‘Bombay Sport Exchange’: cricket, globalization and the future

Abstract

Cricket's imperial lineage continues to define its meaning in parts of the erstwhile British Empire. Simultaneously, the game is now a metaphor for the forces of globalization and a vehicle for asserting new post-colonial identities. The creation of the lucrative Indian Premier League and India's rise as the financial epicentre of the game is reflective of its rise as an emerging engine of the new global financial structure and as a major market for the consumer economy. India's rise as a new “cricket capital” is intrinsically linked to the forces of global capitalism and this has significantly changed the game power structure itself. This essay analyses the discourse around the Indian Premier League, debates around cricket's new ‘Asian bloc’ and the racism row between the Indian and Australian cricket teams in January 2008, to delineate the shift in the international power dynamics of cricket and its implications for debates about post-colonialism and globalization.

Notes

 ¹ Lord Harris, founder member of Imperial Cricket Council and Governor General of Bombay (1890–95), quoted in Roberts, ‘Cricket as Global as Honourable’, 6.

 ² See, for example, Majumdar, The Illustrated History of Indian Cricket.

 ³ Subhash Chandra's Zee TV was India's first private satellite TV network in 1992. Zee has now grown into a global satellite empire with 17 international and 25 domestic channels. Vinay Kamath and Archana Venkat, ‘Zee Plans Russian Channel Foray’. Business Line, June 23, 2006. Television is only one part of Chandra's business portfolio. One of his companies Essel Propack, for instance, is the world's largest producer of laminated tubes, claiming 30 per cent of the global share by 2004 and operating in 11 countries. In 2003, the company made it to the Forbes 200 Best Small Companies list. Swami, ‘Chandra Shining’, 58.

 ⁴ When Kerry Packer's Channel 9 failed to win the broadcast rights to Australian cricket, he set up World Series Cricket as an independent cricket attraction. Channel 9's WSC signed up the world's top international players and introduced day-night one-day games, coloured clothing and aggressive marketing tactics to re-invent cricket as a television game. For details see Haigh, The Cricket War.

 ⁵ Sixty of ICL's 135 players are non-Indian (I am grateful to Boria Majumdar for this information). ICL's first leg had six teams but two more teams were added for its second leg called ICL 20's Grand Championship between 9 March and 7 April 2008. The eight teams for this second leg were Chennai Superstars, Delhi Giants, Mumbai Champs, Hyderabad Heroes, Kolkata Tigers, Chandigarh Lions, Ahmedabad Rockets and Lahore Badshahs. Impact: The Marketing Advertising and Media Weekly , 14.

 ⁶ See Haigh, The Cricket War.

 ⁷ See Mehta, India on Television.

 ⁸ For more on India's centrality as a new media centre and the notion of new ‘media capitals’ in Asia see Mehta, India on Television For the Chinese television industry see Curtin, Playing to the World's Biggest Audience.

 ⁹ Arindam Mukherjee and Shuchi Srivastava, ‘The Roaring 20s’. Outlook, February 11, 2008, 38.

¹⁰ Interview with Lalit Modi, Vice President, BCCI, ‘Competing with the Saas-Bahu Soap Operas'; Goswami, ‘Cricket's New Innings’, 48–9.

¹¹ Mukherjee and Srivastava, ‘The Roaring 20s’, 38–9.

¹² Goswami, ‘Cricket's New Innings’, 47.

¹³ The IPL teams are owned by Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment (Kolkata), Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad), Reliance Industries Ltd (Mumbai), Bollywood star Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman (Chandigarh), Emerging Media (Jaipur), India Cements (Chennai), GMR Holdings (Delhi) and the UB Group (Bangalore). Nair, ‘Beaming Smiles’, 18.

¹⁴ Mukherjee and Srivastava, ‘The Roaring 20s’, 38–9.

¹⁵ In Indian terms, the total spent on players was Rs. 1,280,000,000 in the first auction. By a rough calculation this amounts to $32 million at February 2008 exchange rates. K. Shriniwas Rao, ‘It Doesn't Get Any Bigger: Auction Becomes an Indian Parade, Even Rookies Get Twice as Ponting’. The Indian Express (Mumbai), February 21, 2008, 1.

¹⁶ Team TOI, ‘Cricket Just Got Even Bigger’. Times of India (Mumbai), February 21, 2008, 1.

¹⁷ Rao, ‘It Doesn't Get Any Bigger: Auction Becomes an Indian Parade, Even Rookies Get Twice as Ponting’, 1.

¹⁸ Sundari Iyer, ‘Stars Shine at Pathbreaking Cricket Auction in Mumbai: Dhoni Bags Rs 6 Crores’. The Asian Age (Mumbai), February 21, 2008, 1.

¹⁹ ‘Bombay Stock Exchange’, The Hindustan Times (Mumbai), February 21, 2008.

²⁰ Parry and Malcolm, ‘England's Barmy Army’, 77.

²¹ In Indian terms, Rs 560,000,000 was spent on Indian players, at an average of Rs. 21,000,000 per player. The rough conversion is ours at February 2008 exchange rates. Much more money was spent in the Rao, ‘It Doesn't Get Any Bigger’, 1.

