Who Cares for Indian Cricket?

By Gulu Ezekiel

Does the Board of Control for Cricket in India care for Indian cricket? More pertinently, should it care for Indian cricket?
Not according to its senior counsel and advocate KK Venugopal who five years ago in the Supreme Court made a statement that shocked cricketers and cricket fans throughout the country—‘If India plays England, it is a match played by the official team of BCCI and not the official team of India…We do not even fly the national flag nor do we use any national emblem in the activities of the Board.’’
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and the rest play for the official team of the BCCI, Venugopal went onto add and not the official team of India.
A group of former ‘India’ players expressed their sense of outrage and hurt in a joint letter to the BCCI President claiming they had always felt honoured to represent the country and were now distressed by the Board’s stand. One is not aware if the Board bothered to respond to them.
The International Cricket Council has recently introduced the playing of the national anthem before each match in their tournaments including the Champions Trophy in South Africa. The sight and sound of foreigners beautifully rendering ‘Jana Gana Mana’ with the ‘Indian’ team proudly standing to attention was one of the few highlights of another disappointing tournament for our cricket fans.
Perhaps it is time for the BCCI to inform the ICC that India’s national anthem should not be played before their matches and the BCCI could pay a handsome fee to AR Rehman for the use of ‘Jai Ho’ instead of ‘Jana Gana Mana’. Or else the Indian government may be forced to intercede on this matter considering the BCCI’s stated legal stand.
The inaugural Champions League to be played between the top 12 Twenty20 teams from around the world (excluding Pakistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) is the latest bogus tournament that the BCCI has cooked up to fill its coffers.
Last month it introduced the Corporate Cup—more or less a 50-over version of the IPL—which had little or no impact on the public and the media.
The BCCI/Indian team’s performance in ICC tournaments after 2003—excluding the inaugural World T20 in South Africa in 2007 which it won—has been abysmal. But is the Board really bothered as long as it rakes in the billions and officials, agents, sponsors and select players line their pockets?
IPL czar Lalit Modi had recently said on a TV channel that the IPL had produced “the greatest cricket display in the history of the game.”
Yet both team coach Gary Kirsten and captain MS Dhoni have stated that the IPL is nothing but a low-grade domestic tournament and should not be the basis for selection for international cricket.
Here is a question for the BCCI and cricket fans-- can you name one Indian cricketer in the last two seasons who has excelled in the IPL and then gone onto make a mark in international cricket? The answer is plain and simple—not a single one. But the coach and captain whose opinion should count and not Modi’s have promptly been gagged by the Board. The truth after all invariably hurts.
What the IPL has succeeded in doing is creating a new generation of half-baked players with faulty techniques who strut around like superstars based upon their dubious performances in the IPL.
This year in South Africa Manish Pandey became the first Indian player to score a century in the IPL. He is nowhere in the ‘national’ reckoning but in a recent interview he glibly explained how he has attained celebrity status due to that century. And proudly stated he now wears tight shirts with buttons open, low-waist jeans and spikes his hair. The poor deluded young man!
Last year after the first IPL season, Dhoni skipped the Test series in Sri Lanka that immediately followed, citing fatigue. Would the Board or any of the IPL franchises allow such leeway to one of its star players if he wished to skip an IPL or Champions League tournament on the same grounds? For that matter, would any player dare risk such a move, considering the huge loss of earnings that would entail?
Yet the ‘Indian’ team now has to grapple with its top players missing out on international cricket due to injuries picked up in the IPL. And the Board, the IPL management, and its band of embedded journalists desperately initiate ‘Operation Cover-up’ whenever this occurs.
The Champions League begins three days after the end of the Champions Trophy; next year’s World T20 begins five days after the end of IPL Season III. This despite Kirsten’s plea to give more time for rest and recuperation. The BCCI has not slotted in a single T20 International for ‘their’ team between the last World T20 held in June and the next in April-May 2010. They believe IPL III is preparation enough.
The captain and coach disagree. But then, who cares for ‘Indian’ cricket? Certainly not the BCCI.

(Published in New Indian Express, Hindustan Times and dreamcricket.com; October 2009).

Free for All

By Gulu Ezekiel

History has a funny way of repeating itself when it comes to cricket. For a game that has been played competitively for three centuries, nothing really is new.
Match fixing? It all started in the 18th century when traveling professionals rode on horse-back—and later by train--from village to village, playing for large purses in winner-take-all matches.
Combined with rampant drinking, this invariably led to violence and match fixing and it was in the 1850s that the elite class of England stepped in to cleanse the game and set up the county championship where amateurs ruled over the pros for a century.
The division between amateurs (known as ‘gentlemen’) and professionals (‘players’) remained in English cricket till it was formally abolished after the 1962 season.
The first cricketers to be banned for match-fixing? No, not Hansie Cronje, Mohammad Azharuddin and Salim Malik. It was William Lambert. The year? 1817!
Coloured clothing? No, it was not Kerry Packer and his World Series circus of 1977-79 Down Under that was the pioneer. Those same village teams centuries ago would were brightly coloured shirts of red, green, purple, etc. to distinguish which parts of England they were representing.
What about fat-cat businessmen flaunting their wealth and buying up the best players? Long before Kerry Packer, Sir Allen Stanford, Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, Vijay Mallya and Ali Bacher, there was William Clarke (of the 1840s) and other entrepreneurs who would travel the length and breadth of England with their teams of professional cricketers who were paid handsome wages and raked in hefty prize money too.
Plus fat bonuses from shady bookies and punters who had infiltrated the game not long after the first recorded match in which prize money (10 Pounds Sterling) was on offer way back in 1700.
Clarke’s story is particularly fascinating. In 1846 he bought up the best cricketers in the land and formed the All England XI under his captaincy, an all-conquering side that took on and invariably trounced challengers throughout England.
But by 1852 champion fast bowler John Wisden—founder-editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack—broke away with a bunch of young pros who felt Clarke’s match fees of 4 to 6 Pounds Sterling per game was insufficient and formed a rival side, the United England XI.
Thus it has forever been with cricket, the so-called ‘gentleman’s game’. And so it is with England all-rounder Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff who is being dubbed international cricket’s first freelance player.
Flintoff may well be the first of the modern era, though it could be argued that it was Australia’s all-rounder Andrew ‘Roy’ Symonds who had actually beaten Flintoff to that title a few months earlier.
The cases of Flintoff and Symonds are similar though not identical.
Tired of his constant late-night drinking bouts and skirmishes while under the influence of booze, Cricket Australia finally gave Symonds marching orders last year. He has been out of the national team ever since, but that hardly seems to bother him.
In fact, rumours abound that Symonds deliberately broke team rules so he could find a convenient escape clause from national duty.
Symonds’ agent had made it clear that now that he did not have national commitments, his client was free to sell his talents to Twenty20 franchises around the world.
At $1.35 million, Symonds was the second highest richest cricketer after MS Dhoni when he was snapped up by the Deccan Chargers in the IPL auctions of last year.
He got to play only four games in the inaugural season in 2008 as he was still a part of the national squad. But this year he was free to play the entire IPL season in South Africa and was one of the stars for the Chargers as they charged from last place to first in the span of 12 months.
Late night boozing sessions don’t appear to be an issue with the IPL franchises. Indeed, it is practically a pre-requisite with players’ attendance at sponsors’ parties a must.
So it is hardly surprising that the Chargers’ management have expressed full support for their star player despite his poor disciplinary record.
In the case of Flintoff, he announced his retirement from Test cricket at the end of the recent Ashes series but made himself available for the England squad for 50-over and T-20 Internationals.
But Flintoff’s agent has made it clear that he will be available only to play for England if his other professional commitments allow him to. And that is sure to lead to a clash eventually with the ECB and his teammates as well who have already begun to resent his attitude.
Flintoff we are told will be plying his trade—assuming he regains full fitness—in T-20 leagues in India (where he is already signed with the Chennai Super Kings), Australia, South Africa and perhaps in the West Indies as well.
The likes of compatriot Kevin Pietersen, West Indian Chris Gayle—who has already publicly expressed his disdain for Test cricket—and Kiwi Brendon McCullum will be keenly following the Freddie saga. As will be players’ agents who are rubbing their hands in glee at the treasures on offer from franchises around the cricket world, far in excess of what they are paid to be on national duty.
The IPL we have been informed will insist on ‘No Objection Certificates’ from players’ home associations. And what if these are withheld? Will we then enter the domain of ‘restraint of trade’? For that matter, will the franchise owners not raise a hue and cry if denied the services of their superstars?
So is the concept of freelance cricketers a new one? Not quite. And it was a star Indian cricketer who back in the 1950s caused quite a stir with his demands.
‘Vinood’ Mankad was considered the world’s leading all-rounder when India toured England in 1952. Mankad had an offer from Lancashire League side Haslingden which would pay him over 1,000 Pounds Sterling for the season, a considerable sum of money at the time.
At the peak of his powers, Mankad requested the BCCI to give him an assurance that he would be picked for all four Test matches on the tour so he could turn down Haslingden’s offer.
The Board refused. But they were forced to backtrack after the team was humiliated in the first Test at Headingley—scene of the notorious 0 for 4 second innings score-line which continues to mock Indian cricket. Mankad was back for the second Test at Lord’s which will forever be dubbed ‘Mankad’s Match’ thanks to his heroic all-round display.
The legendary Garry Sobers too turned himself into a traveling pro in the tradition of the horseback players of the 18th century. He was a big star in English domestic cricket in the 60s and was sensational for South Australia too in the Sheffield Shield.
The difference? He never skipped a Test match for the West Indies in a career spanning two decades. Today’s freelance cricketers—and their ever-present agents—appear to have another agenda altogether. And the toothless International Cricket Council can only look on helplessly.

