The biggest sporting moment for India this year

The sands of time are trickling down on the world of sports too. And before we turn the hour glass around to start the year 2012, it would be nice to revisit some of the moments from Indian sport that made 2011 the year that it was.

They spilled on the roads, countless faces painted with national colours, waving the Tricolour, airing slogans as India broke into one large and spontaneous celebration of the conquest of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 on April 2. There have been few more telling demonstrations of outpouring of collective National pride than late that night. That cricket is one of the few refuges for nationalism was cast in stone that night.

There was so much to cherish. The emergence of Yuvraj Singh as Man of the Series in the World Cup, for instance. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s blitzkrieg in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka and Sachin Tendulkar’s 99th international hundred – secured against South Africa at Nagpur during the World Cup caused much excitement.

The redoubtable Rahul Dravid and the mercurial Virat Kohli top the charts as the world’s leading run-scorers in Tests and one-day internationals respectively. Virender Sehwag world record score 219 against the West Indies are other examples. Of course, and the wait for the 100th century has caught the nation’s fancy. The surfacing of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron as fast bowlers as well as the rise of Pragyan Ojha and R Ashwin as the new spin twins augured well for India as it won the home Test series against the West Indies. Of course, the tour of England came as an eminently forgettable interlude this year, with the Indian team losing all the four Tests by enormous margins.

Similarly, the hockey team took us on a roller coaster ride this year. It came into its own by winning the Asian Champions Trophy at Ordos in China with a victory over Asian Games champion Pakistan in the final on September 11, 2011. Goalkeeper S. Sreejesh stole the limelight with two crucial saves as India defeated Pakistan 4-2 in the penalty shoot-out in the nerve-wrecking final that had ended goalless after extra-time.

The low came when India squandered a two-goal advantage and conceded a last-minute goal to lose 3-4 to Belgium in the final of the Champions Challenge I hockey tournament in Johannesburg on December 4. Striker Florent van Aubel caught the Indian defenders off-guard and scored the all-important winner for Belgium to not only hand Belgium the gold medal but also a maiden place in next year’s Champions Trophy in Australia.

There was plenty of good news from India’s bunch of elite shooters through the year. On April 14, Sanjeev Rajput emulated 10m air rifle ace Gagan Narang and rookie 50m prone shooter Hariom Singh in qualifying for the London Olympic Games by winning gold in the 50m three-position event in the World Cup at Changwon in Korea. Ronjan Sodhi, India’s top double trap marksman, won a silver in the World Cup at Beijing in April 26 to become the first Indian shotgun shooter to make sure of being at the London Games.  The next month, Vijay Kumar lost gold in a shoot-off to Germany’s Christian Reitz in the 25m rapidfire pistol event while Annuraj Singh won a silver medal in the women’s 10m air rifle event and Rahi Sarnobat bronze in the women’s 25m air pistol event at the World Cup in Fort Benning. Abhinav Bindra had to wait till June 18 to ensure a place in the Olympics. He finished eighth in the World Cup in Munich and put himself on course to retaining the Olympic gold he won in Beijing.

Indian trap shooter Shagun Chowdhary qualified for the 2012 London Olympics with a fourth place finish in the Women’s Trap event in the Shotgun World Championship in Belgrade on September 11. Ronjan Sodhi became the World No. 1 in August and retained the gold medal at the World Cup Finals at Al Ain in UAE on October 5 when he beat Olympic bronze medallist Hu Binyuan of China in a tie shoot. But that was not all. The 22-year-old Man Singh made history by becoming the first Indian to win the Asian Championship in Kuala Lumpur on November 30. What’s more he was also part of the squad that won the team gold. And if there was some disappointment, it has to do with 2004 Olympic Games silver medallist Rajyavardhan Rathore not being able to get his form back.

Four boxers (Devendro Singh in the 49kg class, Jai Bhagwan in the 60kg class, Manoj Kumar in the 64kg class and Vikas Krishan in the 69kg class) made our hearts swell with pride as they made it to the quarterfinals of the World Championship in Baku and thus ensured themselves a slot in the Olympic Games. The 19-year-old Vikas Krishan went a step further and claimed a bronze medal in the world championship, marking himself among the favourites from India to be among medal contention in London.

