Grumble with Gaurav | Gaurav Kalra
In a cosy club, squabbles too are comfortably cosy. My millions up against your millions and a bit might cause the occasional scuffle but it remains largely uncombative. Resolved quickly enough in time to blow the fake kisses and get along with the merry business of celebrating wealth. The IPL is one such cosy club. Its owners are essentially frenemies. Their boys compete for a trophy yes, but really once the balance sheet works out and a bit of fun has been had life gets a move on. There are movies to make, beers to sell and companies to acquire.
Over the last three years the IPL has invited cricket players to savour a taste of the joys wealth offers. And once seduced, those players have hungrily coveted more. Oddly enough, while essentially market driven the structure of wealth distribution has been largely equitable. The big guns have been paid better. The up and coming have been paid well enough. While in the elite lounge at the cosy club sit the flamboyant owners, the players have been in the room just outside. Comfortably numb and relishing the fruits of their membership. Continue reading below
Suddenly though a chasm has been created that threatens to explode the tranquility. By capping the earning potential of those who are yet to play for India, the IPL is resting its bum on a festering volcano. A class divide looms. The IPL was always about the haves and the have mores. Suddenly, there are the have nots. And they could crack the edifice beyond repair.
Imagine yourself to be 21 year old Manish Pandey. Its all going to plan so far in a bright young career. Sparkling talent. The first Indian to make an IPL hundred. An eye catching century in a Ranji trophy final. An India cap inevitably around the corner. A mind without doubt or rancour. Yet suddenly that same mind is besieged by envy and rage. Forced to play for the Bangalore Royal Challengers alongside another 21 year old who goes by the name Saurabh Tiwary. While Pandey is asked to take home 20 lakh rupees for his 6 weeks of service, Tiwary will see his bank account balloon up by 7 crores and some loose change. All because Tiwary has played a grand total of 3 one-day internationals. Where he has batted for 56 balls in 2 innings for 49 runs. So when Ray Jennings hollers after they lose a close game, "You knuckleheads, we should have won that", could Pandey be tempted to respond, "Tell the million dollar dude coach, I'm just the lackey".
Or imagine yourself as Rajat Bhatia. A Delhi boy in his 30s. Never quite good enough to play for India yet the nuts and bolts guy that gets his city franchise functional. On the circuit for 10 years but since that India cap never came, all he can get is a deal for 30 lakh rupees. Hmmm, fair enough he says, shrugs his shoulders and gets on with it. But now, in the changing room as Bhatia unwinds after a game, he sits besides Venugopal Rao. Similar in age and a familiar figure from the domestic circuit. Yet Rao is taking home a neat 3 crores! All because, he played 16 forgettable one-dayers for India that fetched him a sum of 218 runs with one half century thrown in. The last of those was in 2006. Heaven forbid if Rao drops a catch, would Bhatia be tempted to growl, 'Hey Mr megabucks, can you stop counting the cash and focus on catching a cricket ball instead?"
Infact, the Indian player in the Indian Premier League has been placed at extreme ends of the balancing scale. With 7 needed in an XI, why were only 48 up for auction? 70 were needed just to make up the XIs. Another 70 to fill up the squads. A short supply created a desperate scramble at bizarre prices. Instead of bringing in those Indian players who have played the IPL before into the auction, the BCCI demanded an India cap from them. And shockingly defied its own standard by allowing domestic players from other countries to slurp on an undeserving bounty. So the Deccan Chargers amusingly described the unheard of Daniel Christian as a 'great all-rounder' to justify his near million dollar pay day. And Daddy Marsh thought son Mitchell was worth 1.4 crore rupees for his Pune team at the ripe old age of 19, having played just 3 first class games so far. All this while Pandey, Rayudu, Satish, Sidharth Trivedi, Bhatia and many more sat dazed in front of TV screens wondering if their passports were a ticket to hell.
Consider this scenario. Slighted and frustrated, one of these uncapped players is approached by a bookie on the eve of the game. "Hey", the dirt-bag says, "Why don't you let your four overs go for 40 in tomorrow's game, and I will have a suitcase full of cash sent over. Look at that guy in your team making crores and you are worth nothing". Would a mind consumed by anger and envy find that offer easy to spurn? Are high moral grounds possible to stand on when around you everything appears immoral and unfair?
Extreme as they may sound, these are real scenarios because they involve real people. Philosophising gets only so far in the real world. The IPL CAN NOT and WILL NOT succeed if it allows a 'poverty syndrome' to fester within its ranks. In its very design it is meant to be a theatre of glitz, bucks and ambition. Where even those on the fringe are heavy on the pocket and desirous not envious of the upper echelons. The IPL might never be able to unload the conflicts of interest that abound its very core. But is it in its interest to create conflict within its cosy club? Doesn't history tell us that those who feel aggrieved and denied tend to find a voice, make a noise and ultimately find a way to destroy even the most formidable fortresses.
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