Old powers moan again!

Instead of looking at why their (England) team faltered despite scoring 300-plus (v Aus), questions were being asked about the unfair advantage that India was getting by staying in one place and not travelling to games like other teams were doing

The ICC Champions Trophy is the brainchild of the late Jagmohan Dalmiya. When he became the ICC President, the ICC had a few thousand dollars in the bank. He quickly realised that if the ICC was to be run successfully and be the controlling body for the game in the world it needed funds. There was the 50 overs World Cup that happened every four years but most, if not all, the revenue from it went to the host country’s cricket board. 

The World Cups till then had been hosted by England, India and Australia and they got their own sponsors to support the event. The broadcast rights were not as humongous as they are now, but with more broadcasters seeing the potential of the game and the TV market opening up in India, the revolution was just round the corner so to speak. So the ICC under Dalmiya stepped in and the first ever Champions Trophy was held in Bangladesh.

Money spinner for ICC

Since the international cricketing calendar was getting tight, only the top eight Test playing nations were invited to play in the tournament. The tournament turned out to be a money spinner for the ICC and suddenly from a few thousand dollars in the bank, the ICC was now rolling in money. The headquarters being then based in London, the British government was the beneficiary with the taxes collected from the ICC. Since a huge chunk was going in taxes in the UK, it prompted the move to UAE where the headquarters are now. 

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Over the last decade with the T20 format taking off and just about every country having its own T20 leagues, the space to have the Champions Trophy was shrinking. Covid didn’t help either and so this year’s tournament is being played after a gap of 8 years instead of the 4 years that was planned earlier. This year’s tournament was hosted by Pakistan with India playing all its matches in a neutral country, which by the way was Pakistan’s home ground before other countries resumed touring there. 

This arrangement was known well before the first ball of the tournament was bowled and there was not a word said about it except by the Pakistanis who were miffed that India wasn’t sending its team there. Apart from that there was hardly a word being said about India’s team staying put in Dubai for their matches. The moment England lost the first match to Australia despite scoring over 300 runs, the finger pointing at India started. Instead of looking at why their team faltered despite scoring 300 plus runs and being unable to defend that score questions were being asked about the unfair advantage that India was getting by staying in one place and not travelling to games like other teams were doing. The only teams travelling from Pakistan to UAE were the teams in India’s group, Pakistan and New Zealand. Bangladesh had come first to Dubai and after their game against India were to be in Pakistan for their remaining two games. England, South Africa, Afghanistan  and Australia did not have to travel to UAE for their league games but the only moaning about India staying put has been heard from the old powers. Because almost 90 per cent of TV revenue comes from India, the rights holder had arranged two out of the three India’s matches on Sundays so as to try and maximise their revenue and recover as much of the incredible price they had paid for the rights. 

Long gaps not good

That means India doesn’t play for six days while all other teams are playing with a gap of two days. Now ask any international player in any sport and he will tell you that such long gaps are not good as the rhythm, flow and momentum is lost and it can be a great struggle to get it back. The only advantage of such a gap is if any key player has an injury and that can be treated and the chances of the player playing increase. Still as you would expect the people from the old powers started to moan about the unfair advantage that India had by staying on in one place. 

Nobody from any other country had an issue with India staying in one place. It’s actually quite sad to see the perennial whingeing and moaning coming from the old powers who are always looking to find fault with India but still cannot do without India. 

Indian money has now poured into rescuing what they thought was going to be a money spinner tournament for them but which started losing luster and attraction after a couple of seasons. Don’t be surprised if the Big Bash also follows in the footsteps of England’s Hundred and Indian money comes to rescue it too. 

But will there ever be gratitude or will there be the eternal carping and crying?   We know the answer to that don’t we?   

Professional Management Group

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