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Perhaps all the cruddy ODIs that had attached themselves to the venerable hull of Indian cricket like barnacles will drop off now. Rahul Dravid and his team mates have been begging for a let up in their schedules for years now: maybe they'll get a break now. It's the only way that this cash-cow milking Board was ever going to provide relief: via a massive commercial cock-up.

In its greed and its contempt for the game and its players, the BCCI merely follows the lead of the ICC, the game's apex organization, which invented the Super Test to fill its coffers and, en passant, to devalue the most precious currency of the game, Test cricket. Luckily everyone hated it and it is unlikely to be repeated, (though its statistics need to be expunged from Test records for the damage to be undone).

The Hindustan Times also reports a rumour that ESPN-Star's new channel might step in to telecast the Afro-Asia Cup if Zee pulls out. I hope they do: the more money our sports channels lose by telecasting ersatz farce, the faster they'll learn the lesson of this morning's news—that the game will be purged of dross by a cricketing inversion of Gresham's law: "When there is a legal tender currency, good money drives bad money out of circulation."

What to say ? BCCI has been criticised for its greediness in every angle from every quarters. But BCCI has never ever been sensitive to player or fans concerns. BCCI wants only one thing - its ever expanding money reservoir should overflow all time.
Need of the hour is to dismantle BCCI and build a Cricket Administrative body ran by people who sensitive to players and fans concerns and keep these politicians away from cricket.
Team India needs to play as less matches as possible and high quality cricket. Tough tours and tough challenges is need of hour to build a great team.

very well put. i actually dont havce any idea what the afro asian cup is so it not being on is no great loss for me.

anything to get rid of the meaningless odi is good. there are already enough proper matches on the calendar

your posts are much better when they dont contain aussie bashing

My exact sentiments - I couldn't believe so much good news in one day! The best day for Indian cricket since we won the world cup in 1983, and we weren't even on the field today!

a very good article. i was thinking on EXACTLY the same lines as the author but don't possess such writings skills of Mukul.. poor Indian cricketers are treated as donkeys or machines that have to keep on working and working and working all the time by the BCCI.. such happenings of deals falling off is a good slap on the face of all these officials.. i wonder why a non-profit organization BCCI (thats what they claim when they don't want to pay taxes) would run madly behind money to such an extent that every second series when have a long list of players getting injured or out of form..
when i was a kid my dad told me that they play cricket mainly during the winter months in India and rest during summer because of intense heat.. now they have to play all the year round even in the subcontinent.. this results in fatigue of players and situations what Jaffer and Karthick faced in the test match.. or the match being abandoned due to rains (which is actually good for players so that they get rest without loosing match fees).. its just ridiculous to have soooooooo many matches.. its craziness perfectly defined..
i dont understand another thing that what is the use of all this money that the players earn when they virtually live in suitcases nearly 230-250 days per year !! eventually loss of form will lead to be dropped like harbhajan, kaif who have been tremendous match winners for us in the past..
i guess all this happening of deals breaking off is an harbinger to more such things in future.. if BCCI doesnt learn from this chapter then they are in for much greater mess..

Hats off and standing ovation for a wonderfully written article to you. Its true for all now, that all BCCI wants is to rake up huge amounts of money at the cost of players and also the game itself through which it has become so rich.

Its time now, they should start thinking seriously out of business terms and be a sport.

May good wisdom comes to them
Amen

Kapil Gulechha

f the news of the fallout of Zee and BCCI for transmitting the "offshore" ODIs wasnt enough, then the another news of Nimbus pullout of the Afro - Asian cup (yet another needless tourney) is almost a catastroph for the BCCI. This at a time when it is lobbying for getting support to Pawar for ICC president post.

That means 5 less ODIs for India prior to English Test summer and a chance lost to test the "young blood" for the ODIs. That also means some rest to the players who have a long season ahead with tough tours to England, Australia and a home series against traditional rivals Pakistan.

Thats good news if we could really get rid of needless ODIs in offshore venues which mean nothing to the health of the game in India, meant only for burning out the already tired and jeered players.

