The IPL Cricket matches goes South Africa.
"Cricket is the game of gentlemen". It is the game of limitless boundaries and special bonding. But in India, it has gone a level ahead and become a religion and the players have become Gods. This game of gentlemen is now maintained by great business houses and entrepreneurs. Indian Premier League (IPL) is the outcome of the same. The IPL was formed stating that the format of the game needs change and new talent is to be brought in so as to gain the maximum. The truth has a different side, it remain no more a game but has converted in glamour and money. The players from all around the world formed a team and were auctioned for millions of rupees. The television broadcasting rights were sold for billions and it swiped everything that came its way and emerged as a single winner on the small screen. The newspapers were full of the happenings of the world's biggest cricket mela. Everyone make profit out of it. And it was estimated that the second IPL will bring write new records and bring huge money.
But this year the game faces a new game. The elections are due in the month of April and May and the government denies to compromise with them. The Central Home Ministry issues strong notice that the safety of the nation is first and it cannot provide adequate security forces for the game. The state governments were also not in the mood to compromise with elections. The chairman of the IPL Mr. Lalit Modi and BCCI tries its best to convince them and worked on different match schedules but all in vain.
And finally between all the critism they have to take a stand to shift the game to a new venue outside India. The decision was not easy to make as it is the last thing to be expected. There were speculations that either England or South Africa will host the show. But South Africa wins the race.
In today's era of recession, it is considered a bad sign for the Indian economy to take the game away from India as many earning prospects are lost. For the ground level the ones who earn by making face paintings, flags, banners, eatable have lost their business. Although it sounds small but it contributes a large sum to the income of the people. The direct revenues like tickets sold for the stadium, transportation charges, hotel industry and other service providers have lost their huge income.
However the board of IPL and BCCI will not be much affected as they get their revenue through selling broadcasting rights and publicity, which they'll still get. The match timings are kept the same as they were earlier so as to earn the largest of TV viewing population. The promoters of the match have lost their money significantly as India is always the best choice for cricket matches. The official partners will now have to pay extra money to travel to South Africa.
The team sponsors seems to have no worries about the venue but the concern people says they have no other choice but to go with the board's decision. A lot of money will go for their accommodation and travel compared in India. South Africa will surely going to gain from hosting the show. The entire world's media will be covering the event and a lot of match tourists will come. India has lost all this by moving the game abroad. The government of India is true in mentioning that the security of the players cannot be taken lightly, and all the cricket playing nations are now more concerned about the security of their players after the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Pakistan. Due to the elections the security personals of India will be posted to the election booths and other areas thus if becomes infeasible to them to safe guard the matches. The issue of postponing the IPL was again a tough task as all the nations has a busy cricket calendar ahead.
There might be the other side of the issue which some of the economists revel that this is the time of immense recession and IPL board was sure of not making the expected amount of money so they use elections as an excuse and deliberately moved out of India so as to make themselves isolated and put the blame over Indian government. No matter they gain or loss but one thing is sure that the Indian people have lost their money and their sentiments.
By
Jagdeep S More
