IPL: India Premier League - Money Game

"This Twenty20 game will not help the future of cricket in India".

For more than twenty years Cricket dominated Indian sports and since its advent, India did not shine in any Olympic sport. India hardly managed to come with a medal in Olympics despite a billion people living in the country. Adam Gilchrist, who will retire at the end of the tri-series, feels the Indian Premier League (IPL) will revive the relationship between Indians and the Australians who will be playing alongside in the Tewnty20 league.

According to me that is going to be an opportunity for players around the world to get to meet, know and understand opposition cultures and customs. The IPL is not mainstream cricket. It is more amusement than cricket. The Reliance Industries chairman has acquired the Mumbai franchise in IPL for $111.9 million over a 10-year period while the flamboyant chairman of UB Group has won the Bengaluru franchise for $111.6 million. Both Mr Ambani and Mr Mallya had bid more than twice the floor price of $50 million per franchise set by the board. SRK's Red Chillies Entertainment won the Kolkata franchise for $75 million. Some of the biggest names in international cricket today, such as Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Sachin Tendulkar, have all signed up to play in IPL, and so have Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. The top 80 players in the ICC rankings will be playing in IPL, Anshu Jain, Deutsche Bank's global markets head, is understood to have put in a bid for one of the eight teams of Indian Premier League. Mr Jain is widely tipped to be the next Deutsche Bank CEO and has been described by some British papers as a 'cricket nut'. He is the captain of the Desutche Bank Cricket Team and also the head of Deutsche's most profitable division. In other words, not only does he have the money but the cricketing credentials as well.

Big funds are finally looking at cricket as one more asset class they can put their money into. There is a bit of ego and the lure of glamour in being the owner of a team that has Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar. Asked to compare the IPL with that of Australian TV tycoon Kerry Packer's tournament, Amarnath said Packer's venture was a different one and many format and rules of that meet was later followed by ICC "The IPL is not mainstream cricket. It is more amusement than cricket", he said. "It is a commercial venture. If somebody says he is doing it for sports, then he is wrong," Amarnath said.

The IPL is good only for those players who are participating in it. But he feels sorry for other first class cricketers who are out of this tournament. It is crystal clear that now in cricket, money is being provided to only a few elite cricketers while most of the other first class players are being left out which is not feasible on the part of the team. The league is scheduled to start in April this year and will last for 44 days, involving 59 matches. The prize money for the league will be around three million dollars. Let us hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

S.das