Its good that ESPN is telecasting these matches, this is good news for all the viewrs. Hope they will telecast Irealand series also

With the friction between BCCI and ZEE evidently growing with each passing day, I'm sure that very soon we'll hear more from ZEE about the ICL. Looks like the days ahead are going to be interesting indeed. ZEE's tactic of portraying ICL as a 'complementary' body and not a rival to BCCI was sheer genius! Now the BCCI isn't quite sure what to do. So let the circus begin! We have enough jokers in the BCCI and ICC already!

That was a nice article. The administrators need to understand that the indian cricket team consists of human beings not machines. Due to this taxing schedule, it seems india will be playing only one warm up match in australia before taking them on in the teste series. That will be ridiculous because one needs at least 2 matches to get acclimatized to the hard & bouncy conditions, down under.

A great day for cricket - let's concentrate on real matches in real venues with a real purpose. Afro-Asia Cup should be shot in the head. Complete nonsense. Off shore events are worthless and lead to the cramming of proper tours without warm up matches.

The fact that Nimbus and Zee simply didn't pay exposes the "emperors new clothes" worn by Lalit Modi. It's fine to announce huge deals from the genius of marketing, but there's nothing actually there.

Roll on the Summer of proper cricket - roll on real sports broadcasters like Ten Sports and ESPN-Star. Enough of the jokes.

All those who believe such series should be scrapped should also remind themselves they're as responsible for it as the BCCI.

The BCCI schedules so many matches because there is a demand for the same.No matter how much you complain about it,you're going to watch India play whether they play in India,Australia or Burkina Faso.

To me,the board as well as the players are at fault.The former schedules too many matches for the liking of the players,who then complain about being fatigued.It's not exactly genuine when you have players coming off a month's rest and being run ragged by a Bangladesh team in the very first match of a series.The players should first show high levels of fitness before complaining about the schedule.

The cricket watching public need to GET A LIFE & STOP watching all these stupid games. This is the ONLY way some sanity can be restored.

The sponsors, BCCI, ICC, TV Channels & let's not forget the Greedy, selfish CRICKET STARS are treating the public with CONTEMPT.

I love it. I read the news on Cricinfo last night and smiled to myself.

I always thought the Afro-Asia cup was ridiculous, but the apparent "home" series in Ireland was the biggest load of wank I have ever heard. After this world cup, I am sick and tired of one day cricket. I really am.

Someone give me a real game of cricket. Five days of mental and physical application, skill, discipline and balls (pun intended).

When Doordarshan was the sole telecaster the quality was pathetic.... and now with so many big players in the market it seems Cricket is totally controlled by them .. the fixtures and even who should play and who shouldn't be playing ....

And added to it the greedy board who just want to make money which is why Cricket has to bow to the whims and fancies of these big television companies....

All in all Cricket telecasting in India has become one big mess out of which there doesn't seem to be a way out at least in the near future

My thoughts exactly, Mukul.

I'm really fed up with the packed schedule forced upon everyone to the BCCI, with no regard to quality or common sense.

However, it's not a new dawn of common sense - Nimbus has pulled out of the deal because there are no big stars and no Tendulkar, and NOT because they suddenly realised the sheer absurdity of this superfluous tournament.

Mahek,

which comes first, chicken or the egg? Fitness can be maintained at good level if you allow the body to recover given a reasonable amount of time. Problem is that the players have no say in this matter. Now that Nimbus pulled out because some of the players pulled out of the teams for Afro-Asia cup, guess what BCCI will do next time they have a cup like this. No player will be allowed to pull out. Modi and Shah are pure businessmen, they don't care they kill the goose laying the golden egg. They have a conveyer belt producing more such goose. The only language they understand is money. Hit them there and they will relent. Stop buying products of the advertised guys and tell them why and they pull out supporting BCCI. But thats not going to happen, its just wishful thinking. Thats why I have almost stopped watching ODI and watch only my true love, Test Cricket.

This is one of the best article i have read in recent years. Perhaps i should use the word "sensible" article. Bang on target.

I hope BCCI come across this one. i feel the board should be dissolved. Its time for someone else to take the game

Do BCCI reads these articles and comments. I guess not! They don't want wisdom

Hear Hear!

