India is a cricket crazy nation where this game is not less than a religion. When India plays, the entire nation watches with the hope of them winning every time. The minds, emotional, feelings and expectations are intensely related with this game of Cricket. The love, passion is immense and so is the game.
But still there are things that surprise us. Take for example, the ongoing Test Series between India and South Africa. The cable one gets has about 90 odd channels with 5 sports channels but still, we are unable to watch the match live. The telecast comes on a new channel which the cable providers do not subscribe for. And the only reason is that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) got the highest bid from that channel and they didn’t care whether people will have access to it or not. BCCI is the richest cricket club in India but wants to get richer.
That makes one realize that cricket has turn out to be a money game and nothing else. No one cares about the sport, not a gentleman’s game anymore. Nothing is done to promote the game.
Take the case of football. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has out rightly rejected England’s proposal of hosting a world cup, because they do not want rich to be richer. FIFA does not believe in getting more money but it is the game that matters. Alas! Cricket does not follow this rule.
Cricket also has a governing body known as The International Cricket Council (ICC) but just for the sake of it. The body makes rules, amends them, bends them and at times, forgets them. One wonders why we have such a helpless governing institute.
There are only ten full member of the ICC: Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
There are 27 associate members of the ICC: Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Fiji, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, The Netherlands, Nepal, Papua, New Guinea, Scotland, Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States of America and Zambia.
It clearly shows that out of 245 countries (recognized 193 and others) in the world, around 37 only play cricket while as 200 plus countries play football. Cricket might be getting bigger and admired but in the 37 countries only and not growing to additional countries. The ICC does not seem bothered about it. One can still get enormous quantity of money by caring about the game first and not the other way around. The realization, as always said, has gone astray here as well.
Every new add-on comes with pros and cons and so is 20:20 but the right way is to use it in favor of the game. The 20:20 cricket has made a huge difference to the game, though in both the good and the bad ways. It makes the game shorter in terms of time; more crowds friendly and therefore, popular. But with invasion of big cricket leagues (money wise only) like Indian Cricket League (ICL) and Indian Premier League (IPL), the picture gets worse. Money plays, money rules and the money wins.
Very soon, the players will leave their countries and play for the clubs only for money. I wonder what will happen to cricket then. This time is going to arrive sooner than you think.
According to Mamkol, “Cricket is a gentleman’s sport but organized by un-gentle people as a technique of moneymaking”.
But still there are things that surprise us. Take for example, the ongoing Test Series between India and South Africa. The cable one gets has about 90 odd channels with 5 sports channels but still, we are unable to watch the match live. The telecast comes on a new channel which the cable providers do not subscribe for. And the only reason is that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) got the highest bid from that channel and they didn’t care whether people will have access to it or not. BCCI is the richest cricket club in India but wants to get richer.
That makes one realize that cricket has turn out to be a money game and nothing else. No one cares about the sport, not a gentleman’s game anymore. Nothing is done to promote the game.
Take the case of football. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has out rightly rejected England’s proposal of hosting a world cup, because they do not want rich to be richer. FIFA does not believe in getting more money but it is the game that matters. Alas! Cricket does not follow this rule.
Cricket also has a governing body known as The International Cricket Council (ICC) but just for the sake of it. The body makes rules, amends them, bends them and at times, forgets them. One wonders why we have such a helpless governing institute.
There are only ten full member of the ICC: Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
There are 27 associate members of the ICC: Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Fiji, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, The Netherlands, Nepal, Papua, New Guinea, Scotland, Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States of America and Zambia.
It clearly shows that out of 245 countries (recognized 193 and others) in the world, around 37 only play cricket while as 200 plus countries play football. Cricket might be getting bigger and admired but in the 37 countries only and not growing to additional countries. The ICC does not seem bothered about it. One can still get enormous quantity of money by caring about the game first and not the other way around. The realization, as always said, has gone astray here as well.
Every new add-on comes with pros and cons and so is 20:20 but the right way is to use it in favor of the game. The 20:20 cricket has made a huge difference to the game, though in both the good and the bad ways. It makes the game shorter in terms of time; more crowds friendly and therefore, popular. But with invasion of big cricket leagues (money wise only) like Indian Cricket League (ICL) and Indian Premier League (IPL), the picture gets worse. Money plays, money rules and the money wins.
Very soon, the players will leave their countries and play for the clubs only for money. I wonder what will happen to cricket then. This time is going to arrive sooner than you think.
According to Mamkol, “Cricket is a gentleman’s sport but organized by un-gentle people as a technique of moneymaking”.
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