As the great Gideon Haigh so aptly put it: “Does cricket make money to exist? Or does it exist to make big heaps upon heaps upon heaps?”
Money is all people are looking for these days. Urgh. In cricket, money slashes the life of the Testing schedule, puts serious power in the hands of sponsors and franchise owners, adds obscene thumbs to the biceps of lower-order hitters, while corruption constantly threatens everything. drop. We would call money the Root of all evil, but man is too sane. It’s more like the Salman Butt of all evil.
Like jet-set one-percents who have love children in various parts of the world, IPL franchise owners have bought from South Africa T20 league teams. Last month, they set about completely IPL-ifying the tournament. There will be an IPL auction, and the now-standard IPL-style rules where four members of the XI can be foreign players. At schedule time, it seems likely that the game schedules will try to serve the Indian market as much as possible.
This in a country where human rights heroes had to fight for Indian rights not so long ago. Now, cricket teams made up of South Africans will take “strategic time outs” so that Indian companies that may themselves be responsible for the pollution can advertise air purifiers to Indian consumers.
Forgive me if I take a minute to cry over the beauty of it all. But isn’t this exactly the South African future that Gandhi must have dreamed of?
If you had to serving a one-year ban imposed by the ACU for failing to report corrupt approaches, maybe you would keep your distance from potential game companies for a while. But unfortunately, you are a boring, visionless idiot. You are not Shakib Al Hasan. Last month, the BCB had to tell him to end his association with a company called Betwinner News.
Now, in the interest of not being sued, we have to mention that Betwinner News claims that they have “no connection with any kind of betting or gambling activities”. But in the interest of not being stupid, we should also point out that this company name is an amalgamation of the words “bet” and “win”.
Why do cricketers retire earlier?
More and more cricketers are choosing to move away from internationals or leave their national contracts. The international schedule is too grueling, they say. Too much going on, a lot of pressure being applied, not enough time to recover. It is quite logical. Players reach a certain age and realize that despite having spent so much time away on national service, they have neglected those closest to their hearts – the franchise owners who pay them hundreds thousands of dollars for a fraction of the work.
Cricket has stupid rivalries, but it’s really stupid. If you want to read the story (and you shouldn’t), you can read this preview. The naagin probably should have been retired after the 2018 Nidahas Trophy, but in Sri Lanka knockout against Bangladesh at the Asian Cup, he reappeared again, with the teams and spectators in the stands knocking him out. Hang on to your brain cells. This could be the flavor of Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh matches for years to come.
Next month on The Briefing:
– Shakib appointed anti-corruption director of Bangladesh.
– A freshly retired international cricketer seen playing a heartwarming game of catch in a park with Nita Ambani.
– New SA20 league in major dilemma over whether to have exclusively white cheerleaders in games. “But the IPL did it for years!”
#IPL #money #world #cricket #bet