The Supreme Court did what the Board of Control for Cricket in India should have done long ago. But the BCCI was busy protecting the then President N. Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan. So busy that it allowed another case of corruption by another team owner, Raj Kundra, to go unpunished. The irony is that Srinivasan brazened it out in the hope of saving his relative as well as his franchise, and now, in a sense, may have lost both.
That the rot in the IPL ran deep has been known for long. Conflict of interest and lack of context were built into the system. Due diligence was ignored in the matter of television contracts, auctions and team responsibilities. Rules were made on the fly. The BCCI had abdicated its responsibility even before the Supreme Court came into the picture.
There has been — and is — a call for an ‘IPL holiday’, a period when the tournament is suspended while its structural and systemic problems are sorted out. When the Chief Operating Officer says, “Ownership structures of teams are in general ambiguous,” we have to worry. For that is what Sunder Raman has said — and he is being investigated next.
It is convenient to believe that the IPL is too big to fail. There is too much money involved (this year it was worth, according to one estimate, about $8 billion). The IPL has proved our elders wrong. It is not money which is the root of all evil, but evil that is at the root of all money.
Tempering justice with mercy In November last, the Supreme Court had already asked: Why can’t the Chennai Super Kings be disqualified? The Lodha Commission might have tempered justice with mercy by merely suspending CSK and Rajasthan Royals for two years instead. Neither team took any action against its erring official and for that alone there was a case for terminating both.
“Your behaviour is not that of a lover of the game,” said Justice Lodha to both Kundra and Meiyappan, which means that these two men — who have criminal cases pending against them — will merely dust their hands and move on. A large monetary fine might have stung a bit. And reminded potential Kundras and Meiyappans that there is a price to pay.
The BCCI has two choices. Either it decides that things have gone far enough and puts its house in order, or it reverts to type and rides out the storm with as little disruption to its money-making, political, impervious ways.
Srinivasan might have set the bar high for brazenness, egotism, familial duty, opaqueness and chutzpah.
But most of his colleagues in the BCCI have all these qualities as well as itching fingers when in sight of money. Srinivasan’s interest in the game is genuine and he has no need to dip into the till, something that cannot be said of some others.
The Lodha Commission’s decisions must give rise to more uncomfortable questions about the IPL. Were Kundra and Meiyappan the only officials who bet or were there others? If they were attempting to translate their insider status into money, is it logical to presume that they might have taken the next step to protect their investments by ensuring matches followed a pattern? There is at least one documented case of Meiyappan getting a team total right. Would that have been possible without the connivance of some players?
And that is where we get into dangerous territory. What about the players? Just over two years ago, we awoke one morning to the news that Sreesanth had been involved in spot fixing. There have been others since. The BCCI, has for the eight decades it has been in existence, made a fine art of sweeping things under the carpet. In this it has been supported in recent years by the players, sponsors, media (the TV rights run into millions of dollars).
Can it be trusted to run the IPL in the light of its track record?
Cultural differences There are cultural differences between the BCCI and the IPL that affect both.
The former is a feudal, inward-looking, mutual back-scratching body dedicated to perpetuating its rule. The IPL ought to be a modern, driven organisation of young men and women who live in today’s world and who will run a clean show if only because that is the most profitable way. If the bottom line is the quest, then constant vigilance and prompt reaction to infractions are necessities.
There is just enough manoeuvring room in the Lodha Commission’s recommendations for the BCCI. It can bring in two more teams in place of the suspended ones. It can find owners for CSK and RR who will run the teams in different names.
It can play two years of six-team IPL. It can appeal against the bans and suspensions.
Or it can, for once, turn the focus away from itself and think of the sport. It has been a while since the BCCI put the game ahead of individuals, and might be out of practice. But now is a good time to start. The IPL: Clean it or lose it, should be the motto.
