country upon their return from the Tokyo Olympics, Jay Shah of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the news that the International Cricket Council (ICC) was indeed pushing for a bid for cricket’s inclusion at the Los Angeles Games in 2028 but also, that India would be participating if the deal went through.

The news was met with mixed reactions, with some rejoicing cricket’s long-awaited entry into the Olympics while others, and this includes a fair number of cricket traditionalists, purists and fans alike, were more sceptical of the idea.

While the epitome of any sport lies in its viability across the globe and its inclusion in an epic multi-discipline event like the Olympics to honour the best in the discipline, cricket has a few pointers that counter the fact.

In announcing the decision, ICC chair Greg Barclay released a statement to the effect:

“We see the Olympics as a part of cricket’s long term future. We have more than a billion fans globally and almost 90 per cent of them want to see cricket at the Olympics. Clearly, cricket has a strong and passionate fan base, particularly in south Asia, where 92 percent of our fans come from, and whilst there are also 30 million cricket fans in the USA.”

But the problem is almost immediate. The claim of a billion cricket fans is not hard to see given where cricket’s interest is primarily centred – India – and the idea that the USA has a thirty million fan base does not automatically translate to USA cricket having a following of 30 million followers.

Statistics can easily be misrepresented as they can be used to paint a false, even delusional picture. However, the numbers themselves cannot lie.

Looking at the same numbers, it is not hard either to see why the Olympics is showing an interest in cricket.

Olympics viewership has halved from the London Olympics in 2012 to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to only twenty million viewers.

The Olympics would like to breach this largely virgin South Asian territory and given that cricket is second to be the world’s second most popular sport after football despite its concentrated pockets around the world, it would seem it was a marriage of equals.

India is celebrating the most medal winners in its history – seven. It seemed ignominious for a 1.3 billion population that they could only produce seven medal-worthy winners, while other more established nations like the USA and China are racking up the medals tally consistently.

Here is the tricky story though.

Firstly, only twelve cricket teams currently play Test cricket. Although the ICC boasts of 92 affiliate nations.

When was the last time an affiliate team broke through the ranks? One has to go back to 2003 and the ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa to remember the heroics of Kenya which got into the business end of the tournament.

Increasingly, there has been a push within cricket’s own circles to sideline these affiliate nations from their only means of exposure – qualifying for the World Cup tournaments – simply because they are not commercially viable for broadcasting and media rights packaging.

Even if cricket were to make it to the Olympics, it would still be likely that even amongst the 12 teams, there would be the usual suspects showing up at the event, leaving cricket to be showcased at the event but sending false hopes to its nearly hundred strong teams on the periphery.

The West Indies will not be able to represent as one nation and neither will England under the Great Britain bracket.

Which Caribbean nation will go through? Without sufficient development projects to bridge the gap of disparity of competitiveness between the permanent member nations and the affiliates, how does cricket aim to be a true representative of deciphering the best team at the Olympics which is riveting only because the quality of the performers is too close to call?

Is medal assurance is now making India change its mind about sending cricket to the Olympics? Is that not convoluted enough?

Secondly, one of the conditions in a sport making it to the Olympics is that the format in which it will be presented at the Olympics should be in international operation.

Cricket has run into hot water over this issue, apart from vested interests of boards in the past. Will a compromise be reached now?

While there is euphoria over the possibility of cricket being showcased at the Los Angeles event even though there is some consideration that cricket would be better off making its debut once more at the Brisbane Games in the next edition in 2032, there is still little consensus about the format in which it will go ahead.

The England and Wales Cricket Board pushing for the Hundred comes as no surprise though there is also in some quarters a push for T10 (as opposed to Twenty20) as a more palatable sport given the time constraints of being able to create space for doubleheaders in a ten days span of time that the Olympics can afford.

The problem with the Hundred is that it is yet another variation of shortening the sport and not all that different from Twenty20 given that it only reduces the match by 20 balls an innings. As far as T10 goes, while the ICC has sanctioned this version in the gulf, it is not an internationally prominent format and therefore, goes against the traditional Olympics regulations.

Twenty20 for all its globally viable purposes is not the true representation of skills and temperament of what makes a cricketer at the highest level.

With it being a more franchisee based concept than a World Cup viability, Twenty20 is about specialists than about cricketers in the true sense. Is that a fair representation of being medal-worthy for something as worthy as the Olympics?

There is some consideration that a better compromise would be the one-day internationals as a fairer representation of the sport though it might be an overkill given that cricket has its own legitimate version to decide the overall winner in the time tested World Cup format. Redundant enough?

There are suggestions that Twenty20 might be easier to push through and also, make cricket’s case easier at the Olympics simply because the format has been around and also, that it would kill two birds with one stone by allowing cricket to do away with the currently overcooked goose that is the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.

The only problem with promoting this idea is that the sports that do make it to the Olympics not only feature athletes of the highest quality, but also, in the version of the sport that is internationally renowned as the very pinnacle in its form.

Can cricket say the same for Twenty20, leave alone the Hundred or T20? At the moment, teams that do well at Twenty20 events such as the West Indies rarely reflect the gulf that has developed after the top four teams in the game that are fairly consistent across all three accepted formats.

Although it is being claimed that pushing cricket at the Olympics will be an impetus to push the governments of fringe teams into driving funding into developing these teams, increased medal tally has not done the trick even in the Indian context despite this unprecedented adulation that often comes after the fact and soon as easily forgotten.

Paraag Marathe, part of the ICC Olympics Group that also includes the ECB, the Asian Cricket Council and Zimbabwe cricket, seemed overly optimistic of what cricket at the Olympics could do for USA Cricket.

“USA Cricket is thrilled to be able to support cricket’s bid for inclusion in the Olympics, the timing of which aligns perfectly with our continuing plans to develop the sport in the USA. With so many passionate cricket fans and players already in the USA and a huge global audience, we believe that cricket’s inclusion will add great value to the Los Angeles 2021 Olympics Games and help us to achieve our own vision of establishing cricket as a mainstream sport in this country.”

What Marathe failed to mention was that too many young Indian cricketers are already “retiring” in order to qualify for the Major League Cricket in the USA because of the BCCI’s current restrictive policy that does not allow Indian cricketers to participate in franchisee Twenty20 leagues overseas.

So it is questionable how much of it is homegrown talent and how much of it is a talent that has emigrated overseas, which in the past has made up the numbers of certain affiliate teams that made it on the rare occasion to the top league in a world cup context.

That this exposure will drive the Chinese and USA markets into greater development of cricket seems highly unlikely given that they are not likely to sudden divert their resources from their tried and tested disciplines into a sport where it is highly unlikely that their team will break ranks at the highest level in the immediate or even ten years down the line and that too account for a medal or two at most.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the whole premise of participation at the Olympics seems diluted by the idea of the very motivations that are driving cricket and the Olympics into this arranged marriage.

The ECB sees it as a way of promoting another home driven format – Twenty20 before the Hundred – in the hope of resuscitating cricket interest in the flagging home of the sport.

