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A gentleman's game became a venue of controversy on national and ethnic lines.
India has won practically no prestige in the world of sport for the last few centuries. There were no games in which India excelled. With the elephant fights of the Mogul era no longer possible, the Indian masses took to the imported game of cricket. For about 30 years, from 1930 to 1960, field hockey enthralled the crowds, but with poor marketing and low income it failed to make the grade.
The British introduced the game of cricket to India toward the middle of the 19th century. British civilian expatriates played it to amuse themselves; British military men preferred the more robust game of polo. The British introduced cricket not only to India, but to all their colonies. Today the game is moderately popular in Britain, among the social upper crust. The working class prefers rugby and soccer.
Australia, India, Pakistan, the West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand all regularly play cricket at the international level.
Organized cricket has its beginning in the early 20th century. To date, England maintains the leading role in setting the rules, procedures, umpiring and schedule of the games through an international body known as the International Cricket Council.
Previously, cricket was a boring five-day game in which 11 players on one side occasionally swung their bats, followed by the other team. Later one-day matches were invented and still better, now 20/20 matches have been started, bringing some enthusiasm to the game.
The British left, but the sport lived on in the former colonies. Clubs like the Cricket Club of India were not wealthy enough to have players on payroll. But mass interest was created by commentators like Vijay Merchant, Maharaja Vizianagram and Chakarapani, who gave blow-by-blow commentaries on radio. This author was among the fans in the late 1950s.
Once a year, a five-match test series between the big powers of cricket was played. While moderately successful in Australia, the West Indies and England, in India and Pakistan it aroused great enthusiasm. India mostly lost or forced a draw in the matches, which was not a crowd-pleasing performance.
Money collected at the gate was shared with the visitor's club and spent on the upkeep of clubhouses. Not much was available for player training, coaching or team building. Practically none was available for organizing the sport at the high school and university levels. They were supposed to take care of themselves.
Cricket had a big appeal for the Indian aristocracy. Maharajas of Baroda, Holkar, Pataudis, Scindia of Gwalior, Ranjitshinji and Dulipshinji from Gujarat and Rajinder Singh of Patiala dominated the sport for a long time. The rest of the players came from the upper crust of Mumbai. The clubs never made an effort to hunt talent all over the country without prejudice and disregarding class. Hence the Indian performance was below par.
Change began in the early 1980s. Maharajas who had dominated the sport for a long time found themselves losing influence. The one-day matches caught the public's imagination, and spectators came in droves. India began to win matches, driving public enthusiasm way up.
Then came the cricket championship matches between competing national teams. Add TV broadcasts to this mix and the game's popularity grew. Children in high school began to copy the test players. Suddenly, a talent pool was created all over the country. New players joined the national team, adding to public enthusiasm.
Today the situation is completely different. Untold public enthusiasm has rocketed India into the major league of international cricket. Players and clubs in India make more money than anywhere else. Cricket teams around the world wish to play against India, in India.
Very cleverly all this enthusiasm is converted into money. The Cricket Club's income has soared to US$175 million a year, and is expected to double in the next four years with international TV rights. Players collect huge sums of money outside the sport by endorsing products, with major players making as much as US$5-10 million a year.
With extra cash at the disposal of the clubs, there is better training, better coaches and better maintenance of the playing fields. Today the CCI is the richest club in the world. Its contribution to cricket's governing body, the ICC, is driving Indian influence in the sport to new heights.
These huge amounts of money have invited organized crime onto the scene in the form of illegal betting on the game. Seven years ago a South African player in India was accused of colluding with organized crime, receiving a huge payout to throw the match away.
Betting is common in the West, but it is regulated. In India it is behind the scenes, with no controls or regulations. In an unproven charge, the Pakistani team's coach was murdered during the championship games in the West Indies last year, presumably over betting losses.
The latest corruption charge was made by a black Australian player in collusion with a black umpire in Australia, who accused a leading Indian player of racial comments. The Indian player was suspended. The Indian side swung into action, and as a leading contributor of money, its voice was heard. The offending umpire was ejected for the series and the Indian player reinstated.
In India, during both the five-day test series and the one-day match championship series, businesses, government offices, and other workplaces come to a halt. Everybody watches the sport on TV or keeps tabs by cell phone. The cell phone companies are happy as this inflates their revenues. Computer geeks are perpetually logged into the score tally Web sites.
Indian players, especially the aging ones, peddle their own influence to get selected for the match, which keeps them in the limelight and keeps the money rolling in. India has more aging players on its teams than anywhere in the world, which limits the entry of new talent. Aging players are usually bad performers; hence India still continues to lose matches.
Cricket in India is a game for the masses. It is like soccer in Europe or football and baseball in the United States. The controversies it has engendered are unfortunate, but they give the people a bit of amusement and something to talk about. Young children are taking to the sport in droves, adding to the overall talent pool. It needs better organization to keep public interest high, but cricket in India is surely here to stay.
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(Hari Sud is a retired vice president of C-I-L Inc., a former investment strategies analyst and international relations manager. A graduate of Punjab University and the University of Missouri, he has lived in Canada for the past 34 years. ©Copyright Hari Sud.)
