BCCI and its ways

When Atlanta hosted the Olympics in 1996, world over the unanimous view was that crass commercialisation of the sport was spoiling the whole spirit of the Games. It was a complaint heard and forgotten almost immediately after the fortnight-long extravaganza. Just that for the Indians, all such talk did not matter. What mattered was Leander Paes winning a bronze medal in tennis, truly an effort which seemed impossible. Yet for all that, he raked in less than Rs 40 lakhs from all quarters.
More than a decade after those Olympics, when we hear of megabucks in cricket -- or to be precise the Twenty20 slam-bang stuff – the commercial world watches in amazement. Less than a month back, it was Kapil Dev, chairman of the Indian Cricket League sponsored by Subhash Chandra, who showed starry-eyed youngsters what raking in the moolah was.
It certainly appeared as if Kapil had become the messiah for fringe players like Hyderabad’s Ambatti Rayudu, who was never going to make it big by playing under the BCCI banner. How soon times change! Today, we have the Indian board ready to take on the ICL headlong by announcing its own Twenty20 league and an international Champion’s League, details of which were revealed three days back in the Capital.
Now, has the BCCI suddenly become concerned about the welfare of players or is it also using this new format as a stunt to parade the “best” names. If you thought Kapil had stolen the thunder by roping in a name as big as Brian Lara, the BCCI, with open approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC), is now going to use star power to showcase the Champion’s Twenty20 league.
Carrying a prize money of $ 5million (approx Rs 22 crore), fans are going to see from next year golden oldies like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath bring on the magic. And at home, in the IPL, players who compete will be sharing booty worth $ 3 million.
But do not get fooled by the ICL or the BCCI, cricket promotion is somewhere low down their priority list. The same set of people who were questioning Kapil’s theory if Twenty20 was actually the way to groom talent find themselves doing something similar and spending big money. Does BCCI’s own event become more special just because it has managed to get the recognition from the ICC or have retired stars like Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne suddenly become young? I would think that using the ICC’s recognition, the BCCI is now in a position to act tough and actually make sure that Kapil’s event gets devalued even before the first over is bowled in the competition.

Just to jog the readers’ memory, when Kapil had launched the ICL, the BCCI’s immediate reaction was to hike players’ fee for domestic cricket and make sure no more players crossed over. By now bringing in a slam-bang format in an already packed calendar, it could be almost non-stop cricket like international tennis.
One does not know how the sport in its newest form is going to get accepted. But if results from the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa are to be taken as a barometer, predictions can go haywire. So apart from the batsmen who are there just to maul the bowlers’, it does appear for the bookies who run the huge illegal betting syndicates, this is another chance to again make it big. Or go bust!
But just as we debate on the riches of cricket, we also need to spare a thought for a poor sport like hockey. It is India’s national sport, and the Chak de India effect was there for all to see in Chennai during the Asia Cup where India emerged champions without losing a single match.
How many people will remember the hockey triumph is a good question to ask because in India public memory is short. For any sport other than cricket, survival is almost next to impossible. Be it Test cricket, ODIs or Twenty20, there’s no dearth of sponsors queuing up to be sponsors.
But in Chennai, it was only after Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) was roped in did the Asia Cup get a title-sponsor. I have nothing against cricket getting sponsorship, even though right now the BCCI has not said anything about who will be supporting its latest venture.

But for Indian hockey to resurrect itself and win a qualifying berth to be there at the Beijing Olympics next year now requires luck. Compared to the cricketers, our hockey players do have more dash and play from their heart for the nation. Yet, if one compares what a superstar like Dhanraj Pillay has earned after all these years in hockey with what an Ambatti Rayudu or Dinesh Mongia will make from the ICL would be so embarrassing.
The sad part is however much our hockey players strive and struggle in the quest for Olympic glory, money will never come their way. Even if Joaquim Caravalho’s boys win a hockey medal at the OIympics (I am serious), they will never get to see more than a few lakhs coming their way. After the initial euphoria, it will be back to working in banks or Railways as clerks or being employed with the national carrier as a flight bursar. That is what former stars like BP Govinda do these days, perhaps unrecognized by passengers who never saw him play hockey.
Why, for all the effort which Sania Mirza puts in on a tennis court and earns prize money, she still would come in the middle-income bracket when compared to the projections which a cricketer can make from the ICL or the BCCI’s new events. So even if Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, all on the wrong side of the thirties play Twenty20 at home, they will still be making money. Mind you, all this without having to worry about winning India the World Cup, be it 50-50, Twenty20, or probably another improvised format where you can play four matches in one day at one single venue!
The sad part is, however much we criticise the Indian cricketers or ageing stars like Warne and McGrath, they are rich and will grow richer. It is not just the BCCI, even the ICC is there to ensure that in the name of fierce competition against the ICL, they will loosen the purse strings to any extent.
Should I still talk of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996? Forget it.