I fully agree with Mr. Kesavan. When will BCCI realise that there can only be cursory interest in sucb useless events.
My hope is that people will stay away in droves from the stadium.
Perhaps we shall all be relieved of the tedium is it rains wherever these 3rd rate matches are played

i know it will happens,, because some big player pulled out their names .. and selection committee should named Shahid Afridi in the Asian Squad if the want some good cricket for spectators.. huh...

Big Players alwayes creates Big problems.. why they dont want to play,, they should inform selection committee when squad announced.. and obviesly another fault that only 2 pakistani players selected why why... why did not give a name that Love peoples on Tv and Grounds is Shahid Afridi .. they loose that series i think..

Completely shameful & unprofessional act by BCCI, I too agree get rid of Politicians from the committee.
It's just about money now. They grab all the money and travel all over the world with the Indian team. I don’t understand why selectors accompany the team when on tour.

Gosh… can anyone tell them their job is just to select; performance can be watched on TV also.

BCCI is operated by dumb & brainless people who hardly know what they do or talk in front on camera.
Good example was in the last series when there was No vice captain for Bangladesh series. Bowling & fielding coach just brought the worst of Indian team.

The Selector was just so dumb & terrified to announce Sachin & Ganguly dropped instead reported them as "Rested"

BCCI is equally responsible for Indian lost in the world cup.

You hit the nail on the head.. No need of such stupid ODI tournaments. Players can play domestic match or improve their fitness in such period of rest.

And please, somebody can remove niranjan shah, rajiv shukla and all those persons who have no relatiton with cricket. I'd fed up with those guys..

ZEE is a profesional media company commited to shareholders and so they are better managers than BCCI political bosses. I am eagerly looking forward for ZEE's ICL. ZEE has every right to have a parallel board since BCCI is not a government body but a private club.
Days ahead are interesting for Indian Cricket.

Indian people moaning about too much ODI cricket? Well, I never thought I would live to see the day!
The average Indian on the street would I still suspect,rather watch an utterly meaningless triangular "tournament" from any corner of the world, then tune in and watch every ball possible of the forthcoming test series in England.
I am astounded to note that in the second half of the English summer, we have only three tests against India. How on earth did the BCCI agree to this knowing that a poor (correction, very poor) West Indian side are allocated FOUR tests in early spring/summer playing in fingers and brain freezing 7 degrees temps.
YES - the Indian players are going through the motions in the ODI's. In any calender year the acceptable proportion of tests/ODI should be around 1 to 2. This would mean on a tour 3 tests/ 6 ODI and home! The appearances for some current top Indian players show a revealing and very different story YUVRAJ 19tests/161 ODIs, SEHWAG 51/158 AGARKAR 26/178 DHONI 15/64 DRAVID 106/304 TENDULKAR 135/380 etc etc.
The message is obvious and clear. Cut out the nonsense. Play meaningful cricket and the players and the public at large would eagerly look forward to the next contest - a REAL contest.
Perhaps the BCCI need a new motto for limited overs cricket. I suggest "LESS IS MORE"

The BCCI is now paying for the exuberence it showed in announcing the enormity of sponsorship offers it got some time back. Nimbus is at the epicentre of this fiasco - because they bid extravagantly. And ZEE no wonder followed suit.

It remains to be seen how much Zee is committed to making the Indian Cricket League a success. If ICL takes shape the spectators would have a choice - the official BCCI fare and the ICL menu.

Let us then wait and watch.

Not much to say.....We're talking of money,sponsors TV rights etc rather than the source of all this- THE GAME OF CRICKET.

Good Luck Guys. We'll be watching you on whichever TV channel you play.

Why the big fuss about televising the Afro-Asia cup. The world was televised even half full stadium in WI, whether it was Ireland playing Pakistan or Bangladesh playing India. Host WI matches were played under empty stadium. Forget the big names. We want to see cricket being played.

