IPL set to darken Indian Cricket again

Sublime, that was the recent Test series between India and South Africa and the historical ` Ashes’ confrontation between England and Australia. The series in South Africa was inconclusive, the `Ashes’ clash was a bit too one- sided, yet in both instances we saw some wonderful, purposeful cricket which elevated the spirit of the game.

Then came the Bangalore auction, a curtainraiser for IPL which propped up the ridiculous element of the once- noble game.

How short was the Indian public memory! Only a few months back the media was full of reports of the gigantic frauds which went on in the name of IPL cricket. Millions of words were written about the legality of the funds which had flowed into the IPL coffers, the money- laundering charges, the removal of two teams, Rajasthan Royals and the Kings I, Punjab the legality of the ownership of the Kochi team and the end of the buccaneering era of Lalit Modi. Would the IPL survive these charges and come back again? Bangalore proved it could even with the stains uncleaned.

The corpulent BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan who also owned Chennai Super Kings was back in his multiple roles and one wondered what happened the court cases against the Punjab and Rajasthan teams, ownership controversies and the inflow of illegal foreign funds. Lalit Modi, secure in London, was tweeting away his views on the future of the baby he had fathered. Everything was as before, only this time there were 10 and not eight teams.

But the farcical auction proceedings in Bangalore drew as much media coverage as a terrorist attack, a major political upheaval or the wedding of a super film star. As usual, the media smothered us with details of who was there, how much was or Z was bid for and paid, the Corporate game plans for the players, why certain ` stars’ were not allowed to shine and so on. We, who knew something about cricket, now began to understand, that the IPL franchisees had their own evaluation and rating of players, active or semi- retired.

And it was clear that some deep games were being played which had nothing to do with cricketing talent and experience.

For the fourth time, cricketers, like cattle or slaves from the Roman era, were put under the hammer. The bidders were corporate heads, suited and booted as well as glamour brigades from Bollywood which proved it was one step ahead of Hollywood which never evinced much interest in grabbing sports stars. Never underestimate the foolish smiles or clear dimples of the likes of Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta. Perhaps, like the legendary spy Mata Hari, they had secret knowledge on the unpublicized talents of cricketers we had not even heard of. Suddenly, new value systems emerged as the franchisees bid for different players and many of the bids simply defied common sense. South African Jacques Kallis who, days before the auction, proved that he was as good as the great Sobers, fetched a lesser auction price than someone called Robin Uthappa whose cricketing talent mainly consisted of swinging his bat blindly at whatever was thrown at him. If the great brains at the IPL valued Uthappa more than Kallis, the word ` value’ had acquired a different meaning. Enough had been written about former Indian captain and Kolkatta icon Saurav Ganguly, not wanted by any of the franchisees. In this case, it was not the question of talent. Only last season, Ganguly, while captaining Kolkatta Knight Riders had emerged as its leading scorer. es, his scoring rate was not sensational but he batted even as wickets tumbled at the other end, he seldom got adequate support from other batters. So, the ` true grit’ former Indian captain and one of the best limited over batsman was humiliated by corporate honchos and Bollywood buffoons who did not know the value of cricket.

Obviously, the reasons lay elsewhere. The franchisees, keen to control the game at all levels wanted goody- goody captains who would obey their commands. But someone like Saurav would not and hence the conspiracy against him. Mind you, even Sachin Tendulkar would not go against the wishes of his boss, Nita Ambani of Mumbai Indians. But don’t expect the same servile attitude from the Prince of Kolkata. And now comes Shah Rukh Khan offering some sops to Saurav who would be advised to keep his distance from this strange form of cricket. As Nirmal Shekhar wrote in his ` The Hindu’ column, ` Wasn’t Brian Lara worth a shout, even if he had not played competitive cricket for some time? Wouldn’t he have done as well as Ryan ten Doeschate ( don’t ask me who he is even though the name sounds Dutch).

In the scramble for ` uncapped’ players, under- the- table cash as well as perks like flats and cars were offered to young men in their late teens or early 20’ s who had never seen such affluence. How they would react to this bonanza remains to be seen. The vulgar life style offered by the IPL stood in sharp contrast to the abject poverty of India, the raging inflation, starvation and millions who today could not afford even the simple meal of dry roti and onion. The IPL mocked at everything decent, honest and also ravaged the decency associated with cricket. We appreciated Aamir Khan’s film ` Three Idiots’, he can make a sequel, `3 Million Idiots’ based on the IPL, with Shah Rukh, Priety and Shilpa Shetty making guest appearances.