NEW DELHI - The new global cricket venture by Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group has to be seen in the context of recent happenings in world cricket, particularly in India. The uncertainty over the functioning of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the resentment among some boards, particularly the Associates, over the way the International Cricket Council is run may have prompted Essel to take on the establishment.
The Essel Group, which floated the short-lived Indian Cricket League before the IPL put it out of business, is quick to deny Modi’s involvement in its new global vision for cricket. Modi, on his part, also said he had nothing to do with it.
Votaries of the free market, Modi and his mentor Inderjit Singh Bindra always believed that cricket should be liberalised from the control of a handful of a cosy club of international boards/members. In fact, the BCCI had offered Subhash Chandra the telecast rights for offshore cricket during Sharad Pawar’s regime, but this fell through for non-cricketing reasons.
Subhash Chandra, perhaps, perceives himself to be modern day Kerry Packer whose World Series Cricket (WSC) showed cricketers how to make big money without conforming themselves to traditional forms of the sport. He does not make bones about his intention that he is in the global sports business and feels cricket can be taken beyond the confines of the Commonwealth countries. Not a bad vision, but how will it work?
After the ICL fiasco, Subhash Chandra will not jump in without a proper blueprint and execution plan. He will also be wary of the Indian board’s potential to sabotage his venture a second time. (IANS)
Votaries of the free market, Modi and his mentor Inderjit Singh Bindra always believed that cricket should be liberalised from the control of a handful of a cosy club of international boards/members. In fact, the BCCI had offered Subhash Chandra the telecast rights for offshore cricket during Sharad Pawar’s regime, but this fell through for non-cricketing reasons.
Subhash Chandra, perhaps, perceives himself to be modern day Kerry Packer whose World Series Cricket (WSC) showed cricketers how to make big money without conforming themselves to traditional forms of the sport. He does not make bones about his intention that he is in the global sports business and feels cricket can be taken beyond the confines of the Commonwealth countries. Not a bad vision, but how will it work?
After the ICL fiasco, Subhash Chandra will not jump in without a proper blueprint and execution plan. He will also be wary of the Indian board’s potential to sabotage his venture a second time. (IANS)
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