The BCCI now sees its potential perhaps in how the medal winners are being received and with government impetus – Shah is after all the son of Amit Shah which in itself is contravening of the Lodha committee reforms that looked to separated political affiliations from sports administration – is looking to create its own larger entity.

With conditions of course, since it has traditionally opposed losing its autonomy to bodies like the Indian Olympics Association and through the avoidance of drug testing arm of WADA in India, NADA.

Olympics is meant to be the pinnacle of any sport. It is why the world-class athletes begin training the very next day after the conclusion of an Olympics event in preparation for the next one four years away.

This has also caused some problems in sports like tennis where the top players have tended to be choosy over what they value and where they wish to spread their time – the Grand Slam or the Olympics.

One of the biggest reasons the BCCI is stating this change of heart is the push from the current Indian government for increasing the medal score at the Olympics.

The idea of having a men’s and women’s version at the Olympics means a possibility of two medals, notwithstanding the fact that India is yet to taste top success in the men’s arena since the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017.

However, it has to be remembered that this at the end of the day will ensure at best two medals. This with a large contingent of players who make up a team.

It seems that the Indian government and the sports ministry are better advised to divert their energies to developing the infrastructure to produce greater medal possibilities by following the China and USA models of throwing the gates open to discovering talent by training a larger number of athletes in the various disciplines instead of resting medal hopefuls around the neck of one team in an elusive discipline.

With the podium potential of three medals in each discipline, increasing the calibre and number of athletes makes far better sense.

Besides, cricket, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, does not need a platform nor additional spotlight that takes away from much-needed resources in the other disciplines where athletes could do with greater financial assistance, support structure and backing.

As far as the Olympics goes, if the South Asia Market is their goal to tap into a larger commercial market, perhaps they might want to look into providing impetus towards these governments enhancing interest in non-cricket sports.

Besides, until cricket can sort itself out, having greater exposure is going to do little for the sport itself if it is only going to add to its languishing affiliate nation tally.

Will cricket give up its precious revenue-making bilateral series time, particularly time like the IPL window or the Hundred, for an Olympics event every four years while the remuneration is not likely to justify the decision?

Is cricket willing to incur the short term loss for potential long term gains that might still not accrue from the Olympics where medal racing nations have their traditional sports back?

How likely will it be down the line when cricket might see the merit of sending a second-string team to the Olympics to make up the numbers while the likes of mainstream players are engaged in more lucrative, bilateral engagements?

Is it not why football has so little weightage at the Olympics while the recently concluded Euro took on so much attention and importance?

What is a true representation of the sport? An abridged version, made up of teams with expats and retiring players who will make up teams like Major League Cricket in the USA in a couple of years time?

When purely commercial interests drive even a body like the Olympics to include a sport not for its high-value quality but for its ability to bring it a market, it feels like a self-goal, not done for the right reasons, which is marrying the two because it enhances sport at the highest echelons. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

Cricket diplomacy takes a hit

By M H Ahssan

Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, has now hosted two of Sri Lanka's best and worst moments. In March 1996, they won the cricket World Cup there as co-hosts with India and Pakistan, setting of a frenzy of unprecedented celebrations in the little island nation.

Thirteen years later, on March 3, 2009, terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan cricketers as they were entering the same stadium, giving the world chilling memories of the 1972 Munich Olympic attacks in which terrorists gunned down 11 Israeli athletes. At least five people were killed and six Sri Lankan cricketers injured as police battled with 12 well-armed gunmen. The cricketers called off their tour and immediately headed home.

Hindi movies, terrorism and the English language are among South Asia's common bonds, but none as much-loved, fervent or unifying as cricket. Rarely in world history has a single sport dominated cross-border emotions, politics and roller-coaster national relationships as much as the game of cricket has between India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Cricket is popularly called a "religion" in these four South Asian nations, and the fear of terrorists including the game in their agenda has been an ever-present Sword of Damocles.

When the terrorists' sword fell on Tuesday morning, the Sri Lankan cricket team was not scheduled to even be in Lahore. India had canceled its tour of Pakistan in January - the strongest action against Pakistan that India had so far taken following the November 26 terrorist attacks in Mumbai - and Sri Lanka decided to replace India in Pakistan. The Mumbai attacks were linked to Pakistani militants.

The 17th century English-born game again has the three former English colonies mixed in a cricket tango, this time to the tune of a grim tragedy. The fourth country, Bangladesh, is currently in uproar over a failed military uprising. Cricket has featured in sub-continental moments of disunity, as well as heart-warming togetherness.

In 1996, India and Pakistan sent joint cricket "friendship" teams to Sri Lanka during the World Cup the three nations were then jointly hosting, after Australia and the West Indies refused to tour Sri Lanka after a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) bomb attack in Colombo. Top Indian and Pakistani cricket stars played together in Sri Lanka to express solidarity with the island nation.

And it was Sri Lankan solidarity for Pakistan that brought its ill-fated team to Lahore, after India canceled its tour as apparent payback for the Mumbai attacks. "Match abandoned due to terror attacks," announced the Google News India home page of the second five-day match in Lahore between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, in the live updates of matches that Google provides for cricket-crazy Indian fans. Such a match-ending line has never been seen in the 120-year recorded history of the game.

India pulling out of its scheduled Pakistan tour cost the local Pakistan cricket board an estimated US$40 million loss. The Indian government's move was supposed to be the strongest, and as yet the only expression of Indian outrage at the attacks. But Pakistan was already a cricketing outcast, with no international team willing to play a Test match - that is, the five-day version of the game - in the violence-ridden nation in the past 14 months.

Before India, Australia had pulled out of a scheduled tour of Pakistan in April 2008, and the international Champions Trophy one-day cricket tournament that Pakistan was to have hosted was also cancelled after other governments deemed Pakistan as being too dangerous a place for their nationals.

In 2002, New Zealand - where the Indian cricket team is presently touring - promptly canceled their ongoing tour of Pakistan after a bomb exploded in Karachi, near the New Zealand team's hotel. Thirteen people, including 11 French navy personnel, were killed in the bomb attack at the Pearl Continental Hotel.

Given the recurring nature of random violence in Pakistan and fears of international teams to visit the country despite Islamabad's security assurances, Sri Lanka's decision to go to Pakistan appeared foolhardy. The move was greeted with some disapproval by millions of Indian cricket fans who felt the island nation and its cricketers had betrayed India by not following Delhi's boycott.

The Sri Lankan decision to tour Pakistan was seen as a balancing act of its "cricket diplomacy", trying to please both India and Pakistan. Both Islamabad and Delhi are crucial factors in Sri Lanka's battle against its home grown-insurgency by the Tamil Tigers. Pakistan helps arm the Sri Lankan military, and Sri Lanka dared not offend India in case its bigger neighbor resumed its support for the LTTE. India withdrew its support after the LTTE assassinated former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1992.

Cricket was already a strong component in sub-continental diplomacy, both to express coldness and as an ice-breaker in relations. An Indian cricket team toured Pakistan in 1977, to mark the resumption of warmer diplomatic ties between the two countries after the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh.

