MUMBAI: For the second time in two months, Indian-American comedian Hasan Minhaj has turned to India for source material. The subject of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj is the favourite pastime of the sub-continent: cricket. More precisely, “Cricket Corruption”.
While corruption in sport is not unique to cricket Hasan’s most damning indictment is against the game’s richest and most powerful governing body – the Board of Control for Cricket in India. His charge: That the BCCI, flush with moneyy generated by the Indian Premiere League (IPL) and accounting for 70% of the worldwide revenue, is blocking the global growth of the sport.
One of the highlights of the episodes is Minhaj’s interview with Lalit Modi, the fugitive founder of the IPL. Modi, now living in London, confesses that he made a mistake by “creating the war chest for the BCCI”.
Minhaj: “Don’t you think you created this problem by creating the IPL.?”
Modi: “I did, and I didn’t foresee this. That’s right. I am to blame for it.”
Minhaj also interviewed senior cricket journalist Ayaz Memon, who noted that the BCCI doesn’t want smaller countries to play cricket because it may dilute their power and monopoly over the game. The reason that they can do something like this is money, BCCI is phenomenally rich and its control over the international governing body plays a huge role in implementing their plans.
In 2014, the BCCI proposed a new revenue sharing plan to ICC which gave more money to the big three (India, England and Australia). Prior to 2014, every full member team of the ICC would get an equal amount of share but the new plan suggested India getting 33 percent of the total revenue. The big three led by India sieged control of the ICC’s key committees and the way its funds are distributed.
The BCCI doesn’t want cricket to be inducted into the Olympics programme for the same reason. Which is that it will not be able to call the shots with the International Olypic Committee the way it does with the games global govrning body – the ICC.
To see the full episode, click here…
