A wake-up call for BCCI’s Technical Committee

A wake-up call for BCCI’s Technical Committee


The Indian Premier League has created a debate. Whether the cricketing heroes of India and other countries deserved to be marketed like in a crass cattle bazaar is a topic of debate. Whether the IPL is good for the game can also be debated.

Conceptually, the IPL looks exciting.

The entire cricketing world is agog with the concept and the money that is being dished out to players. But the disparity between the amount that Indian players will get in the IPL and what those same players will get while participating in the BCCI-conducted tournaments is so vast that the players’ motivation level while playing in the BCCI tournaments may be markedly less than while playing in the IPL matches.

The scene at the Duleep Trophy final in Mumbai, with three scorers and three journalists watching as against the whole lot of journalists, with quite a few arriving from outstation to cover the IPL auction, said it all.

If Australia and England can have packed stadia for the Tests without having to do any marketing exercise, why could not the BCCI have done the same for the international matches and other tournaments in our cricket-crazy country? The reason, perhaps, is that the BCCI wanted to generate money for building infrastructure, and felt it could do so at no cost, in less time and getting back more revenue through the concept of IPL franchising. Lalit Modi saw the marketing potential and acted with purpose.

Terrible mess


But on the downside, technically Indian cricket will be in a terrible mess. Why would a medium pacer be keen to exert himself match after match on lifeless pitches bowling long spells without being certain of playing for the country? Why would a batsman play in ‘V’ when playing in ‘X’ will get him in the Twenty20? The mindset of players will be focused on Twenty20 and this will affect the requirements of the longer version.

The process at the NCA will be redundant, with Twenty20 tournaments mushrooming anywhere and everywhere in the country. Performing in these tournaments will take players closer to the IPL than playing in longer version tournaments. The cash-rich Twenty20 will be the motivating goal for not only the youngsters but their families as well.

What started off as an entertainment in England will now become a serious business in India. Initially India refused to play Twenty20 but was dragged into accepting it by the other nations that saw great potential in generating revenue. The Indian cricketers’ preference for Twenty20 was to make quick money in the shortest possible time as the percentage of unemployed cricketers in the country is very high.

With financial security assured, the preparation required for the Twenty20 will not be the same.

It’s a wake-up call for the BCCI’s Technical Committee which has hardly done anything of note to improve the standard of cricket. Now that the IPL has introduced the youngsters to megabucks, the Technical Committee will have to review the formats of the Ranji and Duleep Trophy.

The monetary aspect for the Ranji and Duleep Trophy will need to be looked into.

If that is ignored, India’s national and zonal championships will lose their charm.

And, didn’t this regime of the BCCI restrict the cricketers to only three endorsements after the 2007 World Cup debacle? Isn’t the same regime now encouraging the cricketers to chase endorsements?
http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/26/stories/2008022655821700.htm