Former Pakistan president and late military dictator Zia ul-Haq was an ardent cricket fan, as have been his successor chiefs of the Pakistan army, some of whom have headed the Pakistan cricket board, most recently former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf.

In 1987, Zia ul-Haq, whose term marked the resumption of India-Pakistan tensions over disputed Kashmir, went to India almost uninvited to see a cricket match in Jaipur, in what he hoped would be an attempt to cool rising tempers in India over Pakistan's alleged involvement in terrorist violence in the restive region. In 2005, Musharraf came to see a cricket match in New Delhi, the city of his birth, to again thaw relations between the two nations.

The 1999 war between India and Pakistan, the worst military confrontation between the two countries since 1971, happened during the cricket World Cup in England in which both nations were participating. A 2003 Indian tour of Pakistan led to unprecedented warmth between the two neighboring nations, a people-to-people contact that cricket author Rahul Bhattacharya described in his book Pundits From Pakistan.

No Sri Lankan cricket writer will have such happy memories of touring Pakistan in 2009, following the Lahore attack that raises not just disturbing questions about Pakistan's future as a co-host to the 2011 World Cup, along with India and Sri Lanka, but to its future as a nation.

Opinion: Vision Twenty20 of India

By M H Ahssan

With its opening match against Bangladesh, India embarks on its World Twenty20 campaign. If it does get to defend its crown – won in South Africa in September 2007 – at a flood-lit Lord’s cricket ground on June 21, 2009, time kept at the ground’s WG Grace Gate would have turned a full circle. The transformation of Lord’s, from a conservative cricket bastion that so far resisted the powerful juggernaut of global commercialism, is perhaps finally complete. But some might argue that the finishing touches will be put only when Lord’s plays host to the World T20 final amidst much fanfare and excitement.

The transformation began in earnest a decade ago when the Investec Media Centre made its way into Lord’s – despite considerable criticism from a section of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) members – for the 1999 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup. A rectangular glass structure, which stands in stark contrast to the members’ enclosure, still considered one of the most beautiful members’ pavilions in world cricket, was an indication that Lord’s was being forced to change under the influence of globalisation and commercialism. Women’s entry into the MCC membership roster and subsequently into the long room after a long, arduous struggle was yet another step forward.

The tradition versus modernity debate has continued in world cricket’s mecca ever since. Despite most stadiums of prominence moving on to install floodlights, considered a necessity in most ball parks around the world, Lord’s held on. The resistance was intriguing since MCC knew that floodlights would inevitably bring in their wake increased opportunities for raising revenue, money that it desperately needed to undertake a series of developmental activities. Opposition from a section of MCC members and a section of residents of the adjoining St John’s Wood area, one of Central London’s most coveted residential neighbourhoods, strengthened the hands of the traditionalists till World T20 came knocking at the door.

To meet the demands of cricket’s newest genie and ensure that crowds came flocking back to the stadium, the iron grip of tradition had to be loosened and light towers installed. For the first time in its 200-plus-year history, Lord’s will see cricket played consistently past 9 p.m. local time, which for some MCC members is way past dinner time.

The other radical departure, perhaps even more stark compared to the installation of floodlights, is already being made at the MCC museum, the venue for all post-match press conferences. The first floor of this beautifully maintained museum is the site of a well-planned exhibition for the forthcoming Ashes series. The Ashes, which come to Lord’s in mid-July, are still the high point of the British cricket calendar. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that for the MCC’s traditionalists, the Ashes are still sacred.

That is where astonishment creeps in. On the very same floor of the Ashes exhibition, a section has been reserved for the Indian Premier League (IPL). The exhibition includes jerseys and other autographed memorabilia from a series of IPL teams and their stars. There’s also a dedicated IPL photo display, with blowups of more than 50 stand-out moments from IPL season one. Certainly one of the wonders of the contemporary English cricket scene, the coexistence of IPL and the Ashes at the Lord’s museum would make WG Grace, quietly observing the move to new age cricket from his place at one end of the coronation gardens, turn in his grave.

Lord’s and the MCC museum aren’t exceptions. T20, as far as British cricket is concerned, is a survival mechanism. It brought the new infusion of life that county cricket so badly needed in 2003 when most county games were watched by less than a few hundred spectators. Yet, with time, T20 seems to be losing its grip on the British cricket psyche. Unless cricket’s newest format is warmly embraced across the country and given its due alongside the Test and one-day 50-over formats, the British sport may soon lose out to new and emerging cricket markets across the world.

With IPL making giant strides with every passing season, chances of England laying claim to their erstwhile status in world cricket already appear dim. Half full grounds are an unfortunate reality of the British game and even the season opening Test against the West Indies a month ago did not see more than 8,000 tickets sold at Lord’s. While the figure will be different for the Ashes – tickets have been sold out for the Lord’s Test starting July 16 – this one-off event isn’t capable of giving cricket the necessary boost it requires in the UK.

Unless the British accord respectability to the game’s shortest format, it will be impossible for them to rival IPL with their own version of a premier league all set to start in late-2010. It is especially for this reason more than anything else that the World T20 occupies a position of paramount importance in England’s cricketing horizon. Whether or not Collingwood and his team make it to the final, a full Lord’s cheering every run scored and every wicket taken on June 21 will give English cricket a much-needed lifeline.

#BloggerDreamTeam: #CWC15 Great Holiday Destinations

Cricket has been associated with speculations and superstitions. Cricket fans would sit in the chair for hours, in the same position, until the match finishes. They would prefer discomfort than watching their side lose to the counterpart. 

Most people would prepare dishes and would adorn a similar dress because in a previous encounter that their team won, they had been wearing the same dress and had prepared similar food. Cricket fans would not shy from doing the impossible just to see their side win. 

#BloggerDreamTeam Are #CWC Players Fashion Conscious

Lights, Camera, and it is a Six!! You see a guy running across the field – a perfect advertisement opportunity for a shampoo, a shoe company. He takes a full round arm action like a well-oiled machine,  throws a ball like a bullet aim for its target – opportunity for range of products from gear oil manufacturers to tonic drinks. 

Today every action of a cricketer on field is depicted as a style icon. What more is needed when there are multiple cameras capturing each and every action of players, live telecasting it to  millions of viewers across the world.

Special: Of Bet And Ball: Deciphering The New IPL Bouncers

By Nadeem Ansari | Mumbai

The Justice Mukul Mudgal committee’s indictment of Gurunath Meiyappan, principal of Chennai Super Kings and son-in-law of BCCI President N Srinivasan, is one more nail in cricket’s credibility coffin. As crores ride on IPL-VII, the game’s lexicon has changed. Hemal Ashar hails the new game of hunters and punters and finds out what IPL now stands for.

As new skeletons rattle wildly in cricket’s closet, the auction for Indian Premiere league (IPL)-VII has gone off with a few ripples. If truth be told (sold) we think little will come out of the Mudgal Commission’s latest report but then all these self-righteous experts claim that we must not resort to speculation.

