The prolonged arguments between the government and the organisers of the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the need to postpone the second edition of the popular Twenty-20 tournament underline the degree to which big money has moved into the sport. It is now unequivocally clear that the tournament should be postponed, which raises the spectre of outright cancellation. Government officials at both the Centre and the states in which the matches are to be played have bluntly admitted that, with the tournament (April 10 to May 24) overlapping with the general elections (April 16 to May 16), they lack the wherewithal to guarantee security to the many thousands of people — players, support staff, journalists, spectators — attending this soccer-style jamboree. Such abundant caution is fully justified. Given the March 3 attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, the IPL tournament will need considerably more security cover than ever before, and sparing resources from the fundamental business of the general elections is out of the question. Yet, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi staunchly insists that, with some adjustment, the tournament can proceed apace and in complete safety. He told journalists in Mumbai that every player would be tracked from the time he landed in India to the time he left. He did not, however, back this impressive statement with an explanation of how he planned to ensure this. Also, the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai demonstrated the weaknesses of the extra security laid on from private resources.
Mr Modi’s motivation for pressuring the government to allow the IPL to be held according to the revised schedule is transparent. The Twenty20 version of the game has emerged as the golden egg for a sport in which global interest (bar the Indian sub-continent) has been flagging. This year, roughly Rs 1,800 crore hang in the balance in the form of the various rights for sponsorship, broadcasting and advertising as well as ticket sales. IPL’s parent, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, stands to earn over a fifth of this. The problem with postponing the tournament is the crowded international cricket calendar. The schedule from April this year to January 2010 suggests that there is only one window of possibility in October this year. But that would follow an already grueling season that includes, among other things, the ICC Twenty20 tournament over all of June, an India-West Indies series in July and an Ashes and one-day series between England and Australia over July, August and September. The availability of foreign players — the element that lends IPL its critical glamour quotient — in October is by no means certain, which raises the possibility of cancelling the tournament; hence IPL’s anxieties. This will be disappointing for cricket fans, certainly. But given the huge risks involved in hosting the tournament during India’s elections, and when affairs in Pakistan and Afghanistan are unsettled, this glittering prize pales before the safety and security of the thousands of people attending the IPL tournament. And surely if a hockey tournament can be postponed for the same reason, why should cricket be an exception?
No one is going to grudge anyone the chance to maximise earnings — and sport is probably less harmful an industry than, say, investment banking has proved to be! But when the money-making imperative overrides public security, it would be fair to say that it’s just not cricket.