The women’s recurve archers Laishram Bombayla Devi, Deepika Kumari and Chekrovolu Swuro made it to the final of the World championship in Turin and booked three Olympic quota places. The recurve team outscored defending champion Korea in the semifinals 216-212 to make the maiden entry into the final. The best by an Indian women’s team earlier was a fourth place finish at the 2005 Madrid World Championships, where the Indian men’s team moved into the final and settled for silver. The men’s team had to face disappointment this time around.

Towards the end of a year in which she faced an ankle injury, Saina Nehwal made it to the final of the BWF Super Series Finals in Liuzhou, China. She did not win a crown this year but she entered the title round in four major tournaments and finished the year ranked fourth in the world. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa won the bronze medal at the World Championship at the Wembley Arena in London on August 14. They became the first Indians in 28 years to win a medal at the World championships. PV Sindhu is emerging as a player to watch, having risen from 151 to 42nd in the world rankings.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi came together after a long gap, discovered their friendship, won three hardcourt titles on the ATP Tour and made it to the final of the Australian Open and the semifinal of the season-ending Finals but parted ways at the end of the year, leaving Indians guessing about the doubles combinations that would play in the Olympic Games in 2012. Sania Mirza

The 22-year-old Mayookha Johny became the first Indian woman to break through the 14-metre barrier in triple jump at the Asian Grand Prix in Wujiang, China on May 30. She won long jump gold with a 6.56m effort at the Asian Athletics Championship at Kobe in Japan on July 8 after Vikas Gowda won discus silver. She went on to become only the third Indian to make it to the final of an event at the IAAF World Championship when she finished ninth in the long jump in Daegu, Korea on August 28.

These performances came after we were made to hang our heads by topnotch athletes who tested positive for banned substances. Ashwini Akkunji, Mandeep Kaur and Sini Jose, all part of the celebrated Indian 4x400m squad, were among seven athletes who tested positive in May and June. After a series of hearings, they were handed suspensions on December 23.

There were some moments that caused lumps in our throats. Bhaichung Bhutia announced in August that he would not play any more international football, and gave us one such moment. For he had donned India colours with dignity and passion for 16 years and in more than 100 matches, scoring 43 goals and leading the team for much of the time. And, we will be deprived of the legendary Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi’s company, the former India cricket captain who gave our national team a common identity passing away on September 22 after a brief respiratory illness. He spoke little but commanded respect every time he said something.

India placed itself on a very elite map when it hosted the Formula One Grand Prix of India in October a couple of months after the 2010 FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi showcased his skills in a friendly between Argentina and Venezuela in Kolkata. These events showed to the world that India would readily embrace sport and sportspeople who it has spent a couple of decades watching passionately on live TV.

Away from the field of play, news that sportspersons had become eligible for the nation’s highest award, the Bharat Ratna, warmed the cockles of many a heart even as the announcement sparked a debate about who should be the first Indian sportsperson to be given the award. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has worked overtime to move the National Sports Development Sports Bill but may have to wait for a while before that dream comes true.

Talking of dreams, we have plenty to look forward to in the coming year. As we speak, the Indian cricket team is in Australia with hope in its hearts. The hockey fraternity will look for the Olympic qualifier in Delhi as the first of several steps towards regaining a place among the elite. The genial V Anand will bid fair to defend his World Chess Championship in a match against Boris Gelfand of Israel in Russia from May 10 to 31.

The success of the Indian athletes in the Olympic Games in Beijing where Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal was accompanied by bronze medals for Sushil Kumar in wrestling and Vijender Kumar in boxing and in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2010 have spurred our aspirations. And we are hoping to surpass our best showing when the London Games are held from July 27 to August 12. Perhaps, there will be ample reason for all of India to spill on to the roads again. In celebration.

(This was a draft for a review of India’s  sporting year for a broadcast on All India Radio).

