IPL move takes shine off India
There is a lovely Indian word tamasha which means fun, excitement, high drama often leading to an unexpected conclusion, all rolled into one.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has provided us wonderful tamasha. It has generated the sort of publicity Indian cricket rarely gets. But it has also damaged Indian cricket.
It may be at the centre of world cricket but this week's events have left a huge tear in the Indian cricketing fabric, which no amount of IPL money will easily repair.
IPL boss Lalit Modi and the franchise owners will dispute this and argue that the move from India is not a defeat, let alone shameful for the country, as the Indian opposition claim.
I grant you Modi moved at a frenetic pace in the last few days, exploding the hoary old myth of India being a slow country where change usually comes at a glacial pace.
Observe the quick-changing events:
On Friday, while the public at large is still expecting the IPL to be in India with some schedule changes because of the elections, Modi is in touch with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) asking whether matches could be staged in England.
On Saturday, as the two state governments of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh reverse their decision to provide security, franchise owners are told the tournament has to move out of India.
On the same day the ECB has a board meeting via telephone - chairman Giles Clarke in Australia, chief executive David Collier in Guyana - to explore staging it in England.
On Sunday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) endorses the decision to move IPL out of India and franchise owners are briefed that it is 99% certain it will go to England.
The word is a plane is standing by to fly Modi and BCCI secretary and Chennai Super Kings owner N S Srinivasan to England. Collier decides to fly back to London and the expectation is that he will meet Modi and Srinivasan, with whom he gets on well, on Tuesday.
Some English counties are very keen and Surrey Cricket Club is preparing to be the home centre for the holders Rajasthan Royals - conveniently their co-owner Manoj Badale is a British Asian with offices in London - with the opening match featuring the Royals pencilled in for the Oval.
Yet by Monday lunchtime the story has changed dramatically. Not only is no Indian cricket plane coming to England but now the word is the whole thing may have been a bit of Modi brinkmanship to force the Indian government to provide security and keep the tournament in India after all.
In the midst of all this Modi suddenly flies off to South Africa.
Joining him from London is Andrew Wildblood, of IMG, whose company is the event agency IPL uses.
On Tuesday afternoon, just about the time Modi would have met English cricket officials had he come to London, he turns up at the Wanderers Cricket Ground in Johannesburg to announce a deal with South Africa.
Modi will feel he had to play this high-speed poker game to rescue Indian cricket's most valuable property. He is aware of the economic consequences of cancellation - the IPL has a $1.5bn, 10-year television deal.
Modi has cited weather as the reason for not coming to England, there could be others: paucity of floodlit grounds and match scheduling including having the IPL clash with England's Test series against West Indies.
Nevertheless, Modi cannot avoid the charge that he flirted outrageously with England, almost taking them to the altar before jilting them, perhaps using them as bait to entice the South Africans.
In Victorian times a lover so betrayed could have taken the matter to court. This cannot help but have an adverse impact on India-England cricket relations which had been improving following England's decision to return to India after the Mumbai attacks.
The more lasting damage has been inflicted on Indian sport, particularly its desire to be a world player.
Long before the IPL was created I was talking about India having become the economic powerhouse of cricket. Last year's launch of the IPL proved how India can move quickly to fashion a unique cricket product.
But this week's event shows the Indians have a lot to learn as to how to sustain a sporting event that can command worldwide respect. A truly international sports event has to follow certain widely-accepted parameters including location, timing, venues and regularity.
Modi has preserved regularity but not much else.
Whatever the IPL organisers may say, the way this event has been handled will have a knock-on effect on the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2011 Cricket World Cup, both to be staged in India.
If India really wants to be a major player in the sporting world it would do well to study how the Chinese went about staging the 2008 Olympics, a western sport format hosted with such skill that the Olympic movement left Beijing saying China had raised the bar - so much so that the International Olympic Committee told London, which stages the 2012 Olympics, that it should take note.
The IPL, from its very inception, has been an Indian cricket product that reaches parts of the world few other Indian products have ever done. And within hours of Modi announcing South Africa was to host the event, franchise owners were on the phone to the republic seeking new commercial partners. Yet more proof of Indian cricket's capacity to seek out money.
But there is more to a successful sporting event than just the money it generates. Indian sports organisers need to realise that.
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~15~RS~)
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Let the games begin....
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Poor Mr Bose, he just has the need to explain yet another of his 'exclusives' ("IPL coming to England")falling by the wayside.