Why Asian-Arab Cricketers Galore In UAE Team At #CWC15

The cricket team of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the flotsam and jetsam of international cricket. Its players are mostly rejects of their native countries' cricket selectors. They played cricket once. But they gave up the sport and the dreams it once promised them to take up jobs in this oil-rich Gulf country. Now, they are playing the sport once again, and that too, at cricket's marquee tournament: the ICC World Cup.

Among members of this UAE team of Emiratis (just two of them), Pakistani and Sri Lankan salesmen, flight attendants and bankers who moonlight as cricketers, is a receptionist at a construction company from India who was given a promotion as sales executive when he was selected to play for the UAE.

MANY CONDIOLED THE DEMISE OF 'INDIAN CRICKET TIGER' MANSOOR ALI KHAN PATUDI

Indian cricket fraternity reacted with shock and sorrow on the demise of former captain Mansur Ali Khan Patuadi, who died in New Delhi due to lung infection, describing him as a "great human being" and "shrewd leader" who inspired a generation of players in the country.

Former and current stalwarts of the game remembered how Pataudi had influenced their careers in different ways and said his demise has left a void in Indian cricket.

Former opening batsman Gundappa Viswanath described Pataudi as his guide in early years of his career and somebody who had always helped the youngsters.

"It is a terrible news for me, he brought me up and guided me. I can't even express myself, it is one of my saddest days. He was a great human being, a great cricketer, a great fielder, shrewd captain, it is really sad," he said.

"He always guided the youngsters, I was very close to him, so I can't really forget the way he brought me up. He was my first captain under whom I played. Whatever career I had, it stands on him," he added.

Former captain and current selection panel chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth said Pataudi was the one cricketer who ushered in style and aggression to Indian cricket.

"It is a great loss for Indian cricket. He is one fellow, so stylish and aggressive. He achieved so much at the age of 21, he played an aggressive brand of cricket. He was very friendly and a fun-loving person, he had very subtle and good sense of humour," said Srikkanth.

"His greatest quality was the way he hit those sixes. He is called Tiger because of his extraordinary fielding at covers. He lost one eye but still went on to score so many runs. He expresses his views but never tried to impose them.One thing I like to inculcate from him is his determination and aggressiveness," he said.

Current India batsman Rahul Dravid said Pataudi's illustrious career made a great impact on the game and on the Indian team.

"It is a sad day for Indian cricket, he was an inspiration for us. I never had the chance of seeing him play but I always heard how big an impact he made on the game. I had the chance of interacting with him on various issues. He was extremely knowledgeable, he deeply cared about Indian team. It is such a loss not only for his family and friends but also for Indian cricket," he said.

Dravid's India team-mate VVS Laxman felt Pataudi's legacy will continue even after his death.

"It's a sad moment for cricket fraternity. It's shocking news to me as only few days back I met him in England. I have never interacted with him on cricketing techniques but he had a great cricketing acumen and a very knowledgeable person, given the amount of experience," Laxman said.

"His record speaks for itself. May his soul rests in peace. I am confident his legacy will continue. He had a lot of passion for Indian cricket. His knowledge and acumen about cricket will definitely be missed," he added.

Pataudi's one-time team-mate Bishen Singh Bedi described him as the "foremost outstanding champion of Indian cricket".

"Very sad day for the Indian cricket. He was the foremost outstanding champion of Indian cricket. With his sad demise, that chapter is closed now. I am too shocked to react to this news," said Bedi.

Former captain Dilip Vengsarkar remembered Pataudi as an "innovative" captain who had won many matches for the country.

"It's a sad news. He was a great player, fantastic captain and an outstanding fielder. He was a gutsy player and an innovative captain. He won many may matches for India. We are going to miss him," he said.   (Newsindia Syndication)

‍How Fintech And Edutech Companies Calling The Shots In Cricket Sponsorship?

The much hyped Bitcoin exchange platforms are the latest to join the cricket sponsorship bandwagon already in the grip of edutech and real money gaming players.

Cricket press conferences can be predictable and mundane in nature. It can be worse if the speaker, invariably a top cricketer or coach, is a poor speaker.

Recently, virtual press conference called by the title sponsors of the Sri Lanka vs India limited overs series in Colombo was one such -- boring.

But if the media had cared to grill the two new-age companies -- Unacademy for CoinDCX -- who have taken to cricket sponsorship in a big way, the session could have been more interesting.

Most reporters who logged in on Thursday had little inclination to know about why edutech and fintech companies are seriously making inroads into sports sponsorship.

Hence after a few predictable questions to Yuzvendra Chahal and even more anticipated answers, the press conference was over in about 15 minutes.

If cricket is a roaring business today, it's because of the money edutech companies like Unacademy or Byju's are spending. Fintech made its presence felt in IPL 2020 with CRED becoming a BCCI partner. Newer players like Upstox are fast emerging.

A new bred of spenders have arrived from the Bitcoin/cryptocurrency space. Whether they will catch the imagination of people is another matter but fintech companies are going full steam to display their wares through all available media channels.

Not sure if CRED were able to make an impact during IPL 2020 with a slew of TV commercials that seemingly lacked imagination and weird.

Retired cine superstars like Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit and musician Bappi Lahiri clearly didn't drive the CRED message despite consuming plenty of expensive commercial time. They were subsequently dropped.

CRED, of course, roped in former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid in their next series of TVCs. But it was not the brand but the 'Wall' who made news for his unusual "anger issues" and it was still not clear if CRED actually profited from the advertisement.

But that's not stopping fintech companies from jumping into the cricket sponsorship bandwagon. A financially struggling Sri Lanka was perhaps a perfect starting point for CoinDCX. They are the title sponsors of the three-match T20 Cup.

Ramalingam Subramanium, the marketing head of CoinDCX, admitted Bitcoins were new in India and the sponsorship was part of the plan to build awareness.

"Cricket has a mass appeal and it pans across generations. As we see crypto evolving in India, awareness and education is key for sustainable growth. By partnering and sponsoring the tournament, we believe we'll be able to bring right kind of awareness in the category," said Subramanium.

Sumit Gupta, the CEO of Coin DCX says: "Almost 30-40% of the audience that watches or follows cricket in India is in their early 20s or 30s and with that viewership as the base, we aim to reach out to the millennial and Gen-Z populations in the Indian market, who have either already invested in cryptocurrency or are curious about or interested in them and hence most likely to consider investing in crypto assets."

While CoinDCX will be the title sponsors, another company in similar business, WazirX will be co-presenting sponsor for the live streaming of the Sri Lanka vs India series.

Unacademy, which are the title sponsors of the three-match Sri Lanka vs India ODI series, seems to be leveraging its brand name better. It's marriage with education has been boosted by meaningful association with former cricket stars like Sourav Ganguly.

Unacademy is an IPL sponsor, too. They even wanted to be the title sponsors of IPL 2020 but fantasy cricket operators Dream11 outbid them in a close fight.

"Edutech and sports are actually a natural fit, not just in terms of the demographics but also the way the new generation consumes content. Both students and their parents follow sport, and cricket in particular is massive with a cumulative audience northwards of 400 million for an IPL season alone," said Karan Shroff, Unacademy's chief marketing officer.

