Confused Soul

"At the end of the day, people need to understand that the IPL has a corporate side to it, and a very definitive corporate side. It is not at all cricket in the traditional sense” Vijay Mallya, owner of Banglore Royal Challengers

"You need to construct the team with lesser amount of people and continue with it because it's just delaying matters" Shahrukh Khan, owner of Kolkata Knight Riders

What are these statements and names conveying, is the Indian cricket (read IPL) is being colored in the color of corporatism? Hardcore corporate terms like ‘value for money’, ‘cost cutting’ are being associated with IPL. And why not...Eight companies are vying for top honors in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they have invested millions for it. It was always said that Indian cricket team is not professional but IPL came with so much professionalism (or we must say corporatization) in the game that nobody can forget it. Every player is giving his best b’coz if he won’t he won’t be in for next game and loose money. SHOW-ME-THE-MONEY is becoming the new anthem for international cricket. Do the players play only for money or there is something more than money when they play for their country or club or state? Players make themselves available only to rest on bench so that they don’t loose money.

Now the bad side of IPL emerges; since cricketers are not used to playing under this kind of pressure. A thousand abuses are fine, a million angry words too just to win the game. And if they don’t, they are never averse to try new things like slapping and fistfights also. As the corporate factor is in and they know only one diktat works in the corporate world: perform or perish. Clearly, one man’s (the owner, that is) demands and expectations are more burdensome that a billion’s. The statements came form Mallya, sacking of Charu Sharma and cost cutting by KKR team owner king Khan seal this.

But one thing is to be admitted without hesitation that IPL is a big hit… so big that Rickey Ponting had to appeal to Australians to watch AUS-WI series in place of watching IPL. By this we can assume what a hit IPL is… IPL is based on big money on stack; it is all about money… Hit sixes get money, Take wickets get money, Score runs get money, Bowl economically get money, Score runs get money, Take catches get money … money is everywhere in the air and everyone is running after it.

Since we are talking about MONEY factor in IPL, let’s see what is the return IPL giving to it’s team owners. Obviously Rajstha Royals are on the top after wining 7 out of 9 matches and that too without any star quotient in their team. That is the team with the least expensive players and was the most underrated team at the starting of the series. But it proved that cricket is a game in which a team shouldn’t be judged by the head count of star performers on in record books but with the on field performance, strategy, discipline and dedication.

So if we see at IPL team’s average paisa vasool index (PVI). The PVI is "the amount paid so far to the player" divided by "the player's MVPI (measures a player's "contribution" ) so far (after 27th match)". Players with low PVI values offer the franchise owner a good return on investment.

(Source Rediff.com)

This graph is based on the performance of 10 most expensive players of each team.

Just as we guessed, Rajasthan Royals' top ten players (who receive perhaps 90% of the franchise payouts) are offering the best return. For every "run" (MVPI) contributed by a top RR player the payout is US$ 1338. Royal Challengers Bangalore pays their top ten players about three times more for the same "run"! Perhaps that explains the recent turbulence that the team is witnessing.

So IPL is the format, if a player wants to stay in it and make money out of it. The simple mantra is to perform. If you don’t perform, the doors are open to throw you out. But it made an impact on international cricket; players are ready to quit playing for their country so that they can play for IPL. The money factor of IPL is transforming Cricket form GAME in to BUSINESS. The players are not only loosing match but loosing self respect when they have to witness the RED faces of team owner.

But what the audience want? A masala mixed with game, and IPL is full with masala content. The political touch, cheer girls controversy, slapping issue, mind games, glamor quotient and things like this are contributing equally to make IPL a big hit. Corporate India -- in the form of the new cricket leagues -- is giving it fans all the change they want.