(All Sports Monthly, October 2009)

Show Me the Money

By Gulu Ezekiel

The face of world cricket is set to change with England all-rounder Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff carving out his little bit of history by declaring himself as the game’s first freelancer.
This is not an entirely unforeseen development following the launch of the Indian Premier League in 2008 and other Twenty20 leagues also cropping up around the world. But few could have anticipated it happening quite so soon.
For sure there are going to be plenty of twists and turns while this latest chapter in international cricket unfolds with Flintoff still battling to be match fit.
It is also still unclear how his own board, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the IPL committee will react to the announcement by Flintoff’s agent that he intends to travel the cricket world, making appearances for franchises as far-flung as India (where he is already signed up with the Chennai Super Kings), Australia, South Africa and perhaps even the West Indies.
IPL czar Lalit Modi has stated a player cannot appear for his franchise unless he gets an NOC from his parent body. But it has become clear that the IPL rules and regulations are written in a kind of magic ink that tends to disappear once the franchise owners make their demands. We have seen that during the split between sections of the BCCI and the International Management Group which helped organize the first two IPL seasons. It has become a case of the tale wagging the dog.
There is also the nagging question of restraint of trade. Can a national body like the ECB come in the way of a cricketer who does not sign their contract (as in Flintoff’s case) and instead sells his wares to the highest bidder? At best they can decide not to include him in the national side.
Flintoff can earn tons more money plying his trade around the world playing the Twenty20 game (aka ‘cricket-lite’) than appearing again in England colours having already retired from Test cricket. So the choice appears to be a no-brainer for both the agent and the player in question.
Since players’ agents work on a commission basis, it is obvious they will encourage their star clients to go for lucrative deals rather than opt for national duty. Or as Tom Cruise put it so succinctly in the movie Jerry Maguire: “Show me the money.”
Flintoff’s case will be avidly followed by professional cricketers around the world particularly the likes of Chris Gayle (West Indies), Kevin Pietersen (England) and Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) all of whom have already had to wrestle with the cash v. country conundrum. And really, who can blame them? The toothless International Cricket Council watches on helplessly even as the game is hijacked by fat-cat businessmen and agents out to milk the game and line their own pockets.
Aussie bad boy Andrew Symonds had indicated he would go the same way even before Flintoff. Symonds has been banished from the national team due to his drinking problems but his IPL franchise Deccan Chargers have expressed their support for him.
The crisis in West Indies cricket is an example of how the sudden influx of massive sums of money can undermine a national association. The West Indies Cricket Board has been forced to field a second-string team as it is unable to meet the fresh financial demands of its superstars who find the IPL riches too juicy to resist.
What is fascinating about cricket is that the more things change, the more they remain the same. How competitive cricket emerged in 18th century England gives some context to Flintoff’s case.
The first recorded match in which prize money was on offer (10 Pounds Sterling) dates back to 1700. Just 50 years later the first and most famous professional cricket club was formed at Hambledon, Hampshire (known as ‘the cradle of cricket’).
The early pros received lucrative challenges from clubs and villages around England and would ride horseback and later by train to earn their living. This was the dawn of the freelance pro.
Today horse and train have been replaced by the corporate jet.
But by the mid-19th century, betting mixed with alcohol led to widespread match-fixing and violence breaking out. The authorities plucked from elite establishments were forced to step in, clean up the game and establish the county championship where amateurs reigned.
South African captain Graeme Smith dubbed as ‘meaningless’ contests like the just-concluded England v Australia ODI series. But does Smith seriously feel Otago Volts v Wayamba or Cape Cobras v Sussex Sharks in next month’s inaugural IPL Champions League have any meaning to them?
What happened 150 years ago should come as a warning to those who wish to ride the Twenty20 gravy train. The shortest form of cricket is also the most susceptible to betting and fixing. But then history has a nasty habit of repeating itself especially for those who either willfully ignore it or are just plain ignorant. Watch this space!

(Published in New Indian Express, Hindustan Times and dreamcricket.com; Sept’09)

Indo-Aussie Cricket

By Gulu Ezekiel

Cricket relations between India and Australia have come full circle from the first time India toured in 1947-48, described by Australian captain Don Bradman as the friendliest of his career to the last visit in 2007-08 which was arguably the stormiest since Bodyline.
But the Australians are still the biggest draw in India and will be back for a series of One-day Internationals, their third visit here in the last three seasons and the fifth since the epochal 2001 series dubbed back then as “the greatest series ever.”
That set the stage for the fiercest cricket rivalry of the 21st century with India current holders of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy having won the Test series last year in India.
Australia first traveled to India in 1956. But those early tours were arduous for visiting sides due to poor living and traveling conditions.
Neil Harvey, a veteran of the 1956-57 and 1959-60 tours wrote in one of his books at the time that “journeying into the dark depths of India present the touring cricketer with one of the hardest trips he might ever wish to make.”
Things have changed dramatically since then. Even 50 years ago Harvey noted that “Indians are probably the world’s most fanatical cricket followers” and that fanaticism has spawned the Indian Premier League which took off in grand style in India in 2008 before temporarily moving to South Africa this year.
The bitter clash in Sydney last year between all-rounder Andrew Symonds and off spinner Harbhajan Singh threatened to wreck the tour and sour relations between India and Australia.
But a few months later Symonds was in India representing the Deccan Chargers in the inaugural IPL and was warmly received by crowds across India.
The Aussie influence in the IPL has gone a long way in smoothening things out between the two nations. This is largely thanks to Shane Warne’s fairy-tale victory with the Rajasthan Royals last year and Adam Gilchrist making it an Aussie double by leading the Deccan Chargers to the title earlier this year in South Africa.
Ironically Warne had always struggled in India despite the traditional spinning tracks. Indeed his record against India’s batsmen is the only black mark in his magnificent career.
The commercial opportunities that have opened up for cricketers in the booming Indian market has seen Brett Lee’s face popping up on our TV screens while endorsing a range of products. The duet he sang with Indian music legend Asha Bhosle last year also attracted plenty of attention and a stint in Bollywood looks likely, especially since his Kings XI Punjab IPL franchise is partly owned by actress Preity Zinta.
Victory in India was a given for touring Australian sides till 1969-70 when Bill Lawry sealed the series 3-1. But then came a long drought and it was not till the 2004-05 tour that Australia was able to conquer the “final frontier” as Steve Waugh described playing in India.
Australian cricket was at a low ebb in the ‘80s. But the famous tied Test of Madras (now Chennai) in 1986 proved to be a turning point for Australian cricket, followed a year later by Australia’s first World Cup title, beating England in the final at Calcutta (now Kolkata). Captain Allan Border credits these events as being the launching pad for the years of world domination that were to follow.
Though Indian fans were denied the sight of Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Rod Marsh and Greg Chappell, plenty of other legends from Harvey and Richie Benaud to Ian Chappell and Adam Gilchrist have ensured that the Australians continue to be the most popular of touring sides.

(Inside Cricket, October 2009)

Book review: Buchanan off target

Book Review

The Future of Cricket: The Rise of Twenty20
By John Buchanan
Orient Paperbacks, 192 pages, Rs. 295

By Gulu Ezekiel

Former Australian team coach John Buchanan’s book had hit the headlines for his comments on some of India’s icon cricketers. But what is really striking is the timing of the release of the book.
Buchanan was sacked as coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders IPL franchise after they finished last in the second season in South Africa earlier this year.
Yet the book was written just before the start of the Season II and should have been released around that time instead of waiting till the end of the season.
Now one can only look back with a mixture of mirth and irony at some of Buchanan’s predictions for the second season, not to mention his ambitious five-year plans for KKR.
The most amusing part of the book is his elaborate flattery of KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan. Now that he has been given the boot by the Bollywood superstar we are told he was “shocked and surprised” at his sacking as he expected a full five-year stint. This would be like asking for the moon considering the chaos and turmoil he sowed within the team.
Buchanan’s observations that Twenty20 cricket came too late for the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly (as well as Ricky Ponting) have indeed proven to be true and the hue and cry in the Indian media over this issue is regrettable.
He is more personal in his attack on Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh while his condemnation of IPL technical committee head Sunil Gavaskar for rejecting one of his many hare-brained schemes (15-player teams) is churlish and shows up Buchanan as a sour-puss who is always determined to have his way.
More amusingly, Buchanan damns IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and Ganguly with faint praise, slipping in a few observational gems while weaving circles round them.
It was Buchanan’s machinations--hand-in-glove with Khan it must be said--that brought doom and despair upon the KKR camp as Ganguly was removed as captain and replaced by Brendon McCullum.
Buchanan is free to air his views on players, officials and tactics. But he is way off the mark when he makes sweeping negative stereotypes about India and Indians, comparing them unfavourably with his beloved Australia.
Considering the disgraceful spate of racist and violent attacks on Indians in Australia over the past one year, perhaps Buchanan should remove his rose-tinted glasses while gazing lovingly across his beloved homeland.
Invariably, such a scattergun method of taking potshots at everybody and everything will hit a few random targets. He has a point about “obscene and excessive” amounts of money being paid to some players. But then what about Buchanan himself amassing a huge team of cronies among his support staff, including son Michael? Presumably they were not in it for charity.
Finally, the note about the author at the start of the book is worth recounting: “To Kolkata Knight Riders he brought a vision beyond fine-tuning cricketing skills; a vision of developing KKR into a model other franchises would aspire to emulate.”
Considering the chaos the team slipped into thanks to his ‘vision’, it is a fair bet no franchise would even dream of aspiring to emulate Buchanan and his mad-hatter schemes.

