The Great Indian Paisa League

The IPL reminds me of an instance in an Indian mythological tale . Remember the Kauravas and Pandavas battling out over a board game ?! The Indian Cricket is facing a similar crisis at the moment in which the BCI , the IPL and the players being the Kauravas who play with then biased die . With we , the staunch followers , the ones who have adopted the game as a religion being the Pandavas . At the end of the game , some among us , the bookies get stripped . And then we are set into an year waiting for the next carnival .
              This has been the trend among the youth for the past 6 years . The people are building an extremely vulnerable culture by putting all their eggs into a single basket - cricket . Inherently , it is a gentleman's game . But lately , when big money started indulging in it , it is facing a grave credibility crisis . The recent spot fixing(as they call these mischieves) allegations and charges , both against cricketers and bollywood actors , have raised a cloud of uncertainity over the game . Neither the government nor the governing bodies seems to take up any responsibility on the issue . The IPL and Indian Cricketing watchdog , the Board of Cricket Control in India (dominated by top bureaucrats , politicians and Industrialists) neither want to propose some antidote to the corruption in the game .
          The fact that IPL is flawed is simply not only based on the recent controversies . Money is good for any sports and cricket is no exception . It helps proper structuring , help develop proper roots in the nation , and also the most important , give recogonition to talented youngsters on a bigger stage . But for an economy like India , this splashing of the macro-million figures simply indicates the worst economic slowdown behind us . For a nation where a large section of its population still under the Below Poverty Line(BPL) , these millions of dollars aren't gonna feed their hunger .
             Also just try to recollect certain facts : where does this money come from ? These franchisees anyway cannot make sufficient profits out of this really short version of 76 games . So eventually , they are looking upon their other business ventures to raise the amount . I wouldn't say all the owners are bad . But many of those consortiums which have purchased the teams are flawed . One of them having debts of 1000s of crores to the government of India which is being relaxed by certain high officials . Another owner has a reputation of cheating 30 million small town investors an amount of $4.5 billion ! Another franchise family having close relationships with the founder of India's biggest scam ever! So , ultimately it is the money which rightfully belongs to the people of this nation . It is also decorated with a popular name : "Black Money" ! In a nutshell , IPL simply sets a stage for money laundering .
               Now to the fixing saga . IPL is a game which handle quite huge amounts . So eventually there can be a lot eye popping offers on and off the field which could lure players into playing against the doctrines of sport . They,especially the local players, are bound to be offered sums which they never could've imagined . This makes them offend their own morality and conscience ! Thus leading to spot fixing . Spot-fixing isn't the only bane of the game . IPL is another WWF kind of scripted drama ! It has its chills which goes down the wire , it has its own controversies in the form of on-field exchanges , late night bar brawls . All summing up into a good-looking performance . With the billion fans lauding them quite innocently like a baby while the actors grinning behind their back in the success of having cheated the people openly ! They have taken the fans into such a confidance that , a boy kidnapped and killed his cousin , to obtain a ransom to redeem the money lost on betting .
Talking about legacy . Well yes , IPL is pretty young as of now . Still 6 years old . Let's assume that IPL is straight as an arrow . Apparently , this dumb league doesn't even have the credibility of Ranji cricket . In Ranji , the players play out for their home team . What relation does MSD have to Chennai ?! What is Virat Kohli's relationship with Bangalore ? So in a way , they don't have any obligation to the fans and the land they play for . It's only the pay cheques they receive upon 45 days . Imagine the case of foreign players ! This is so unlike the EPL . The EPL model though has players playing for other counties , it has a pretty well established fan base and solid team structure . Unlike IPL , EPL doesn't auction all the players after a few seasons ! So you have players getting committed !
The government should also rather try to reduce the nation's indulgence into cricket . Where is India's national game , hockey ? The government should realize that cricket isn't a game which brings in glory . It doesn't have a place in the olympics or any other renowned sporting leagues . It is also interesting to realize that barring Australia and New Zealand , every other nation which "Promotes" cricket are developing or under-developed nations : India , Sri Lanka , Pakistan , RSA , Bangladesh ,etc . England "plays" cricket , but doesn't promote it which is visible from contrasting stands of a cricket match and soccer match . I would suggest a lot of diversity in sporting culture for our growing population . If the government could even channel a fraction of the amount which is earmarked for cricket into athletics and other sports , it would surely bear fruit .
                I don't want them to scrap the IPL as a whole . They wouldn't do it because it gets the cash registers ringing . They wouldn't want to give up a method to make easy money . But it needs to make transparency the prime issue . We can imagine the influence a team like the Chennai Super Kings can have when its owner is the president of the BCCI ! No wonder , they have so easily gone through to the play offs on the trot! The BCCI needs to overhaul itself . Throwing out the bureaucrats and industrialists and bringing in those who know a wee-bit about the game . Another one is to set up dedicated enforcement units to check into the proceedings and workings of the league . The sole aim of the units should be to curb the discrepancies . Moreover the number of matches have to be reduced considerably .
At the end of the day , the people must realise . I see future engineers and doctors who are supposed to be the ambassadors of sense and sensibility ,waving the flags and whistling like buffoons at this IPL thamasha ! Even after exposing the truth , they can't convince themselves that IPL is a sham . The nation can't change if not the people !
Jai Hind !