So finally IPL is moved out of India by greedy BCCI officials!  Now you decide whether it is the start of the death of cricket in India or the final nail in coffin by BCCI in the “Indian” cricket?

Since last few years, BCCI has always shown its “business” side than “cricket” side to the Indian public as well as the world. From making the players play tours all over the world without break to banning ICL and its related entities from cricket related activities, just shows how greedy BCCI has been in recent years and could go to any low point to ensure they continue filling up their pockets !

India have played more One day and Test matches in last two years than any other country and cricketers have, albeit in lower voices, have raised their concerns on the toll its taking on them. They have played more than 30 one day matches & more than 15 test matches in 2008 alone which way ahead of any other team in the world.

I think, BCCI’s intention of maximizing the cricket potential in India and milking money from every opportunity will soon start to have negative impact on India. Prime example of this being the once famous and eagerly awaited India Pakistan cricket series! Until few years ago, it used to be the most anticipated series in the world cricket. Since the current management of BCCI took over, there were more than 4-5 series played over a period of 2 years that really devaluated the excitement generated by these matches. They soon became routine cricket matches !

Behaviour of BCCI over the ICL issue was absolutely pathetic and really discouraging site for Indian cricket. OK, understood and agreed that BCCI is so called only “legal” body in India to govern the cricket at all professional levels but surely should not be empowered to stop anyone from playing on TV cameras until they are given permission ! In my opinion, this was absolutely unacceptable and discouraging site for Indian cricket. Why should ICL be banned when there are quite a few other tournaments played in India, domestically and sponsored by locals, but in the form of a gully cricket ! In fact we used to have a cricket tournament in our college where we invited all other colleges to play and was shown in the local TV ! Did BCCI think that we also should have taken their permission before playing cricket?

The IPL was started as the response of BCCI to ICL and yes, it was a huge cricket & commercial success in its first version. When it was started, it was advertised as a new era of cricket in “India” and “India” really embraced to the club cricket during IPL. The names of the teams were mostly based on the cities they represent and you had a feeling of belongingness to the team that was playing on behalf of your state, region.

How would you feel if “Mumbai Indians” plays home matches as Johannesburg and away matches at places like Durban, with no relation whatsoever to Mumbai and Mumbaikars? How would you associate yourself with a team that is playing with the name of your state / region but based 5000 miles away and you can not watch them? Would there be the fever of IPL that was witnessed almost in the entire nation during the first edition? Would it catch the same attention, generate excitement?

In my opinion, the answer is plain NO.

IPL should have stayed in India and understandably should have been played around the election schedule in India. For an average Indian, no way cricket is better or more important than the government and elections.  Elections must take priority and rightly so the Indian Government had asked IPL to reschedule the matches around the election schedule so as to avoid clashes.

The greed of IPL organizers (read BCCI) unfortunately prevailed over the common sense and thus all Indians will miss the buzz & excitement IPL that was present last year.

Now, I would not surprised if South Africa becomes India’s host country in next few years !

Tags: cricket, india, indian politics, IPL