"Add to this the fact that the younger generation's involvement with their mobile and computer screens (whether for learning or for entertainment) and their involvement in sport are not mutually exclusive, and we have a winning proposition of reaching out to these new learners who are breaking free of the traditional modes, in their natural habitat in a sense," explains Shroff.
 
There is a huge probability that edu and fintech companies may rule sponsorship in the Indian market, if not globally. With real money gaming facing uncertain times in high courts and even the Prime Minister's Office, operators like Dream11 and MPL may become increasingly circumspect.

Dream11 and MPL, of course have deep pockets with big investors backing them. Both are heavily involved with Indian cricket but deep down they know the honeymoon can end if the government equates the real money gaming business as betting or gambling.

MPL is already exploring the Esports market very seriously and has even tied up with the Indian Olympic Association ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

From an ease of business point of view, these fledgling fintech and edutech companies have a clear vision, says Bhairav Shanth of ITW.

"The new age tech companies are more open to innovation and know what is the outcome or brand impact they are seeking. Since they operate in a digital environment where everything is trackable, the outcomes can be optimised by selecting the right property," explains Shanth.

ITW is a leading player in securing sports sponsorships and brand promotion. ITW works with some of the top cricket boards of the world and is also a partner of Sri Lanka Cricket too.

Shanth says: "Typically the brick and mortar brands mainly want brand visibility and are generally risk averse. Digital companies are agile and adaptive, they can tweak or adjust a campaign based on how it is delivering on their desired outcome.

"On the contrary, traditional brands have more of a legacy approach with preset ways of running a campaign. To use a music analogy, we can say one is consistent, sort of like legendary rockers Pink Floyd, while the other is evolving and agile, a bit like the K-pop chart busters BTS."

The traditional sponsors are surely on their way out. Coca-Cola, associated with football and the Olympics, are long-term global players with billion dollar deals with organisations like FIFA and International Olympic Committee.

The cricket ecosystem is much smaller compared to football or the Olympics. In keeping with the changing times in cricket and a proliferation of Twenty20, the likes of Unacademy, CoinDCX et al are expected to play smart and get the mileage they want. #KhabarLive #hydnews

CRICKET SITUATION ANALYSIS: 'RIP THE VEIL OF SILENCE'

By Ayaz Memon (Guest Writer)

It is about time senior cricketers spoke up against the mess that has beset cricket in India. The IPL fixingbetting mess calls for introducing a strict system of checks and balances on Indian cricket. 

The end of the sixth season of the Indian Premier League has been in dismal conditions, with not just the league and the Board of Control for Cricket in India sullied, but the game of cricket itself being adversely affected. 

Cricket’s 'Indian Premier League' Is In Deep Trouble?

By Aamir Khan in Mumbai

Just as one of cricket’s great spectacles, a Lord’s test match between England and Australia, gets underway, the sport in India has faced a day of reckoning. The suspension of two of the eight sides in India’s megabucks Indian Premier League (IPL) following an illegal betting and match-fixing scandal shows that cricket has a corruption problem, and is at something of a loss as to how to deal with it.

The IPL was born in 2008 as the new, bright, exciting face of 21st-century cricket. The great empire game, traditionally played over five days and where around 30% of all matches end in no result, was metamorphosing into a showbiz extravaganza.

Tribute: The 'Up, Down And Rise' Of Jagmohan Dalmiya, Architect Of Indian Cricket’s Commercial Success

By LIKHA VEER | INNLIVE

Jagmohan Dalmiya died doing what he loved best: Running Indian cricket. The canny cricket administrator, who was re-elected president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in March 2015, passed away in Kolkata on Sept. 20, following a heart attack.

The former wicketkeeper began his innings at the BCCI in 1979, before taking office as its treasurer in 1983. Under his leadership, the BCCI became the game’s richest sporting body.

Terror's guns don't discriminate

By Beena Sarwar

South Asia is caught in a vortex of violence as the countries that form this region - from Sri Lanka at its southern-most tip, Bangladesh to the east, Nepal crowning the north, Pakistan along the west and India in the middle - deal with internal nightmares.

Wednesday's armed attack on a convoy carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in the historic city of Lahore in Pakistan has sent shockwaves through a country already a victim of regular suicide and other attacks. Six Pakistani policemen died and several were injured saving the Sri Lankan cricketers, six of whom were wounded in the attack.

At the other end of the sub-continent, Bangladesh is still reeling from the shock of a Border Guards' mutiny over pay and working conditions, resulting in soldiers massacring over 140 officers, including some of their wives. Some analysts fear that the horrific incident might elicit copycat responses elsewhere where soldiers are unhappy with the tasks they are made to do.

India has yet to recover from the horror of the attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, which claimed some 180 lives. New Delhi had, as a direct result of the attacks, called off participation of the Indian cricket team in the Pakistan tests.

Sri Lanka, in the last stages of a heavy-handed army operation against Tamil separatists who have been fighting a guerrilla war against the state for over two decades, could hardly have imagined that its cricket team would come under fire in Pakistan, a friendly country.

Still, as the Sri Lankans told journalists after the Lahore attack, they had come here "well aware of the risks".

Analysts point out that Tamil separatists are unlikely to be responsible for the attack, given the back foot from which they are operating.

The Sri Lankan team, in Lahore for a five-day Test match of which they had already played the first two days, was en route from their hotel to the stadium early in the morning on March 3 when the gunmen attacked.

The firing reportedly began from three directions as their van slowed down near a roundabout close to the Gaddafi cricket stadium. Shaky television footage has showed men with guns and backpacks taking position and firing. Their first target was the police escort.

According to the van driver, one of them flung a hand grenade which rolled under the van without damaging it. He said that the cricketers flung themselves to the floor of the van as he accelerated to escape the gunfire, managing to get the bullet-riddled van with the cricketers to the stadium.

There is universal condemnation for the terrorist act, which many believe is an attempt to further discredit and isolate Pakistan. Many are praying for the quick recovery of the injured cricketers who have been airlifted home to Sri Lanka.

"They were our guests, they came to Pakistan when most people were not willing to come," one man in Peshawar told a television journalist.

"We are a friendly and cricket-loving nation," said another passer-by. "Now no cricket team will want to play here."

The incident has more or less put paid to Pakistan's aspirations of hosting the next World Cup in 2011, say observers.

New Zealand said on Wednesday that it would call off its November tour of Pakistan, and the International Cricket Council raised doubts over whether the country could still co-host the World Cup.

"I don't think any international team will be going to Pakistan in the foreseeable future," New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan told Agence-France Press.

The Age newspaper in Australia said: "The Sri Lankan team airlifted out of the Gaddafi stadium is likely to be the last to tour Pakistan for a generation."

The attackers struck at a sport that is hugely popular across South Asia, a throwback to a common colonial past for all the countries, except Nepal, which was never under British rule. The colonial legacy includes the English language, administrative systems and railways.

In normal times, when India and Pakistan's cricket teams meet on the pitch the fans often see it as a battlefield. A Pakistan-India game is referred to in parts of India as Qayamat (doomsday). Despite the keen rivalry, however, love of the sport is a unifying factor. "Cricket diplomacy" has featured among the permissible people-to-people contacts that have grown immensely over the past decade or so.

