Sahara Vs BCCI – End of an 11 year old relationship

The Sahara Group, Indian National Cricket team’s sponsor for the last 11 years has decided upon parting ways with the BCCI. As per the article published in The Hindu,just hours before the IPL auctions, Sahara group gave a statement about its decision of severing all ties with the premier Cricket Governing body.

In the next few paragraphs I will try to ascertain the reasons and implications of this decision and some of the positive changes that the Sports fraternity might observe in the next few years.

Reasons

As per the statement given by Sahara Group, the reasons can be enumerated as follows :

1) The relations between Sahara and BCCI have soured over the years. In 2008, BCCI had disqualified Sahara in IPL auctions which according to Sahara was without any concrete reasons.

2) The price that Sahara had bid for was based upon the assumption that there would be 94 matches in the IPL. However, there were only 74 matches. On being asked for a refund of the remaining amount BCCI denied it on the grounds of strict rules and regulations.

3) Sahara seemingly was not too happy with the fact that IPL had a provision of retention of players. As they entered the IPL auctions last year, they said 12 of the best players were already retained. The ex-sponsor claims that everybody should have a level playing field which the rules clearly denied.

4) Due to the unavailability of Yuvraj Singh for this season, Sahara had requested to add Yuvraj’s price to the auction purse while it also agreed upon paying Yuvraj Singh. The BCCI has rejected this upright.

BCCI-  Dictating terms 

The BCCI, with its money power, has tried to dictate terms with the ICC which, when seen in retrospect,cannot be ruled out. The recent claims made by Sahara has brought this aspect to the fore.

1) Fading performance – Recetly, BCCI has been under the scanner for the team’s laclustre overseas performance. It has been ascribed to the BCCI’s lazy and neglecting nature towards the development of the domestic cricket.

2) Money minded – There can be no denying the fact that over the years, BCCI has changed from a governing body into a money minded institution which has devoted all of its energies towards glamourising the game rather than nurturing young cricketers. IPL serves as a money making machine for the BCCI and one cannot help but notice the corporate culture in the auctions.

3) Changing dynamics – Our team’s latest failure can somehow be attributed to the changing cricket dynamics in the country. The youngsters are more keen on earning quick money and fame rather than working hard in the longer formats of the game. The short but intense format has also caused injuries woes to some of the brightest perfomers and has lead to utter humiliation abroad.

4) Pitches – If winning matches irrespective of pitch conditions is on our agenda,I feel that this attitude should be replicated somewhere in the pitches made available during the domestic season. The pitches should be designed to replicate versatile conditions so as to equip our youngsters well in foreign conditions. How BCCI is unperturbed with all these considerations are quite clear with the latest Ranji statistics available here.

Good News

Amidst all these gloomy news,Sahara has decided to pour in 1000 crore in a welfare foundation.It aims to develop 20 rural/semi urban sports development centers with diversified sports like Hockey,Soccer,Badminton,volleyball etc. It has also made plans to develop an International class sports academy which will serve the best of the talents coming from the rural and semi urban centers.

If Sahara can keep with its promise, it might come as a sigh of relief for those sport fraternities which are gasping for breath in their quest for survival. It might also come as a reminder for the government which has rightly been accused for its lopsided approach towards the non-cricket sports.

2nd in the sattire series….

My first cartoon strip

Boxing day test

Great Expectations : A book review

Before I start off with this review I must make you aware of the fact that I am not a voracious reader. My association with books (read literary novels), as far as my mind could gather,  is not a very age old relationship and it has been only a few years since  I have started reading acclaimed Classics. It took me more than 20 days to read a book with a little more than 400 pages bound together. But what made me sit down and write this blogpost is the fact that in the era of  SMSes where words have been ripped off their vowel part and Twitter where one gets to read atmost 140 characters, I think I have achieved quite a distinguished feat of reading a Dickens which is well known for its twisted language and an esoteric sense of sarcasm well known only to the learned reader.

Before being introduced to Dickens(the unabridged version) one of my teachers said,” Dickens carves out the character with his armory of words in such a way that,someday,if  you come across him/her in real life, it won’t be difficult for you to associate him with the character” . After reading a couple of Dickens I can understand how true he was.

Great expectations is an account of the Poor-boy-turned-rich Pip and the hardships that he faces during this transformation. This book is centered about Pip and enumerates the character changes that are often associated with a change in the social status and formal education.Pip is born in a family of limited means and his world is restricted solely to his sister Mrs Joe,Mr. Joe and her uncle Pumblechook. The tough childhood can be best be described by the uphandedness of his sister and her over-reliance on Pumblechook for every minute matter concerning the household and the poor soul. One special character which deserves mention in this passage is Joe. Joe character can best be described as the only solace in the life of Pip and how he carries on with his occupation while being unperturbed with the dominationg behaviour of his  wife.

For those who have watched Hindi movies for a major part of their lives,Pip’s change in fortune,where he finds a benefactor will be the most expected plot. As the plot unfolds, Pip’s social circle changes, he receives formal education and how his outlook changes towards his earliest benefactor Joe when his real benefactor is revealed is what forms the rest of the story. Also worth mentioning are the characters of Miss Havisham and Estella. Whereas, the character of Estella brings in a tinge of desperation and anguish in his otherwise dormant life, the character of Miss Havisham seems rather unnecessary.

If  there is something contemporary which can be derived from this writer of Victorian period then it is the fact that Life is neither a bed of roses nor a crown of thorns. What makes our life special is the awful mix of both of them and the unpredictability attached to every day,every hour, every second and every infinitesimal moment of our existence.