Sanju
Club Cricketer
This material is from criinfo.
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Dalmiya looks to transform Indian cricket
Amit Varma - July 8, 2003
Jagmohan Dalmiya is working on introducing a new tournament into the Indian domestic circuit. Described by him, in a report in The Times of India, as the Corporate Cup, it will be played under lights and will feature four to six corporate teams. They will be allowed to recruit players from all over the world, with a cap of four foreign players per team. The prize money will be generous ? the winners could take home as much as Rs 50 lakh.
This might sound like just another gimmick in a cricket calender which is already overcrowded ? but it may not be. It may well turn out to be a far-reaching and significant development that could take the game of cricket in the direction it needs to take to thrive in the 21st century.
In an essay in the February 2002 issue of Wisden Asia Cricket, Mukul Kesavan, the Indian novelist, had argued for the domestic game in India to be revitalised by changing the system of territorial representation. Games like soccer and basketball, he argued, thrived precisely because they were organised around private clubs, with no restrictions on representation. Thus, Real Madrid of Spain boasts of the best players from France, Brazil, England and Portugal on their squad, and the best domestic teams are often stronger than the best national teams.
This impacts the game commercially. A sport with no bar on representation can market itself much better. A handful of people turned up to watch the Ranji Trophy final earlier this year between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu. But what if Steve Waugh and Michael Vaughan had been playing for Mumbai, and Brian Lara and Glenn McGrath for Tamil Nadu?
The historian, Ramachandra Guha, had once compared India's passion for cricket with Brazil's passion for soccer. But the comparison breaks down in one crucial element: domestic soccer in Brazil is followed as ardently as international soccer is; but in India, there is a following for only international cricket.
Revitalising domestic cricket in India could, thus, reap significant benefits. India is the richest market in the world for cricket; a domestic league that boasts of the best players in the world could, if it is marketed well, draw as much investment as international cricket does. As in European soccer and all the American sports, it could even begin to rival the international game.
Dalmiya had reportedly conceived of this plan at the height of the controversy last year over the players' contracts, when an irrevocable break between the Indian establishment and the ICC appeared a remote possibility. Was this tournament, then, a contingency plan? And is Dalmiya thinking of it in terms of building what could effectively be cricket's Premier League, with international cricket a mere sideshow?
In political terms, that would be a masterstroke, as it would insulate Dalmiya from the ICC. In commercial terms, it would be a paradigm shift that could broaden the base of the game. Even if one questions Dalmiya's motive, the end result of his move might well turn out to be good for the game. With declining viewership and increasing commercial pressure on the international game throughout the world, cricket needs radical thinking to thrive and move forwards. It doesn't matter where that thinking comes from.
Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden CricInfo in India.
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Dalmiya looks to transform Indian cricket
Amit Varma - July 8, 2003
Jagmohan Dalmiya is working on introducing a new tournament into the Indian domestic circuit. Described by him, in a report in The Times of India, as the Corporate Cup, it will be played under lights and will feature four to six corporate teams. They will be allowed to recruit players from all over the world, with a cap of four foreign players per team. The prize money will be generous ? the winners could take home as much as Rs 50 lakh.
This might sound like just another gimmick in a cricket calender which is already overcrowded ? but it may not be. It may well turn out to be a far-reaching and significant development that could take the game of cricket in the direction it needs to take to thrive in the 21st century.
In an essay in the February 2002 issue of Wisden Asia Cricket, Mukul Kesavan, the Indian novelist, had argued for the domestic game in India to be revitalised by changing the system of territorial representation. Games like soccer and basketball, he argued, thrived precisely because they were organised around private clubs, with no restrictions on representation. Thus, Real Madrid of Spain boasts of the best players from France, Brazil, England and Portugal on their squad, and the best domestic teams are often stronger than the best national teams.
This impacts the game commercially. A sport with no bar on representation can market itself much better. A handful of people turned up to watch the Ranji Trophy final earlier this year between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu. But what if Steve Waugh and Michael Vaughan had been playing for Mumbai, and Brian Lara and Glenn McGrath for Tamil Nadu?
The historian, Ramachandra Guha, had once compared India's passion for cricket with Brazil's passion for soccer. But the comparison breaks down in one crucial element: domestic soccer in Brazil is followed as ardently as international soccer is; but in India, there is a following for only international cricket.
Revitalising domestic cricket in India could, thus, reap significant benefits. India is the richest market in the world for cricket; a domestic league that boasts of the best players in the world could, if it is marketed well, draw as much investment as international cricket does. As in European soccer and all the American sports, it could even begin to rival the international game.
Dalmiya had reportedly conceived of this plan at the height of the controversy last year over the players' contracts, when an irrevocable break between the Indian establishment and the ICC appeared a remote possibility. Was this tournament, then, a contingency plan? And is Dalmiya thinking of it in terms of building what could effectively be cricket's Premier League, with international cricket a mere sideshow?
In political terms, that would be a masterstroke, as it would insulate Dalmiya from the ICC. In commercial terms, it would be a paradigm shift that could broaden the base of the game. Even if one questions Dalmiya's motive, the end result of his move might well turn out to be good for the game. With declining viewership and increasing commercial pressure on the international game throughout the world, cricket needs radical thinking to thrive and move forwards. It doesn't matter where that thinking comes from.
Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden CricInfo in India.