²² In Indian terms, Rs 720,000,000 was spent on foreign players, at an average of Rs. 14,000,000 per player. The rough conversion is ours at February 2008 exchange rates. Rao, ‘It Doesn't Get Any Bigger’, 1.

²³ Rao, ‘It Doesn't Get Any Bigger’, 1.

²⁴ Iyer, ‘Stars Shine at Pathbreaking Cricket Auction in Mumbai: Dhoni Bags Rs 6 Crores’, 1.

²⁵ See Goswami, ‘Cricket's New Innings’, 48–9.

²⁶ Anand Vasu, ‘Be Indian, Buy Indian’. The Hindustan Times (Mumbai), February 21, 2008, 18.

²⁷ Team TOI, ‘Making Sense of the Bids’. Times of India (Mumbai), February 21, 2008, 1.

²⁸ The second auction was held because teams had money left over from the first round. The amounts left over were $374,000 with Bangalore, $23,750 with Chennai, $71,250 with Delhi, $262,500 with Hyderabad, $1,700,000 with Jaipur, $107,500 with Kolkata, $292,250 with Mohali and $53,750 with Mumbai. Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS, March 9, 2008. http://www.indiaenews.com/sports/20080309/103000.htm.

²⁹ For a detailed analysis of the reforms see Joshi and Little, India's Economic Reforms 1991–2001. For a range of perspectives see Ahluwalia and Little (eds.), India's Economic Reforms and Development; Cassen and Joshi, eds, India: The Future of Economic Reform. Most economists agree that the measures of 1991 were fundamentally different from previous reforms in the 1980s. In contrast, Deepak Nayyar, for instance, has argued that 1991 was not a fundamental turning point, that economic performance had been good from 1980 onwards and that the failure had been in translating growth into well-being. Nayyar, ‘India's Unfinished Journey: Translating Growth into Development’.

³⁰ I.S. Bindra quoted in ‘Quote-Unquote’, The Asian Age (Mumbai), February 21, 2008, 17.

³¹ Team TOI, ‘Cricket Just Got Even Bigger’, 1.

³² Interview with Adam Gilchrist, telecast on Times Now, September 2007.

³³ Adam Gilchrist, ‘IPL Not Distracting Me in Tri-Series’. Times of India (Mumbai), February 10, 2008, 28.

³⁴ Iyer, ‘Stars Shine at Pathbreaking Cricket Auction in Mumbai: Dhoni Bags Rs 6 Crores’, 1.

³⁵ David Lloyd in Roundtable discussion ‘The IPL has to be Governed Globally’. March 4, 2008. Transcript posted at http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/talk/content/multimedia/340986.html?view = transcript.

³⁶ Anam Arsala, ‘Dhaka Warriors Step Into the ICL Ring’. The Hindustan Times, September 16, 2008. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName = &id = a77160f9-7db1-47d6-b35e-f1724a538da9&&IsCricket = true&Headline = Dhaka+Warriors+step+into+the+ICL+ring.

³⁷ AFP, ‘Bangladesh ICL Rebels Banned for Ten Years’. The Nation, September 18, 2008. http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Sports/18-Sep-2008/Bangladesh-ICL-rebels-banned-for-10-years.

³⁸ ‘Player Drain an Issue: Lehmann’. Mumbai Mirror, March 2, 2008, 2.

³⁹ Osman Samiuddin, ‘Welcome to the Inquisition’. March 1, 2005. http://content-www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/340430.html.

⁴⁰ Richard Tomlinson and Abhay Singh, ‘India's Twenty20 Cricket Imports Cheerleaders, Grabs UK Stars’. September 26, 2008. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid = 20601085&sid = agXm3oIJqEUA&refer = europe.

⁴¹ ‘Flintoff Says IPL Not on Priority List’. The Asian Age, February 21, 2008, 17.

⁴² IANS, ‘Kevin Pietersen Wants to Play for IPL’. April 9, 2008. http://sports.in.msn.com/cricket/stories/article.aspx?cp-documentid = 1330824.

⁴³ Tomlinson and Singh, ‘India's Twenty20 Cricket Imports Cheerleaders, Grabs UK Stars’. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid = 20601085&sid = agXm3oIJqEUA&refer = europe.

⁴⁴ See, for example, Ashwin Pinto, ‘IPL Lived Up the Hype’. June 7, 2008. http://www.indiantelevision.com/special/y2k8/ipl_main_spl_1.php.

⁴⁵ See for instance Kunal Pradhan, ‘Batting for Sachin in Jaipur’. The Indian Express, February 22, 2008, 10.

⁴⁶ See, for example, Ian Chappell, ‘IPL Impact: Future Imperfect’. The Hindustan Times (Mumbai), March 2, 2008, 20.

⁴⁷ For details on the challenges faced by IPL see Majumdar, ‘Commercial Cricket’.

⁴⁸ Tomlinson and Singh, ‘India's Twenty20 Cricket Imports Cheerleaders, Grabs UK Stars’.