(Published in New Indian Express and dreamcricket.com)

Book Review

New Indian Express, 19/7/09

Shadows Across the Playing Field: 60 Years of India-Pakistan Cricket. By Shashi Tharoor and Shaharyar Khan. Roli Books. 189 pages; illustrated; Rs. 295.

By Gulu Ezekiel

Cricket matches between India and Pakistan have been played since the early 1950s and have always had an edge to them, rivaling even international cricket’s oldest series between England and Australia.
The reason for heightened tensions when the two nations meet is of course wrapped up in history, politics and religion.
Former UN diplomat and current Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor and career diplomat and former head of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Shaharyar Khan (cousin of Mansur Ali Khan, aka the Nawab of Pataudi) have been chosen to trace the stormy history of Indo-Pakistan cricket in this book split between their two essays.
Khan’s choice is a logical one. He has an intimate inside view of cricket in Pakistan and was manager of the teams that toured India in 1999 and 2005.
Tharoor’s links are more tenuous. We are told on the inside flap of the book that he has “encyclopaedic knowledge” of Indian cricket which makes it even more surprising that he has committed so many factual errors in his essay.
What is most striking when comparing the two chapters is the number of issues on which the authors hold diametrically opposing views.
This different reading of history also explains why India and Pakistan have been at loggerheads for over six decades. But it is no bad thing in a book—it gives the reader pause for thought and allows him to make his own judgment.
Take for example the cricket tournaments played on religious lines in Bombay and Poona, the Quadrangular starting in 1912-13 and the Pentangular ending in 1945-46.
Tharoor, a self-confessed Nehruvian takes up Mahatma Gandhi’s point of view that the event was a direct assault on the Congress Party’s ideals of secularism.
Khan is convinced that the success of a separate Muslim team bolstered Jinnah’s two-nation theory and therefore was a positive development. He also quotes the players, including top Hindu cricketers of the time that the matches never led to communal disturbances and in fact acted as a harmless outlet for letting off steam.
Then there is the attitude of Pakistanis to the large number of Muslims who have represented India including four captains. (Tharoor omits Iftikhar Ali Khan, the senior Nawab of Pataudi when listing their names).
This has always been a thorn in the flesh of Pakistan according to Tharoor as evinced by Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik’s communally tinged remark at the end of the 2007 World Twenty-20 final in which India beat Pakistan at Johannesburg.
Khan is defensive when comparing Pakistan’s treatment of its minorities with India. The controversial case of Yousuf Youhana who converted from Christianity to become Mohammad Yousuf is another subject on which the two disagree.
To set the record straight, Yousuf did lead Pakistan in a handful of ODIs as stand-in captain when Inzamam-ul-Haq was either injured or serving out a ban.
However, on Inzamam’s retirement when it came to appointing his successor, it was reportedly the legendary Imran Khan who stressed to the PCB that a non-Muslim should never be appointed as full-time captain of the Pakistan Test team.
Khan has placed on record that the frosty ties between the two cricketing nations was thawed when Pakistan visited India in 1999, their first full tour for 12 years. Indian fans who crossed the border for the 2004 tour were bowled over by the hospitality of their hosts. But it was India that set the friendly trend. Indeed, the warmth with which all of India greeted the very first Pakistan team to visit in 1952 is also a matter of record.
Tharoor’s insistence on recording each and every result—Test, ODI, T-20 Internationals and even tour matches against domestic sides— makes one’s head reel with the endless litany of facts and figures, all of which are recorded in any case at the end of the book. In between he makes scathing attacks on the very basis of Pakistan’s founding and the violent turmoil it has witnessed since.
Some of Tharoor’s more caustic comments may come back to haunt him now that he will have to deal directly with Pakistan’s leaders at the diplomatic level. This book was written before his ministerial appointment.
As for the errors in Tharoor’s essay, they are too numerous to list here. It is about time publishers appointed dedicated and knowledgeable cricket fact checkers to go through manuscripts rather than relying on editors and proof readers who have little or no understanding of cricket.
Finally, Khan’s assertions that there were no official Pakistani links to the 26/11 terrorist attacks on Mumbai is unlikely to carry any weight in India. That outrage and the subsequent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore has practically put finis to any hope of further international sporting events on Pakistan soil, including the 2011 World Cup for which it has already been stripped of its joint hosting rights by the ICC.

Pakistan Stun the World

22/6/09

By Gulu Ezekiel

Several myths have been demolished and at least one theory set in stone now that Pakistan have stunned the cricket world by lifting the World T-20 trophy at Lord’s on Sunday.
What has been confirmed is that this is the most unpredictable format of the game and there is no such thing as a pre-tournament or even pre-match favourite.
If India were the shock winners of the inaugural tournament two years back, few before the second edition would have backed Pakistan to win.
In the IPL too, Rajasthan Royals were the dark horses in 2008 and went on to become champions while in 2009 last year’s bottom placed team, Deccan Chargers finished on top.
The biggest myth that has been torn to pieces is that playing in the IPL helps to prepare for international matches.
Coach Gary Kirsten has just been given a gag order by the BCCI not to speak out on the IPL. But he certainly let the cat out of the bag when he stated that the standard in the IPL--after all a domestic tournament--is way below international standard.
The proof of the pudding as the saying goes is in the eating. How else can one account for India with all its players coming straight out of the IPL failing to reach the semifinals, while Pakistan who did not have a single representative emerging as champions?
The terrorist attacks on Pakistan soil meant no one was willing to visit that nation for a sporting event.
Shunned by the sporting world and having their hosts rights stripped for the 2011 World Cup, Pakistan’s players have given a stinging rejoinder and silenced their critics with a stunning display.
The mood in Pakistan is understandably buoyant and Sunday’s victory will perhaps act a morale booster for a nation under siege.

Lanka are Favourites

20/6/09
By Gulu Ezekiel

Barring a major surprise, there seems little doubt that Sri Lanka will emerge champions after Sunday’s final of the World Cup T-20 championship.
Pakistan’s road to the final has seen its ups and downs. But the Lankans are the only team to remain unbeaten till now.
They were placed with Australia and the West Indies in Group C, the so-called ‘group of death’ in the first stage and came through on top.
In the Super 8 stage they comfortably beat New Zealand, Ireland and Pakistan. And their victory over the West Indies at the Oval in Friday’s semifinal was a stroll in the park. That makes it six wins on the trot, a tough feat in 20/20 cricket.
The win over Pakistan by 19 runs at Lord’s last week in the second stage will give them tremendous confidence going into Sunday’s final.
In Tillakaratne Dilshan they have the highest run scorer in the tournament by far and a batman capable of the most eye-popping shots. His dazzling innings 96 not out saw him fall just four runs short of becoming only the second batsman to reach a century in T-20 Internationals.
Till now their bowling attack was the most feared in the tournament due to the ‘Three M’s’—Malinga, Murali and Mendis.
Add to that a fourth, Angelo Mathews who sealed the match on Friday with three wickets in the opening over.
Pakistan’s unpredictability is what makes them so daunting and Lanka know they have a fight on their hands on Sunday.
Shahif Afridi is a one-man demolition job, much like Sanath Jayasuriya. What in the world went wrong with the left-hander on Friday though will remain one of cricket’s big mysteries.
Finally, the all-Asia final will resolve once and for all whether the IPL helped or hindered preparations.
Pakistan, remember had no representation at all in South Africa while there were a whole bunch of Lankans taking part.

Kirsten Bells the Cat

16/6/09

By Gulu Ezekiel

The BCCI is acting true to form in attacking coach Gary Kirsten for his frank and unbiased comments on the IPL affecting the Indian team at the T-20 World Cup.
Kirsten is in the best position to know the mental and physical condition of his players and is neither on the payrolls of the IPL nor does he have an axe to grind. His salary after all comes from the BCCI.
If is pretty courageous, some would say foolhardy, of Kirsten therefore to come out with this statement which has blown the lid off the BCCI’s money obsession.
The way the IPL mouthpieces have reacted is predictable as their bread and better depends on the successful running of this domestic corporate-based cricket circus.
The IPL has thus become both a cash cow and a sacred cow as well and any hint of criticism by unbiased observes is immediately pounced upon by officials, ex-players and sadly, many in the media too who are covertly or overtly involved with this money-minting machine.
Hopefully there will be some internal soul searching among the more level-headed officials who would have the common sense to understand that the schedule of the IPL is far too long and taxing for the players.
For some unknown reason, the ICC has scheduled the next World Cup just nine months from now and a similar situation is bound to crop up again.
Kirsten though must be pretty naïve if he thinks that any Indian cricketer will actually ponder the idea of missing the IPL in order to be fit for national duty. Besides, the corporate honchos who pull the strings for their franchises will not tolerate this notion. For them, their company’s image is more important than the nation’s and so after over 130 years of country v. country cricket, we have finally seen a tectonic shift in the loyalties of our players.
It is a sad day but with the BCCI’s priority being simply to line their already stuffed pockets, this scenario was just waiting to happen.

