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SharePreity Zinta bit her lower lip as she raised the placard to increase her bid...," and I bit my tongue in regret at having picked up this shiny new book to review. IPL, An Inside Story: Cricket & Commerce had seemed like the perfect appetiser the week before the action got underway in South Africa, but I had reckoned without what's becoming the sole driver of a lot of publishing these days: speed.
So, just when we've finally learnt not to jump at every 'breaking news' flash on TV, there comes another important lesson to be learnt: lower your expectations from books that are quick off the printing blocks -- perfectly timed to catch the current buzz, but with no more substance than in an air guitar.
More reportage than analysis
Firstly, it's not much of an 'inside story'. Pages and pages of description of the recent auction for the second season of IPL, for instance, mirror TV coverage of the event. The authors even record missing the high point of the auction due to a power failure, honest reporters that they are. The rest is a ball-by-ball account, so to say. There is hardly any original angle on the strategic thinking behind how players were acquired and money was spent.
Oohs and aahs over the amounts spent on Freddie Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Mashrafe Mortaza again gloss over the conservatism at this year's auction. What the book does not take into account is that there were far fewer slots open for foreign players in IPL2. This meant that there was much more money available on average, per player. In fact, most of the franchisees chose to spend less than half of their kitty.
Warne undressed, yet again
Some of the cricketing observations are even less insightful. Jaipur, the authors say, "was simply lucky to get the players it got... Overall, its tactics were simply not thought through as it is made out now." This is mostly based on interviews with experts like Mohali coach Tom Moody, who can scarcely be expected to hold an unbiased view. While there is acknowledgement of Shane Warne's instinctive captaincy and spontaneous motivation, that's overshadowed by all the salacious aspects of his personal life laid bare all over again. The book notes the promoters' prescience in meeting Warne in London well before the auction and discussing a captain-cum-coach role for him. And yet it says Jaipur basically got stuck with a retired international spinner, made the most of it, and got lucky.
Warne actually was an inspired choice in many ways. There is space here for only one example of how well he reads the game. Look back at his selection of retired Aussie Darren Lehman to play an anchor role in one of the early matches when Graeme Smith was not available. Lehman played a match-winning hand and this was no fluke. It was out-of-the-box thinking at its best. We can expect more of the same this year, going by Warne's decision to send back home his highest paid player, Kaif, who, one has to admit, is a bit of a lemon on current form.
The accounts section
The book comes into its own more when it gives an account of the IPL in the literal sense, written as it is by two financial journalists -- Alam Srinivas, executive editor of Money Today, and TR Vivek, business editor of Open. You get the full picture in terms of the risks that the franchisees had to take initially when they jumped into untested waters -- for example, how Mukesh Ambani was an aggressive bidder while his more flamboyant brother Anil surprised everyone with his conservative bids, indicating pessimism about how long it would take for the IPL to yield returns.
Considerable space is devoted to documenting how the IPL finally happened more by accident than design. Lalit Modi, among others, had realised the potential of an international cricket league based in India nearly two decades earlier. But the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stymied these plans time and again, partly because of its blinkered vision, but also to forestall any dilution of its powers. The BCCI's lack of cricketing acumen can be gauged from the fact that the Indian team had played only one international T20 match before entering the first T20 World Cup in South Africa, unlike England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It was only after the launch of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) that the BCCI was galvanised into again protecting its turf, this time by launching the IPL, the book points out.
Ho hum. All this is old hat. If you've been following the papers and magazines, you'll find nothing new or reflective in this instant book. You might spend your money more wisely in a sports bar tonight.
