Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 17, 2021 - May 23, 2021

Playing for humanity” was always going to ask a lot of the world’s finest cricketers in the midst of a pandemic. And sure enough, even with elaborate precautions including bio-secure bubbles, the Indian Premier League (IPL) was bowled out prematurely.

That Covid-19 proved unplayable in the end was a rare but catastrophic failure for “the show must go on” brigade. Many sports, including cricket, have been largely successful in steering their fixtures safely through the crisis until now. With the rescheduled European Football Championships and the Olympics looming, the debacle in India will be a reality check.

No one said cricket is more important than life or death, but the IPL hosts did raise the bar alarmingly high with their Twenty20 spectacular. In an email to the eight participating teams last month, Hemang Amin, interim CEO of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), wrote: “While you are professionals and will play to win, this time you are also playing for something much more important … humanity.”

Soaring rhetoric often invites a stumble, and this one had been coming since it was decided to stage the event in India. Last year’s edition had been successfully held in the UAE and the IPL Governing Council wanted to return there due to the worsening pandemic on home soil. It made sense as fans would not be allowed either.

But BCCI would have none of it and rejected a last-ditch plea to switch a week before the opening match on April 9. It was a decision that doomed the tournament. Twenty-nine of the 60 matches were completed before a halt was called, but never can a national obsession have clashed so graphically with a national tragedy. As ex-footballer turned broadcaster Gary Lineker noted, “People are dying faster than runs are being scored.”

Opinion in cricket-mad India was split. BCCI president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly insisted, “For people sitting at home, we are providing entertainment. Otherwise, they have very little to do.” It’s an argument that all sports make in justification and the folks at home certainly seemed grateful — as Covid-19 cases reached 400,000 a day, viewing figures topped 100 million. The opening match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore recorded 10 billion minutes of viewership.

Indeed, it is one reason why sport — mostly without spectators — has been allowed to continue in many virus-stricken countries. Football’s English Premier League (EPL), after which the IPL was named, is a prime example. When live action stopped after the initial lockdown, viewers soon tired of reruns of old matches. And when the real thing returned — even without fans in the stands — it felt like liberation.

But never has the debate raged to such an apocalyptic backdrop. Only in India could a flick of channels offer such excruciating contrasts: the best of times, the worst of times; Bollywood glitz, funeral pyres; wickets falling, hospitals overflowing. Both needed oxygen, but one was mainly chasing the oxygen of publicity.

Few were convinced that “entertainment” was the primary motive of an organisation that is no slouch on the commercial side. The IPL is the brash, new money-spinning kid on the block of international sporting leagues, having started only in 2008.

Since then, with its turbo-charged hitting and heady mix of Bollywood stars — Shah Rukh Khan (Kolkata Knight Riders) and Preity Zinta (Punjab Kings) are among the owners — and the world’s best players, the IPL has risen to third, behind only American football’s NFL and EPL in the batting order for global broadcast rights per game.

An editorial in the UK’s The Guardian newspaper was in no doubt, saying: “There are certain cash cows that cannot be criticised, but even more protected are the holy cows, such as the IPL. The BCCI is run by Jay Shah, the secretary, and he reports not so much to the president of the BCCI as to Amit Shah, the home minister of India and one of the most powerful men in the country. Jay also happens to be Amit’s son.”

The perception was that the IPL was too big to fail and the cynics were unrelenting. The New Indian Express suspended coverage, calling the tournament “commercialism gone crass”, and claimed that this year’s tournament, which was expected to make close to US$500 million for Indian cricket, was being held “in a bubble completely detached from the realities outside”.

To ensure the safety of the players, officials, coaches and commentators, police and vital medical resources — including doctors and ambulances on standby — were diverted to stadiums and dedicated hotels. But even the bubbles were not as secure as they were in the UAE, many players reported.

For top cricketers, the IPL is a chance to earn a life-changing sum in six frenetic weeks. International stars were sold at auction, with Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell going for US$2 million — this year’s highest. England allowed a dozen of its stars to skip its own domestic tournament to cash in.

But the no-expense-spared policy was always going to prove a lightning rod for criticism. One headline screamed, “Loss of revenue matters more than loss of life to IPL”, while one scribe claimed, “The silence of Indian cricketers is too loud”. On the other hand, London Mayor Sadiq Khan offered to stage games in the British capital. And once play was finally stopped, several English counties offered their grounds to help the tournament complete its fixtures.

It is obvious that the only reason it did stop was because the bubbles finally burst. Altogether four players and two coaches from four teams tested positive for Covid-19, leaving the BCCI with no option but to call a halt. But no sooner had stumps been drawn than offers flooded in — from the UK, the UAE and Australia for what was already being called “Phase Two”. You know you have a juicy pie when everyone wants a slice, and the BCCI is mulling them over.

With India now unlikely to host the T20 World Cup in October/November, the need to complete the IPL becomes greater — even if it is held elsewhere. So, dividing the remaining matches up between three countries could be an option. It is another logistical nightmare, but with new audiences to attract in places where they are allowed to attend, it could be seen not just as a salvage operation but as a way to open new markets.

Compared to the human calamity that has unfolded in tragic tandem, Indian cricket’s flagship event — for all the hype and vast viewing figures — is but trivia. However, the debate on whether it should continue, providing an evening’s respite from the daily horrors for 100 million people, just about held water until the dam was breached.

And sport is not just a morale-booster, it employs a lot of people and is a key part of the economy. But the lesson to be learnt from the IPL 2021 is that if the bubbles burst, the event will too.


Bob Holmes is a long-time sportswriter who specialises in football

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