IPL Mouthpieces Cornered

By Gulu Ezekiel

All those paid IPL mouthpieces, both overt and covert, will have a lot to answer for now that defending champions India have been knocked out of the World T-20.
Having been bombarded with propaganda for the last few weeks that India is the best placed team in the tournament as all its players took part in the IPL, one wonders what that bunch will come up with now.
It should be pretty obvious to any impartial observer that the Indian players are carrying and covering injuries as they are playing far too much cricket.
The players had been complaining of burnout pre-IPL as well. But since the first season last year and last month’s edition, the load has increased enormously.
You will never hear a professional cricketer to voice his opinion of overload during the IPL as they are paid well to not only pay but also to keep their mouths shut.
Hardly had the tour of New Zealand finished, when it was time for the IPL this year. And right after that came the World championships.
The sordid saga of Virender Sehwag has already been discussed ad nauseum and Zaheer Khan also said he was lucky to escape with a minor injury after injuring his shoulder in the IPL.
MS Dhoni has been nursing bruised hands for some time now and this showed in England where both his keeping and batting were sub-par.
Since the priority has now switched from international cricket to corporate cricket, we can expect more such injuries and further debacles from the national side.
After all, all the money in the world cannot buy you a successful team as the BCCI has finally discovered.
Coming back to the World Cup, South Africa now appear to be the favourites. If they do lift the cup at Lord’s next week it will be their first major title at the world level since the Wills International Cup tournament at Dhaka in 1998.

Captain Cool Feels the Heat

By Gulu Ezekiel

Two years in the job and the pressures appear to have got to captain MS Dhoni.
It was Sunil Gavaskar who thought up the nickname of ‘Captain Cool’ for Dhoni after watching him guide India to victory in his maiden assignment in the inaugural World Cup 20/20 in South Africa in 2007. And I chose that title for my biography of Dhoni that was released late last year.
But being captain of the Indian cricket team has brought even more stress on the incumbent than ever before with three formats of the game to contend with at the international level.
Added to that are the unique stress levels associated with the IPL where Dhoni captains Chennai Super Kings and one can well understand the burdens he has to carry. Being the wicket-keeper and a leading batsman to boot only makes the task more difficult.
From the time he took charge of the team, Dhoni has always endeared himself to the media with his insouciant airs and tongue in cheek answers.
All that has changed this time around and the way he batted in India’s opening Super 8 match against the West Indies at Lord’s on Friday, it looked like he had taken the cares of the world upon his sturdy shoulders.
Dhoni tried to patch things up with the press and admitted he had changed over the last two years. But the BCCI left the captain holding the baby in the mess over Virender Sehwag’s fitness and it will take a mighty effort now to get his relationship with the media back on an even keel.
This is where the media manager must step in and take some off the heat off the captain. But the Board appears to think that a professional to handle such matters is quite unnecessary. And so it bungles on.
If the defending champions fail to progress from here, Dhoni will cop the blame. That would be a crying shame.

India in Tough Group

By Gulu Ezekiel

Having been placed in the weakest team by rights as defending champions, India now find themselves in the tougher of the two Super 8 groups with their first match against the West Indies on Friday.
The Indians have been clinical without being spectacular in easing past Bangladesh and Ireland in the prelims. But they will face a stern test in taking on the Caribbeans, hosts England and formidable South Africa.
West Indies dealt one of the biggest blow of the tournament when they crushed Australia in their opening match thanks to a spectacular innings by captain Chris Gayle.
Gayle was missing with a leg injury in Wednesday’s lacklustre display against Sri Lanka. But he appears to have recovered and should be fit for Friday’s clash. As one of the most destructive 20/20 batsmen in the world, his side can take on the best if he fires in his opener’s role.
England bounced back in style after their shock defeat at the hands of the Netherlands in the tournament’s opening game. They were in top form while outclassing Pakistan at the Oval and look to be warming up to the challenge in front of their home supporters.
South Africa appeared to be India’s toughest challenge going into the tournament and recorded the biggest win of the tournament in crushing Scotland. It was much closer against New Zealand and the match against India next week could well be the highlight of the tournament.
Both sides had plenty of players in the IPL and going by the form book, could well be facing each other in the final at Lord’s.
Rohit Sharma’s sparkling form as opener means Virender Sehwag’s absence is hardly being felt. Understandably low key in their opening two games, the Indians will now have to step up a gear to make it to the semifinals. On present form that appears to be a given.

Concentrate on Cricket

By Gulu Ezekiel

One hopes Dhoni and his merry men can put the Sehwag brouhaha behind them and concentrate on the battles ahead in the World Cup Super 8 stage which begins on Friday.
Having brushed aside the feeble challenge of both Bangladesh and Ireland in the group stage, the defending champions will certainly have much sterner tests ahead of them. They are grouped with West Indies, England and South Africa all three of whom have looked to be peaking at the right time.
The IPL and its backers have being working overtime to cover up the origins of Sehwag’s injury suffered in the course of the semifinals for Delhi Daredevils against Deccan Chargers.
While Delhi manager TA Sekhar claimed it did not occur during the IPL, Sehwag himself went and spilled the beans when he admitted he had injured his shoulder while fielding in that match.
This was backed up by team coach Gary Kirsten and now that it has come out of the horse’s mouth, any further cover up attempt will be futile.
The captain has been put in the invidious position of trying to justify Sehwag’s inclusion while at the same time fighting off rumours of a rift with his vice-captain.
It is astonishing that a billion dollar outfit like the BCCI is incapable of carrying out routine medical tests on the team before their departure. Surely an MRI would have revealed the tear in Sehwag’s shoulder and all this unnecessary mud-slinging between the players and the media could have been avoided. In the end the captain has been left carrying the can for the Board’s blundering ways.
But then when it comes to Indian cricket it has long been known that loads of money does not translate into professionalism and good sense or for that matter, good taste either.
Just take a look at the vulgarity of the IPL trophy and you will know what I mean!

BCCI Bungles Again

By Gulu Ezekiel

The BCCI needs to get its priorities right. Is it planning to start a second IPL season (along with the Champions League) or is it in the business of nurturing and building up the national squad for international cricket?
It is currently caught between two stools and the fall-out is the messy Virender Sehwag affair.
It is a pity that captain MS Dhoni has been left holding the baby while the BCCI had no business allowing a half-fit player to travel with the team, leading to all sorts of rumours.
But it should be pretty obvious by now that players are picking up injuries during the IPL or playing in the league while half-fit in order to fulfill contractual obligations to their employees—which in the case of the IPL is not the BCCI but corporate houses.
This has been the case both with Sehwag and also Zaheer Khan who played in India’s opening match against Bangladesh despite not being fully fit.
Things are even direr for England with Kevin Pietersen carrying on till the Ashes with pain killing injections while there is a cloud over Andrew Flintoff’s condition.
Last year Sachin Tendulkar came into the IPL only after the first half was over while nursing a groin strain. This forced him to pull out of two ODI tournaments right after the IPL had ended as he obviously aggravated the injury while on the payroll of his corporate franchise side, the Mumbai Indians.
Since the IPL is apparently a force of nature, the only way out would be to shorten the format into a two-group league-cum-knockout, reducing the schedule from the currently ridiculous six weeks to three or four.
That of course is unlikely to happen. After all, the longer the tournament, the more the viewers and that is where the real money lies.
International cricket, RIP!

Australia Lose the Plot

By Gulu Ezekiel

Australians just do not seem to grasp the idea of 20/20 cricket—at least when they are representing their country at the international level.
In the 2007 they somehow limped to the World Cup semifinals where they were trounced by India. This despite losing two of their earlier games, including to Zimbabwe.
This time they have failed to progress to the second stage from admittedly the ‘group of death’, losing both to the West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Ironically it has been the Australians who dominated both season I and II of the IPL.
In 2008 it was Shane Warne who led unfancied Rajasthan Royals to victory while Adam Gilchrist followed up with the equally unfancied Deccan Chargers this year.
In 2008 it was all-rounder Shane Watson who emerged as the Most Valuable Player while Gilchrist picked up the award last month. And while Shaun Marsh was the highest run scorer in 2008, Matthew Hayden finished on top in 2009.
Australia must surely have missed the dynamic skills of Andrew Symonds who was sent packing for hitting the bottle once too often. Also, it could well be that captain Ricky Ponting was too focused on the more prestigious Ashes series ahead.
In fact it is this habit of not quite taking the newest format of the game too seriously that appears to hamper the Aussies.
This is certainly not the case with the IPL where the huge monetary rewards on offer apparently bring out the best in many players.
Australia are unique in that they were one of the two nations in the very first Test match (against England at Melbourne in 1877), the first ODI (also against England at Melbourne in 1971) and the first T-20 International, against New Zealand at Auckland in 2005.
That first match was treated as a bit of joke by both sides. But with 20/20 now overtaking 50-overs ODIs in terms of popularity, it is time perhaps for the ODI and Test world champions to give it a fresh look.