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noone cares about the joke ipl
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Commonwealth Games ! ZZZZZZzzzz..Who cares.
Modi is just a cricket administer not a Home minister.End of This article is more to do with home minister rather than Modi..
To be honest Modi deserves a huge applauses .....
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I don't see what else the IPL could have done... I did laugh at 'in Victorian terms, a lover so jilted...' though!
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Many moons ago, Mihir Bose wrote an excellent article for BBC Online which accruately explained why the BCCI was ruining world cricket.
While I wholly agreed with everything said in that article, the IPL has actually turned out to be Indian cricket's one saving grace in the mean time. Merely because it actually turned out to be very entertaining.
This latest turn of events though seems to me to have more to do with scheming behind the scenes by the BCCI board members to ensure an increased international awareness for a product that will make them all very rich indeed.
Eewires:
Can you get a decent contributor to write your posts, or just stop bothering please?
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Dear Mr. Bose, I disagree with 75% of what you state above.
The reasons for moving IPL out of India are:
1) General Elections in India.
2) Politicians (all Congress state govts refused to provide security cover.)
I find it difficult to believe that you are serious about India following the Chinese example. India is not a Communist state. (Yet. Don't know what will happen after the General Elections)
"Long before the IPL was created I was talking about India having become the economic powerhouse of cricket".
That is not true. BCCI is not under the control of Govt. of India (Yet).
It's highly likely that the attitude of E (& W) CB towards IPL last season had an adverse effect on England's chances of hosting the season.
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I always just go straight to the comments on Mihir Bose blogs now.
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I just wonder if this is a bit of sour grapes.
As a follower of cricket in general, I think the IPL brings a sense of euphoria and excitement to cricket. Dont get me wrong - test cricket is here to stay and the Ashes (and South Africa's performance in Australia) show that.
The fact that it is held in India is a side issue - the IPL is the Twenty-20 showcase and will be a success where ever it is held.
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Every now and then I dip into one of your articles, Mihir. I reckon the BBC's Sports Editor must have something interesting to contribute. I usually go away frustrated, but this time I was enjoying the read until you blew again:
"Long before the IPL was created I was talking about India having become the economic powerhouse of cricket."
Perhaps I am alone in this, but I really don't care. Surely someone of your experience knows that the story shouldn't be about the journalist, but you simply can't get through an article without telling us how far-sighted you are or how good your connections are.
Please let your articles speak for themselves.
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It hasn't tarnished Indian sport, Indian cricket or anything to do with India.
The IPL is globalised, mercenary, money making - it has no roots. It is a very successful example of media induced excitement. The fact it can move to another country only underlines this.
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Re 16
Exactly.
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There is already too much cricket generally and on TV. It is spreading itself too thinly. Personally I am more interested in the County championship than the IPL and will not be watching any of it.
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frankly good riddance...
we already have a competition over here where world "stars" are paid exhorbitant amounts to perform in front of crowds who dont have any knowledge of the game
Im am/was a QPR fan and have grown to hate football over the last 3/4 years, I pray to any supposed deity to save my other true love and I will forever be in your debt.
Cricket is Test cricket, I couldnt give a flying monkeys whether more people get into cricket through 20/20
Subtley, ingenuity, skill, reversals of fortune, feats of enduring bravery and engrossing narrative may have been things that were spoken of and illustrated by literary greats... but in my lifetime only Test cricket has explored the darkest depths and the most illuminating sides of any of these independently fascinating entities... often in the same match, day and indeed even over
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I think a lot on here have missed the point of the IPL switch completely. Mihir did touch upon the matter when he blogged about the 39th Premiership game I think it was last year.
aniphatak - I think your last sentence is the most pertinent. How many times has the Cricket board in the UK failed its own players - let alone getting into bed with Standford.
India will only miss the live action in its grounds. TV will look after the rest. What this move to South Africa does show is that you can take teams out of their own countries in any sport and play a league. I think that is the thing I find most disturbing about the whole affair. The Premier League is still looking into this a a possibility.
Its certainly something the NFL is looking to do more of...
Last year, as much as I enjoyed watching Warnes lot win and there was excellent games all over india. It didn't have the same value as ODI's or Tests. It felt a little empty despite the packed stadiums and razzmatazz. I just hope that there will be crowds to watch in South Africa that will give something back.