"Cricket is not the bone of discord between the two countries," Gul Hameed Bhatti, sports editor of the country's largest media group, Jang, told Inter Press Service. "Basically, the problem is the tensions between both countries, and cricket has become a casualty. This incident has thrown cricket and other sports back into the dark ages. I don't see anyone agreeing to come and play here now."

Bhatti added that he had long "feared that this was a disaster waiting to happen, because the situation in the rest of the country is so volatile. It was unrealistic to think that sportsmen could remain isolated from it''.

Nor, say analysts, can other areas of society, like culture. In early November, explosions on the penultimate night of a major international performing arts festival in Lahore caused panic. There were no casualties, although some people sustained minor injuries. Artists, foreign and local, defiantly rallied around to make the festival's last day a resounding success.

The festival was held in the cultural complex next to the stadium where the Sri Lankans were headed when they were attacked.

"Most people," said Bhatti, "had become complacent, thinking they would never target sportsmen."

They included Pakistani cricket hero-turned-politician Imran Khan, who shortly after the Mumbai attacks categorically told an Indian newspaper, "There is no problem about the security of cricketers in Pakistan. The terrorists will never target cricketers knowing that they will then lose the battle of hearts and minds of the people. Cricketers are safe in Pakistan."

The audacious attack in an upmarket Lahore locality is now being compared to the Mumbai attacks, where 10 gunmen targeted symbols of national strength like the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Police are saying that about a dozen gunmen were involved in the Lahore attacks.

Cricket is an area in which Pakistan has traditionally shone as a global power with a huge fan following around the world.

Security fears have, however, massively dented enjoyment of the sport as many foreign teams have over the past years canceled tours, including India after the Mumbai attacks that similarly cast a shadow over "India shining", raising doubts about internal security.

Police were still hunting on Wednesday for the gunmen behind the Lahore attack, with five people being questioned.

Pakistan, already beset by multiple political problems, has for some time been facing a deadly threat from jihadi forces - regional players like the Taliban (from Afghanistan and Pakistan), al-Qaeda and local militant outfits like the banned Laskhar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed, many of whom have roots in the southern Punjab and links to Pakistan's intelligence agencies that nurtured them during the Afghan war of the 1980s.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, these forces have converged, to emerge as a greater threat than ever before, not just for Pakistan, but for world peace, say analysts.

Their agenda is not just to enforce what they consider to be an Islamic system, but to overrun and destabilize the state itself. Pakistanis have suffered heavily under this agenda, paying a price for the policies of military rulers - who have run the country for more than half its 60 years of existence - that civilian governments have been unable to change.

These policies have included cultivating Islamic warriors to fight against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan during the 1980s, supporting the Taliban to create strategic depth in Afghanistan (citing the threat of a hostile India on the eastern border), and using some of these elements to bleed India in the disputed region of Kashmir.

No elected government in Pakistan has ever completed its tenure. They are routinely overthrown either by the army or dismissed by various presidents using the powers invested in that office by the military dictator General Zia ul-Haq, who also got himself appointed as president.

The current elected government, say analysts, is the first that is actually serious about fighting the jihadi threat which it recognizes as endangering the country's very existence. "But it appears that various elements within the establishment are still bogged down in the old policies and are unwilling to give democracy a chance," said an observer.

Just as enraged Indians had "jumped on the blame Pakistan bandwagon" immediately following the Mumbai attacks of November, "some in Pakistan are now blaming the Indian hand", for the cricket attack, says Bhatti.

Many see the attack on the Sri Lankan team as an Indian attempt to take "revenge" for Mumbai and an attempt to isolate Pakistan internationally.

Lieutenant General (retired) Hameed Gul, former head of Pakistan's shadowy Inter-Services Intelligence and a known hawk, said on television that "India wants to declare Pakistan a terrorist state". The attack on the Sri Lankan team, he declared, "is related to that conspiracy".

The Pakistan government itself has been more circumspect, as have other analysts, including retired army officers like Major General (retired) Jamshed Ayaz Khan, who cautioned against such accusations "without a full investigation".

The Sri Lankan government's response has been conciliatory. "Pakistan's cricket team was willing to visit our country when others weren't because of security worries," said Palitha T B Kohona, Sri Lanka's foreign secretary, "and his government was pleased to reciprocate. The game must not be affected by a lunatic fringe."

Media proliferation, particularly the 24-hour television news channels, has increased the intensity and probability of such dramatic high-profile attacks. Terrorism thrives in the media spotlight which terrorists successfully attracted in Mumbai last November and now with the Lahore attack.

Ultimately, those who suffer the most after such incidents are ordinary people in India and Pakistan. The Lahore attack is bound to generate further tension between the two countries, which have still not resumed the composite dialogue process stalled after the Mumbai attacks in November.

Rather than cooperating to solve a common problem, India and Pakistan remain prisoners of their hostile pasts. The ultimate winners in this game, note analysts, will only be the terrorists, whose aim is destabilization and raising tensions around the region and the world.

Terror's guns don't discriminate

By Beena Sarwar

South Asia is caught in a vortex of violence as the countries that form this region - from Sri Lanka at its southern-most tip, Bangladesh to the east, Nepal crowning the north, Pakistan along the west and India in the middle - deal with internal nightmares.

Wednesday's armed attack on a convoy carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in the historic city of Lahore in Pakistan has sent shockwaves through a country already a victim of regular suicide and other attacks. Six Pakistani policemen died and several were injured saving the Sri Lankan cricketers, six of whom were wounded in the attack.

At the other end of the sub-continent, Bangladesh is still reeling from the shock of a Border Guards' mutiny over pay and working conditions, resulting in soldiers massacring over 140 officers, including some of their wives. Some analysts fear that the horrific incident might elicit copycat responses elsewhere where soldiers are unhappy with the tasks they are made to do.

India has yet to recover from the horror of the attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, which claimed some 180 lives. New Delhi had, as a direct result of the attacks, called off participation of the Indian cricket team in the Pakistan tests.

Sri Lanka, in the last stages of a heavy-handed army operation against Tamil separatists who have been fighting a guerrilla war against the state for over two decades, could hardly have imagined that its cricket team would come under fire in Pakistan, a friendly country.

Still, as the Sri Lankans told journalists after the Lahore attack, they had come here "well aware of the risks".

Analysts point out that Tamil separatists are unlikely to be responsible for the attack, given the back foot from which they are operating.

The Sri Lankan team, in Lahore for a five-day Test match of which they had already played the first two days, was en route from their hotel to the stadium early in the morning on March 3 when the gunmen attacked.

The firing reportedly began from three directions as their van slowed down near a roundabout close to the Gaddafi cricket stadium. Shaky television footage has showed men with guns and backpacks taking position and firing. Their first target was the police escort.

According to the van driver, one of them flung a hand grenade which rolled under the van without damaging it. He said that the cricketers flung themselves to the floor of the van as he accelerated to escape the gunfire, managing to get the bullet-riddled van with the cricketers to the stadium.

