T-20 saga continues

Money Making Machine

The advent of yet another T-20 league, Sri Lanka Premier League, is an indicator of how things will move for cricket in the future. In the near future, one cannot deny the possibility of leagues taking precedence over international cricket. As is with any other business or sport in the world, cricket is being ruled by financial considerations and T-20 cricket leagues are a goldmine. BCCIs effort to build up a global cricket brand, IPL, has been digested well by all stakeholders of the game. In a small time span of 4 years, IPL’s brand value has gone from nil to $ 3.67 billion. To build up such an amazing brand value in 4 years would make any top corporate honcho proud. In the hope of emulating the success of the BCCI run Indian Premier League, other cricket boards around the globe have already started or are contemplating to start their own T-20 leagues. Whether they would succeed or not remains to be seen.

Cricket economics has grown by leaps and bounds since the advent of T-20 cricket and the future is certainly looking bright for global popularity of the sport. Cricket boards around the world will also hope to generate revenues which they would have only dreamt of before T-20 cricket came into the fore. Arguably, cricket leagues around the world will be the next future of cricket.

True?

The lack of transparency in IPL, or most other T-20 cricket leagues for that matter, is a matter of concern as it can compromise the integrity of the sport and drive away eyeballs from T-20 cricket. Allegations of match fixing (or spot fixing) in T-20 cricket is doing the rounds for quite some time now. To ensure that these leagues have transparency in their functioning as well as their decision making, it is imperative to follow the professional ethos and conduct followed by popular football leagues around the world. This would bode well for the popularity of the sport on a global scale as well as for the cricket boards around the world.

-Sunny Gusain