Only constant, no change

Selection defies logic, pitches are minefields, domestic cricket languishes, but the BCCI is focused on merchandising and TV rights.

In just two days, two separate deals for telecasting cricket matches controlled by the Board of Control for Cricket in India fell through and, on the third day, two new ones were forged as replacements. In the midst of this flurry of deal making and breaking, one can safely say that no progress has been made.

When the new regime led by Sharad Pawar took the reins of India's cricket administration, the chief centripetal force bringing them together was a fierce desire to oust Jagmohan Dalmiya.

The country's cricket has always been administered in a bizarre fashion. Selection, for instance, has often defied logic. The domestic cricket structure, with over two dozen teams, sets the bar really low. Since the international stars play few matches in domestic cricket, and since the matches are played on dubious pitches (either placid or a minefield), often untested talent is thrown into the international arena and exposed. The list goes on.

Still, enormous credit is due to Dalmiya for making cricket an industry that does offer suitable financial rewards to all concerned.

Interestingly, in spite of all the anti-Dalmiya sentiment in the new regime, its members have so far only sought to do more of Dalmiya, and that too only in the money-making slugfest. The other aspects of the game, which will make or break it in the medium term, have been left untouched.

The entire focus has converged on how much money can be garnered from the sale of telecast rights, in-stadia advertising rights, DTH, Internet, apparel, shoes, leading arm logo and the space on players' eyelashes. (Okay, Umpire's Post made up that last bit, but it is sure you get the picture.)

With time, the marketing machine of BCCI, represented and symbolised by vice-president Lalit Modi, seems reluctant to concede that the turf has changed. A broadcaster's control over the pricing of pay channels is gone and the live feed of cricket matches has to be shared with Doordarshan for free. To make matters worse, cricket is losing viewers.

After much haggling, BCCI has given Nimbus, which bagged the rights to matches in India for years to March 2010, a concession of Rs 257 crore. Yet, Zee, which held the rights to matches in neutral venues, could not obtain such a waiver. Again, as Nimbus replaced the void created by Zee for matches in Ireland, it is paying the same price that Zee was paying.

The sad fact is that the concept of cricket administration is no longer about the sport. It is about hawking the rights to telecast and advertise.