MUMBAI: Finally a sane voice that offers a clear and unambiguous proposition on how the Indian Premier League should be delivered at a time when the country is confronting the worst health crisis in its independent history.
Lalit Modi, the “founder architect” of the IPL in 2008, while speaking to Mid-Day from London at the weekend, said the BCCI “could have done so much more. I don’t know who is stopping them. Every life matters, every Indian matters, this is a time for solidarity and coming together”.
Modi also excoriated India’s cricket super stars, telling the publication, “Let’s not forget that history will document how the Indian cricketers reacted when a calamity of this magnitude stared India in the face.”
Modi said he found it “quite shameful, very, very in fact” that the cricketers “had not come out strongly on an every day basis. Not to have worn black bands, not to take a knee is something that baffles me”.
Lalit Modi’s 2021 IPL plan
Venues
“I don’t understand the plan to play these matches in heavily-affected centres. It could have been avoided and still can be avoided. It’s not that it can’t be moved to another centre. To take even a small bit of relief or resource or staff away from the pandemic is something that I would have avoided at all costs, I would not have allowed it.”
It bears recalling here that SportzPower had argued for the very same thing in its lead article published on April 29.
Coming back to Modi’s venues plans as recounted to Mid-Day: “If Plan B doesn’t work, go to Plan C, if that doesn’t work, go to Plan D. That’s what we were doing,” he said, harking back to 2009 when the IPL had to be moved out to South Africa due to the general elections.
IPL games’ delivery
“Every IPL match should start with a minute’s silence to pay homage to each life lost due to this pandemic.”
The players he said “can also bend the knee, they must pray for people lost. And they must wear a black band in all the matches, that’s a must, must, must.”
TV, he says, can do away with the post-match prize ceremony for individual performances. “Just have the captain interviews and that’s it. No extra show of huge cheques or money at the time of such despair.”
Cricketers he said, “are the sweethearts of this nation along with the Bollywood actors. And it is time for them to give out the right message”.
Broadcasting messaging
Modi wants the IPL’s broadcasting messaging around safety and biosecurity to be “more serious and more impactful” and move from the commentators to the players at the centre. “I would go as far as have the captains walk out for the toss with masks to put it across to the millions of youngsters watching to do the same when they’re outdoors.”
He wants players to carry badges or jerseys requesting people to get vaccinated, to encourage them to take the jab and “clear all myths and false propaganda against it.”
COVID-specific financial outlay
Indian cricket’s financial outlay during the pandemic needed to go wide and deep. “All cricketers should voluntarily give some portion of the IPL earnings for the victims.”
According to Mid-Day, the BCCI’s movement through the first three weeks have resembled those of apocalyptic zombies (apt turn of phrase).
As for Modi, he wants cash down for those who need it most. “The BCCI should pledge to give 10 per cent at least (emphasis ours) of its IPL earnings over the last two years for Covid victims and rehabilitation of the families who have lost their breadwinners. It is the fans who have made the game of cricket so big in India. This is the time to react and give back to the nation.”
He calculated that 10 per cent of the IPL 2020 and 2021 sponsorships would be something close to “Rs 700-800 crores Rs 7-8 billion. Imagine the difference that money can make for rehabilitation and treatment of patients.”
SportzPower fully endorses Mid-Day when it states: “Modi is not sounding like the man cast out into the wilderness by the BCCI, he is sounding like the leader the IPL at the very least, could do with today.”
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