Minnows Make their Mark

By Gulu Ezekiel

The term ‘minnows’ (dictionary meaning, a small fish) is commonly used to describe the teams in the 20/20 World Cup that do not enjoy full international status and had to qualify for the tournament.
This time around they consist of Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands. Bangladesh too often get clubbed into this group since they have been under performing since being granted full Test match status back in 2000. Zimbabwe also fall into Bangladesh’s category but are missing in England due to political reasons.
Well, the Netherlands shock defeat of England on the opening day on Friday was certainly one of the biggest achievements of the small fish over the bigger variety—kind of like a gold fish crushing a piranha!
But it was not the first and certainly not the last and it is this shortest variety of cricket that leads to the biggest upsets.
In the inaugural 2007 World Cup it was Zimbabwe that put it past Australia and Bangladesh that stunned the West Indies.
The first big upset on the world stage was when Sri Lanka upset India in the second World Cup in England in 1979 when ODIs were played over 60 overs.
That fast tracked the Lankans to full Test status which they gained two years later and just four editions of the World Cup later, they were crowned world champions, a remarkable success story.
Kenya’s defeat of twice world champions West Indies in Pune in 1996 is still remembered as the biggest shock of them all while Zimbabwe claimed the prized scalps of Australia in 1983 and England in 1992. Bangladesh had a dream tournament in 2007 when they first shocked India and then South Africa. And Ireland eliminated Pakistan.
There may not be many more shocks in the tournament, but the Dutch have certainly created headlines around the world by beating the inventors of cricket at the (former) home of cricket.

Fielding Flops

By Gulu Ezekiel

The biggest impact One-day cricket had on traditional cricket was to raise the all round standard of fielding.
Surprisingly though that raising of the bar does not appear to have crossed over to 20/20 cricket judging by recent evidence.
The second season of the IPL in South Africa saw the worst catching performance in an international tournament in years.
Many theories were put forward for the spate of dropped sitters, ranging from the intensely cold weather to the unusual natural lighting conditions prevalent in South Africa at the time.
It all culminated in the world record holder for most catches in Test cricket, Rahul Dravid flubbing a catch in the final that he would have taken with ease nine times out of ten.
The ongoing T-20 World Cup is only two days old at the time of writing. But the four matches so far have shown us some of the worst ground fielding in living memory.

The abysmal display by hosts England in their opener against the Netherlands was summed up by that horror of a final over by Stuart Broad.
The spearhead of the English bowling attack messed up three run out chances, including from the final ball of the match and also dropped an easy catch off his own bowling. It would have been hilarious if it had not been so pathetic.
Though the West Indies did well to beat Australia in their opening match, their fielding left much to be desired. Expert commentator Ian Chappell, not one to mince his words and one of the world’s greatest slip fielders in his day, could barely conceal his contempt as the Windies made a complete hash of things in the field.
It was no better when Bangladesh took on India. The Bangla fielders time and again missed the stumps and the wicket keeping was a disaster too. And who could believe Yuvraj Singh would floor the simplest of catches? That too just minutes after taking a blinder.

It's deja vu all over again

By Gulu Ezekiel

A wretched opening ceremony, plenty of rain and a possible early exit for the hosts.
The World T-20 is beginning to give déjà vu to cricket fans around the world.
Exactly 10 years back when England last hosted a World Cup (50 overs that time), it was precisely this scenario that unfolded.
The Netherlands defeating the inventors of cricket at (the former) home of cricket though really takes the cake!
Another familiar World Cup scenario is a little masala thrown into the mix in relation to the Indian squad.
Back in 1999 there were calls for captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s head midway through the tournament when it looked like India would fail to make the second stage. They finally did but it all fizzled out after that.
Then four years later in South Africa, a poor performance against the Dutch and defeat at the hands of Australia in the group matches and once again the Indian public were baying for blood.
In 2003 the fans were encouraged by some loudmouthed former cricketers now masquerading as expert commentators who really should have known better than to whip up passions.
Eventually the public backlash worked wonders. The Indians made it all the way to final for the first time since 1983, before being routed by Australia.
This time around it was one mischievous report in a newspaper that is known to float rumours that stirred things up within the team.
I always shudder when I see a question mark against a headline that too on the front page and this time was no different.
Captain MS Dhoni has done well to tell it like it is and give a piece of his mind to the media. Hopefully, this too will motivate his boys to show what they are worth.
On the other hand, India’s opening match on Saturday night is against Bangladesh.
Remember the 2007 World Cup. Let’s hope it’s not déjà vu for Indian fans this time!

20/20 Is a Lottery

By Gulu Ezekiel

The very nature of 20/20 cricket means it is always a challenge to pick a pre-tournament favourite.
The IPL proved that if proof at all were needed when the bottom two teams of 2008 competed in the final and last year’s basement team Deccan Chargers clinched the title.
However international 20/20 cricket is somewhat more predictable as national teams have players with well-known track records unlike franchise-based club sides who have so many unknown faces.
The 2007inaugural World Cup tournament in South Africa certainly saw a shock winner as India had played just one season of domestic 20/20 and a single T-20 International by that stage.
How times have changed. Now India must start as the favourites considering the entire team is fresh from the second IPL season. And the thrashing of Pakistan at the Oval on Wednesday must have done their morale no end of good.
Pakistan lost in that dramatic final two years ago in Johannesburg. But with all their players excluded this team from the IPL, they have a raw and untested look about them.
Australia also made it to the semifinals in 2007 despite their shock defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe who will be missing from this year’s edition.
However, the sending home of Andrew Symonds for yet another disciplinary infringement will see them without their star all-rounder who had a brilliant IPL season. And it must surely hit the morale of their camp hard to lose such a vital player on the eve of the tournament.
England too have plenty of 20/20 experience and they must fancy their chances this time around as the hosts.
For those who prefer their cricket—whatever the format—played by national sides rather than the corporate variety, the World Cup promises plenty of action over the next two weeks.

How 20/20 Grew

3/6/09
By Gulu Ezekiel

A remarkable fact of recent cricket history is the part India has played in the growth of first ODIs and then the 20/20 version of the game.
Back in 1983 no one gave India a ghost of a chance in the third edition of the Prudential World Cup in England. The players had precious little experience of limited overs cricket having played just a handful for their country. And in the previous two cups they had just one win to their credit—against East Africa.
Test cricket was pretty robust in India despite the dire home series against England in 1981-82 which the hosts won 1-0 with four drawn. The first ODI series on Indian soil was staged during that same tour.
How Kapil Dev’s side turned the cricket world upside down by beating twice-champions West Indies in the final at Lord’s has been recounted countless times.
It led to a cricket revolution with the BCCI snatching hosting rights for the 1987 cup out of the grasping hands of the English authorities.
The explosion in 50-overs cricket was powered by India and Pakistan with Sharjah leading the way. It looked like ODIs would swamp Test cricket, but the traditional form of the game held its own.
Then two years ago the Indian board was dragged kicking and screaming to the inaugural World Cup 20/20 in South Africa. The BCCI opposed the format as it felt it would take the sheen away from ODIs.
This time it was the turn of MS Dhoni and his boys to stun one and all by beating Pakistan in the final at Johannesburg.
Out of that triumph came first the ‘rebel’ ICL and then the Indian Premier League which threatens to change the face of world cricket forever after just two seasons.
And all because of two massive upsets. Who would have guessed, India dubbed the ‘dull dogs’ of cricket till the 70s would usher in instant cricket’s revolution?