There cannot be a better example of how the evolution of media technology had brought English football – and many other world class sports events – home to millions of fans in Asia. The synergy and inter-dependence between broadcast media and sport, especially at the international level, has completely altered how we consume what has come to be called sports products from across the globe. All of us love watching a spectacle, irrespective of whether our athletes take part in it or not. And sport does provides great content for TV and earns stupendous revenue from the sale of rights.

Extending eminent cricket historian CLR James argument about cricket in his seminal work Beyond A Boundary to all sport, they reflect the society in which they are played. And today’s Asia aspires to achieve the evolution of the west – and its sport – without experiencing the pangs of development.  Clearly, the vast Asian market is a readymade and enticing target for such sports products from around the world. So what if we are becoming a consuming rather competing continent. And, there have been a number of Asian firms and individuals who have started investing in these sport and teams.

While it is a good wager that the media in the region has kept pace with its western counterparts in terms of technology, the same cannot be said of sport in the region, with the notable exceptions of China and Australia. It will not be wrong to say that sport that is played in Europe and the Americas dominate the sports media in the entire region – from the middle-east through the sub-continent to the far-east.

Sadly, one of the major fallouts of the evolution is the reduced time and space for national sport, let alone regional, collegiate and local sport, has got. In India, for example, archer Deepika Kumari has to win accolades at the international level before the media picks up her story and discovers that she is the daughter of an humble auto-rickshaw driver in Ranchi; Yuvraj Valmiki has to score a goal in the penalty tie-break against Pakistan in the final of the Asian Champions Trophy hockey in Ordos before the media realises that he has grown up in a shanty by Marine Lines in Mumbai. There is no greater pride and joy than in recognising talent and being the first to give it time or space.

Come to think of it, media development doesn’t have to be synonymous only with the financial bottomline. True development has to go deeper than that. It has to encompass evolution of sports media from being mere carriers of news and views to being catalysts which also enhance sports consciousness among the people. The use of sport as a tool than can build the character of the athletes – and therefore a country’s people – needs to be embraced and spread. It is only when it facilitates such wholesome growth of sport, can we say that sports media has indeed evolved.

It is undeniable sports development does not happen anymore without the active partnership of a variety of media. Be it the conventional products like the Olympic Games or FIFA World Cup finals or ICC Cricket World Cup or even new ones like the Indian Premier League cricket, print, TV, radio, internet and mobile platforms are all used widely to showcase sport.  Nowhere can the impact of technology be felt than when watching world class sporting events from the comfort of our drawing rooms.

Increasingly, this has kept us away from local sport. Even a cursory look at the day’s newspapers in the region will show that a vast majority of the sports coverage is international, based on what is being telecast. It ranges from cricket to European football league, ATP and WTA tennis tournaments to the USPGA and European PGA golf tours, Formula One to NBA. When we were growing up, we would wait for four years to watch world class football on TV but now we get to watch it ever so often.

The spin-off – and a bad one at that – is that a lot of sports, especially at the regional and national levels, face the threat of fading away because there has been so little coverage in the media. And such lack of encouragement can lead to the drying of resources, eventually leading to a smaller pool of talent to draw from in the years ahead.

On its part, while radio can contribute to the development of sport, it will find incredibly good content, rich in the human element, when promoting sport and sportspeople. The road ahead is challenging and interesting, but not impossible. And it does look like it will be up to regional stations to find local heroes and promote them so much that representatives of print media are forced to take note. I believe that if that has not happened already, a large part of it is due to lethargy on the part of the programming and marketing staff.

For someone who has grown up listening to radio broadcasts — running commentary, as we knew it – of Test cricket, international hockey, several national championships and even local sport – I believe that the medium would soon have to reinvent its sports programming, based on a connect with their audience.

There are some significant things that can be corrected quickly but with changed mindset and a little effort. I am sure that TV channels can produce interesting features around sport in the hinterland rather than just use the old-fashioned copy-paste techniques to showcase clips from events that have been beamed live. Or, get busy when controversies like doping or match-fixing rear their heads.