Mihir - you suggest that England were jilted, or used, Is this really the case? Its an interesting take on the official line though - and one I don't disagree with. England is a chilly place to be that time of year couple with rain... I still hate playing cricket in the middle of an afternoon in April... Horrible... Do you not think it was the right decision? I think a mix of broadcast times and the right climate really did the trick. Its a shame Dubai and the Emirates are not up to speed facility wise as that would have been the perfect venue. Ease of access and local workers who could have brightened up the atmosphere. The IPL is all about TV Revs, It doesn't matter if they played Cricket in Nepal, the clubs would not be troubled. Im sure many governors of sport around the world will take an interest in how successful or not this will turn out.
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So India can't hold a domestic competion in it's own country & the question is asked "dose this make India look bad?". Well I'm not a highly paid sports editor but common sense tells me Yes.
As for the England link for the IPL was never going to happen. This early year with the season yet to start, did anybody other than the press think that this was going to happen?
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The IPL has achieved something that most other cricket in India has failed to do - full grounds. I'd love to attend a game there because TV just does not impart the experience. My colleagues out there tell me it is fabulous. Would the cricket authorities really expect the same thing at The Oval? I think it would probably be the usual half embarrassed affair that us British achieve when trying to mimic the whole hearted excitedness of a foreign crowd. It just would not work. I'm glad it is going to SA where I hope the crowds will take to the event with similar gusto. With the T20 World cup here in June along with the domestic 20 over game either side of it.. .too much of the shortest form I think. I can only manage so many days off work.
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Dear Mr. Bose,
I find you to be an increasingly annoying sports journalist. You may take pride in that you evoke some passion in your readers - please don't. What I am referring to is the pointless nature of your ramblings.
There is not one iota of evidence in your article about what damage has been caused to Indian sport or cricket in India. I applaud the IPL for it's commercial endeavours and being able to move a major cricketing tournament in such a short notice.
The 2010 games are being hosted by India as a country and not a commercial cricketing body - do you have any grasp of the difference? And as for the knock-on effect - please elaborate!
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Trevwoody - Beer snakes make our t20 league more interesting! Its about all we could have offered the IPL as well for excitement when the heavens opened. That or the ability to land a chopper on the lords pitch... and have an American wave lotsa wonga in the face of Lalit Modi. Worked for stiffs in the long room...
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corporate cricket will be the same, regardless of where it is played out. the backers of the IPL are not going to mind that they are in SA now. they have acccess to a public with greater spending power!
needless to say, some of this money SHOULD end up in domestic indian cricket coffers. i do not see how you have even begun to demonstrate that indian cricket is suffering because of this. sure they have lost a lot of supplementary economic activity that the IPL would have brought, but normal service will resume next year, and the ICL should still go ahead, or will that move as well? perhaps you can put your finely tuned ears to those sounds now?
England and English cricket will not have the upper hand in relations with BCCI because they are increasingly reliant on lucrative series cricket against India, so Modi's 'flirtations' will have done little to damage an already dominant relationship.
i'd personally rather have sportsmen playing in a safe environment, wherever that may be, than in a potentially dangerous environment, especially when political motives are high on everyones agendas. the unfortunate thing about modern professional sport is that it is too intricately tied up to the political engines of society. whatever the case, life, and indian cricket, will go on unashamedly.
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I am just very pleased that the IPL is not coming to UK. The pitches would not have been ready in time and the weather would have screwed up the schedule. Those connected with cricket have enough on their minds with England's appalling performances and the thought that the Aussies are here in a few weeks to bother about anything else.
We have enough security problems in UK as it is without importing any more artificial ones.
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Mihir,
IPL is a commercial event. It doesn’t have anything to do with Indian Govt. Indian Govt. did what it thought was right, and IPL did what it thought was right.
Your theory of using "England" is flawed. I think IPL expects many Indians to fly to watch matches, and SA govt. perhaps offered favourable tourist visa conditions. ECB was pleased that it was considered in the first place.
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I'll try again:-
About the blog, I think Mihir has left it upto the readers to think about the various issues and also consider what maybe affected.
As for "Damaged Goods", I dont agree with Mihir. The IPL organisers know exactly what they are doing. They quickly got on the bandwagon of 20/20 after India won the World Cup and made the event great entertainment and totally blew away the ICL who had a head start.
