Nine seasons of the Indian Premier League have gone by and the tenth edition is primed to start in a few days. Former manager of the Indian cricket team, Amrit Mathur, who was also closely associated with the Delhi Daredevils, puts together a ‘report card’ of the biggest T20 league in the world. Part 1 of his report can be read here: 9 Seasons Down: A Report Card of the IPL
Could Do Better
1. Governance
The challenge before the IPL is governance, and not cricket, or its commercial health. The management has run the event in a routine manner so far, but the league needs long-term vision and leadership.
From the beginning, the IPL made a tactical mistake by aggressively advertising its commercial character. Many thought this error of judgement demonstrated a lack of good taste. The IPL carelessly flung its figures – of commercial deals and player salaries to name a few – around, a move that made the League sound like someone boasting about their newly-acquired wealth.
The IPL’s habit of quoting all figures in US dollars was less top-dog and more wannabe. The fact that cash, and not cricket, became the IPL’s currency, hurt the league in more ways than one.
As if this overemphasis on cash wasn't bad enough, the IPL forged a strong bond with controversy and crisis, and displayed a spectacular talent for scoring self goals.
Among them the most famous:
1) IPL's own self-crowned czar/boss/don Lalit Modi was accused (and found guilty) of colossal financial wrongdoing. He was subsequently suspended, sacked and exiled.
2) By allowing officials to own teams, the IPL set in motion a chain of events that caused a tsunami of sorts, leading to the dismantling of the BCCI. It was the IPL that brought 'conflict of interest' (COI) to the centre stage in the national discourse. To put it in simple cricketing terms, a person’s love for multiple roles could lead to him being a player who also became an umpire and the official who appoints the umpire.
Letting officials own IPL teams meant that the team owner, the BCCI official and the IPL governing council member could all be the same person: the one making a case, the one admitting a case and the one who passed eventual judgement on it.
3) The move to shift the IPL to South Africa in 2009 infuriated the government. In turn, the government ordered a serious crackdown involving court cases, tax enquiries investigations and raids. Files relating to the 2009 affair are still floating around various arms of the government, waiting to be brought into play whenever convenient.
4) The darkest chapter was when the IPL was hit by the corruption and match-fixing controversy. Players and team officials were jailed, the League’s and the BCCI’s governance practices were exposed to scrutiny and four years later, the BCCI is still dealing with the fallout.
5) High mortality rate of franchise teams caused uncertainty and upheaval. Teams came and went, others were suspended and terminated.
Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune have all been on the wrong side of the IPL, as have champions Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals, resulting in litigation and arbitration –none which survived scrutiny in court.
The IPL, quick on the trigger, has often ended up shooting itself in the foot. In ten years the IPL is yet to open its account when it comes to getting any favourable verdict from the court.
The IPL journey has seen occasional patches of clear skies, but lots of turbulence and rough weather. Think of the IPL as a flight where the seatbelt sign is never switched off.
2. Equal Opportunity for All Budgets
The league was structured on the principle of providing equal opportunities to the teams. Safeguards were put in place to keep teams from using their resources to bypass their rivals. The IPL wanted to create an ecosystem where skills decided the winner instead of money.
Like most other things associated with the IPL, this noble intent was also systematically shot down. Take for instance, US $10 million the salary cap – the maximum amount available for teams to build their squads. This ceiling exists only on paper as there are many legal loopholes and provisions (retentions, trading, support staff salaries, releasing money to foreign boards), which allow expenditure in excess of this limit.
Under the current formula, the RCB can pay any amount, say Rs 20 crore to Virat Kohli, but only Rs 12.5 crore is taken from the Rs 66 crore salary purse.
The point is simple: the salary cap should cover all player/support staff costs without exception. Or else, just junk the concept.
A Few Questions
Has IPL delivered on its promise to make domestic cricket robust ?
From a cricket standpoint, exposure to top world players and the experience of competitive cricket is immensely beneficial. The modern young player today is self- confident and is better prepared for a higher grade of cricket, his education fast tracked by sharing a dressing room filled with legends.
Is there a downside to this?
Perhaps just one, a concern first articulated by Rahul Dravid, who felt it could devalue normal cricket in the eyes of the young player. If it is possible to make serious money and become a star on the strength of limited skills required in the 20 over format, he argued, why would anyone work hard to play Ranji or even Test cricket?
Are the rupees raining down on Indian cricketers?
While cricket benefits are clearly visible, the economic achhe din are still a long way off, as the promised financial boom has not reached the majority.
Of the 135 Indian cricketers engaged by IPL teams this season, 50 players are already secure, given their central contracts and earnings outside cricket. On the other hand, 48 players fall in the minimum Rs 10 lakh IPL salary bracket, and another 14 sit in the Rs 10-30 lakh bracket. So, effectively, only 25 or so Indian cricketers receive what can be termed life-changing rewards.
The stark reality of IPL Indian players contracts are not unlike global economics today.
Because rich players are getting richer while the vast majority – 1000-odd Ranji/first class players representing 28 teams in senior tournaments – have missed out on the IPL riches.
What the IPL has definitely done is to create job opportunities for a larger number of India support staff. After an initial phase, when foreign professionals were hired as a package deal with foreign coaches, Bangar/Balaji/Amre/Arun Kumar/Mohd Kaif/Hrishikesh Kanitkar/Mithun Manhas were appointed, as teams realised that Indians are best suited to provide intelligence about Indian players, who make up two-thirds of the squad.
(Amrit Mathur is a senior journalist, former GM of the BCCI and Manager of the Indian Cricket Team. He can be reached at @AmritMathur1)
Join The Quint on WhatsApp. Type “JOIN” and send to 9910181818
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)