Justice Lodha’s report last week on the corruption scam in the Indian Premier League has left Indian cricket reeling. But the IPL is not the cause of Indian cricket’s current crisis, as many critics have suggested, rather the victim. In saying this, I don’t mean to belittle the primacy of Test cricket. Personally, I find the five-day format unmatched the aesthetic value and nuances it affords compared to limited overs cricket, more particularly the slam-bang T20.
In the performing arts especially fine or otherwise a clear distinction emerges between mass and selective appeal, and all arguments for the suzerainty of one or the other is fraught with ill-logic.
The problem has been with the governance of the IPL, not its existence. This is what the BCCI’s managing committee, which meets on Sunday, must pay attention to: as much as it will on ensuring that season 9 still has at least eight teams participating.
Finding two teams to replace Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals both suspended for two years by Justice Lodha is of immediate paramount importance because otherwise it disrupts the financial structure of the League. Playing with only six teams will leave the IPL short-sold. Apart from indelibly affecting the prestige of the BCCI, it will complicate relationships with broadcasters, sponsors and not the least, players.
Justice Lodha was categorical that no player from either CSK or RR is suspended, so they are all eligible for selection in the next auction. But if the demand is for fewer players, it hardly needs explaining that the stars will get picked up first. Rahul Dravid made the point that it is the players at the lower end of the pyramid who are likely to suffer the most in such a situation. Getting two new franchises may not be as difficult as may appear. Formally and informally, some corporate houses have shown interest. But at what price point is the issue. It can’t be so high as to deter new entrants, but not so low either as to offend existing franchises that would be loath to see their valuations whittled down.
All told, the BCCI finds itself in an unholy rigmarole. But largely of its own doing. I still believe that the cricket establishment has largely served the sport very well; better than any other association certainly. But it has beguiled itself by believing in its own invincibility, not sensing how much the times have changed and why public accountability becomes greater and more, not less, important with every success.
What Justice Lodha report has done is hold up a mirror to the BCCI for there is nothing in his report that did not already exist in the BCCI (or IPL) rules and regulations. The problem was that these provisions were ignored, delayed, or deployed selectively.
For instance, when it came to rusticating Deccan Chargers, the BCCI went strictly by the book, but in the case of CSK and RR, it dragged its feet till the Supreme Court had to intervene. The even-handedness expected in such matters was missing.
Bitter lesson hopefully learnt, the BCCI must now recast the way the IPL is administered. That, to me, is perhaps more important for the long run than just ensuring that eight teams play in season 9. The core of the problem is how the IPL’s Governing Council is constituted. Public perception and this has grown over the years is that the council does everything but govern, which is where there has been a laxity in applying rules and the ethos of the league has been promiscuous.
To correct this, I believe the Governing Council should be reduced to not more than four members from the BCCI administration (including a CEO/COO), but must necessarily incorporate an ‘external director’ of high public standing, an ombudsman who can be an interface with the world at large in case of crises and a technical director who is a former player.
A nominee representing the franchisees is mandatory. It seems ludicrous that so much money should be invested in the League, but those who put in the money have virtually no say. Finally, an Indian Players Association needs to be revived to look after the interest of talent that drives the league (as indeed Indian cricket). Why should the careers and reputations of players be at the mercy of others without formal representation?