I think it is coincidence that they have been forced to go outside India. They would have done it sooner or later anyway. It will make the product even more "global". It may not be the same atmosphere as in India, but the SA's know how to enjoy themselves and entertain spectators.
Strange how a few weeks ago people considered the EPL's desire to play games overseas (39th Game) as a possible commercial master stroke. Why could this not be the same for the IPL?
As for not staging it in England, what a relief. The English counties dont know how to keep the spectators entertained or engaged. I have even been to a one day international at Trent Bridge where the announcer requested the spectators to keep the noise down !!!
Soth Africa will be a great venue. It will be commercially more cost effective and the matches will be high scoring affairs instead of the 100 runs per side we regularly watch here in the chilled evenings.
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Mr Bose,
If you believe that Indian cricket has been torn apart by this decision, then I’d love to know your opinions on the integrity of the Pakistan cricketing fabric. Presumably the Pakistan fabric has been ripped, torn, mauled by an angry Jack Russell, and then left on the ground where small cars run over it.
I’ve been critical of the IPL but this is far from a defeat. Was international golf harmed by the decision to scrap the Ryder Cup in the wake of 9/11? Of course not. If anything, subsequent Ryder Cup events have been passionate affairs with less jingoism than the past. The real meaning of the event returned in that the support was both passionate and courteous. The Cricket World Cup held in South Africa had problems and faults yet they are seemingly a very hot ticket right now with the IPL landing there and the World 20-20 in the recent past, not to mention the forthcoming football World Cup in 2010. They recognised the areas in which they failed and improved. India can do the same.
It was fairly ridiculous to think the IPL could come to England. Indian cricket’s crowning commercial centrepiece being played in the land of the old colonial masters! What japes! I don’t believe the eventual decision to have the IPL in South Africa will affect England-Indian relations at all. We’ll continue to have little spats and little make-up periods.
“If India really wants to be a major player in the sporting world it would do well to study how the Chinese went about staging the 2008 Olympics, a western sport format hosted with such skill that the Olympic movement left Beijing saying China had raised the bar - so much so that the International Olympic Committee told London, which stages the 2012 Olympics, that it should take note.”
Beijing raised the bar on the spectacle and the organisation but the overwhelming feeling to me was of a country with a shiny exterior but an interior that still had much work needed upon it. Even with that in mind, the infrastructure within China is a lot stronger and more organised than India. The main point of worry is still for me that the vast sums of cash flooding into India, whether it’s through cricket matches or other commercial enterprise, is still not building strength from the bottom up but is instead merely reinforcing the might of those at the top.
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Comment no 16
Spot on. Drives me nuts!
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YAWN!!
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Error by English administrators (1):
They keep talking about how they invented twenty 20, but failed to realize its potential like the indians did. So they missed the 1st boat (i.e. 1st mover advantage in a PROPERLY MARKETED twenty20 tournament; ironically modi based the ipl model on the ENGLISH football premier league).
Error by English administrators (2):
Australia and SA saw that there is one market in world cricket that dwarfs all other test playing markets PUT TOGETHER. so they accepted a smaller steak in the Champions League. England were offered such a steak, but refused on the grounds that the four partners deserved 25% each... it seemed like a principled stance until...
Error by English administrators (3):
They lost all principles by selling their souls (and landing rights at Lords!) to Stanford. it was a desperate attempt to appease their players who were beginning to look East... They couldn't predict what would've happened, but it was clear to see from the outset that the $20m prize money for one match per year was NOT a sustainable model long term, even if stanford wasn't (allegedly) a crook. i.e. they were trying to buy time whilst they thought about how to thwart India / BCCI/ IPL / Champions League
Error by English administrators (4):
They suggested that they wanted 'to help india', by staging the IPL this year, but it is very obvious that their desperate courting had alot to do with a last attempt to recoup revenues that they would have taken from stanford. methinks that modi must have smiled when the very people who had apposed his ipl so vehemently came crawling back to him... and he must have laughed out loud when he rejected them in favor of SA.
Error by English administrators (5):
re. stanford's investors - they've spoken of regret at doing business with stanford, but not once have the England a Wales Cricket Board intimated any regret over the fact that their coffers were effectively filled with stolen money.
Error by English administrators (1):
They keep talking about how they invented twenty 20, but failed to realise its potential like the indians did. So they missed the 1st boat (i.e. 1st mover advantage in a PROPERLY MARKETED twenty20 tournament; ironically modi based the ipl model on the ENGLISH football premier league).
