Some wicket thoughts

We live in the age of acquisitions. Nothing better illustrates this than the recent acquisition by Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya, Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and others of the 20:20 cricket teams part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Indian Premier League (IPL).

Not even all those cricket visionaries with their glass balls looking to predict the future of the game would have guessed that one day, India’s industrialists and actors would be buying up cricket teams. After teams, individual players are on sale or auction.

The richie rich owners can bid from a pool of foreign players (at least 50 of them) and the highest bidder wins a player to his team.

Don’t model for them Yuvi

The IPL brings about new equations within the cricket world. To what degree can their new owners control players? Can Ness Wadia, for instance, (who owns the Mohali team along with girlfriend Preity Zinta and others) have the power to tell a player not to model for a fabrics company may be because it might compete with Bombay Dyeing? Would Mallya stop a player from his Bangalore team endorsing an airline other than Kingfisher?

Who has the last word?

This guesswork brings me to the consortium of owners for certain teams. I think a couple of teams from the eight teams that form the IPL have been bought over by three or four persons jointly. This is known as a consortium of owners. How would these owners come together and decide the composition of their team? Big money often translates to big egos.

Would these owners’ scrap and bicker among themselves about team decisions and policies? Finally, how much control would each owner exert on their teams? Would one particular owner’s word be the last one?

Some scandals, please

On to the highly paid pawns (the players) on this commercial chessboard. While the cricket world is talking about how 20:20 cricket is all about the feisty firepower of youth, a new game for a generation weaned on instant thrills, the league actually gives the oldies of the game a new lease of life. Several players in the league are in their twilight playing years or have announced retirement from Test and one-day cricket.

They are now picked for the IPL. The IPL would similarly open avenues for coaches, commentators, entertainers, grounds men, in fact, everybody that goes with the cricket package. Finally with the names and money involved it would open up avenues for some scandal seeking, controversy hungry journalists like this one.