Mr Modi, don't take fans for granted!

The way Mr Lalit Modi/BCCI decided to call off the bidding process for the buying new IPL franchises for 2011 season speaks volumes about the unprofessional and haughty mindset that Indian cricket administrators, without any exception, carry.
It's pretty pissing off that at the end of the day, this in-fighting ends up short changing all the stakeholders of the game, more often than not the passionate flag waving fans, and in this case the millionaire investors who would have pumped more money in a game already regarded as "filthy rich".
The BCCI as a body is an assortment of contradictions, held together by few charismatic players who keep on producing magic on the field. Sachin, Dravid, Laxman,Viru are seemingly last of this breed.
None of the batsmen from the "youngistan" brigade have excited me and people like Rohit Sharma keep sending my BP to stratosphere by losing their wicket to more and more supremely idiotic shots. Throughout the 1980s, the West Indies team dominated world cricket like anything and look at them now. They just lost to school boys from Zimbabwe (at home!) and got derided by their captain for "being crap".
This Indian team is nowhere close to what the WI team, led by Clive Lloyd and later Viv Richards, was. The law of averages will catch up with it pretty soon and as one cricket fan sums up at the cricinfo message board, tamashas like IPL will be over:

"Unprofessional and unethical behavior on display again and again. First, was Manohar asleep at the wheel all along and suddenly woke up so that he could throw his weight around? Or did they wake up when they realized that Sahara (from Dalmiya's backyard) was going to be a successful bidder? Having advised Fortune 100 companies in the US on business strategy, I am unsure who is better organized, the BCCI or monkeys in captivity in a zoo - the latter at least adapt to live with each other. And lest we forget, the IPL is an idea and concept borrowed from the ICL who was then hounded out. Indians can do better than throw more money on a sport that will soon turn into a yawn - the day SRT retires, each franchise will lose at least half its value. Modi's contempt for a local fan base is evident from the manner in which he airlifted the IPL to SA - in short, TV revenue is what gets this going not the fans, and that too will fall when SRT retires - we can then watch grown men cry."

Why do we need a window?

This blog first appeared on expressblogs, my source of mutton, chicken & shahi panner!

All this talk of ICC creating a window in the ‘Future’s Tour Programme’ (FTP) for tournaments like IPL to flourish doesn’t make any sense to me. The basic premise of the Indian Premier League is taken from the highly successful soccer club competitions across Europe where international players play in various clubs but whenever they are required to join their international squads, the clubs have to let them go. There are no two ways about it. FIFA rules make it very clear that international fixtures hold priority over club clashes. But they make sure that when important matches are held, like knock-out matches of tournaments like Champions League in Europe or the tournaments in Latin America, soccer bodies don’t fix any game during that particular time.So it is a fine balancing act that keeps the multi-million dollar/pound/euro club soccer system going without harming the importance and relevance of international FIFA matches. Here the International cricket body, ICC, is mulling about stalling international fixtures to allow the ‘big players’ to earn more by playing in tournaments like IPL. To me personally it sounds preposterous to say the least. Whatever maybe at stake financially in tournaments like IPL, nothing can match the edge in clashes like India-Pakistan or Australia-England and that is what a true cricket fan wants.
Not a war minus bullets and slaps but a hard fought game in which cricket comes out as the winner. I am all for IPL and other tournaments like it and personally I love the Twenty20 format but frankly stalling international cricket matches for a period of time to facilitate cash-driven tournaments is just not done

Will sworn enemies kiss and make-up?

This blog first appeared on expressblogs, my source of mutton, chicken & shahi panner!

All of us have heard about great cricketing rivalries of the past, Gavaskar vs Lille, More vs Miandad but none of them had to face the dilemma of sharing a dressing room. Now Graeme Smith and Shane Warne aren’t exactly great mates but it will be rather interesting to see them put their head together to scheme an opposition batsman’s downfall. Similarly any opposition captain to have played against Sourav Ganguly will not wax eloquent about him and if it is a certain Mr Ricardo Ponting then the camaraderie shared between the two individuals is well, not exactly great to say the least. After sharing such a tense relationship on the field for so long its hard to fathom how these two players will gel inside a common dressing room or how Ponting is going to take orders from Ganguly on field! Your guess is as good as mine, but it will ensure that the paying public gets value for its money.