Simply foolish!

Skipper Rohit Sharma lifts star batsman Virat Kohli after India’s win over Pakistan during the 2022 ICC T20I World Cup at Melbourne. Representation pic/AFP

This was an Independence Day with a huge difference. My dear mother, who would have completed 98 years on the day, was no more with us, and even though I was abroad, the day just felt incomplete without her in our midst. I recalled the sacrifices she and my father like millions of other Indians made during the struggle for Independence. India has come a long, long way since then and is today recognised and respected around the world as a country that cannot be pushed around like earlier.

Same is the case with Indian cricket which has also been at the other end of the spectrum where nobody wanted to play us to now a country that every team including the neighbouring ones wants to go to or have over in their country. This has nothing much to do with the love of our country or its cricket, but simply the fact that an India cricket team tour of their country means big money to them through TV rights and gate money. If there are two teams that are touring their country, the difference in ticket prices is just unbelievable, with prices for the India games being double and sometimes more than those for the other touring teams' games. Despite this, there is no gratitude but more and more condescension mainly directed at the BCCI. One can even understand this if their Boards were perfect, but sadly, they aren't, and instead of focusing on their country's cricket boards, they take aim at BCCI.

As the ICC World Cup date approaches, we in India should be prepared for more attacks on BCCI in particular and the country in general. These attacks will come from those from the old powers who simply cannot stomach that their pre-eminence in cricketing administration has been taken over by India. Just look at those either writing these pieces or venting their frustration in the electronic media. They will be from the old powers and from the country that ruled on the so-called superior race theory. You will hardly find anyone from other countries coming up with these ridiculous stories apart from these two or three countries.

Well-organised events

BCCI has not only organised two massively successful ODI World Cups, but also the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC T20 World Cup. They have also had 16 extremely well-organised and successful Indian Premier League seasons. Yet, these self-appointed guardians of international cricket will try to run down BCCI and sadly some of our media actually gives them space to vent their ire. With the World Cup coming up, the questions will be about the quality of the stadiums. Really? As if the stadia in their countries are beyond any faults. Having been all over the world, I can say with great confidence that all the new stadiums in India not only can compare with the best in the world, but some are even better than the overseas ones. Remember when the old powers insisted on ICC to mandate a minimum 100-seater press box for every World Cup venue in India. For the World Cups in their countries there was no such condition and Indian journos were sitting in the stands and filing their copy because there was no space in the media boxes for more than 20 persons. Not just journos, even the then ICC President late Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya had to sit in the crowd because he wasn't invited to that county managing committee box. The same county press box by the way had only space for eight people. Yet, their Board had pushed the ICC to mandate a minimum 100-seater box at Indian venues. It is this hypocrisy which used to be galling in earlier times but is now simply amusing.

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Big Indian sponsors

The other chestnut is about BCCI getting the lion's share of the ICC revenue. Here they forget that over the last couple of decades if the ICC is getting big revenue it's mainly because of Indian companies who sponsor the various categories including the title rights and Indian TV companies who bid billions to get the broadcast rights. For the new cycle of broadcast rights, the ICC has reportedly got USD 3 billion out of which 2.3 billion has come from Indian TV companies. So, if India is putting in the money, shouldn't they be getting a larger share than the others? To even suggest that the revenue should be shared equally is silly because not only do most of those countries who will be participating in the championship will not have put even one dollar in but will also not attract many spectators or viewer interest.

The other most crucial aspect which not many are perhaps aware of is that being a huge country BCCI has to spend many millions every year in running the game in India. At a rough estimate, BCCI organises more than 1,800 matches in men's, women's, junior cricket and ‘A' teams. Today, thanks to Indian companies, every country affiliated with the ICC is getting much more than they got in the previous cycle. Most of them do not even have a first-class tournament in their countries and some do not even have club cricket. Therefore, to expect that the ICC revenue should be shared equally is simply foolish and will only encourage laziness in these countries knowing they don't have to do any work, but just wait for the shared revenue to come through.

So, the thing that is being proposed by these guys is every other country should make money from Indian cricket, but not the BCCI. No sir, anybody but the BCCI. Ha ha ha.

Go home guys and thank Indian cricket because your burning envy should help you combat the cold weather in your countries.

Professional Management Group