MUMBAI: What is a sure shot way to get the Indian cricket board on board with any cricket related activity, EVEN in its kingdom (read India)? Ensure it involves retired cricketers.
After giving its sanction (with much fanfare) to a retired cricketers body – Indian Cricketers Association – coming soon in the country is an international cricket tournament featuring the game’s retired greats and backed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag and Muttiah Muralitharan are among the big names set to feature in a Twenty20 tournament promoted by Sunil Gavaskar’s sports management company Professional Management Group (PMG). According to ESPNcricinfo, some other prominent names that are set to feature in the tournament are Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
PMG, founded by Gavaskar in 1985, and which today is a JV between the batting great, the directors of Madison World and SelVel Advertising, will mount the first season of the the Road Safety World Series here early next year.
ESPNcricinfo reports that the inaugural season will be played between February 2 and 16, 2020, and will feature the following teams: India Legends, Australia Legends, South Africa Legends, Sri Lanka Legends and West Indies Legends.
As the name suggests, the Road Safety World Series has the stated aim of promoting road safety and has the Road Safety Cell of the Maharashtra government actively engaged.
The cricket website further reports that the tournament follows the franchise-based model prevailing across domestic T20 leagues around the world and that the business plan is to host the event for ten years across different venues in India.
Here’s where the business model make no sense to SportzPower though. ESPNcricinfo reports that although the players’ payments would be taken care of by the franchises, the proceeds (emphasis ours) from the tournament itself would be utilised by the Road Safety Cell to promote the cause in addition to highlighting how India ranks the highest in the world in terms of deaths caused on roads.
If the proceeds from the tournament go to the Road Safety Cell, how will PMG “show the money” to their franchises? Questions, questions…