Fine piece Sir. Fully agree with you on the fact that the ICC and BCCI are hell-bent on making players play at all sorts of venues and at all times!
It is time the number of ODIs played by each country is reduced, drastically. Too many matches is only making things worse, the interest is being killed, gradually. The BCCI should knuckle down and stop making the cricketers play ODIs at every imaginable venue, just to rake in the moolah!Time BCCI got professional

Guys, did you ever hear Lalit Modi uttering a word about the ways he was to implement to prevent the disaster of last world Cup happening to Indian team ever. Yet he is on every news channel boasting the money he may get from selling players undergarments. This indeed is a fantastic news. Someone should remind Mr. Pawar about the farmers of Vidarbha. Running BCCI is a full time job to be run a by a full time CEO. His appraisal should have performence of men in blue as his prime KRA.

Rather useless some of these tours, but that's today. We cannot prevent cricket from attempting to grow and most probably it's television-friendly version/s will...50-50 (less likely) 20-20 (more likely). We are caught in that process which ten-fifteen years down the line may be established.

Countries are finding it hard to sustain the game purely on the basis of test matches and limited number of one-dayers addressed to a limited audience of a few countries. The needs have increased....the players are more expensive and are looked at differently now. More like the contributing employee of some company. They have to be looked after and supported as well through contracts. Then there are coaches and support staff which didn't exist earlier. Cricket development and sustenance within the domestic structure is also expensive.

true, not all the monies gained are being used as of now for the above purposes, but they will...it is inevitable. Players will have increasing say...just like in football clubs (though maybe not to the same tune financially). It will be a very different game. We can and will have to mourn the loss of the traditional we were used to.

Today is a still photo in the evolution of the game.

I thought cricket was meant to be fun, played for the entertainment of the spectators at the ground. The BCCI has got in the middle and caused misery to both the viewers and the player. How can we get rid of this parasitic middleman. The babus in the BCCI don't even have any class or charisma. Just a bunch of chootiya gujjus and marathis.

The scandal of these Afro-Asia matches is that they have official ODI status!

Good Article. With this news, the ECB will be very happy that the Ireland series is not going to materialise so that they get their proper viewership. BCCI should scrap these offshore nonsense cricket series and instead concentrate on giving proper practice matches Downunder. Otherwise Indian players are treating the first test downunder as practice match as usual(all out below 100 etc).

BCCI are nothing but a bunch of ticket touts with fancy titles. The grounds in major metros like Mimbai and Bangalore stink and Bangladesh has much better grounds and facilities. So much for the world's richest board.

My coments are about the Telecast of Afro Aisa cup is so much bad why the other channels are not intresting in coverage the Afro Asia cup. I think is not good for the cricket lover. I think there are lots of peoples in the world who want to see these match's live. you know about the indian people they so much love to cricket. So i am requesting to other channels please try to show these match live. Thanks BYE BYE

Mukul, what a well written article ! You have my vote and HOPE that you have drilled SOME sense into their otherwise thick heads.

Instead of having these carnival matches where is there almost zero non interest the BCCI should promote domestic cricket the way ECB is promoting in england. Then it becomes a win-win situation BCCI satiates its never ending greed and the domestic cricket gets that much needed boost.
You never a few marketing tricks to make this happen...I am sure Mr modi is very versed in that.

Now we also know who selects the Indian cricket team. No big names - whether it is for personal reasons or selectorial decisions - no match. Not very different from the days when the "fans' rioted when their particular favourite was omitted from the team.

Perhaps the company telecasting an India match should have the right to approve the selection of the team. Forget it. Why waste the time of the selectors. Let Nimbus or Zee or ESPNStar or whoever just choose the team and be done with it. In any case their commentators know it all. The BCCI can also make some money by auctioning the right to select the team.

Let the BCCI schedule as many matches as they like. However, each player should be permitted to play a maximum of 'x' (figure to be decided) matches per year. eg. If a player is allowed to play 10 matches and the BCCI arranges 20, then perforce they will have to have twice the number of players. This would give more players the opportunity to display their talents and give the "stars" some competition.

