IF at the start of IPL III, someone had mentioned that come the semi-final stage and there will more interesting things on the agenda then the cricket itself, it would have been dismissed as a laughable suggestion. But that’s exactly what has happened.
On Wednesday evening, Mumbai Indians were playing Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL semi-final, but that was not where all the action lay. The burning question besieging almost everyone was – what more is going to come out of the IPL closet?
It is a bit strange that after almost three years people in authority are suddenly taking note of all these alleged misdemeanors. Almost at the press of a button, they have woken up to the realty of this ‘clash of interest’ phenomenon in the IPL. But to the discerning eye this ‘clash of interest’ phenomenon was always there in the IPL right from its very inception. But people were comfortable with this and were choosing to ignore it so all was well. And cricket was chugging along quite nicely.
Almost everyone connected with the IPL falls within this ‘clash of interest’ bracket. From the very start, it was wrong for the incumbent secretary of the BCCI (T Srinivasan) to also have his own team (Chennai Super Kings) in the IPL. But rules were tweaked to allow him to do that. The media wrote about it. But it was conveniently ignored.
From the very start, it was wrong for the present chairman of selectors (Kris Srikkanth) to become the brand ambassador of one particular team (Chennai Super Kings). Srikkanth’s job is to watch all the players in action and choose the best. But here he was traveling with just one team and rooting for just one particular team. The media wrote about this as well. But it was conveniently ignored.
From the very start, it was wrong for politicians and film stars to become the main players in this game of cricket. Media wrote about it. But again it was conveniently ignored.
Again from the very start it was wrong for the organizers to have friends and relatives as part owners in the franchises. Be it Lalit Modi, Sharad Pawar, Shashi Tharoor or Preity Zinta… all have some friends or relatives as part owners in the franchises. Much was written about this as well. With much the same result.
From the very start, it was wrong for the IPL to give omnipotent powers to just one person. Given the scale and magnitude of the league and given the logistical and administrative work involved, it would have been prudent to have a body of people controlling the league rather than making one person the sole head.
The seeds of the current malaise were sown at the inception some three years ago. So much so, that now there are two tournaments going along simultaneously in this league. On the cricketing side, Mumbai Indians have reached the finals and are awaiting their opponents for the summit clash on 25 April. We will have a winner there.
On the other Machiavellian side, Srinivasan, Shashank Manohar & Co have their final match going on with Lalit Modi. The ruling government also has had to jettison a member of its cabinet because of the IPL and is bristling to hit back. (Some senior congress leaders have mooted the idea of reviving the ICL so that the IPL does not have a monopoly over T20 cricket). Up till now, Modi has relied on Pawar’s support to bail him out. But the situation has become far too tricky and that support for Modi from that direction is kind of dwindling. Everyone is waiting to see who the winner will be in this match. And, this match promises to be more action-packed than the real cricket final.
As mentioned earlier, almost everyone connected with this league has a ‘clash of interest’ going on from the very inception. To single out and crucify Modi will not be fair.