There is universal condemnation for the terrorist act, which many believe is an attempt to further discredit and isolate Pakistan. Many are praying for the quick recovery of the injured cricketers who have been airlifted home to Sri Lanka.

"They were our guests, they came to Pakistan when most people were not willing to come," one man in Peshawar told a television journalist.

"We are a friendly and cricket-loving nation," said another passer-by. "Now no cricket team will want to play here."

The incident has more or less put paid to Pakistan's aspirations of hosting the next World Cup in 2011, say observers.

New Zealand said on Wednesday that it would call off its November tour of Pakistan, and the International Cricket Council raised doubts over whether the country could still co-host the World Cup.

"I don't think any international team will be going to Pakistan in the foreseeable future," New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan told Agence-France Press.

The Age newspaper in Australia said: "The Sri Lankan team airlifted out of the Gaddafi stadium is likely to be the last to tour Pakistan for a generation."

The attackers struck at a sport that is hugely popular across South Asia, a throwback to a common colonial past for all the countries, except Nepal, which was never under British rule. The colonial legacy includes the English language, administrative systems and railways.

In normal times, when India and Pakistan's cricket teams meet on the pitch the fans often see it as a battlefield. A Pakistan-India game is referred to in parts of India as Qayamat (doomsday). Despite the keen rivalry, however, love of the sport is a unifying factor. "Cricket diplomacy" has featured among the permissible people-to-people contacts that have grown immensely over the past decade or so.

"Cricket is not the bone of discord between the two countries," Gul Hameed Bhatti, sports editor of the country's largest media group, Jang, told Inter Press Service. "Basically, the problem is the tensions between both countries, and cricket has become a casualty. This incident has thrown cricket and other sports back into the dark ages. I don't see anyone agreeing to come and play here now."

Bhatti added that he had long "feared that this was a disaster waiting to happen, because the situation in the rest of the country is so volatile. It was unrealistic to think that sportsmen could remain isolated from it''.

Nor, say analysts, can other areas of society, like culture. In early November, explosions on the penultimate night of a major international performing arts festival in Lahore caused panic. There were no casualties, although some people sustained minor injuries. Artists, foreign and local, defiantly rallied around to make the festival's last day a resounding success.

The festival was held in the cultural complex next to the stadium where the Sri Lankans were headed when they were attacked.

"Most people," said Bhatti, "had become complacent, thinking they would never target sportsmen."

They included Pakistani cricket hero-turned-politician Imran Khan, who shortly after the Mumbai attacks categorically told an Indian newspaper, "There is no problem about the security of cricketers in Pakistan. The terrorists will never target cricketers knowing that they will then lose the battle of hearts and minds of the people. Cricketers are safe in Pakistan."

The audacious attack in an upmarket Lahore locality is now being compared to the Mumbai attacks, where 10 gunmen targeted symbols of national strength like the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Police are saying that about a dozen gunmen were involved in the Lahore attacks.

Cricket is an area in which Pakistan has traditionally shone as a global power with a huge fan following around the world.

Security fears have, however, massively dented enjoyment of the sport as many foreign teams have over the past years canceled tours, including India after the Mumbai attacks that similarly cast a shadow over "India shining", raising doubts about internal security.

Police were still hunting on Wednesday for the gunmen behind the Lahore attack, with five people being questioned.

Pakistan, already beset by multiple political problems, has for some time been facing a deadly threat from jihadi forces - regional players like the Taliban (from Afghanistan and Pakistan), al-Qaeda and local militant outfits like the banned Laskhar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed, many of whom have roots in the southern Punjab and links to Pakistan's intelligence agencies that nurtured them during the Afghan war of the 1980s.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, these forces have converged, to emerge as a greater threat than ever before, not just for Pakistan, but for world peace, say analysts.

Their agenda is not just to enforce what they consider to be an Islamic system, but to overrun and destabilize the state itself. Pakistanis have suffered heavily under this agenda, paying a price for the policies of military rulers - who have run the country for more than half its 60 years of existence - that civilian governments have been unable to change.

These policies have included cultivating Islamic warriors to fight against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan during the 1980s, supporting the Taliban to create strategic depth in Afghanistan (citing the threat of a hostile India on the eastern border), and using some of these elements to bleed India in the disputed region of Kashmir.

No elected government in Pakistan has ever completed its tenure. They are routinely overthrown either by the army or dismissed by various presidents using the powers invested in that office by the military dictator General Zia ul-Haq, who also got himself appointed as president.

The current elected government, say analysts, is the first that is actually serious about fighting the jihadi threat which it recognizes as endangering the country's very existence. "But it appears that various elements within the establishment are still bogged down in the old policies and are unwilling to give democracy a chance," said an observer.

Just as enraged Indians had "jumped on the blame Pakistan bandwagon" immediately following the Mumbai attacks of November, "some in Pakistan are now blaming the Indian hand", for the cricket attack, says Bhatti.

Many see the attack on the Sri Lankan team as an Indian attempt to take "revenge" for Mumbai and an attempt to isolate Pakistan internationally.

Lieutenant General (retired) Hameed Gul, former head of Pakistan's shadowy Inter-Services Intelligence and a known hawk, said on television that "India wants to declare Pakistan a terrorist state". The attack on the Sri Lankan team, he declared, "is related to that conspiracy".

The Pakistan government itself has been more circumspect, as have other analysts, including retired army officers like Major General (retired) Jamshed Ayaz Khan, who cautioned against such accusations "without a full investigation".

The Sri Lankan government's response has been conciliatory. "Pakistan's cricket team was willing to visit our country when others weren't because of security worries," said Palitha T B Kohona, Sri Lanka's foreign secretary, "and his government was pleased to reciprocate. The game must not be affected by a lunatic fringe."

Media proliferation, particularly the 24-hour television news channels, has increased the intensity and probability of such dramatic high-profile attacks. Terrorism thrives in the media spotlight which terrorists successfully attracted in Mumbai last November and now with the Lahore attack.

Ultimately, those who suffer the most after such incidents are ordinary people in India and Pakistan. The Lahore attack is bound to generate further tension between the two countries, which have still not resumed the composite dialogue process stalled after the Mumbai attacks in November.

Rather than cooperating to solve a common problem, India and Pakistan remain prisoners of their hostile pasts. The ultimate winners in this game, note analysts, will only be the terrorists, whose aim is destabilization and raising tensions around the region and the world.

Everyone Knows Test Cricket Is Dying But Few Will Step Forward To Save It

The ICC mooted the idea of a World Test Championship in 2008. Nine years later, we’re still discussing how to save the oldest format of the game.

Robert Southey was meditating on the futility of war; he could just as well have been musing on the “Test” series just completed between India and Sri Lanka, and the one now under way between the West Indies and England.

Star TV Network Focusses On 'Indian Expansion Spree'

Star is looking to cement its leadership in the Indian market with a Rs 20,000-cr investment in sports content. Will it shine brighter? 

