Rescue cricket

It is no more just a tweet war between minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor and Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi.

It is not about Tharoor's personal friend obtaining a "free" stake in Rendezvous Sports World, which has bagged the Kochi franchise. It goes beyond the clash of egos between Tharoor and Modi.

In the spirit of the times, where commercial success seems to gloss over everything else, the fact that IPL raked in big money — about Rs1,500 crore — from the sale of the Kochi franchise did not alert the media or the tax authorities to sit up and take notice. There was a sense of false euphoria all around as everyone was enveloped in a haze of unclear and rather irrational happiness over the IPL.

The BCCI was happy that the IPL has turned into a profitable venture and its coffers would be overflowing. Lalit Modi was basking in the glory of IPL's success because he had single-handedly pushed it and kept it going for the last three years.

A big, maverick idea was made feasible and successful. The players were happy and so were the team owners. Until Modi unintentionally tilted the apple cart as it were, when he fidgeted and probed the Rendezvous Sports equity structure.

While Modi's enquiries may have raised a ruckus over Tharoor's indiscretion and impropriety, for the first time questions are being raised over what kind of money is flowing into IPL's other franchises too. It has turned out to be a classic instance of the law of unintended consequences.

Now that there is public furore it will be better for all the stakeholders — and mostly for the lovers of the game — if the details of the financial flows into the IPL are laid on the table. There is no need to assume a dark underbelly for the venture but IPL has to put its best foot forward by making its financial system an open one.

The purists of the game will never forgive Modi and the BCCI for commercialising and allegedly vulgarising the game. But what is of greater concern for players and spectators is that cricket will be dragged down to dark, abominable depths of sleaze. It has to be rescued from the clutches of mere money-makers. Cricket may not be the religion of the people, as claimed by the game's zealots, but it holds immense sentimental value.

That is why it becomes so important to clean up the mess.