Radio stations, including privately-owned FM stations need to tap the sports market that reaches beyond sport that is aired live on TV. They will find champions from yesteryear who can inspire their audiences and budding champions who can also make the hearts swell with pride in the same manner as celebrities paying tribute to Army personnel on the border on Jaimala Gold, a weekly programme aired by All India Radio.

National Sports Federations as well as organisers of school, college and club sport must galvanise themselves into finding ways to regain time and space in the media if they are to remain relevant in the years ahead.  And when that happens, you can be sure that the stories Deepika Kumaris and the Yuvraj Valmikis will be well known even as they are winning laurels for their country.

I am an optimist and believe that the day is not far when sports producers both on news TV channels and radio stations will look for out of the box solutions to the conundrum they now face. And if they are in denial about it being a conundrum, I am sure they will stop embracing a status quo approach to sports. It just needs a different mindset for the benefits of development to reach a variety of sports at all levels across the region that houses the largest market for sports products.

This article was written for Namaste, the souvenir that has been brought out by Prasar Bharati, to commemorate the 48th General Assembly of  ABU (Asian-Pacific Broadcasting  Union in New Delhi from November 2 to 8, 2011

I also read a statement by the International Cricket Council CEO Haroon Lorgat that the frantic rush for the tickets was an indication of the popularity of the 50-over format and the passion fans, especially in India, have for the game.

And that made me smile.

For, a couple of days earlier, I was at the Ferozshah Kotla ground in Delhi where less than 10000 people watched South Africa beat the West Indies by seven wickets.  Perhaps Lorgat has’t notice that the crowds have not been flocking for non-India games.

Needless to say, as we have seen in Bangalore, the demand for tickets far exceeds the seating capacity in contests that feature Indian teams. And in these games, the tickets available for sale to the general public comes down basically because the event owners and host associations are committed to providing extra tickets to their stakeholders I find it curious that ICC now says it will make available to the host associations ‘unused leased tickets’.

I also find it curious that ICC is actually making available such tickets earmarked for sponsors, commercial partners, BCCI associations and guests for an India game. Does it mean that the offtake of such tickets by these stakeholders for an India game is poor?

That is why my eyebrows have stayed raised ever since I heard Karnataka State Cricket Association Secretary Javagal Srinath say: “Unused leased tickets are coming to us in batches of 50-100 and in some cases 200-250 from the ICC. These will be sold online and not through counters at the same price they were bought earlier.”

In a non-India game, should the hosts print as many tickets as there are seats in the stadium and risk spending more than they are likely to recover from the sale of tickets? Take, for example, a stadium that can seat 50,000 people. If the cost of printing a ticket (and including a barcode unique to each ticket) is Rs 10, then an association will incur Rs 5 lakh towards the cost of printing alone.

It is a good guess that 35 per cent of these tickets are non-revenue tickets;. Of the remaining tickets (numbering 32,500), let us assume that there are 2000 pay up Rs 200 each, the association picks up Rs 4 lakh. And ends up with a loss of Rs 1 lakh. So, it will be tempted not to print the whole lot of 50,000 tickets to minimise its losses from such games. And the “Sold out” boards are hung even if there are many empty seats in the stadium.

Notice McCullum's stroke? Or the sea of empty seats behind him? Photo courtesy: Bangkok Post

It may be early days yet in the ICC Cricket World Cp 2011 but the fact that the first three games can hardly be called ‘matches’ and the fact that the cricket lovers in Chennai gave the opening game in their city the thumbs down on Sunday make me wonder how soon it will be before the pundits starting asking a question that fans have already started asking: Does the Cricket World Cup in its present form have a bright future?

Let me take up the second aspect first. That there will be empty stands in some games is a reality that the World Cup organisers will have to live with.

The Organising Committee Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi was in a similar fix and few understood that a hockey game between, say, New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago or between Malaysia and Scotland would never draw a full house. And no one even wanted complimentary tickets for these matches.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has already advised the hosting associations to lower ticket prices for non-India games and to offer free seating to school students to ensure that the stands are not-so-empty as they were at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai, during New Zealand’s 10-wicket demolition of Kenya.

