Indian Premier League : Glamour, Controversy and Cricket.
When glitz and glamour meets the cricketing world, the resultant product is the Indian Premier League which is commonly known as the IPL. The cricketing world has never seen a domestic tournament which has attracted so much attention. It was an expensive experiment but it cleared all the litmus tests’ and paid off well to its organisers. But despite the successes, the IPL has been surrounded by a number of controversies in the recent past. These controversies have not only damaged the IPL’s image but cricket as a sport as well. Primarily, match-fixing has made a strong comeback with the IPL which has lead to controversies brimming all across the globe. Former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi had to give up his seat and was suspended for allegedly being involved in match-fixing during the recently concluded IPL. News reports suggest that Lalit Modi had an interest in three teams of the Indian Premier League for which Modi had been given some unreasonable commissions.
It currently consists of eight teams which include players from all parts of the world. It’s one of the highest paid leagues in the world with a brand value of $4.13 billion which shows the strength of the Board of Control of Cricket in India – the governing board responsible for conducting the tournament. In a short tenure of three seasons, the IPL has become the premier event in the cricketing world. The Rajasthan Royals was the first team to win the IPL in its first season. Deccan Chargers came out as winners in the second season while Chennai Super Kings bagged the third season of this lucrative league. At the moment, the Chennai Super Kings is the most valued team in the IPL with a brand value of $48.4 million while the Deccan Chargers are at bottom with brand value of $34.4 million. Some polls suggest that more than 40 million people tuned their television sets to watch the telecast of the IPL final in 2008.
It will be interesting to see if the IPL can continue to gather its massive support in the coming season with controversies surrounding it. There are allegations of betting taking place in the tournament; about $11 billion was reportedly betted in IPL games in the last season. Nevertheless, controversies in the IPL are not limited to its own structure. The league has had conflicts with the English and Wales Cricket Board in the initial season as well where the ECB refused to provide a no objection certificate to its players as the IPL season coincided with the County Championship. Furthermore, the Indian Premier League had to sort out its issue with Cricket Australia regarding sponsorship rights and its coinciding schedule with Australia’s tour of the West Indies. Cricket Australia believed that the sponsors of the IPL were in direct competition with sponsors that were contracted to Cricket Australia. The issue was later resolved and all Australian players were allowed to take part in their tour to West Indies.
The IPL had to cater to the criticism from across border as well. The Pakistan Cricket Board blamed IPL’s management for deliberately leaving out Pakistani cricketers in the bidding process for the third season. After a lot of questioning and media pressure, the IPL management stated that none of the Pakistani players were selected because it was a pure business decision from the franchise owners. Considering that Pakistan were the T20 Champions back then, the cricketing world found the reason as an ambiguous one. To date, the relationship between the PCB and IPL is not as smooth as they wanted it to be.
The IPL has had a lot of support from Bollywood. Some of the biggest names in India’s film industry own various teams in the IPL. Shahrukh Khan, famously known as King Khan owns the Kolkata Knight Riders. Shilpa Shetty happens to be the co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals. Pretty Zinta and Ness Wadia have shares in the Kings XI Punjab. Similarly, different actors and actress are involved with different teams in one capacity or the other. Some critics have felt that too much glamour is destroying the quality of cricket in the IPL. The controversies of match fixing have only added fuel to its nose diving reputation with critics claiming it to be a multi-billion dollar business, which attracts India's wealthiest businessmen and women for profitability.
Only time will tell if IPL can leave behind its controversies and glamour. The IPL generates a lot of cash from each of its season and provides lucrative packages to its players. Young players fancy their chance of finding a place in IPL teams in order to get recognized at the international level. The IPL needs more diversity so that a better quality of cricket comes to the fore. Where it offers so much, it has some negative aspects to it as well. The IPL is based on the T20 format and offers handsome salaries to up and coming players. As a result, the youth is bound to concentrate more on T20 cricket rather than improving their Test or ODI performances.
Tags: