SPORTS WORLD: Cricketers are up for auction: IPL is a bad influence on Test, ODI

It was in the 1970s that Australian business tycoon Kerry Packer, after being refused television rights for his Channel 4 by the then Australian Cricket Board (ABC), floated the idea of organising World Series Cricket (WSC).
In his task, former Australian captain Richie Benaud played a key role as a consultant and contacted world's top class cricketers from England, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies. They included England captain Tony Greig, Pakistan's Asif Iqbal, West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, Australian captains Greg Chappell and Ian Chappell. Later, these cricketers persuaded other top cricketers of their respective countries to join the WSC, popularly known as "Kerry Packar Circus."
Besides, Packer was aided by businessmen John Cornell and Austin Robertson, both of whom were involved in the initial set-up and administration of the Series.
However, unlike Packer the Board of Cricket in India (BCCI), has put a novel idea into practice by arranging auction of international cricketers through franchise.
The BCCI has revived old system when slaves were brought to marketplace for auction and the highest bidder used to buy the slave of his choice. Similarly, the BCCI has treated the players as slaves. The practice of having slaves is still there.
As regards the holding of Indian Premier League (IPL), former cricket greats have bitterly criticised the International Cricket Council (ICC) for allowing the BCCI to organise the IPL Twenty20 tournament, damaging the traditional Test cricket, which for over 100 years was known as the "game of gentleman."
They lambasted the ICC which claims to have popularised the game even in non-cricket playing countries by patronising events like six-a-side and now the million-dollar lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20, which disturbed even its own calendar Test cricket.
Expressing concern over the fate of Test cricket, they said that as compared to One-day International (ODI), less number of Test matches was being played these days. It is apprehended that Twenty20 cricket could be accommodated as early as next year.
There are no two opinions that the IPL would prove to be a negative distraction for international players as they could end up representing teams in private leagues than their national teams. If the ICC does not intervene, the players are ready to abandon international cricket.
DAMAGE TO ICC CALENDAR:
Pakistan's former captain Javed Miandad was of the opinion that the cash-rich Twenty20 IPL competition had begun to damage the international cricket calendar and it would not be surprising that more private parties and organisations, if they had big money to roll, will start their own leagues.
Miandad has rightly pointed out the IPL would create a divide in the international cricket, and it is feared if any player failed to make to it his national side, he would be willing to sacrifice his international career to play for more money in such events, including the Indian Cricket League (ICL).
Miandad said when the ICC had decided to host the Twenty20 World Championship every alternate year, there was no room for a private league.
Those comparing the IPL with the Kerry Packer series in the late '70s, should keep in mind that these are two totally different things. Miandad said the Packer series was held when players were paid ridiculously low wages. The Packer circus introduced new concepts into international cricket, which were beneficial to the players in the long run and it forced the boards to improve pay structures to a reasonable level. The figures being quoted by the IPL organisers are ridiculously high, he said.
In this context, one may point out if Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Operating Officer (CCO) Shafqat Naghmi can get a monthly salary of Rs 556,000, besides other perks and facilities, there is reason why the players should not be brought at par with non-professional PCB officials.
WASIM AKRAM'S VIEWS: Former captain Wasim Akram said: "The ICC should have foreseen the danger 10 years ago because the ICC and cricket boards of countries earn billions of dollars with players getting a small percentage, so such a thing was bound to happen."
"Had players been paid properly by the ICC and the boards, they would not have joined such leagues. Now there has come a stage where players are willing to opt out of international cricket, which is dangerous," he said. Akram also said that huge interest in Twenty20 was a potential danger for 50-over one-day cricket.
"Test cricket will stay on as it is, but I think the ICC will have to find some ways to keep the 50-over interest alive," said Akram. Former ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed was of the view that if the countries could agree to move their tours, this would be permitted by ICC if it could be achieved without having a flow-on effect for any other tour or ICC event.
GAVASKAR FLAS IPL, ICC: Indian cricket great Sunil Gavaskar, criticising the IPL and the ICC recognition, said the Test squads of cricket-playing countries were distracted by the IPL extravaganza. Gavaskar questioned the players' commitment after India crashed by an innings and 90 runs in the second Test against South Africa in Ahmedabad, their worst defeat at home in almost 50 years. "The question that is being asked is whether the Indian team was sufficiently prepared for the Test match," Gavaskar said.
PCB, BCCI UNNERVED: Earlier when the Indian Cricket League (ICL) announced that it would organise Twenty20 tournament, the officials of PCB and the BCCI were unnerved and started threatening the players with dire consequences, including life ban and stoppage of their pensions.
As such instead of getting support from former cricketers and those connected with the national cricket affairs, the PCB bosses were lambasted for putting ban on several players and they were not allowed to participate in domestic cricket. Former PCB Chief Executive Arif Ali Khan Abbasi, former captains Intikhab Alam, Zeheer Abbas, Aamir Sohail, Test leg spinner Iqbal Qasim and others flayed the PCB bosses for putting a ban on players.
They argued that when Pakistani cricketers were allowed to play in the County and League cricket in England, then what was the harm in playing ICL matches in India. To counter the ICL, the BCCI announced plans to stage Indian Premier League (IPL). The PCB bosses, towing the line of BCCI, fully supported the idea.
However, gone are days when batting legends, like Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards, Hanif Mohammad, Sunil Gavaskar, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad and Mohsin Hassan Khan ruled the world of Test cricket for long.
Some these legends established world records in one-day cricket too. In Tewty20 cricket and now the tournaments like IPL and ICL, everything, including music and dance is there, but not the finer elements of traditional cricket, which is gradually into baseball - a game of hit and run.
Moreover, the IPL has opened floodgates of betting, and according to reports, in the initial round of matches, the bookmakers spent millions of rupees on the players of their choice. Now it is to be seen what action would the ICC, which is bent upon recognising the IPL, would take to stop the menace betting. All said and done but the fact is that while the players will become richer, the cricket will suffer the most.