IPL and its Consequences

Published in Sportstar, 19 April 2008

By Gulu Ezekiel

The French have a phrase ‘plus ca change…’ which roughly translated means ‘the more things change, the more they remain the same.’
The French are not big cricket buffs, but the phrase keeps cropping up in my mind whenever cricket hits a new crisis or controversy.
Controversy there has been plenty already. But crisis?
To explain, one must go back over 250 years to the very beginnings of organised cricket.
Coloured clothing? The first professional teams riding horseback and by stagecoach through the length and breadth of England from the mid-18th to early 19th centuries wore coloured shirts to help identify their clubs.
Those professionals would receive challenges from clubs and villages around England and would be paid handsomely for their skills. There were thus plenty of historical precursors to Kerry Packer and his traveling circus of pros including William Clarke (of the 1840s) and Thomas Lord (the founder of Lord’s cricket ground) a century earlier.
The first recorded match in which prize money (10 Pounds Sterling) was on offer was played in 1700. Just 50 years later the first and most famous professional cricket club was formed at Hambledon, Hampshire (referred to as ‘the cradle of cricket’).
By the 1830s the railways were opening up new avenues and trains began to replace the horseback pro, leading to the wider spread of cricket.
Bookies and match-fixing? You better believe it. Cricket faced its first major crisis when the cover was blown on these professional cricketers indulging in widespread betting and fixing as well as violence and rampant alcoholism.
This was when the amateurs emerging from the elite schools of England such as Eton and Harrow and colleges like Oxford and Cambridge took control of the game and began establishing the county championship in the 1850s, though 1873 is generally regarded as the first year of the championship. This brought to an end the era of the traveling professional circus.
The Marleybone Cricket Club (MCC) was established as the guardian of the game and it’s rules and spirit with Lord’s as its headquarters.
The division between amateurs (known as ‘gentlemen’) and professionals (aka ‘players’) remained in English cricket till it was formally abolished after the 1963 season.
There are uncanny resemblances between those horseback professionals of 250-plus years ago and the modern day cricketer. And a conflict is brewing as more and more super-rich businessmen with giant egos and fortunes to match crop up to up the ante and attract the top players to their fold.
Thus more than a century after the establishment of the county championship in England spelled the end of the traveling professional, history is about to be neatly reversed.
The first of these cricket-oriented businessmen in the modern era was of course Packer and his two-year World Series Cricket that was launched in Australia in the 1977-78 season (and wound up a season later) and was the biggest force for change in cricket in the 20th century.
Since then the late Packer has had clones springing up all over the cricket world.
Sheikh Abdul Rahman Bukhatir was the first to follow in Packer’s footsteps. He launched cricket in the Sharjah desert with exhibition matches between India and Pakistan in 1981.
Two years later, having learned an expensive lesson at the hands of the Australian media tycoon who sued and won, the respective national bodies decided to co-operate with Bukhatir and his right-hand man, former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal and the Cricketers’ Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) was born.
The matches received official sanction and the tournaments were a huge success whenever India and Pakistan faced off.
But the emergence of the crime underworld attracted the attention of the Indian government and once the Indian board withdrew their team in 2000, the curtains came down on the show.
There is now the spectre of the betting mafia once again descending on world cricket. 20/20 cricket is an ideal format for illegal betting (and its evil off-shoot, match-fixing) and herein lies the danger of this new format and its many avatars.
The IPL was launched by the BCCI to counter the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the brainchild of Essel chairman Subhash Chandra who like Packer 30 years earlier was thwarted in his bid to get the exclusive cricket telecast rights for his own Zee TV network.
The sporting world was stunned by the auction of nearly 80 international cricketers in Mumbai with the fat cats of Indian business combining with Bollywood’s glamour boys and girls. The eight franchise teams floated by the IPL had earlier attracted massive price tags and now it was the cricketers who for the first time found themselves on the auction block.
It was India’s ODI and 20/20 captain MS Dhoni who attracted the biggest price tag of $1.5 million followed closely by Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds.
But just as Bukhatir offered more riches than Packer and the IPL has gone one up on the ICL in the financial stakes, now comes the news that the IPL too is being put in the shade by Texas oil billionaire Sir Allen Stanford.
Stanford has made Antigua his home and has completed a stunningly successful second year of his Stanford 20/20 tournament involving 20 island nations of the Caribbean (Cuba will join next year), all playing at his own Stanford cricket ground in Antigua. This is the home of Sir Viv Richards who heads his ‘legends’ band of consultants made up of the greatest living cricketers from the West Indies.
Initially opposed to this private cricket event, the West Indies Cricket Board had no option but to dance to Stanford’s tune considering they are one of the most impoverished cricket boards in the world.
In 2006 Stanford offered $5 million for a one-off match between South Africa and his West Indies ‘All Stars’, the cream of the crop chosen from his own tournament. That never came off due to official opposition from both boards.
Last year after India won the inaugural T-20 World Cup in South Africa, Stanford upped the stakes, this time putting up $10 million for a match between the world champs and the West Indies.
The response? “They [the BCCI] said, 'no, we don't want to do that because it would be endorsing a privately funded programme,’" according to Stanford. “And look what they've done. They've set up their own privately funded programme. This is all about business, and it's big time business.”
He calls those who have signed up with the IPL as “mercenaries” which is a bit hard to swallow.
Clearly miffed, Stanford has now doubled the prize money and Australia have been invited. “$20 million for 20/20 cricket” he is calling it and who can resist? Certainly not the cricketers.
Yes, believe it or not, a winner-takes-it-all one-off match between the West Indies and Australia for $20 million!
Suddenly Dhoni’s price tag for the one IPL season is beginning to look like peanuts. Imagine being in a position to earn that kind of money for a game lasting barely three hours.
So what is to stop some other billionaire from some other part of the world doubling that amount? Say for argument’s sake, the Sultan of Brunei who has a passion for cricket and once employed Sir Viv to personally coach his son?
"Maybe another millionaire will come in with a different competition. Hopefully, it won't be too long," West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle (IPL price tag $800,000) was quoted after his side Jamaica lost in the final of the Stanford 20/20 to Trinidad.
So instead of riding on horseback to play in challenge matches around England as professional cricketers did 250 years ago, we may soon witness the spectacle of the modern-day pro flying around the globe from one private league to another to line his pockets.
The ICC will be just a mute spectator and probably killed off, as banning players will only bring in the restraint of trade law as Packer’s men did successfully 30 years ago.
It was respected Australian cricket author and journalist Gideon Haigh who wrote a few years back that it was the winner-takes-it-all concept of prize money first introduced in the modern era (it was the same in the 18th and 19th century) by Packer that laid the seeds for match-fixing in the last years of the 20th century.
If some of the captains of that time could sell their national pride for financial gain from illegal bookies, can one expect today’s cricketers to feel even a shred of loyalty while playing 20/20 matches, that too for franchises?
Further, the ICC has deemed the IPL a domestic event and will not be deploying its Anti-Corruption Unit (nor its drug-testing labs) at either the IPL or at Stanford’s events. And the ‘rebel’ ICL is beyond their purview.
Already the ICC and the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) have expressed grave concerns over the threat of match-fixing in these new leagues.
The conflict with the traditional Test and ODI calendar is already obvious while a spate of international cricketers have been announcing their retirements in order to concentrate on these lucrative leagues. National bodies around the cricket world are running for cover, unable to stanch the outflow of their players.
20/20 cricket it appears has opened a Pandora’s Box.

--Gulu Ezekiel is a freelance cricket journalist and author based in New Delhi.
