⁴⁹ Beckles, ‘Introduction’, 1.

⁵⁰ Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers.

⁵¹ P. Chidambaram's budget speech, telecast on Doordarshan, February 29, 2008.

⁵² Quoted in Roundtable discussion, ‘The IPL has to be Governed Globally’.

⁵³ Ian Chappell and David Lloyd in Roundtable discussion, ‘The IPL has to be Governed Globally’, March 4, 2008. Transcript posted at http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/talk/content/multimedia/340986.html?view = transcript.

⁵⁴ Emphasis is ours. Andrew Miller, ‘Worse to Follow’. March 29, 2007. http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/296258.html.

⁵⁵ Emphasis is original. Mukul Keswan, ‘The Indians are Coming’. June 4, 2007. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/meninwhite/archives/2007/06/.

⁵⁶ Mukul Keswan, ‘The Indians are Coming’. June 4, 2007. http://blogs.cricinfo.com/meninwhite/archives/2007/06/

⁵⁷ Jagmohan Dalmiya, Chairman, ICC (1997–2000), interviewed by Nalin Mehta, Kolkata, March 17, 2008.

⁵⁸ Jagmohan Dalmiya, Chairman, ICC (1997–2000), interviewed by Nalin Mehta, Kolkata, March 17, 2008

⁵⁹ See in this context, Boria Majumdar, ‘The Pied Piper's Magic Flute’. Outlook internet edition, September 12, 2006. http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname = 20060912&fname = boria&sid = 1.

⁶⁰ Interview with Lalit Modi, Vice President, BCCI, October 12, 2006. http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/262512.html.

⁶¹ Samyabrata Ray Goswami, ‘Man U Model for BCCI’. The Telegraph, December 28, 2005. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051228/asp/nation/story_5652982.asp.

⁶² Majumdar, ‘The Pied Piper's Magic Flute’.

⁶³ Majumdar, ‘Nationalist Romance to Postcolonial Sport’, 96.

⁶⁴ Mehta, India on Television.

⁶⁵ We are grateful to Boria Majumdar for this information.

⁶⁶ Majumdar, ‘Nationalist Romance to Postcolonial Sport: Cricket in 2006 India’, 91.

⁶⁷ Cricinfo staff, ‘Asian Bloc Forced ICC's Hand Claims Hair QC’. October 1, 2007. http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/313231.html.

⁶⁸ Cricinfo staff, ‘Asian Bloc Forced ICC's Hand Claims Hair QC’. October 1, 2007. http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/313231.html

⁶⁹ News Reports telecast on Times Now, January 7–8, 2008.

⁷⁰ On Times Now, NDTV and CNN-IBN this was the primary news story till the issue was resolved. Nalin Mehta's monitoring of Indian newspapers and television news channels for the second week of January 2008.

⁷¹ Information from Sunder Iyer, Sports Editor, Times Now, who was present when the Indian team off-loaded its bags from the team bus to Canberra on 7 January 2008.

⁷² Chloe Saltau and Alex Brown, ‘Cricket's Day of Shame’. The Sydney Morning Herald, January 30, 2008. http://www.smh.com.au/news/cricket/crickets-day-of-shame/2008/01/29/1201369135083.html.

⁷³ Alex Brown, ‘Sri Lanka May Have Quit One-day Series Too’. Sydney Morning Herald, January 30, 2008.

⁷⁴ Quoted in Alex Brown, ‘Sri Lanka May Have Quit One-day Series Too’. Sydney Morning Herald, January 30, 2008

⁷⁵ Alex Brown, ‘Australian Players Irate After the Board Yields to Pressure’. The Sydney Morning Herald, January 30, 2008. http://www.smh.com.au/news/cricket/australian-players-irate-after-board-yields-to-pressure/2008/01/29/1201369135077.html.

⁷⁶ Saltau and Brown, ‘Cricket's Day of Shame’.

⁷⁷ Alex Brown, January 30, 2008. http://blogs.smh.com.au/sport/archives/2008/01/welcome_to_the_era_of_the_indi.html.

⁷⁸ Saltau and Brown, ‘Cricket's Day of Shame’.

⁷⁹ This was the line taken by news channels like Times Now which para-phrased its coverage with the headline, ‘Is this justice enough’. See also the coverage in the news magazine Tehelka, 5, no.2, January 19, 2008.

⁸⁰ Arjuna Ranatunga quoted in Cricinfo Staff, ‘Australia Incensed by Harbhajan Reprieve’. January 29, 2008. http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ausvind/content/current/story/334111.html.

⁸¹ Klein, quoted in Majumdar, ‘Nationalist Romance to Postcolonial Sport: Cricket in 2006 India’, 94.

⁸² Morris, ‘Metamorposes at Sydney Tower’, 10. Quoted in Chakrabarty, ‘Post Coloniality and the Artifice of History: Who Speaks for “Indian” Pasts?’, p.17.

⁸³ Wagg, Review of Michael Roberts, Essaying Cricket: Sri Lanka and Beyond.

⁸⁴ For a comprehensive discussion on Spivak's question see Gandhi, Postcolonial Theory, 2.