I'm a big fan of Test Cricket(the real thing) but the it seems like BCCI has forgotten the longer version. Frankly, with so much one dayers, no one remembers anything except may be the World Cup. Even there Aussies have won the last 3 times...
This is my first post here and I would like to write about the frustrations of watchin a Cricket match on TV.. The Cricket is actually lost among the ads and one gets to see only abt 70% of the action.. As with many other things, I think even in Cricket viewing, We would be subjected to 3rd class treatment....Though i'm not a person wo supports too much regulation, I think it's high time that specific clauses, listing the Average adv. time between overs and breaks, are included in the contracts with the broadcasters.. After havin watched so much Cricket,I don't think that any broadcaster in India(except may be ESPn/Star sports) will have the real cricket fan on mind while showing their telecast. I request the media(especially the gud ones like Cricinfo ) to do something so that TV Cricket coverage in India improves.
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Instead of playing all these useless matches, they should let them play domestic cricket. That way, they could groom youngsters and all.

I agree with all that you've written whole heartedly

You are right on every count. Our cricketers needed a rest and this turn of events is a really good thing. Its time the BCCI realized its the quaity of cricket which is of more important to the fans and not how many ODIs are played.

On top of all this, Niranajah Shah actually goes on to say we arent paying anymore than the other countries.

Dear Mukul, you are 100% right. BCCI has lost it's soul and purpose.Now it's playing greed game and that's only due to politicians involved in it. May God save Indian cricket.

Couldn't agree more! These commercial monsters are a big reason for Indian Cricket's decline on the international stage and the sooner they learn their lessons the better for the whole of India and especially it's cricket-loving public, who are always the worst hit. After the dismal showing in the World Cup and the subsequent losses suffered by the marketing agencies I had hoped some sense would set in. But the other day, reading about the 'Future Cup' (did i get that right) or some such nonsensically named series, my hopes were smashed to smithereens. Let's hope the Afro-Asian Cup brings doom to ESPN !!

Well written man! "the cruddy ODIs that had attached themselves to the venerable hull of Indian cricket like barnacles" - thats absolutely hilarious. Its so true.. the number of ODIs planned is crazy. It was ok before the World Cup because they could be justified as preparation.

I am one of those people that would watch any sort of cricket though. I live in Canada and the only time I have the opportunity to watch cricket is when I come back home in the summer. Im waiting for the day the BCCI sets up a 'home series' in North America.. its an untapped market and Im sure the BCCI have already noted that there is much money to be made!

Great article ..enjoyed it very much and hopefully the Indian Board will realise that the Indian supporters don't want hundreds of meaningless ODIs but quality cricket and more Test Matches ..which are a true test of a national Team. This is one of the reasons that Ponting is close to Tendulkar in Test centuries...India played far too few Test matches during Tendulkar's peak.

This set of matches is just a waste of time .... no one really wants them so let's get rid of this series.

Oh one more thing ... why is the BCCI trying to get an Asian team.... look after your own players .. please let the other Boards look after their own players.

As someone now interested in the fate of the Irish cricket team after this eyar's World Cup, I think this will come as a big blow to them, both financially and at a playing level.

This generation of Irish players need matches against big names like India, England, South Africa and Australia to improve their game and keep the interest of the island's budding cricket fans. Same with Kenya. I suspect they would trade in 2 ODIs for a 3-day match against either team, but they would take any cricket ODI or not to try and keep Irish cricket on the map. It's the responsibility of bigger nations to find some space for the occasional ODIs and (dare I say) test against these guys. Scrapping matches like the Super Series, Afro-Asia cup is a good start, but a radical overhaul of the international calendar will be needed. I'd suggest that over 4 years, ODIs should be a qualifying competition for the world cup, including associate nations, one not based on a mishmash of ICC ranking points - and hopefully that would lead to fewer 5-match ODI series, with much more at stake.

But I doubt this will happen soon, and not if the ICC doesn't get any scheduling powers over Tests.

Get rid of the Champions Trophy too, it cheapens the World Cup.

It doesn't justify its existence, but just to correct one inaccuracy in the article: I remember very clearly Australia beating West Indies in the final of the Kuala Lumpur tournament, with India finishing third. In fact, it was one of the most exciting triangulars played in recent times, perhaps throwing up more close matches and memorable moments than the World Cup. Even the washed out match introduced the world to Mitchell Johnson and his destruction of the Indian toporder. Not every ODI tournament is rubbish by definition.

