In Defense of BCCI

Not even in my nightmares have I imagined that there would be a day when I would opine in defense of BCCI. But fortunately or unfortunately, I am having to do it now courtesy the extraordinarily over the top reaction of media and opinion leaders to BCCI’s resilience (or stubbornness as some would like to call it) in ensuring that IPL happens on schedule. From casual bloggers to editors of venerable newspapers, everyone has done their bit of BCCI bashing or more specifically Lalit Modi bashing.

Before proceeding any further, I want to make my stance on this very clear. I honestly think that BCCI should have been more proactive and less hot headed in working with the government once the election schedules were known and more so post the terrorist attack on Srilankan cricketers in Pakistan. It shouldn’t have taken the government for granted.

At the same time I also believe that government was too indecisive and was giving inconsistent statements on its ability to provide security support to host IPL. Surely it’s no shame to admit that they can’t provide adequate security for IPL considering the extraordinary logistical requirements of the world’s most complex election process. At least that would have made it easier for both the government and IPL to move on.

Except for BJP none would have had a problem with it and BJP is not a representative of BCCI – let’s not direct our criticism at the wrong place! Everyone understands that the government was in a real corridor of uncertainty over this issue and any unrealistic security assurance could have been catastrophic for the country’ image if some untoward incident had to happen. Better to be safe than sorry.

Now to the defense of BCCI.

Why can’t BCCI understand that the election of the world’s largest democracy is far more important than IPL?
Did Lalit Modi ever say that election should be postponed or cancelled because it coincides with IPL? He’s the commissioner of IPL and it’s his duty to ensure that the tournament goes ahead by managing the constraints surrounding the tournament. And he provided as much flexibility in the scheduling of matches as he possibly could by preparing various permutations and combinations of match schedules. It still wasn’t acceptable to the government and hence the decision to move IPL to an offshore location was made.

But why couldn’t BCCI have postponed it?
It’s a joke. With the international calendar so tightly packed, postponing would have effectively meant canceling the second edition of IPL. Don’t forget that ICC found it very difficult to find a slot in the cricketing calendar for hosting the champions trophy which was to be held in Pakistan last year and BCCI themselves are facing the same problem in trying to accommodate the champions league.

It’s no sin to cancel IPL for the sake of national interests?
Well, what’s the national interest that is being compromised by hosting IPL in offshore venue? Would people not go to voting ballots because they would be watching IPL matches in the evenings??? Do we all stop working because elections are on? Let’s stop getting jingoistic and be pragmatic. The cost of canceling IPL is humongous. There’s huge money riding on it and that’s not all. IPL is the showpiece event in cricket – probably even bigger than the world cup. And if you believe it’s just because of the money involved then you are a fake purist. If it was money alone, why didn’t the world embrace the Twenty-20 for $20mio farce of Allen Stanford? The quality of cricket on display in the first edition was top notch; just watch the videotape of Shane Warne working out M.S.Dhoni in an over of masterful deceit. Only a catastrophe of huge magnitude would result in the show-piece event of any sport being scrapped.

But what a shame that a domestic tournament is going to be held in an offshore venue?
As I have said before IPL is more than a domestic tournament. It’s changed the dynamics of Cricket as a game within a year of its formation. Agreed IPL will lose its charm if it’s not held in India but do we have a choice? For all you know, it might be able to garner a greater international interest than the last edition because of the move to an offshore location.

Also for years, we never played Pakistan in either India or Pakistan but in neutral venues – its not so shameful after all!

What’s the fuss about IPL? It’s all hype, Test cricket is real cricket. It’s all because of the money.
Yes, who’s denying that? If I have to make a choice between Test cricket and T-20, I would most obviously go for Test Cricket. But that’s not even a point of argument here. And there’s nothing immoral about the huge sums of money involved in IPL. If you don’t like it don’t watch it – simple. And BCCI didn’t pour the money into IPL; it’s the followers who have ensured that BCCI is laughing all the way to the bank by embracing the tournament so well. At the end of the day, if the cricket is not attractive the money will eventually drain away.

Mr.Chidambaram was so right about IPL. - "It appears that IPL is more than a game. It is a shrewd combination of sport and business. There is no reason to add politics to this combination,"
Yes he was. So how does that reflect badly on BCCI? He was not reacting just to BCCI members but also to the political fraternity who were gaining mileage out of this issue. Let’s not forget that Lalit Modi (for once) has also been politically correct by asking the media not to politicize the issue of moving IPL out of India.

Surely Lalit Modi hasn’t been a saint in handling such a sensitive issue but doesn’t deserve all the brickbats that he is getting now for doing what was the only pragmatic option left.