IPL success driven by quality,not just money

Pakistan’s exit will mean a greater opportunity for the genial Sri Lankans but also for New Zealanders and South Africans. Nobody has greater experience of playing T20 cricket than the Proteas but franchises will expect a humbler approach from them. Everybody was learning in the first year but a lot of players will discover that things will be very different henceforth. Serious money is being paid,not gifted,and attitude will count for a lot. Those who turn up for the purse rather than for the cricket might have a surprise in store.

It baffles me that in some places the IPL is still being seen as a financial rather than as a cricketing phenomenon. As recent events in the world have taught us financial products with little to back them deliver a lot of promise,a lot of pain and eventually go bust. The IPL is about cricket and as it settles down and acquires a learning curve of its own,will reward cricketers who deliver returns on their investment. This is not a large moneypot into which you dip your hands and run away with the booty. This is serious stuff and some observers around the world are in denial about it. This is not a poor little rich kid seeking its place in the world by throwing money at anyone who knocks at its doors.

The money in Indian cricket has not been earned by thuggery and its colour is the same as that from other respectable enterprises around the world. It amused me no end that last year it was pooh-poohed by players who thought this was another form of beach and beer cricket. The auction was ridiculed and it still is but one of the great advantages of sitting on a distant couch is that you don’t always have to present an alternative. In course of time the auction will cease to be important but in the first year it was essential. Already there are fewer players up for grabs since teams are more or less settled and we will slowly move towards a trading system as exists in the more established football leagues. Just as those who ridiculed Kerry Packer were the ones who looked stupid in the end,those that choose to ignore,or choose not to understand,the Indian consumer and Indian markets will become irrelevant. Those that close their eyes can only see darkness.

Teams in this year’s IPL are being picked very differently from last year. True the megastars are in demand but there are a lot of places available for the hard working value for money players. In the years ahead those that come seeking opportunity will do much better than those who ride in prospecting for gold.

(Commentator Harsha Bhogle is an adviser with the Mumbai Indians)