No matter what the host associations do, it will be hard to draw the paying spectator to watch these games. The fan has become smart and saves up for the big games (read the India matches and the knockout games). There will be a blink-and-you-miss quality about the knockout games, given that there are just seven of these games between March 23 and April 2.

Besides, the fans have IPL IV looming ahead and would rather get to see contests that offer them quality. That brings me to focus on the fact that some of these World Cup games will be mismatches. The ICC will have to ensure that the intensity of the contests in the tournament is high if the product called the Cricket World Cup is to survive, if not flourish.

I have always believed that the market forces will do their best to ensure that the 50-over game is kept afloat – simply because a full game can include close to 98 minutes of commercials. Yet, the fact that a lot of cricket fans are waiting for the knockout rounds can make the same market forces rethink a bit sooner than later.

When the marketing wizards in the powerhouses that are funding the cricket carnival sit down to calculate return on investment, their focus will be drawn to the apparent lack of interest either in stadia or TV. And these market forces will influence the form and shape of the Cricket World Cup to ensure that all games hold a high level of interest for the audience.

Of course, the ICC has already realised that it cannot use the Cricket World Cup as the platform to give the minnows exposure and has decided that the next edition will have just 10 teams competing. It is important that it spends the next four years in ensuring that the standards of the sides attempting to qualify for the World Cup is lifted manifold.

If the tournament in the sub-continent does not succeed in drawing and holding the attention of the fan, ICC will have to scratch its head and reinvent the World Cup format to ensure that it survives – and flourishes.

The 2003 Cricket World Cup was of vital importance to the participating countries. For India, a world cup triumph would make cricket the nation’s leading industry; for the host, South Africa, a successful campaign might realize its dream of political unity.
Dealing with themes of racial/political unification, commercialization, the media and globalisation, this book explores the role of cricket and sport in each of the competing nations.
Looking at recent developments such as match-fixing, the abolition of the quota system and the performances of the South African national team, the collection examines the importance of the Cricket World Cup in providing a unified political, social and economic stage from which a united South African identity can finally emerge. The book also explores the role of the Cricket World Cup in relation to West Indian unity, Pakistani economic regeneration, Sri Lankan, Kenyan and Zimbabwean peace.

Sunando Dhar, I League CEO

New things happening at AIFF: The Rs 700 crore 15 year marketing deal with IMG Reliance will benefit Indian football. Likely to announce broadcast and sponsorship deals in 7-10 days. Looking to professionalise the set-up with a new Secretary-General in place. A new beginning and a firm commitment to take Indian football to the next level. We have been stuck in a hole for a long time now.

Clubs need to fulfill certain criteria if they have to stay in the I-League fold. Some clubs are still stuck in the last century. They need to improve infrastructure and embrace development programmes and be professionally run. Some young clubs like Shillong Lajong, Pune FC and Viva Kerala have already shown that this is possible.

Rathindra Basu, Sr. Director (Business Development), ESPN Star Sports India

There has been a huge change in the past few years when cable and satellite TV has got home the best of world football each weekend.

Indian players need to be identified early and have proper coaching, nutrition and planned careers. Foreign players make money in India and go back. There is not much development of Indian football. There is a need for a solid pipeline that gives us good players. There is a need for much work at grassroot level.

Hugh Kim Lewis, UEFA A Licence Coach

There is a growing passion for the game in India.

Stadia in the 80s were a disgrace but funded by EPL and Sky Sports, they changed and people could take their families to the grounds. The best players came to play in England. Coaching also became a recognized profession. It was not just the former players who became coaches. Sports science was embraced by football. In 1996, coach education was standardized and that is what India has to do now. The basic principles must be the same anywhere so that the process is flexible as the player evolves from u-12 to senior ranks.

Clubs need massive investment in starting academies and centres of excellence. Local clubs must encourage schools to send those interested in football to their academies. The Dutch follow this system and the Germans too. The media must support the development process.