Error by English administrators (2):
Australia and SA saw that there is one market in world cricket that dwarfs all other test playing markets PUT TOGETHER. so they accepted a smaller steak in the Champions League. England were offered such a steak, but refused on the grounds that they deserved 25%... it seemed like a principled stance until...
Error by English administrators (3):
They lost all principles by selling their souls (and landing rights at Lords!) to Stanford. it was a desperate attempt to appease their players who were beginning to look East... They couldn't predict what would've happened, but it was clear to see the $20m for one match per year was NOT a sustainable model long term, even if stanford wasn't (allegedly) a crook. i.e. they were trying to buy time whilst they thought how to thwart India / BCCI/ IPL / Champions League
Error by English administrators (4):
re. stanford's investors - they've spoken of regret at doing business with stanford, (distancing themselves from any blame) but not once have the England a Wales Cricket Board intimated any regret over the fact that their coffers were effectively filled with stolen money.
Error by English administrators (4):
They suggested that they wanted 'to help india', by staging the IPL this year, but it is very obvious that their desperate courting had alot to do with a last attempt to recoup revenues that they would have taken from stanford. methinks that modi must have smiled when the very people who had apposed his ipl so vehemently came crawling back to him... and the diplomatic modi he must have laughed out loud behind closed doors when he rejected them in favor of SA.
so , no mr bose, the only organisation that isn't looking so 'shiny' is the ECB
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Shame on India
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Perhaps I'm adding to the deleted message pile, but surely the reason the IPL isn't coming to England is that Setanta has the TV rights to it, while Sky has the rights to England Test Matches? And Sky, as the tail that continues to wag the dog, won't allow it.
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the moderators must be having a long lunch
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It's now 3 p.m. The last comment to pass moderation was at 11.31! Have you outsourced moderation to Dilbert's friends in Elbonia?
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Firstly, to those who go on about the weather here in April, the County Championship starts in mid April too. So the weather is good enough for four day cricket, but not good enough for a 20 over slog? Same goes for the pitches - of course they will be ready, what utter rubbish to suggest otherwise.
I have watched 20/20 in the rain in this country. It's good entertainment, the crowd isn't too bothered about getting wet, and the extra challenge brought about by the weather can often add to the excitement/spectacle. Anyone who turns their noses up at one last chance to see the likes of Sachin, Ganguly, Gilchrist in this country because it's possibly "a little chilly or rainy" has no right to call themselves a cricket fan
For me, the SACB won the 2009 IPL because it rolled out the red carpet for Modi. Like it or not, he has the money, and to a large extent he therefore is able to call the shots. By contrast the administrators in this country are happy to bend over backwards for the likes of Stanford, but for some reason only known to themselves show little enthusiasm for trying to get a big piece of the Indian cricket pie. Therein lay a big part of the problem why commercially the game is not as successful as it really should be in this country.
Finally, having the IPL here would have given some sort of an economic boost to this country at a time we really need it. So those who are happy for it not to be here (eg Mr Agnew) should stop and think the next time they whinge about the credit crunch.
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On 16th March, Mihir wrote: "The problem is the Indians often take so long to pull the strings that you are left wondering whether they know which string to pull."
In this blog he writes "I grant you Modi moved at a frenetic pace in the last few days, exploding the hoary old myth of India being a slow country where change usually comes at a glacial pace."
So, two weeks ago, he was proposing that India moves slowly - this week he suggests that anyone who says so is guilty of perpetuating a "hoary old myth" - some inconsistency, I'd suggest
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I enjoyed reading your blog about the 2018 world cup. It actually offered insight and opinion, the whole point of the blogs on this website.
Once again though, your blog is just an article stating facts, often claiming that you've got a big scoop about them, and offering no insight! I've read this through twice and all you've done is laid out the facts and then ended the blog asking how damaging these events will be to India, the question you're meant to be answering...
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Now i may try to be as linient as possible when i write about Mihir's Blog. But the more i read it the more i am amused.
Trying to predict something beforehand can be a good skill which is not mastered by everyone. But I never knew BBC had Nostradamus in their ranks
The Kind of Statements such as "this week's events have left a huge tear in the Indian cricketing fabric, which no amount of IPL money will easily repair" is beyond my senses.
How could someone know so much even before the tournament has started. I should agree that to the fact the situation about the timing of IPL could have well thought of but when there is no option left then the correct decision was taken.