James Murdoch did not know that kabaddi is an Indian sport. It was even tougher explaining how it is played. Yet he said: let’s go for it.” This is how Uday Shankar, chief executive officer of Star India, de scribes the reaction of his boss and chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox to the proposal to beam kabaddi on the Star network in mid-2014.

IS CONGRESS MISSING TRICK IN IPL SPOT-FIXING MESS?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

The India Premier League (IPL) has lost its credibility. Cricket is turning into a game of spot-the-fixed moment. And with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N. Srinivasan determined to stay put despite the muck reaching his doorstep, the board has proved itself to be a rogue entity accountable to nobody.

That Srinivisan still refuses to step down points to the moral bankruptcy of the nation’s richest sporting body. It also underscores the all-important question at the heart of the whole mess: how should cricket be run in this country?

Special Report: Indian Cricket's Apartheid Story Of Present

By Anshuman Raj | INN Live

Though it still retains unmistakable ties with its past as an exclusive Indian township, the Lenasia of today is a bustling semi-metropolitan suburb to the south of Johannesburg. While gated communities spring into sight every 500 meters, the area also boasts of close to 30 mosques and a similar number of temples along with malls and high-end car showrooms.

In the 70s and 80s, Lenasia was a hub of activity as Indians of the area involved themselves in the freedom struggle against the apartheid oppression, cheering for the likes of Nelson Mandela and their own Ahmed Kathrada.

'Indian Premier Leauge' Needs Exposure, Not Closure!

By Rajinder Puri / New Delhi

Responding to the IPL cricket scam Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh told media: “I only hope that politics and sports don’t get mixed up.” One does not know whether he said this to protect the reputation of sport or of politics. There is little to choose between the two now.

Consider some bald facts about the current IPL cricket scam.

It is over two weeks since the scandal erupted. For all that period there has been a clamour for the resignation of the BCCI President  N. Srinivasan.

T20 vs Polls09: A tale of two IPLs

By Rajdeep Sardesai

This season, television ratings are about to witness a new battle and it isn't saas bahu versus Balika Badhu. As a ratings agency SMS suggests, "it's a battle of the Modis". Who will you watch for the next six weeks: the controversial but charismatic Narendra Modi, or the equally controversial but pugnacious Lalit Modi? One Modi is playing out his act in democracy's biggest theatre, the Indian Political League; the other is hoping to make the Indian Premier League season two even bigger than the original. IPL versus IPL, cricket versus elections, batsman versus neta: India's two great passions appear to be in direct and intense competition over the next month.

Ironically, the similarities between the two IPLs outweigh the differences. Both thrive on tense drama and excitement. Elections in this country are a bit like a 20-20 match now: in a period of messy coalitions, no one knows till the last vote is counted just who is ahead. Just as a 20-20 match can witness sudden shifts in fortune in practically every over, elections too are showing a remarkable propensity to swing on a weekly basis. Just a few weeks ago, it appeared that the UPA was in some kind of a comfort zone. Now, a bit like a bowler who suddenly picks up two wickets in an over to change the course of a 20-20 game, the presence of the 'fourth front' has added a new dimension to the election race and made it much more of an even contest.

The cricket league has been built around the concept of city teams owned by powerful corporates. Indian politics is no different. It is increasingly apparent that a 'national' election is essentially an aggregation of several 'state' fights, each being fought on entirely different issues. Like in cricket, in politics too, it's the regional franchises which are setting the pace: the national parties are in seemingly terminal decline, it's the state players who will determine the final winner. Substitute the AIADMK for the Chennai Superkings, the Trinamool Congress for the Kolkata Knightriders, and the Mumbai Indians for the Nationalist Congress party, and there will be a realisation that power today is flowing from the state capitals, not a feeble center.

Even the pattern of ownership is distinctly similar. If most IPL cricket teams are owned by business families, a majority of our political teams are also tightly controlled by family dynasties.

The Pawars, the Nehru-Gandhis, the Yadavs, the Abdullahs, are the effective 'owners' of successful political enterprises much like the Ambanis, the Mallyas, the GMRs are the unquestioned bosses of their franchises. Party legislators, like team players, are almost the 'property' of the owner.

If cricketers have a price, and are being auctioned to the highest bidder, so are our netas. In fact, cricket and politics seem incredibly recession-free. Just as the price of cricketers has increased manifold in the last few years, the netas too are demanding staggering amounts for their support to a particular party. Atleast cricketers can measure their true worth in terms of raw talent; a politician's net worth is directly related to their manipulative abilities.

There is the glamour quotient too. Ok, so the election commission has played killjoy in this election by preventing candidates from spending on the traditional naach-gaana that was once such an integral part of an election campaign. Maybe, we don't have scantily clad cheerleaders at election rallies, but there is enough evidence to suggest that politicians too, like the cricket franchises, are relying on 'star' value to draw in the crowds, if not the votes. Sharukh Khan may have re-invented himself from actor to cricket guru , but even he would find it tough to match the manner in which Sanjay Dutt has been transformed almost overnight from Munnabhai to Amar Singh's bhai. From Salman Khan's special appearances cutting across party lines to Hema Malini's ageing Basanti act to Chiranjeevi's theatrics, there is enough on the campaign trail to rival cricket's star power in the shape of Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta.

Which brings one to the critical similarity: in their present avatar, both the IPLs are designed as a form of entertainment being played out on live and instantaneous television. There was a time when elections, like a test match, were spread over several weeks. The campaign was an extended one, politicians planned for it several months in advance. The rival camps shared a mutual respect for each other, there were certain behavioural norms that were expected to be followed. But now, it seems that its open season in politics: abuse and ridicule have replaced debate and discussion. Individual battles have replaced a contest of ideas and issues. Shoot and scoot politics, accompanied by coarse language, is seen to substitute any meaningful attempt to set the agenda for a nation. It's a bit like how the refined technique of test cricket has been replaced by the cross-bat heroics of the 20-20 game.

Last year, during cricket's IPL, the dominant image, in a sense, was the incident where Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth. Replayed across channels countlessly, it seemed to suggest a complete breakdown of the gentleman's game. The enduring images of election 2009 so far been Varun Gandhi's hate speech and Jarnail Singh's chappal throwing 15 seconds of fame. Does anyone remember party manifestos or any attempt in the election campaign to seriously debate issues beyond the usual rhetoric? Manifestos are almost an archival relic, a bit like the solid defensive stroke: nobody it seems has time for the 'boring' basics of politics.

Unfortunately, in the age of instant gratification, we seem to be losing out on our more enduring needs. This is where the two IPLs must necessarily depart. A 20-20 cricket tournament can perhaps still thrive on creating sufficient hype; an election needs more than just dramatic content to be truly meaningful. As we move towards becoming a tele-democracy, maybe the netas and we, in the media, need to realize that amidst the cacophony, it's the silence of the voter that needs to be understood. For come judgement day, its only the silent voter whose voice will echo across a nation.

Post-script: Kolkata Knightriders coach John Buchanan has already created a stir in the cricket world by planning on having multiple captains for his team. Let me stir it up a bit in politics: post May 16, if the elections throw a badly fractured verdict, be prepared for rotating prime ministers!