Perhaps what the whole thing needs a structure, along the lines of the ATP tour or PGA tour. At present everything is too random.

Where does all this money go to? What's the need? It is not just BCCI, but the ICC too. Isn't anyone else concerned about accounting for this huge pile of money. Timetables are jam-packed. I like to see quality preparation for important tours (eg. Australia or England).

Though Afro-Asia cup is a novelty it is likely to be low-intensity stuff. Success or failure proves nothing and quite rightly the better players have opted out. Well done to those guys.

The non-regular ODI series has seen experiments with decidedly average players. I like to see everyone fight hard to get into the team or to stay there. That means playing tough domestic cricket and /or working hard on your game. If that happens the successes can be trialled in India teams. Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chalwa or Ishant Sharma are worth trying.

The Afro-Asian series is a farce as was the Australia-ROW series. However, people bashing ODIs in general need to calm down a little. Agreed that Test cricket is the pure form of cricket, but it takes too long to expect average audience to keep tuned in. It may be understandable for people whose professions revolve around cricket but you can't expect average public to keep watching five-day events on a regular basis. There needs to be a good balance. To me, the timing of an event and who we are playing against, are more important than the fact whether it is test cricket or ODI.

"bhains ke upar pani".
"Kutte ki Dhum"
"Chand na badla, Suraj na badla aur usi tharha na badlega BCCI."

These are exactly what rings in my mind everytime I read or hear about BCCI. No matter how many thousands of articles are written or news programs are aired on the malfunctioning BCCI. They will not change. (PERIOD). All this writting is for our own "vent"ilation.

Some of this backlash against the 'commercialization' of cricket, by people both in India and outside, smacks of a particualr brand of Orientalism which is worrisome. The world seemed quite content when Aus/Eng wre focused on professional cricket and making a buck, and Indians/etc focused on 'the love ofthe game' and retiring penniless with their 'dignity' intact. I guess that some of us can't still get used to the the idea that the noble savage/guru/snakecharmer/ganga din of yesteryear not only can play the game, but also play the system. It's a shame that so many Indians also seem to buy into this antiquated and romanticized view of their nation and their place in the world, which merely was a creation of Victorian adventurers and writers to make an unjust social and economic order palatable in the parlours of London. I see that the ICSE education is serving its purpose a litte too well :)

How do you feel now, Mukul?
Within 24 hours the tables have turned again. Nimbus to ESPN to Zee to Nimbus. Not only will these meaningless matches be held but will be staring at us from the TV screens. The BCCI has won again - but i bet fleetingly - monkey tricks can last only just that bit longer. Atleast one hopes so!

Hey Smythe,

Why don't you come back after your Victorian adventurers face some curry over the next month or so and then we can discuss what's more worrisome? None of us are against the good side of 'commercialization', what we are worried it the 'Victorian' side of the 'commercialization'. Lets not even go to the 'education' part. :)

I have to agree with you Mukul. This whole competition is idiotic. Apart from South Africa, who else can you name gives credit to the game from Africa? With the long and drawn out world cup, you would think a moratorium would be in place to prevent oversaturation. Look, like a person who throws up after eating piles of greasy food, the average circket fan is already feeling nauseous. And they are not going to watch let alone pay for closed-circuit matches. But let these loser stations agree to broadacst this crap and lose money (as long as it is not mine).

I am all in favour of more cricket. If a player is tired, rest him. Why would you want to stop the game because a few individuals are tired? The delusion is in the idea that there are only 10 or 20 good cricketers in a country like India. Theoretically in this kind of population there should be atleast 200 top cricketers - the reason the probably don't come up top is because of few opportunities. Increase the number of games and rest the stars, and you'll find that there is a huge amount of cricketing talent in the world.

Ed Smythe has a point. The rest of the world is making as much money as possible, while Indians would rather retire with dignity than with money in their pockets. Time to de-value the words "dignity" and "respect" folks, it's blinding you.