IPL is a tournament which can suceed anywhere since it has all the ingredients to make it a hit.
Another very common trend i find in Mihir'S Blog is INDIA BASHING
and here i find when he says about the sleepy nature. Maybe someone needs to get in touch with their roots and really go back and check the progress the country has done.
Regarding cricketing relations between India and England going sour over IPL shift to south africa are the sort of comments which i had a good laugh at.
And finally Saying that India needs to learn from China in organizing events is totally out of context. The fact being that India is trying to hold elections which is important for any democratic country and trying to have such a major event would use up all the security resources makes a very valid reason for not having IPL in the country
I hope one day i am reading something more interesting and thought provoking
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who cares about the ipl, the only thing that matters to us is austrailia and the ashes in july.................
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this blog is the opposite of tamasha
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simpleandhonest... Your part of the stiff's brigade from the Long room, You answered yourself in your statement, Four days to get a result! LOL not three hours to get one and with an outrageous number of fans watching on a global scale. I think the organisers of the IPL are looking for no cancellations of fixtures, good weather for spectators who are going to have to PAY a LOT of CASH in an economic downturn to fly in to venues who do NOT want the game canceled. Plus when does playing on a sodding pitch actually help it or the outfield? Dont players pick up more injuries? Your also forgetting a lot of the teams in the IPL are made up by young players with no experience of the overseas environment. The IPL is about developing them - not watching them fail in bad conditions and the top earners struggle.
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Re Jonesstrikesback - let me correct you on a few innaccuracies in your post:
1. I am part of the "stiff's brigade" - you talk as if you know me - you don't, so get your facts right
2. You imply people "fly" in to watch cricket matches in the UK - who exactly does? what utter jibberish.
3. IPL (a 20/20 tournament) "develops" cricketers - shows precisely how much you know about cricket - utter nonsense once again
4. You complain about the downturn (you are one of the whingers I referred to in my first post). You miss the point that hosting the tournament would have created revenue for many businesses in this country.
5. IPL has "young players with no experience of the overseas environment" so what?!!! whatever point you are trying to make is irrelevant
You also forget that 20/20 draws in massive crowds in South Africa. Plus the English crowds turn up in their droves to watch the Asian superstars - this is a fact. This is not the case in South Africa, and I can testify to this first hand.
Who exactly gets injured playing cricket in damp conditions? How do rugby and football players manage it whilst playing higher impact sports? So if the cricket ball gets wet, then just change it more often!! Put on more suitable footwear!! And you dare to call me part of the "stiff's brigade"!!!!
It beggars belief that people who purport to like the sport wouldn't want it hosted in our country....
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Many, notably Indians, cannot simply "fly" into the UK as the immigration rules (and costs) are unfriendly. SA, on the other hand, is cool!
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This move to SA is very sensible.As well as making the IPL even more the global event Modi wants it to be with it own hole in the ICC calender, it is the safe way to avoid terrorists looking to disrupt the Indian elections.
As an Englishman I also know that our weather would disrupt the IPL schedule greatly because we dont have grounds that can be roofed over when the rain comes.......
Costwise, England is a very expensive place to come so SA wins out over the UK on all fronts except perhaps local Indian population to support the event - hopefully low ticket prices will enable Africans to enjoy the IPL spectacle!
I look forward to a second chance to see Shane Warne & his team Rajasthan beat the world´s biggest cricket players in their IPL teams without rain interruptions!
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It was the abject apathy of the British government and the opposition of the British police that prevented the IPL from coming to England.
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"A unique cricket product"
I wish you would have expanded on this comment as isnt IPL 20/20 and thus created and played in England first ? Or is your use of unique, a unique way of using it.
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Everytime Mihir Bose writes an article,
The bashers appear. There appears to be a troupe of Mihir Bashers patrolling 606
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Seaming Wicket:
That's one way to look at it. Alternatively, maybe every time Mihir Bose writes an article, in turns out not to be very good. Perhaps people expect the Sports Editor of the BBC to write a good blog. Perhaps they take at face value the banner about 'stories behind the headlines'.
For example, why not read Tim Vickery's blog? He doesn't get anything like the criticism Mihir Bose gets. Perhaps Tim is very lucky. Perhaps Tim has lots of friends. Or maybe, Tim writes insightful, interesting articles that leave you more informed than when you started. Perhaps Tim avoids mentioning himself in glowing terms in every article. Perhaps Tim doesn't include his own geo-political views in his articles.
