‘Santa Claus’ IPL bears gifts for young Indians

In the momentous first week of February, the ups and downs of fortune were stressed in a game rather famous for being capricious in its dispensing of favours. While some Indian cricketers were given reason to smile as ‘Santa Claus’ seemed to come bearing gifts in the IPL auction, virtual unknowns were transformed into millionaires as the hammer came down.

Cricketing fantasies were fulfilled for the likes of Pawan Negi, Murugan Ashwin, Deepak Hooda and Karun Nair as IPL teams went for national talent with a vengeance. Such fierce bidding for the greenhorns of the game was a pleasant development. For years we have seen the IPL riches reach the rich, the familiar and the famous while the young and the restless were simply left to dream on.

IPL’s season-9 is going to be most crucial for the league as there is a huge image restoration to be attempted after a couple of teams were taken out of the mix by very firm action from the Supreme Court. Left to itself, the game would have carried on in its merry ways ignoring everything except its self-interest and that of its top honchos who enjoy as much of a demigod status as some of the star players.

It was more than a rap on the knuckles for the BCCI as the top court was asked to consider once again whether the game had learned its lessons. Was BCCI prepared to follow the final orders and recommendations of judges who have the ability and the wisdom to see past the glamour of the game and examine the issue from the point of view of the first principles of fair play

Its bloated coffers had rendered the game’s admin so arrogant that it failed to recognise the voice of reason that was dictating the course of the expensive legal action of a couple of years. The game seemed so sold on its chief honcho that the case was boiling down to one man rather than an exercise in defining principles and acting to get rid of conflicts of interest.

Things have come to such a pass now that the whole BCCI has to pay the price. The words that came off the bench at the last hearing were sardonic — “if the BCCI can’t enforce the recommendations, the Lodha panel may be able to help”. That was the clearest message to date on how much the game lost because it kept that big drama going in the courtroom last year while continuously defying the judges in all its actions. People warned off would be chairing meetings as if the BCCI was well above the law.

It is payback time now and the Lodha panel recommendations will be enforced, if not in their entirety, at least mostly. That would leave no room for manoeuvre in a board notorious for its belief in its own supremacy. Not taking a penny from the government does not give the BCCI the right to do as it wishes. There are certain principles to be followed.

Had there been honesty instead of defiance and dissembling when the IPL betting scandal broke, the BCCI would have been in reasonable shape now. Going up on national television and cooking up an ‘enthusiastic’ story sent the altogether wrong message. This might have been the tipping point, which managed to bring the wrath of the justice system raining down on the BCCI.

There is nothing to fear in a whole new BCCI emerging out of this mess. Management professionalism is readily available in the country now and some smart hiring can sort out the issue. Hankering for the old days of BCCI supremacy will get Indian cricket nowhere. It has been well and truly cornered now. The only way out is through total reform right down to the bottom of the system. Any hesitation now can only take the game further down the road to nowhere.