Bravo Mukul. Now wait for mssrs Shah/Modi/Pawar to issue a press statement asking you to pipe down. It amazes me that the Agriculture Minister of India is busy trying to win an election to the Bombay Cricket Club & ICC + organize a world cup & sell TV rights, while farmers continue to commit suicide. He is surely, the modern day Nero. And those clowns Modi & Shah, who probably dont even know the difference between silly mid-on and silly mid-off, have the teremity to ask cricket players to shut up while they keep making asinine statements in press.

Well said Theena - test cricket is the greatest! Good article Mukul but I think (and events have proved) that you are too optimistic - Gresham's Law still holds and never underestimate the depths to which the BCCI will sink or the lengths to which a television company will go.

My dear Ed

I share your wry amusement at the way the tables have turned in the international cricket pecking order (well the commercial side anyway, last I heard Australia and England were still no 1 and 2 in the test match rankings!).

But there is something disingenuous about proselytisers of globalisation - what they miss is the cost of the modernisation/commercialisation/economic miracle we are supposed to be celebrating. To point to the costs of globalisation is not orientalism - if anything it means the orientalisation of the Occident as much as the occidentalisation of the Orient.

We have seen enough of your New World Order to know what it has in store for most of humanity and we are far from satisfied that the things we love, such as cricket, should become a corporate business run for the benefit of television advertisers and viewers.

If that is the best you can do, then we will have the Imperial Cricket Conference back please, thank you very much, at least when the Parsees and Muslims and Hindus etc. played each other in communal teams under imperial auspices cricket had an organic link to living communities and was not a dead liturgy to brand fealty and corporate hospitality.

hey man i agree . stupid Afro asian cup doesnt make any sense. its pointless.....every1 is opting to stay away from the tournament. imagine........VAAS chose county cricket over an int'l cricket match. CAN U BELIEVE IT!!?? that itself proves how lame of a series it is. Malinga fell out also. So did tendulkar. the way things are going its seeming as if they might soon have to pick a full 14 member squad again. What do u say?? a squad to replace a squad. hahahaha fools..and tell me what point does it make.....okay we know asia has some strong teams. india pak lanka...yeah we understand that they are strong teams ....so y are they boasting about it?? theyre playing africa....who does africa have?? KENYA??? ZIMBABWE?? i mean comon.....the mass amount of the team will be south africans. Why dont they just call this another super series only thing this time it isnt aussie and its south africa.?? im slready seeing this series as a flop. WASTE OF TIME!!

Rubbish/The most stupid heading I have ever seen.... Content not bad

Mukul,

Your arguments are clean. No questions. But there is just a small point you seem to have overlooked. I remember reading on Cricinfo how the India-SA series in Ireland is going to fill Ireland's coffers and help them make the leap from amatuers to pros.

-Ram

I guess your celebration was a bit premature. Both Afro-Asian series and the Ireland series will go ahead as planned.

It is simple. As long as there is a market for such matches, administrators will cater to that market. No amount of breast-beating by purists is going to change that.

It remains to be seen if this overdose of ODI cricket tournaments will finally turn off the cricket'crazy' indian fan away from cricket to other sports. We can then thank the current BCCI team(Pawar & Co) for displaying their far-sightedness...

Well said! For the past few years senior players have been talking about player burnout and the administrators (Read BCCI) give a damn. Let the excess money and greed go out of the system and maybe the game will be a lot more fun to watch! I already believe any international fixtures that do not involve India are more fun to watch and maybe a good idea for real cricket fans to just 'boycott' these inconsequential encounters which mean nothing the day after! Just like a bad hangover! I wonder where the search for neutral venues will take the BCCI next - Bhutan? Alaska? Fiji?

Amidst all this discussion about the increasing lack of advertisers or the broadcasting company's interest, once point has not been recognized, and which I think is th emost critical. It is the lack of viewer interest!!

I'm increasingly getting this feeling that India's showing at the World cup was the tipping point for cricket's downslide in India, wrt viewer interest! Already with a plethora of matches being played in strange locations like Malayasia and now Ireland, any triseries or championships like the Challenger cup its been difficult for an average viewer like me to keep a track of the goings on. And its not just about me!! My friends, my colleagues in my office, my home... Today everywhere I see, I recognize a rapidly growing disinterest in the game of Cricket. Earlier, Cricket used tyo be topic of discussion half of the time on the Lunch table. Today, hardly anyone bothers!!