Published in Sportstar, 19 April 2008

By Gulu Ezekiel

The French have a phrase ‘plus ca change…’ which roughly translated means ‘the more things change, the more they remain the same.’
The French are not big cricket buffs, but the phrase keeps cropping up in my mind whenever cricket hits a new crisis or controversy.
Controversy there has been plenty already. But crisis?
To explain, one must go back over 250 years to the very beginnings of organised cricket.
Coloured clothing? The first professional teams riding horseback and by stagecoach through the length and breadth of England from the mid-18th to early 19th centuries wore coloured shirts to help identify their clubs.
Those professionals would receive challenges from clubs and villages around England and would be paid handsomely for their skills. There were thus plenty of historical precursors to Kerry Packer and his traveling circus of pros including William Clarke (of the 1840s) and Thomas Lord (the founder of Lord’s cricket ground) a century earlier.
The first recorded match in which prize money (10 Pounds Sterling) was on offer was played in 1700. Just 50 years later the first and most famous professional cricket club was formed at Hambledon, Hampshire (referred to as ‘the cradle of cricket’).
By the 1830s the railways were opening up new avenues and trains began to replace the horseback pro, leading to the wider spread of cricket.
Bookies and match-fixing? You better believe it. Cricket faced its first major crisis when the cover was blown on these professional cricketers indulging in widespread betting and fixing as well as violence and rampant alcoholism.
This was when the amateurs emerging from the elite schools of England such as Eton and Harrow and colleges like Oxford and Cambridge took control of the game and began establishing the county championship in the 1850s, though 1873 is generally regarded as the first year of the championship. This brought to an end the era of the traveling professional circus.
The Marleybone Cricket Club (MCC) was established as the guardian of the game and it’s rules and spirit with Lord’s as its headquarters.
The division between amateurs (known as ‘gentlemen’) and professionals (aka ‘players’) remained in English cricket till it was formally abolished after the 1963 season.
There are uncanny resemblances between those horseback professionals of 250-plus years ago and the modern day cricketer. And a conflict is brewing as more and more super-rich businessmen with giant egos and fortunes to match crop up to up the ante and attract the top players to their fold.
Thus more than a century after the establishment of the county championship in England spelled the end of the traveling professional, history is about to be neatly reversed.
The first of these cricket-oriented businessmen in the modern era was of course Packer and his two-year World Series Cricket that was launched in Australia in the 1977-78 season (and wound up a season later) and was the biggest force for change in cricket in the 20th century.
Since then the late Packer has had clones springing up all over the cricket world.
Sheikh Abdul Rahman Bukhatir was the first to follow in Packer’s footsteps. He launched cricket in the Sharjah desert with exhibition matches between India and Pakistan in 1981.
Two years later, having learned an expensive lesson at the hands of the Australian media tycoon who sued and won, the respective national bodies decided to co-operate with Bukhatir and his right-hand man, former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal and the Cricketers’ Benefit Fund Series (CBFS) was born.
The matches received official sanction and the tournaments were a huge success whenever India and Pakistan faced off.
But the emergence of the crime underworld attracted the attention of the Indian government and once the Indian board withdrew their team in 2000, the curtains came down on the show.
There is now the spectre of the betting mafia once again descending on world cricket. 20/20 cricket is an ideal format for illegal betting (and its evil off-shoot, match-fixing) and herein lies the danger of this new format and its many avatars.
The IPL was launched by the BCCI to counter the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the brainchild of Essel chairman Subhash Chandra who like Packer 30 years earlier was thwarted in his bid to get the exclusive cricket telecast rights for his own Zee TV network.
The sporting world was stunned by the auction of nearly 80 international cricketers in Mumbai with the fat cats of Indian business combining with Bollywood’s glamour boys and girls. The eight franchise teams floated by the IPL had earlier attracted massive price tags and now it was the cricketers who for the first time found themselves on the auction block.
It was India’s ODI and 20/20 captain MS Dhoni who attracted the biggest price tag of $1.5 million followed closely by Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds.
But just as Bukhatir offered more riches than Packer and the IPL has gone one up on the ICL in the financial stakes, now comes the news that the IPL too is being put in the shade by Texas oil billionaire Sir Allen Stanford.
Stanford has made Antigua his home and has completed a stunningly successful second year of his Stanford 20/20 tournament involving 20 island nations of the Caribbean (Cuba will join next year), all playing at his own Stanford cricket ground in Antigua. This is the home of Sir Viv Richards who heads his ‘legends’ band of consultants made up of the greatest living cricketers from the West Indies.
Initially opposed to this private cricket event, the West Indies Cricket Board had no option but to dance to Stanford’s tune considering they are one of the most impoverished cricket boards in the world.
In 2006 Stanford offered $5 million for a one-off match between South Africa and his West Indies ‘All Stars’, the cream of the crop chosen from his own tournament. That never came off due to official opposition from both boards.
Last year after India won the inaugural T-20 World Cup in South Africa, Stanford upped the stakes, this time putting up $10 million for a match between the world champs and the West Indies.
The response? “They [the BCCI] said, 'no, we don't want to do that because it would be endorsing a privately funded programme,’" according to Stanford. “And look what they've done. They've set up their own privately funded programme. This is all about business, and it's big time business.”
He calls those who have signed up with the IPL as “mercenaries” which is a bit hard to swallow.
Clearly miffed, Stanford has now doubled the prize money and Australia have been invited. “$20 million for 20/20 cricket” he is calling it and who can resist? Certainly not the cricketers.
Yes, believe it or not, a winner-takes-it-all one-off match between the West Indies and Australia for $20 million!
Suddenly Dhoni’s price tag for the one IPL season is beginning to look like peanuts. Imagine being in a position to earn that kind of money for a game lasting barely three hours.
So what is to stop some other billionaire from some other part of the world doubling that amount? Say for argument’s sake, the Sultan of Brunei who has a passion for cricket and once employed Sir Viv to personally coach his son?
"Maybe another millionaire will come in with a different competition. Hopefully, it won't be too long," West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle (IPL price tag $800,000) was quoted after his side Jamaica lost in the final of the Stanford 20/20 to Trinidad.
So instead of riding on horseback to play in challenge matches around England as professional cricketers did 250 years ago, we may soon witness the spectacle of the modern-day pro flying around the globe from one private league to another to line his pockets.
The ICC will be just a mute spectator and probably killed off, as banning players will only bring in the restraint of trade law as Packer’s men did successfully 30 years ago.
It was respected Australian cricket author and journalist Gideon Haigh who wrote a few years back that it was the winner-takes-it-all concept of prize money first introduced in the modern era (it was the same in the 18th and 19th century) by Packer that laid the seeds for match-fixing in the last years of the 20th century.
If some of the captains of that time could sell their national pride for financial gain from illegal bookies, can one expect today’s cricketers to feel even a shred of loyalty while playing 20/20 matches, that too for franchises?
Further, the ICC has deemed the IPL a domestic event and will not be deploying its Anti-Corruption Unit (nor its drug-testing labs) at either the IPL or at Stanford’s events. And the ‘rebel’ ICL is beyond their purview.
Already the ICC and the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) have expressed grave concerns over the threat of match-fixing in these new leagues.
The conflict with the traditional Test and ODI calendar is already obvious while a spate of international cricketers have been announcing their retirements in order to concentrate on these lucrative leagues. National bodies around the cricket world are running for cover, unable to stanch the outflow of their players.
20/20 cricket it appears has opened a Pandora’s Box.

Topsy-turvy IPL

By Gulu Ezekiel

The only predictable aspect of the IPL and indeed of 20/20 cricket is its unpredictability.
If it was rank outsiders Rajasthan Royals who were the victors last year, this time around the two sides that finished last and second last in 2008 are in the final!
Surely at the start of the tournament it would have been a brave man who would have put his money on either Royal Challengers Bangalore or Deccan Chargers to make it this far.
Bangalore were condemned as a Test side last year. This time around the only two new players in their ranks have been the Kiwi Ross Taylor and teen sensation Manish Pandey who the team management discovered almost too late.
The shift of the tournament outside India could have been a factor in their success as well as their coach Ray Jennings is from South Africa as are several of the players.
Then again, that was the case with the Mumbai Indians as well; yet, they were one of the flops of the tournament.
Really the key has been Anil Kumble’s captaincy. Like Shane Warne last year with Rajasthan, here was another veteran leg spinner recently retired from international cricket.
The comparison ends there of course as you could not find two more dissimilar characters.
Once their prima donna captain Kevin Pietersen returned to India, things turned around dramatically for Bangalore as they won seven of their last nine matches in the league stage under Kumble’s captaincy.
Deccan have been the biggest revelation this time around and they too have not made many personnel changes from 2008. It was VVS Laxman who led initially last year before a combination of injury and unsuitability to this format saw him sit it out and Adam Gilchrist take over the reigns.
Both Kumble and Gilchrist have led from the front and by example. No side starts as favourite for Sunday’s final. It is thoroughly open and could go either way.

www.sportshero.com (24/5/09)

Charging Ahead

By Gulu Ezekiel

Ten days back in my blog I wrote how another Australian captain could well be holding up the IPL Trophy at the end of final on Sunday following the triumph of Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural season.
That captain is Adam Gilchrist of the Deccan Chargers and he is now one win away from the prediction.
Standing in Gilchrist’s way are the two other teams from the South, Chennai Super Kings led by India captain MS Dhoni and the Bangalore Royal Challengers captained by his predecessor, Anil Kumble. So what that ensures is that Sunday’s final is going to be an all South clash.
If Bangalore due beat Chennai on Saturday, then the amazing turnaround will be complete.
Rajasthan after all were the champions last year while Deccan finished last and Bangalore second last.
Gilchrist showed during his international career spanning a decade that when he was in form, few batsmen in history could come anywhere near his murderous strokeplay. He demonstrated that in full measure in the semifinal against Delhi Daredevils on Friday and if he can carry that form into the final, it will be a one-horse race.
Indeed the batting on display on Thursday and Friday spanned the generations in the IPL.
On Thursday Manish Pandey from Bangalore became the first Indian to score a century in the IPL. At 19 he is just about young enough to be Gilchrist’s son! So 20/20 cricket is not about age, but more about audacity after all.
Delhi managed to reach so far despite their top two batsmen of 2008, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir failing. And despite benching Glenn McGrath for the entire tournament.
McGrath is 39 and retired from international cricket. But he had the best economy rate among Delhi’s bowlers last year and has now indicated he may not return for the next edition.
No wonder Delhi’s coach Greg Shippard has joined the chorus, demanding the IPL raise the number of foreigners in the playing XI from four to five!

www.sportshero.com (23/5/09)

Goodbye to Glamour

By Gulu Ezekiel

The semifinal lineup of IPL II sends across an unmistakable message—glamour and money do not win you cricket matches.
It is no coincidence that three of the four teams who have been dumped by the wayside are those with a ‘Bollywood’ angle while the fourth, Mumbai Indians, are the most expensive franchise in the league.
The biggest flop show of this year’s event has been Kolkata Knight Riders who finished dead last. Enough has been written about the bungling manner in which the team was handled even before the IPL began. And for this co-owner Shah Rukh Khan must take a major share of the responsibility since he has the final say in all team matters.
Preity Zinta may not have so much clout with her Punjab XI Kings. But Zinta’s breakup with beau Ness Wadia—who bought the franchise for her last year as an expensive gift—must surely have had repercussions through the team.
Planting herself in the players’ dugout—from where Khan was banned last year by an ICC anti-corruption official—did not do her team any favours. All that dancing, prancing, pouting and gesticulating was surely a distraction for the players who have always resented the presence of anyone except the team members and support staff being in close proximity.
The same goes for Mumbai’s owner Nita Ambani, though at least she maintained a respectable silence, unlike the irritatingly animated Zinta.
The Rajasthan Royals were the rank outsiders last year and they came from nowhere to win the title. As is characteristic with the film world, that led to their jumping on the bandwagon. One hopes for their sakes that Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra do not do a Preity-Ness after this year’s team flop.
It must be nice to be a glamorous film star and have filthy rich boyfriends buy up cricket teams for your personal aggrandizement. But now at least the film world should realize that sports does not follow a script. And while glamour may attract media attention, it only takes away from the game.

www.sportshero.com (22/5/09)

