Shekhar Gupta's column, "Our sport, your honour" (April 16) finds fault with the Bombay High Court's decision to shift Indian Premier League (IPL) matches out of Maharashtra due to drought conditions in the state.
With cheerleaders as a point of attraction, well-paid international cricketers as employees of super-rich team owners and spot-fixing charges, IPL remains a business activity, if not an entertainment one. The emergence of cricketing talent through it is more incidental than planned.
IPL is not a domestic club by location or activity - it was once held in South Africa, it has an annual life of about 45 days and the players are not trained by the owners in the real sense.
The valid blame for India not being seen as a sporting nation does not lie with the people but with the sporting bodies, which are run by politicians and businessmen with little knowledge of, or time for, the games.
Gupta need not lament about the Indians' practice of linking sports with nationalism. The fact that IPL matches are watched by full-house crowds even as thirsty people in the state are being served with water transported from distant places shows their love for cricket. Fortunately for the state, the high court judges are not besotted with the glamour of IPL, as some eminent columnists are.
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With cheerleaders as a point of attraction, well-paid international cricketers as employees of super-rich team owners and spot-fixing charges, IPL remains a business activity, if not an entertainment one. The emergence of cricketing talent through it is more incidental than planned.
IPL is not a domestic club by location or activity - it was once held in South Africa, it has an annual life of about 45 days and the players are not trained by the owners in the real sense.
The valid blame for India not being seen as a sporting nation does not lie with the people but with the sporting bodies, which are run by politicians and businessmen with little knowledge of, or time for, the games.
Gupta need not lament about the Indians' practice of linking sports with nationalism. The fact that IPL matches are watched by full-house crowds even as thirsty people in the state are being served with water transported from distant places shows their love for cricket. Fortunately for the state, the high court judges are not besotted with the glamour of IPL, as some eminent columnists are.
Y G Chouksey Pune
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number