Coaches are the lifeblood of the system. We are not manufacturers of spare parts but we can help players avoid pitfalls. Maradona example of how coaches did not discourage him because he was only left-footed. It is not money that coaches must love. It means a lot to be able to bring about change so that an emerging nation can catch up with the rest of the world soon. Coaches must teach correctly and with passion.

We must think about the whole spectrum not just the national team. The US invested heavily in correct coaching methods and soccer is now the most participated sport there.

Shamya Dasgupta, Sports Editor, News X

We must make football a priority in India if it is to shine not just as an emerging economy. The intent has to be there. The Rs 700 crore from IMG Reliance has to be used correctly.

Rajat Mukherjee, Ex Secretary, DCM Football tournament, Delhi

We have serious problems as a nation. Football only reflects this. We are looking for charismatic leaders and heroes all the time. We don’t want team success. The secretaries of football clubs are powerful but everyone needs to be interested in the development of the game. It is a huge uphill task.

Sukhwinder Singh, Managing Director, Libro Sports India

Football is at a take off point in India. Indian team has qualified for the Asian Cup after many years. IMG Reliance has come in now. AIFF is getting into bed with a number of football loving institutions, structuring sponsorship opportunities and improving player representations./

Amit Saran, CEO and MD, SPT Sports Academy, Bangalore

Football has always been at the crossroads and we have always taken the wrong turn. We need to take the right turn. We need more academies to fuel the need of the young players.

G Rajaraman

There are 6540 clubs, 3.5 million registered players in India and enough money for football players but if India is ranked 142 in the world, there must be something seriously wrong. The media must find a good balance and cover local football. Our players need to be respected and made to feel like stars for the young to start playing rather than just become mute spectators (110 million Indians watched the FIFA World Cup 2010). Unless the Federation, coaches, media and sponsors make the Indian players central to their plans, Indian football will be struck at the crossroads.

Nilanjan Dutta, Sr. Sports Reporter, News X

Players need to change attitude and not just be satisfied with getting contracts at home. They need to have the hunger to go out of India and showcase their skills. Bhutia did that many years ago and now Chhetri is doing that. We need more players to go out and play in various leagues. Their dreams should not go for a toss as soon as they get jobs or 20-25 lakh contracts.

With cable and satellite channels bringing home a fairly high quality of sport from Europe for a good nine months each year, the number of youngsters who become fans of European football is only growing by leaps and bounds. Sadly, this is not converting to youngsters taking to playing the sport and we are fast being reduced to a nation of young couch potatoes who are happy to watch the Ronaldos and the Rooneys, the Kakas and the Messis.

The easiest target to attack for such a plight would be the All India Football Federation for the national team’s inability to cross the first set of hurdles in the qualification race for the FIFA World Cup. Of course, few attempts have been made to keep the Indian team in the collective consciousness of the people. Unlike in Europe where club football dominates, in our market, it is the national team that holds the attention of the fans.

We have seen large turnouts when the Indian side plays the Nehru Gold Cup and precious little energy has been spent on getting the team to feature in more matches at home. There would be many benefits, not the least being the fact that the national players would be on television for more time than they are now. A fair consequence of such frequent appearances at home matches would be that the team and the players would have the chance to gain popularity, if not challenge that of players in European leagues.

The other culprits could be the owners of Indian football teams. They have not kept pace with the times in building themselves or their players as brands. In a market driven economy, they remain rooted in ancient methods of running their teams. Even though India has a professional I-League that is broadcast live on television, no attempt has been made to professionalise the way the teams are run and kept in the public consciousness.

Fans have heard of Sunil Chhetri becoming the first Indian to figure in Major League Soccer in the United States. But schoolgirls are getting hooked to EPL and the like. Man-U and Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid feature in their conversations just as much as the names of Ronaldo, Messi, Drogba and Xabi. The young of today have carried their public displays of affection for football to a different level altogether. And India’s football clubs, state associations and the AIFF are doing precious little to face this challenge.

