A first-class makeover for domestic cricket

From live telecast and coloured clothing to much, much more moolah, BCCI has now trained its marketing genius to closer home.

MUMBAI: Live telecast, colour clothing, white balls, techno-savvy referees, foreign imports, MNC sponsors, decisive umpires and a very very fat purse. The story of domestic cricket will be different from next year onwards — more attractive, more lucrative, if not more competitive.

Powered by a marketing blitz, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is giving domestic cricket a fillip. With only the official sponsor for the senior team’s underwear yet to be roped in, the marketing honchos of the BCCI are shrewdly plotting the transformation of domestic cricket. Ninety-three first class games, 83 List A matches, and a number of slam-bham Twenty20 games, the blueprint has been drawn up.

On television
A minimum of 72 days — from Ranji Trophy, Deodhar, Duleep and the Challenger Trophy — will be on air, live, to be shown on the soon-to-be-launched Nimbus channel. “It’s a challenge to market these games,” Nimbus chairman Harish Thawani admits. But adds: “The viewers will be surprised by the quality of coverage. The impact on domestic cricket will grow with each passing year.” Day and night games will be supplemented by innovative coverage that will provide maximum scope for advertisers.

Match fees
The Ranji cricketers will pocket an approximate Rs 1,00,000 per four-day game. BCCI executive secretary Prof Ratnakar Shetty puts things in perspective. “Last season, the match fee worked out to Rs 16,000 per day. A player was paid Rs 64,000 for a game that lasted the distance. By the same calculation, Rs 80,000 is what a player would have received for a five-day game,” Prof Shetty said.

Add to the match fees the player’s share of the sponsor money, and a first class cricketer can earn in excess of Rs 10 lakh if a team reaches the semifinals.

Two lakhs for a Test and Rs 1,60,000 for a ODI at home is what the Dravids and Tendulkars are paid. The BCCI Vision document also envisages a Rs 1 crore prize money for the Ranji Trophy champions.

Foreign players
Maharashtra is adamant about being at the forefront of change. Last year, they introduced a ranking and performance based contract system, a first. Now, they are reviving designs to rope in foreign professional for them. Says Ajay Shirke, Maharastra Cricket Association president: “The foreign recruit can earn about $2,300 from the increased match fee. That means $15,000 per season.”

“We’re open to getting foreign players to play Ranji Trophy matches,” BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said. “It will revive interest in first class games. Associations have enough money these days to pay these professionals.”

Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath are some of the names doing the rounds. No one can accuse them of dreaming small.

Men in white
While a new method to rate umpires is being mulled over, what is certain is that Microsoft is being roped in to provide software that will help evaluate the performance of the umpires. Following criticism from the ICC, the Elite panel of Indian umpires is being reconstituted and improved decision-making should be seen this season. Match referees too will benefit from the footage that six cameras which will record each game. Rajiv Shukla of the Umpires Sub-committee said: “The standard of umpiring is bound to rise. We are also encouraging former Test and first class players to become umpires.”

Twenty20
After being arm-twisted, rather out-voted, at the International Cricket Council into accepting Twenty20, the BCCI has had to change track a wee bit. An inter-city league along the lines of the Premier Hockey League will now be introduced. The state associations are to nominate the cities that will play in the shortest version of the game. Colour uniform, flood lights and the white ball will enliven Ranji Trophy one-dayers (List A) and Deodhar Trophy games. “The colour and vibrancy will attract viewers, in turn generate revenue not only for the board, but also in terms of sponsorship for teams and will ultimately benefit the first class cricketers,” IS Bindra of the Marketing Committee said.

For a touch of nostalgia, the clash between Pakistan domestic winners (Quaid-a-Azam) and Indian champs (Ranji Trophy) will be revived. Hitesh Shah of the Tour and Fixtures Committee confirmed that the match was on and that Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh would be the venue.