If non-cricketing commercial occupation is a significant part of a person’s overall income and the loss of this endangers honouring one’s commitments: Ashis Ray
Ashis Ray
Batting, emphasised Ian Chappell, is about “watching” the ball. This means not only focussing your eyes on the leather and seam, but also concentrating your mind on these. Batsmen who are able to accomplish this challenging co-ordination are generally the more successful.
If the sharpness of the eyes falters, which is inevitable after a certain age, directing the brain to the task becomes more important, together with dipping into experience. None of this works, though, if the system is distracted by extraneous elements, which is what has happened to the Indian wielders of the willow.
These days, there is so much at stake, financially, if an Indian cricketer doesn’t perform, that the consequences of failure have become a major headache for them. It is not that they are engaging in non-cricketing commercial activities at the cost of their cricket. To say so, is not to grasp the nettle. Indeed, the gainful deviation from the game when there are no on-field duties underway or imminent (and this includes playing for your state or zone) can be therapeutic.
However, if the non-cricketing commercial occupation is a significant or greater part of a person’s overall income and the loss of this endangers honouring one’s commitments — mortgage, car loan, children’s education, family healthcare and such like — and drastically impairs one’s lifestyle, then it could be a considerable concern. The volatility of the situation is amply demonstrated by companies pulling advertisements featuring cricketers every time they disappoint and consumers become hostile towards them.
Few human beings are immune to such unnerving fluctuations. The ability to think on one’s feet — absolutely essential in international sport — can be severely impaired if the mind is weighed down by worries. This is what happened to the Indians in the World Cup, and was a critical reason for their under-achievement.
(It is another matter that ordinary cricketers have been over rewarded. But that they’ve got accustomed to a load of luxuries, it’s painful to adjust to austerity.)
The problem can only be solved by reducing a player’s reliance on earnings from endorsements and other pursuits. A senior Indian cricketer is said to rake in about $440,000 and a relative newcomer around $220,000 per annum respectively from their central contracts and match fees. These are handsome take-home pays compared to most other Indians and to the cost of living in the country. However, the basic remuneration of an England cricketer is close to $500,000 and if one argues that there is more money in Indian cricket than anywhere else, then there is a case for enhancing the Indian players’ returns or the tenure of their agreements, thereby increasing their security and diluting their dependence on disbursements from outside the game.
The president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sharad Pawar, and his apparent deputy, IS Bindra, have blamed Indian media for erroneously creating a hype that India would win the World Cup and, thereby, according to them, instigating the public backlash after India’s premature exit from the tournament. It is undoubtedly true that a section of Indian media are guilty of this charge. The disinformation that wickets in the West Indies would be slow turners and favour the Indians was diabolical. Even if that were the case, India were by no means favourites and pandering to wishful thinking of the uninitiated was wrong. But are Messrs Pawar and Bindra trying to say that elimination at the preliminary stage, defeat to Bangladesh, were par for the course?
One being a politician and the other a retired bureaucrat, they are past masters at spin doctoring. They are, clearly, attempting to deflect attention from their “honorary” selves, lest angry cricket fans train their guns at them. It would be a travesty of justice if they were allowed to get away from not announcing transference of executive responsibilities to expert and professional management within a time bound period.
Ashis Ray is author of the recently launched “One-Day Cricket: The Indian Challenge” (Harper Collins), which can be bought online on www.ians.in
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