The Ministry has used the fact that it funds the training of elite athletes for international competition as a handle to whip the National Sports Federations with. Of course, one the biggest responsibilities of the Ministry is to look after the needs of our elite athletes besides spreading the message of sport across the length and breadth of the country, create infrastructure and cause a greater sports consciousness to be imbibed by each Indian.

Sport must become a national priority and the Ministry of Sports must work to encourage all Indians to play sport and not just watch it on satellite TV, assuming the mantle of critic and join in debates on news TV channels each time a new controversy springs up. It does not seem to have spent energies in developing a sports culture in India even though the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi offer it a great opportunity.

Come to think of it, the Ministry has failed to deliver in nearly each of its primary tasks. Instead, it has succeeded in perpetrating two popular myths that the National Sports Federations survive on the dole handed out by the Ministry of Sports. The other is that officials of the National Sports Federations siphon off the money rather than spend them on the sportspersons.

Let me place before you some numbers that are found on the website of the Ministry of Sports.

A National Sports Federation gets a grand sum of Rs. 2 lakh as grant to organise its National championship, Rs. 4 lakh for a junior championship and Rs. 6 lakh for a sub-junior championship each year. And, the maximum grant given to a National Sports Federations to hold a World Cup or a World Championship or a Commonwealth or Asian Championship is Rs. 10 lakh.

Anyone who has ever been willing to spend time at a National Championship will understand that a grant of Rs 2 lakh does not pay for even one head of expenditure. In this scenario, I wonder how officials who put together National Championships can siphon off any money. On the contrary, they will have to raise at least 20 times more money than the grant given by the Ministry to successfully stage a National Championship.

India’s sports administration structure is based on a legacy of 75 to 80 years. There is no doubt that it must change and keep pace with modern times. Here is my suggestion: The general body of each National Sports Federation can choose a Board of Directors, which must then hire a team of professionals to run the sport. But that is a huge challenge since India Inc does not seem to support Olympic support as whole heartedly as it does cricket and many international competitions that are shown live on television.

My own take is that is only the electoral college of the National Sports Federations – whose constitutions are duly approved and recognised by the Registrar of Societies under the Societies Act 1860, the Indian Olympic Association and their respective International Sports Federations – that have the right to decide the tenure of the office bearers and executive committee members.

With the International Olympic Committee making it clear that it is the prerogative of the National Olympic Committee to fix the tenure of its officers and members of the executive body, it is clear that the Ministry of Sport will have to bite the bullet. For, any attempt to curb the tenure through an order would be viewed as external interference and a violation of the principle of autonomy expressed in the Olympic Charter.

Of course, all stakeholders in Indian sport – Ministry of Sport, IOA and its affiliates in all States and Union Territories, National Sports Federations and each of its State Associations, athletes, sponsors, broadcast partners and other media as well as fans – must lend their shoulders to keep the wheel of Indian sport on track rather than work to derail it.

In a classical case of Twitter vs. Twitter, featuring two of India’s widely followed men, Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor went at one another’s jugular. India has watched with bated breath as these men fought a no-holds-barred battle in public domain in the wake of IPL’s expansion from eight to 10 franchises in the next season.

No soap opera could have offered a richer menu – allegations of favouritism, nepotism, bribery and threats, income-tax surveys featured prominently. It did not seem to matter that IPL III was heading to its climax. A large audience awaited the unfolding drama that got along more dramatis personae every day and left us with more unanswered and uncomfortable questions.

Let me dismiss any suggestions that cricket will suffer. I have believed that cricket can outlast any controversy like it did Bodyline, apartheid, Kerry Packer-led World Series and match-fixing. The game is larger than anything else that it spawns, including pretenders who wallow in the belief that they are larger than cricket itself.

The fact that last year when the world was battling recession – and India with a slowdown –  the eight franchises signed up 17 overseas cricketers and spent more to $11.5 million at the auction was a clear pointer to not just IPL’s health but also that of the cricket economy in the country and, for good measure, the state that India was in.