Who's responsible? These guys, in order:
1. ICC
2. BCCI
3. Selfish Indian cricket megastars

Through their actions, BCCI and ICC have raked up so much rubbish that Cricket has indeed been covered with it. The only saving grace is that these two bodies have been providing excellent fodder for some interesting writing on Cricinfo and elsewhere! I think Mukul is spot on and I too have no sympathy for any of the broadcasters. It is painful to see the slow death of cricket and I wonder what ICC and BCCI are planning for the live telecast of the funeral.

I agree with every thing except the last line. Poor Gresham would have turned in his grave to his famous quote turned on its head :-)
It should read "When there is a legal tender currency, bad money drives good money out of circulation".

Its wonderful article.It is high time that the BCCI stops giving broad casting rights to all sundry tv channels and sticks on to the channels who exclusively deal in sports like ESPN,SPORTS,TEN SPORTS OR DD SPORTS.Recently the matches with Bangla desh were not broad cast by either TATA sky,DD or the local channel.Why this mad rush for money by the BCCI at the expense of the game.As you said we wish many more sundry channels drop of this mad rush.It is good for the game.We do not understand the logic of playing the cricket in all the countrie where they do not know and do not enjoy the cricket.

While it is difficult to have a grouse with this article, the underlying message as stated by Peter Mahon is a bit overstated. This addiction for one-day cricket is not merely Indian because, remember, India is NOT the country that hosts a "triangular series" every year with more and more and yet some more matches between the featured teams and three finals - that credit belongs to Australia, or have we just chosen to overlook that fact?

extemely well said! Greg Chappel and incorrigiblecommercialisation are the 2 biggest reasons for Indian cricket's...dysfunction in recent times.

Great news that commercialization and the new world order in cricket wins out after all. Now, the BCCI should get the Laws of Cricket moved from Lord's to Wankhede, just to prove a point. Cricket in the subcontinent is just a proxy for what is happening around the world, and I would be disappointed if the India's of the world did not know what to do with the boot now that it's on their foot.

Mukul, your focus on the game, however laudable, misses a much bigger point. India is by far the only economic and social power in cricket, and there's no going back to the days of 'honorable' amateurs facing condescending commentators and snide immigration officers. True, cricket may have lost some of its soul, but in the process a nation may have finally found its voice and its sense of place in the world (despite a large part of its citizens being quite content to wallow in moral victories!). A quite acceptable trade-off, if you ask me. I bet you that in 50 years, we will look back at the 'crass commercialization' of the BCCI as a defining event in the emergence of India as a world power, since it was with cricket that India first believed it could run the world. Very much like how Bradman and Bodyline was a defining moment in Australia's evoltion to something other than a prison colony to be laughed at by the bluebloods at the MCC.

Mukul, couple of things about the article that I'd to share are " Mickey Mouse Cricket" and DD pound of flesh. These Off shore ventures are not entirely a bad idea. Its the way its done is the big question mark? Most cricketers play county cricket durning off season, some well planned offshore cricket like in ireland, scotland during off season in India need not be all that bad. But again quantity and quality is very imp. Espl. off shore venues should be cricket playing associate nations, by playing competetive cricket amd keep ticket prices low or free for kids and cricket clubs would encourage cricket in those countries. I am empty stands due to high prices are not filling anyones coffers. having said that cramming in inconsequential ODIs in an existing packed scheduled can be no good for cricket, cricketers and cricket lovers.
With DD its a classic case of "ASPIRITION without PRESPIRATION" with no money spent on R&D or commercial bidding they want rights to all the matches at home,There are surely ensuring in no time no one will bid for India home games. I'm personally of the view that all home matches should reach all homes thru terristrial mode and DD should be asked pay a sizable share to the main broadcaster.The ad revenues that DD makes are really huge and DD has in its entire life span has done precious little to improve sports broad casting or broadcasting major sporting events. Cricket is a baby that is owned by all but parented by none... Sad but true.