Thank you Mr. Modi

We often say that in India Cricket is not a game but it’s a religion of almost every Indian। There are other games too. But cricket has a quality to appeal masses and classes at the same time. Thanks to some of the greatest name in Indian cricket, parents have started seeing a budding Sachin, Saurav or Rahul in their kids. Such is the charisma of cricket in India.

The game has evolved over the period of time। From test cricket to one day cricket and now to 20-20 cricket… It seems like cricket is getting customized as per the needs of the viewers. It sounds like cola drink available in 1.5 lit, 500 ml and 200 ml bottles. All quench the same thirst. So in the market conditions where the supply would never be able to suffice the demand for the entertainment via cricket, Mr. Lalit Modi’s brainchild IPL came as a best selling product. BCCI being the richest sport’s governing body left no stone unturned for adding few more zeroes after one in their account. IPL gained a lot of fame and money as well in its 1st season. With some film star franchisees owning the teams, more glamour got added in the already glamorous game of cricket. The concept was indeed criticized for commercializing every aspect of the game. Some of the incidents like Kingfisher chief sacking RCB coach Venkatesh Prasad left a bitter taste in mouth of game supporters. Such incidents proved that business houses or film stars own teams to make money. They are not there for the love of game but all that matters to them is business. Heftily paid cricketers are bound to give good performance because at the end of the day, it’s all about money. What came in as a good part (which I doubt was the intention of the concept) was the exposure to local talent. India is full of cricket talents and everybody can’t make it to top 11 to play for India. So tournament like IPL provided them with the opportunity and people came to know about some young guns like Abhishek Nayar, Swapnil Asnodkar, and Manpreet Goni who outperformed some of the foreign players. So with all such pros and cons IPL indeed proved to be a profitable proposition and people actually started awaiting this year’s game.

BUT…this year’s IPL will remain in the memories of all cricket fans for some wrong reasons. First and foremost being venue shifting outside India. Was that really needed? Mr. Modi, Commissioner of IPL was unable to shift dates of matches. And Government of India was unable to provide full protection sighting the reason of general elections being held in the same period. So the home minister asked Mr. Modi to shift dates of matches in May to which Mr. Modi opposed saying it would result in losses to the sponsors. Was it really a reason or it was merely an EGO issue? I wonder if Mr. Modi did some scenario planning while fixing the dates. Few simple questions would throw some lights on this issue.

1. The sponsors such as Aircel, DLF, Vodafone, and Hero Honda are targeting which customer segment? Indian or foreign?
2. What is the forecast for footfall at the stadium for the matches if held in India and what it is if matches are held outside India? Was weather taken into the consideration?
3. What about the job opportunities and business opportunities which could have been created if IPL would have taken place in India?
4. Wouldn’t IPL have resulted in building better sports facilities with the help of investments from franchisees?
5. Are the franchisees happy with this whole new expensive shifting? Are the players happy? What about the players who were sent back under the name of cost cutting?
6. Does Mr. Modi really care what picture he is creating about India when he brags about how successfully he has managed to shift IPL to South Africa?

We all know answers to these questions, Don’t we?

Every project comes with a backup plan. It has to. That’s why we do scenario planning. But the biggest and one of the costliest projects doesn’t seem to have one such back plan. It’s the flexibility in the plan which assures success with minimum loss. So when Mr. Modi says that we cannot schedule IPL after general election, it doesn’t go down well with me.

IPL in May would have resulted in fewer cancellations. We wouldn’t have to settle with 10 over game because of rain. If shifting of dates would have caused losses to sponsors then aren’t the play cancellations causing losses? What about the very concept of IPL of playing at home venue and away venue? There is nothing like home team getting more support and thus the advantage. It seems Mr. Modi has agreed to alter the concept but not the ego.

Today when we see matches on our television, we do see South African fans turning up for matches and Mr. Modi and the franchisees (especially the Bollywood lot) getting overwhelmed by the response they are getting in foreign land. But do we feel the same? A Mumbai Indians match in a packed Mumbai stadium with crowd screaming “Surya….Surya” for Sanath Jaysurya, would have been a better sight to watch anytime. At the end of the day it’s the game of cricket which should remain unbeaten. No politics, no ego issues should hamper the game. We will enjoy matches on TV, we will scream and clap at home but we will be missing something for sure. And we should all thank Mr. Modi for missing that ‘something’.

So, thank you Mr. Modi.