Perhaps that's it.
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sweetsmellofsuccess,
Perhaps Tim is very lucky. Perhaps Tim has lots of friends. Or maybe, Tim writes insightful, interesting articles that leave you more informed than when you started. Perhaps Tim avoids mentioning himself in glowing terms in every article
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OR perhaps Tim isnt from India? AS one basher let it slip under a previous article: 'Mihir dont waste our tax payers money'
Problem with closet racists is that they fail to realise that some of us can see through the clever words.
And as for Mihir writing article which dont inform? I havent seen many articles from mainstream media journalists that actually informed me.
There have been other journalists from mainstream media who have misrepresented situations of a much more serious nature (not connected to sports). And yet i never saw mass criticism against them for poor journalism.
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Here was something written which describes what i am trying to say about the Mihir Bose bashers on 606:
http://proaudience.com/2009/03/mihir-bose-being-heckled-at-the-bbc/
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Ah, I see what you're driving at.
Commenters regularly take Mr Bose to task for such matters as:
a) bigging himself up personally whenever he writes
b) claiming things will happen which then don't
c) re-hashing already-public press releases and implying they are the result of his own digging
d) covering issues already thrashed out in the public domain, when he is allegedly bringing "the stories behind the headlines"
But what they're actually doing is being racist. Nice. You don't actually have any evidence for this, do you? The article you link to merely shows that you haven't been following the progress of this blog.
I remember the Stanford matter well. In November, Bose wrote a fawning piece about what a wonderful chap Stanford was, how he was a magnificent people-manager, and how he compared favourably to Nelson Mandela. Many people thought the article pompous and foolish. Three months later, Stanford was shown to be a charlatan. Bose then sought to suggest that he had "known all along" and had been constantly berating the ECB for their poor choice of business partner. He did not, and he had not.
The only person mentioning Mihir Bose's ancestry is Mihir Bose. He does it constantly, whether making borderline offensive claims about western attitudes (which he can't support with evidence) or reminiscing about drinking tea in Mumbai. I have no idea where Tim Vickery is from, and nor do I care, and nor does he mention it. I don't actually care where Mihir is from, it's irrelevant. People who say "stop wasting our tax money" are not doing so because Mr Bose comes from India. They are doing so because he is the highly-paid BBC Sports Editor. As such, they expect a high standard of journalism and expertise - something his blogs do not, in their opinion, show.
Try reading what Mr Bose has written, and what people have actually written in response, instead of resorting to lazy, casual and unsubstantiated accusations of racism.
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Mr Bose, your article is complete unadulterated nonsense. I am huge cricket fan (of especially test cricket), but even I understand that importance of the general elections. IMHO the elections carry far more importance anyone realises in continuance of democracy in a trubulant secular country in a region surrounded by Islamic republics, one Communist country, and island country racked by civil war. However flawed democracy is in India, it is precious and if the authorities cant provide security so be it.
IPL is merely a crass entertainment albeit highly successful, and I am sure it will find its feet in the coming years. To equate it to the Commonwealth games or Olympics is complete nonsense.
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Dear Mihir,
Can you prove to the world that you are indeed capable of writing an article without the following words?
I, ME, MY, MINE
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To say the least I've been critical of Mr Bose's previous blogs, to date I think they've been at time really quite poor however the standard really has picked up in the past couple of weeks!
This I thought was an excellent piece, broke down the IPL move saga very well and expanded on a story that I think most people won't have been aware how political and tighly run it was.
I agree with Mihr's general point entirely, there's a million miles distance between having a lot of money with a lot of fans at your disposal and being a competant host of major events. India wants to hold major events that will turn the world's head and of course they want to do it their own way but perhaps India could learn a few things from the way Europe, America and other parts of Asia have hosted global events in the past. I think this whole IPL episode has shown that the time is absolutely perfect, if the money can be found, for Australia, South Africa or England to set up their own A, SA or E... PL. Do it right and the world will watch.
I don't take back my previous comments about Mr Bose's blogs, they have been at times awful. But I say again, this article was very good indeed.
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I believe IPL and Commonwealth Games are two different things.One is an extraveganza linked to only one sport while other is like Olympics.
Lets not mix them.Wait for the games......how India hosts it remains to be seen.