And this year, the numbers took a gigantic leap with two new franchises promising to raise more than $700 million over 10 years. But naturally, some of wondered if the owners of the two new teams had such deep pockets that would see them through long spells of no return. And we wondered if IPL was reaching for the self-destruct button by inviting uninvestigated investment.

Let us look at some more questions that have sprung up now in the wake of Lalit Modi’s tweet about the shareholding in IPL Kochi. If indeed the IPL Commissioner wanted to check the antecedents of those involved in floating the company that successfully bid for the right to own IPL Kochi, he should have done all that verification before the auction itself rather than fling doubts after the bidding process was complete.

And, if indeed there is nothing wrong in revealing the names of the shareholders in IPL Kochi, why haven’t shareholding patterns of all IPL teams been revealed? Such selective revelations do raise doubts about the motive. So was Lalit Modi peeved that Rendezvous Sport and the others chose Kochi over Ahmedabad?

There is a feeling – and it has been fuelled by the IPL Kochi camp – that Lalit Modi was keen that the franchise be based in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. How true is Shailendra Gaekwad’s allegation that Lalit Modi offered him $ 50 million to withdrawn their bid for the Kochi franchise so that fresh bidding could be called for?

The time is at hand for all IPL stakeholders to prove to the nation at large that the sight-screens in the venues are the only things black now associated with the colourful game. A lot of us will heave a collective sigh of relief if that is not the colour of money likely to come into the game. It would help if we know for sure that there is no slush money being laundered through IPL.

Since most IPL franchises are not to be making a profit yet – and the two new ones are unlikely to in three to five years, given the enormous amounts they are due to invest each year – I wonder if they really want to make a profit and not just balance their books of accounts with a loss-making project.

There is no question that IPL has drawn huge investments in India. Nor, for that matter, can anyone challenge the fact that IPL has gone past the conventional sponsor and appealed to a world beyond. Therefore, it is imperative that IPL is not run on whims but raises the bar as a model of corporate governance in Indian sport.

One of things that must be done is to ensure that all these companies that own IPL franchises and other IPL properties are registered in India rather than in tax havens. The other thing it must do is to develop a self-regulatory mechanism that will ensure that the financial deals by IPL and its franchises are clean as a whistle.

And yes, the Board of Control for Cricket in India needs to exercise more control over what it calls one of its sub-committees, especially in money matters. At the moment, the sub-committee has outgrown its parent leaps and bounds and threatens to over-run it, too. The only whip that BCCI holds is the fact it runs all ‘official’ cricket in India and can withdraw recognition to a product that has grown beyond its control.

Any human endeavour that encompasses body, mind and spirit makes for a heady potion for those who are destined to merely watch it. The idea of drawing new audiences is fine; the idea of taking IPL beyond known boundaries is just as fine; but getting new investment without verifying its antecedents or questioning the motives of the new benefactors does not appeal to me as bright at all.

Cricket needs to guard its reputation fiercely and not become a vehicle for all and sundry to ride piggy back on. The big questions is: Do the mandarins of BCCI have the mettle to say that they would not be drawn by an intense desire – bordering on greed – to make more money for the sport? Your guess is as good as mine.

(This article was first published in Free Press Journal, Mumbai)

Vinay Kumar in his colour-coordinated shoes

I believe in the need for cricket to keep pace with the developments in other sport and games as well. The infusion of colour, for example, was something that was waiting to happen.  Coloured clothes – and the white cricket ball – came in to the sport back in the 70s, thanks to the onset of Kerry Packer-driven World Series Cricket.

When you watch team sport around the world – from football to hockey, from basketball to rugby – the first thing that strikes you is colour. Come to think of it, psychologists reckon that impression caused by colour can account for as much as 60 per cent of the acceptance or rejection of a product or service.

I am surprised it has taken years for someone to come up with coloured cricket shoes. But I liked what I saw on TV recently when young Vinay Kumar, son of a former autorickshaw driver in Davengere, turned up with a pair of red shoes. It went with his clothes and did not stick out as being an inelegant part of his attire.