Cricket is regarded as the second most popular game. Cricket in India is not less than the temple that we go and worship. Cricketers are not less than the God we worship. Cricket is not the national game of our country India. But, then also the game is growing up in terms of getting the popularity from the people. Starting the IPL in the country took a new step in the world of cricket and the popularity raised more due to it.
History of cricket:
Cricket is a game which is played with the bat and ball. There are 2 teams having 11 players each. Cricket was first played in Southern England in the 16th Century. It became the national game of England in 18th century. The first international cricket tournament was in the mid 19th century. Today there are nearly 104 member countries of ICC (International Cricket Council). BCCI (Board of cricket control for India) is one of the members of the ICC. There are 3 main types in cricket. Test cricket, One Day Games (limited over game) and T20.
Formats of cricket:
Initially there were only 2 types. But, in the year 2003 England and Wales Board started a new format for professional inter-country competition which was T20. The first world T20 World cup was in the year 2007 which India won. Initially the name was Twenty-Twenty for the game. But, later it was revised and it became T20. It became so popular in India that after winning the T20 world cup when team India came to Mumbai, people welcomed them in a great manner. On that day it felt like the warriors came home after winning the great battle.
The money making machine:
This lead to the formation of one new concept which came as IPL. It was a concept which changed the entire game of cricket. The biggest example of cricket being the money making machine is the IPL. There were 8 teams which were bought in crores of rupees. The players were also bought in crores of rupees. Players were bought according to their performances in the test and the ODIs and the T20 world cup. From then the game of cricket started becoming the money making machine for the boards and the players.
The players were bought in crores. They have to play for their respective team owners. All the players gave their best shot in the IPL. Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Maliya paid about £55m for buying the IPL teams. Shahrukh Khan spends about £40m for buying Kolkata Knight Riders. This trend of buying the teams in millions of rupees gave the concept of money making business in the game of cricket. Not only the buyers of the teams started business from the game but the players also considers the game as the money making machine. Andrew Symonds, Australian player got about £250,000 for playing 4 games for Hyderabad Deccan Chargers. Whereas in the first season of IPL Mahendra Singh Dhoni got the highest package of Rs. 6 Crores and he played well also.
Many players of different countries left the tournaments for playing in the IPL as they get the money easily in the IPL, money making game. The game which they played for their country now they are playing for their respective team owners and the money that they are getting after playing the game. The cricketers get the double amount in IPL compared to the money they get in playing for their country. It is seen that many players get hurt in the T20 game but still they prefers to play the game as they get good money in IPL. And the same player will quit playing for the country. This shows the power of money in the game of the cricket.
Player’s not only quit the play for their country but it seems that they are losing interest in playing for their countries. Take an example of the recent ODI against Australia which was from 25th October to 11th November. Some of the batsmen like Mahendra Singh Dhoni who performed well and made about 285 runs, Sachin Tendulkar who made about 275 runs. While talking of the bowlers Harbhajan Singh, Pravin Kumar and Ashish Nehra made a mark by taking some wickets and scoring the runs even when they were down in the batting line up. Others did not perform well; some of them were not in the form. But, the same reason could not apply in the IPL as it is the Indian Paisa League for them.
They all play for IPL, score the runs and take the wickets also. If we take example of R.P.Singh, he played excellent game in the IPL but when it comes to playing for the country he fails in taking the wickets. Dhoni gave him many chances but he could not make it. He last played ODI against Srilanka. He took only 1 wicket in 5 overs giving away 34 runs. While his careers average is 33.86 from 55 matches and he took about 65 wickets. There are many players who have taken the retirement from the cricket to concentrate just on the IPL. Adam Gilchrist is one of them. They don’t tell it in front of the people, but they believe that their decision of taking the retirement from the game is influenced by the IPL.
BCCI is becoming the money making machine. BCCI finds the money in everything it does. Another example is BCCI invited the tenders for the sponsors of the Team India for Rs.500 crores for 4 year (for 170 matches). In the year 2005 BCCI gave the sponsorship to Sahara for Rs. 400 crores for 4 years. The contract is getting over on 31st December. Before then BCCI has to find new sponsor, but no company is ready for sponsoring Team India logo. BCCI wants 3 crores of rupees for every match i.e., Test match, ODIs or T20. They want 50 crores rupees as the security from the company. This all shows that BCCI only wants the money from the game.
Not only the Indian cricket Board but the cricket Board of the world wants team India to come to their country and play cricket there. The series against India gets the most TRPs and thus the boards of different countries give the TV rights at very high rates to the TV channels. In this way the other boards also earn the maximum amount of profit during the series. This is the only reason why every countries board is inviting the Team India to come to their country and play cricket over there. This is not the end of the whole cycle of making money from the game. BCCI now wants that IPL should be organised twice in one year.
The boards or the players themselves do not think of their fitness but they think of money before playing the game. The money which came in the place of the game has destroyed the value of the game. Many former players and the cricket analyst are saying that because of the money and the power that is there in the T20 game there is the threat of losing the original format of cricket i.e., Test Cricket. Also some players and the public are not interested in test cricket. Many cricketers and former cricketers are coming forward to make a way for saving the game and saving the values of the game.
Conclusion:
It is proved that the cricket that is played today has lost its value and is affected by the money making business from it. Whether the player is fit or not, if he has to make money he has to play the game. The advertisers also take the cricketers who play well in all the formats for its product brand ambassador. The players also work for the advertisements keeping away from playing cricket for the country. There are many players like Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Virendra Sehwag who select ad film shooting rather than taking rest or practicing for the series. The players get crores of rupees in the ad films as well, so ad films, T20s are like the money making machines for them but through the game of cricket. Without cricket no one is recognized in the public. But, the reality of today is that the Boards of different countries, players and the franchise owners of IPL all are here to make money from the big machine i.e., CRICKET.
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