IPL | Voice from the rooftop

Deccan Chargers for sale

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There is the story of an emperor who wore just an underwear and was riding a horse. The people could see that but everybody said the emperor was clothed in a fine robe and were praising the qualities of the robe. Then one boy said â€œThe emperor is naked.â€ After that everybody said the emperor is naked.

Similar is the story of IPL. There was lot of hype and hoopla about it. Many said it was a great brand. The franchisees were not making profit. Some of them thrived on thousands of crores of rupees they borrowed from public sector banks which they did not return. They went for corporate debt restructuring (CDR). That meant they got more time to pay. Debts were converted into shares at higher than market value.

Cancel Kingfisher Licence

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Kingfisher is in trouble again. It has cancelled flights without informing passengers and DGCA and passengers are suffering. DGCA should cancel its licence. Excuse of bird hits should not be accepted. Passengers book their tickets in advance. When they come to the airport and know flights are cancelled there is not much they can do. To get tickets on other airlines they may have to pay more.

Sunil Gavaskar loses

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

BCCI has refused to pay Sunil Gavaskar as per his demand. Sunil Gavaskar had claimed that Sharad Pawar and Arun Jaitley had assured him that his dues will be paid. After that a news report appeared that said BCCI has rejected Sunil Gavaskarâ€™s claim. Sunil Gavaskar said his faith in BCCI was shaken but he had no communication from BCCI. Sunil Gavaskar was with IPL in 2007-2010. Lalit Modi came in defence of Sunil Gavaskar. He said BCCI wanted Sunil Gavaskar with IPL to rival Kapil Dev who was with ICL and therefore Sharad Pawar promised Sunil Gavaskar four crores per year.

Too much cricket

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There is the story of a man who killed the goose that laid golden eggs. Similar is the case with BCCI.

Recent ODI series in India against England witnessed large number of empty seats in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mohali, Bombay and Calcutta. There was drop in television viewing. The law of diminishing returns was at work. Within six months of World Cup interest in cricket had declined. During World Cup there were long queues for tickets for matches played by India and in some cases there was lathi charge. For the past four years there have been Tests, ODIs and T20s one after the other and people were bound to lose interest at some point.

Club over country

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There is a feeling that cricketers prefer club over country. Gautam Gambhir playing IPL matches when he had an injury and opting out of West Indies tour is one instance. As Dean Jones put it was a choice between 11 crores for IPL and 2 crores for West Indies tour. It is said that as per contract Gautam Gambhir would have got the full amount of 11 crores for IPL if he had played five matches. He did not have to play other matches. However the contract could have something in fine print that required Gautam Gambhir to play all matches to get the full amount. When Sri Lanka wanted its players to return early for practice for England tour they were told that payments to players will be held up. Lasit Malinga retired from Test cricket instead of giving up IPL.

BCCI owns IPL. Franchisees pay money to BCCI and players. They want to recover their money. Franchisees drop players whom they do not want. BCCI wants money and does not care about players getting medals for country and did not send a team to Asian Games.

India and Cricket Word Cup 2011

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

India hosts Cricket Word Cup 2011. If India wins it will make history. No host country has won Cricket Word Cup. Sri Lanka was a co-host country that played semi-final and final outside Sri Lanka in 1996. India hosted Cricket Word Cup in 1987 and 1996. Both times it lost in semi-finals. Some say Indian…

Economic Traitor

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Praful Patel is an economic traitor. As civil aviation minister his actions have led Air India to loss and disaster. There was Indian Airlines. Praful Patel changed its name to Indian. That did not make any difference for better. Then Indian Airlines was merged with Air India. The merger was supposed to save money. Things…

Sunil Gavaskar and BCCI

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Sunil Gavaskar claims BCCI owes him money. BCCI disputes the claim. Sunil Gavaskar says he has not demanded dues from BCCI but has sent gentle reminders. If someone says I will pay you X and I say no and he says I will pay you X + Y and I say yes it is not a demand. The payment regards to membership of IPL Governing Council. How much was X and how much was Y? It seems X was one crore rupees per year and Y was four crore rupees per year. X was in writing. Y was promised orally by Sharad Pawar, then BCCI president. How to deliver Y was not decided because of logistics.

M. A. K. Pataudi and Ravi Shastri were also members of IPL Governing Council. When BCCI decided not to make payments to cricketer members M. A. K. Pataudi and Sunil Gavaskar chose to quit and Ravi Shastri chose to continue. How much M. A. K. Pataudi and Ravi Shastri were paid?

Fall of Lalit Modi

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Lalit Modi is wanted. He built up IPL and got lot of money for BCCI. All was well till he tweeted about Kochi IPL franchise and put Shashi Tharoor in trouble. BJP wanted Shashi Tharoor out from cabinet. Shashi Tharoor being a Congress member had to resign. If he had been a member of DMK or NCP it could have been different.
Congress would have its revenge. There was pressure on BCCI. BCCI suspended Lalit Modi. Lalit Modi was defiant. He did not quit. Court cases followed. BCCI reconstituted IPL Governing Council and Lalit Modi was out of IPL and BCCI.
Continue Reading: http://go4quiz.com/vincent/2010/india/fall-of-lalit-modi/ ?

IPL controversies

Posted on April 24, 2010 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

IPL was started to crush ICL. BCCI used its clout to get ICC ban players taking part in ICL. ICL had players from different countries. It was unfair to ban players taking part in ICL.
IPL got franchisees and sponsors. Players were auctioned. ICL suffered loss and disappeared.
Media gave good coverage to IPL. The telecast of matches was in the evening or at night. The matches provided entertainment and an alternative for movies and TV serials. People were fed up of K serials and they watched IPL.