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#16 and #53 are spot on in their general observations. It is sad that Mihir's decent blogs (when they too infrequently arrive) are tarred because of his previous shortcomings and tendency to aggrandisement.
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There now seems to be a considerable amount of censorship of the comments on Mihir Bose's blog.
It seems that many of the (numerous) critical comments are removed by the moderators.
Surely the BBC, which is of course funded by the public and held up as a bastion of objectivity, should not be doing this?
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"Long before the IPL was created I was talking about India having become the economic powerhouse of cricket"
This blog is supposed to be about sport. Please stop the boasting....
I notice you do not mention your claim that the IPL is coming to England....
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I'm going to disregard many of the negative comments that Mihir gets, which I think to a great extent are undeserved. The crux of the blog is "stories and issues behind the headlines" and it's his take on them. So, why criticize him when he is entitled to his opinion. I find that most comments are targeted at the writer than the story itself.
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Simple and honest, sorry chap its taken me this long to reply but its definitely worth the wait. Your clutching at straws. Here's why.
Firstly its an online blog. I can address people pretty much how I like so long as it doesn't cause offence- Sorry If I did. You display the attitude which I have encountered at Richmond Cricket club, Berkshire county and beyond which is stiffling the game in England and Wales. I got so fed up with it all I started my own nomadic team with a couple of friends which after 5 years on the go has roughly 35 paying members and a fixture list that takes us across the south east and on tour overseas.
Lets go to your second point. Yes I did imply people would fly in to watch cricket. That has now been confirmed by Lalit Modi the commissioner of the IPL as of the 15th April - reported by Reuters. Here's his comment... "Three weeks, to move a tournament of 59 games, logistics of thousands and thousands of people, to do that, to get close to about 40 odd thousand room nights booked into South Africa right now. We have over 20,000 plane tickets booked. We have thousands of people coming in and out, getting tickets..." This is also applicable to your fifth point... It would have been the case for England too im afraid as India is a nation of barking mad Cricket fans. Not jibberish now is it.
Lets now look at what Lalit Modi said about the IPL before its launch on the development of young Indian Talent. If the Long room has dial up then click on the link using a mouse usually with your index finger.
http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/14014807/Lalit-Modi----8216With-IPL.html
or try this blog...
from the BBC by Oliver Brett last year in November 2008...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2008/11/indias_young_guns.shtml
Also take a look at the average age of Shane Warnes winning side last year. Then have another look at the average age of many of the Franchises.
Have you ever watched a game overseas and gone wow what a different atmosphere compared to say Nottingham and the no inflatable policy that always gets overlooked and leaves stewards red faced???
your fourth point... its getting tedious isn't it. The downturn. I do tend to agree with you on this but - and its a huge but - the ineffective ECB behind all this. Where is the marketing to English Cricket? They went with sky cause they wagged the cash. Why is it a player like Sachin Tendulka can earn close to 25 million dollars a year and the likes of Paul Collingwood et all are scrabbling for a central contract that's monkey nut change in comparison. Think in terms of the Long bar in the Raffels hotel in Singapore. Tendulka cracks the nuts in the bar and throws them on the floor - Strauss and his merry men sweep them up for a dollar a day and then have to feed their task masters.
The simple fact is that England missed out last year because they thought a sugar daddy in the shape of Alan Standford would throw money at the star names. See my point above about sky... England missed the boat and are continuing to do so with the reluctance to accept the IPL as a credible alternative or they're too stuck up to accept another country had a brilliant Idea that actually works.
As for the injuries. I know in my team we've had seven broken bones from wet heavy leather balls and a couple of cruciate's from going over on damp pitches with spikes. I just call it as I see it...
Simple and honest... Try changing your user name to MOON ON A STICK!
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Sorry Simple and honest... Try looking up the Monash university's publication on Cricket Injuries by Alicia McGrath and Caroline Finch published in 1996. Cant find the link now... It alludes there to weather and cricket injuries from memory... Is an Australian publication so concentrates on Dehydration, Heat Stroke and sun burn but does go on about wet weather and bowlers grip running into the crease etc... Its a clinical study and I will use that over changing a ball more often and or putting spikes on. Sorry to go on... Enjoy yourself, its easier than you think.
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Can't wait to see how it unfolds. Suspect South Africa will win. Home turf and all that. 2020 is the Twitter of Cricket. I wonder what a certain Mr Stephen Fry has to say on the subject. Come on big man ~ let's hear your views.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I kinda miss the guy
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