Cricket’s Indian rope-a-dope trick
COMMENT
What a glittering, allsinging, all-dancing rort. The IPL auction was like a fabulous murder mystery set in the world’s biggest casino. Every team had an agenda and it wasn’t one that involved two umpires and a ball.
Stuff had a live commentary going and most New Zealand sports fans were wringing their hands. These salt-of-the-earth people could not understand why Ish Sodhi, the world’s top T20 bowler, was not attracting a bid. They could not understand why Martin Guptill was as popular as a six-month-old fish hidden behind the curtains. Follow the money.
Why oh who, wondered some, had Sandeep Lamichhane, a 17-year-old tweaker from Nepal, been picked ahead of Sodhi. One clever bloke picked it up. HEP. That’s not some fancy form of hire purchase, but hydro electric power. The owners of Delhi Daredevils are GRM, who happen to be developing a couple of hydro electric plants in Nepal.
And when you have had a couple of petrol bombs chucked into your offices, it helps to get local opinion on your side. And so ‘coach’ Ricky Ponting bought Lanichhane, a player who wasn’t even on the original auction list.
Delhi’s CEO Hemant Dua said: ‘‘He had a great U-19 World Cup. We called him for a trial and we liked him. We went ahead and bought him. It’s very heartening. What IPL has done for Afghanistan is create heroes. We’re happy for Sandeep and Nepal.’’
You bet they are. And so the money-go-round kept on turning. Ed Hawkins, journalist and expert on gambling in cricket, tweeted; ‘‘And, Oh look! The old mob is back together at Chennai. Dhoni - Raina - Jadeja. I can probably guarantee right here, right now, we won’t be backing them on the outright.’’
Yep, the old mob is back. Chennai were chucked out for two years for spot fixing. The owner’s son-in-law was banned. The dodgy trio have been in trouble previously because Dhoni was a part-owner of the management group that acted for all three players and so had a clear conflict of interests.
But this is India. You get the former head of the International Cricket Council to restructure the company that owns the team by reissuing shares in a way that attracts yet more investigation. And there at the auction sits Stephen Fleming, with his huge watch and canary yellow jacket, looking like Mr Chuckles from the holiday camp, making sure the owner’s boys are back in town.
Wherever you looked someone was doing a deal that had not very much to do with cricket. The Royals of Rajasthan are also back after a two-year ban. These are the TV men part owned by Manoj Badale of Emerging Media and Lachlan Murdoch, the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox.
You had to laugh when Rahul Dravid nobly stepped down as the mentor of Delhi because his involvement with the Indian nation set-up was perceived by some as a conflict of interest. Does Ponting not now have exactly the same conflict of interest. Almost everyone has a conflict of interest.
Fox Sports own Star who put the IPL on TV. It looks as if he and Badale may be looking at expanding their cricket market and playing games across continents. Is that why they splashed money on Steve Smith and Ben Stokes? Are they looking for marquee names?
‘‘The auction is a house of casino,’’ said Ravi Ashwin, and the wheel keeps on turning. You didn’t really think that Ross Taylor and Guptill were going to get picked. They have never been in the playground gang of Fleming, Daniel Vettori, the coach of Bangalore, and Brendon McCullum. And at times it was like pick-ups in the playground.
Vettori picked McCullum, of course he did, his price helpfully pushed up a by a counter-bid from his mate Ponting. McCullum and Vettori both still have an interest in a firm that is exporting quality New Zealand produce to India. That’s a conflict of interests to me. To others it’s just good business practice. And in India, almost anything goes.
King’s XI Punjab are owned by a Bollywood actress and the Wadia Group, Mumbai are owned by Akash Ambani and Reliance Industries. Thirty years ago an Ambani was accused of attempting to murder a Wadia. Scary fixture, that one.
Bangalore’s owner, the liquor baron Vijay Mallya, had to flee the country. A warrant was issued for his extradition back from Britain. So for now Diageo are in charge. I am not sure how Moeen Ali likes playing for a team that promotes alcohol, but I amsure that McCullum can help his team-mate can find a way through that moral maze.
Meanwhile, over at the Kolkata knight Riders, this is Bollywood, baby. They are owned by an actress and an actor and the Red Chillies Entertainment Group. They also have a stake in the Caribbean league with the Trinbago Knight Riders. Conflict of interest? Surely not, but it might help explain why three West Indians – Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Javon Searless – form a large chunk of their eight overseas player allowance.
So don’t worry Ross, Ish and Joe Root. It’s almost a badge of honour not to be another winning chip on the table in Bangalore’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel. It should worry us more as a country that a quarter of the coaches are Kiwis. Because whatever qualifications you need to be a coach in the IPL, they do not seem to involve coaching. It’s better to be a name who is prepared to open doors for some of the richest men on the planet.