Down to the Wire

By Gulu Ezekiel

It is down to the wire in the IPL with three of the four final league games over the next two days shaping up as do-or-die encounters.
Delhi Daredevils, despite their loss on Tuesday to Royal Challengers Bangalore, are the only side assured of a place in the semi-finals and their match against Mumbai Indians on Thursday will be a formality for both sides.
Mumbai and Kolkata Knight Riders are both out of it. The other five sides will be fighting it out for the last three semis slots.
KKR though played the spoiler role to a nicety when they stunned Chennai Super Kings on Monday. It was KKR’s only authentic victory of the tournament since their previous one had come via Duckworth/Lewis method against Kings XI Punjab in a rain shortened match.
Chennai looked to be on a roll and winning on Monday would have ensured they joined Delhi in the semis as had occurred last year. Now the pressure is on both sides when they take on Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday. It will be a fascinating match-up between the leadership skills of India captain MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh who has suddenly discovered his skills as a bowler.
It will be the Rajasthan Royals camp however that will be suffering the most jitters over the next 48 hours. The reigning champions have been having a pretty topsy-turvy time of it this time around and it is their negative Net Run-Rate which is their biggest worry. But they face KKR on Wednesday and on current form should easily win.
Deccan Chargers, who finished last in 2008 have been this year’s surprise package. Bangalore had last year ended up second last and now the two sides will also be fighting it out for that precious last four berth on Thursday. It should make for two days of fascinating cricket.

www.sportshero.com (20/5/09)

Divine Intervention?

By Gulu Ezekiel

Rajasthan Royals’ co-owner Shilpa Shetty is convinced “divine intervention” was behind her side’s narrow victory over Mumbai Indians in the IPL last week.
Writing in her blog, the actress claims she repeatedly saw the vision of her guru in front of her in the tense final moments and he re-assured her the Royals would win.
One does not wish to hurt anyone’s religious feelings, but the question that has been bothering me is: where was Shetty’s guru when the Royals were beaten by the Delhi Daredevils on Sunday and are now on the brink of elimination?
Does one assume if the reigning champions are eliminated before the semifinals that they have been abandoned by the aforementioned “divine intervention?”
And if they to scramble into the last four (and beyond) will no credit at all be given to the cricketers for their efforts?
Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta—coincidentally, also an actress—has been in the news of late for visiting Durban’s Hindu temples and collecting prasad to feed to her players before every game.
It is now a toss up between Shetty’s Royals and Zinta’s Kings as to who will book one of the desperately sought after semifinal slots. So if one makes it and the other does not, does that mean one team’s divine forces is stronger than the other’s?
As a non-believer all this praying, prasad-giving and guru-glimpsing strikes me as superstitious nonsense. Even if one concedes there is a greater force looking down on all of us, does He (or She) really have nothing better to do than decide the fate of a 20/20 cricket match, for Heaven’s sake (pun intended)?
The other day when the camera focused on a Mumbai Indian’s supporter praying in the stands, commentator Harsha Bhogle expressed his concern. “It always worries me when I see someone praying at a cricket match. Does it mean his god is stronger than the other team’s?”
Wonder how Zinta and Shetty would react to that!

www.sportshero.com (19/5/09)

True Confessions

By Gulu Ezekiel

With the IPL entering its final week, it appears the franchise captains are ready to unburden their inner thoughts.
The other day Delhi Daredevils’ Virender Sehwag admitted the IPL was tougher than international cricket as losing captains have to face the music from the franchise owners in case of a defeat.
Fortunately for Sehwag, Delhi have become the first side to book their place in the semifinals so he must not be facing too many dressing downs of late from the money bags.
Now Kings XI Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh has admitted that “the IPL brings out the worst in me.” He confesses to losing his temper on the field and while Preity Zinta’s hugs and smiles when her team wins are most welcome, surely Yuvraj and his boys are aware that “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
It is now Mumbai Indians’ captain Sachin Tendulkar to take the heat since his side faces a next-to-impossible task of reaching the last four.
Already his best buddy Harbhajan Singh has been whining in his column about the manner in which his bowling has been utilized. And the support staff are washing their hands off the constant chopping and changing in the batting order.
The talk is there is mutiny brewing in the MI ranks and Tendulkar is smack in the middle of it.
Last year after they were edged out of the semifinals, the former India captain is said to have blasted his young teammates back in the dressing room, leaving them in a state of shock.
Of course in India we are all painfully aware of that old saying: “Victory has many fathers; defeat is an orphan.” Just look at the alibis flying around in the defeated camp after the national election results became public! It has always been the same with Indian cricket as well.

www.sportshero.com (18/5/09)

Pressure Taking its Toll

By Gulu Ezekiel

Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag’s admission that there is more pressure in the IPL than in international cricket is an eye-opener.
Sehwag is always charmingly straight-forward and when he says a defeat in the IPL means meetings with the franchisee bosses “where you have to explain what went wrong” he disarmingly summed up what must irk the top Indian players the most in this new format of cricket.
Most Indian players bristle at criticisms in the media and from the public and feel they are only answerable at international level to the selectors and their coach who are usually top former international players themselves.
So when a Sachin Tendulkar has to face the music from an Ambani, a Yuvraj from a Preity Zinta and a Sourav Ganguly from the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, it certainly piles on the pressure.
Indeed one of the more memorable moments of the inaugural IPL season was a clearly chastised Kings XI Punjab captain Yuvraj studiously avoiding team owner Zinta as she glared at him following his dismissal in the semifinal against Chennai last year!
On the other hand you have the case of Chennai’s Matthew Hayden who is currently in brilliant form stating he feels much less pressure now that he has retired from national duty.
South African pace bowler Dale Steyn of Royal Challengers Bangalore got into hot water last year when he commented that the IPL was like a “paid holiday” and “you only had to work hard if you felt like it.”
Obviously it is the captains, icon players and the priciest picks who feel the heat the most as they are first in line to face up to the bosses in case the team flops.
Wonder what kind of pressures Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff had to face as this year’s highest paid players went from one flop to another!

www.sportshero.com (16/5/09)

Gayle Force

By Gulu Ezekiel

West Indies captain Chris Gayle was probably speaking out on behalf of the majority of today‘s international cricketers when he said he would not be bothered if Test cricket was to die out and that 20/20 cricket was the future.
After the drubbing in the first Test at Lord’s and Gayle’s own failure, team morale would have taken a plunge once the team got to know their captain’s heart was not in the series.
One can just picture cricketers around the world huddling around in groups over a drink and nodding their heads in agreement with his assessment.
Fans and TV viewers around the world have already shown their preference for 20/20 games and now that the players themselves have opened the Pandora’s Box, it seems Test cricket will die out within a few years.
A major portion of the blame for this lies at the doorstep of cricket’s blindingly inept administrators.
In India at least it is painfully obvious that the BCCI is no longer bothered with staging Test series with the IPL having emerged as their primary cash cows.
But England is one country where Test matches still attract full houses and it is the ECB’s poor planning which has brought about the current scenario.
They signed a deal with Sky TV for seven years from 2006 (pre-IPL) that they would stage seven Test matches during the summer. That means two nations touring every year.
Zimbabwe were originally slotted in for two Tests, only to be replaced by Sri Lanka. When their players rebelled due to their IPL contacts, they were replaced by a reluctant West Indies.
Gayle had to be dragged kicking and screaming from South Africa and landed in London just 48 hours before the start of the Lord’s Test. There could have only been one result after that.
Gayle has hinted he will soon quit Test cricket and there is sure to be an exodus of players following suit.
Why travel the year round playing strenuous international cricket when you can earn much, much more playing three hour games staged in one country?
It’s the money, honey!

www.sportshero.com (15/5/09)

IPL Should Beware

By Gulu Ezekiel

Cricket administrators, like Caesar’s wife, must always be above suspicion. But sadly some of the moves of the IPL have proved money cannot buy you common sense.
The match fixing scandal of the early 2000s still hangs over world cricket like a toxic cloud. And any hint of impropriety on the part of the organizers and the players must attract immediate attention.
It is astonishing then that the IPL could have come up with a scheme as suspicious as the sms prediction game.
Maybe the chances of this leading to corruption and match fixing are just “one in a million” as Lalit Modi said. But the fact that India’s sports minister had to come down harshly on the game with its gambling overtones is a harsh indictment of the money-before-all mentality of Modi and his minions.
That he has now had to eat humble pie and hurriedly withdraw the game after it was also condemned by former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar just goes to expose the commercial culture that pervades the IPL.
That is not all. It emerged recently that the IPL organizing committee decided not to utilize the services of the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) due to the cost of $1.5 million. One can only scratch one’s head in wonder at an organization that spends huge amounts on lavish parties, cheerleaders and other frills, yet balks at something that would preserve the integrity of their baby.
The reason behind this is quite obviously the brouhaha raised last year by KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan when he was advised by the ACU’s officer to stay clear of the team dugout.
It is the owners who call the tune in the IPL and this year they have had a free run to come and go as they please.
The players’ area has always been off limits to all but the team and support staff. But the IPL likes to see itself as a fresh breeze blowing away cricket’s hoary traditions. It may however end up paying a very high price for its vanity.

www.sportshero.com (14/5/09)