The IPL and the Indian domination of global cricket

Abstract

The success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is not only about the Indian control of international cricket, it is also about the rise of India. It is about the move away from a restrictive command economy to a free market economy with all the attendant dangers of rapid success, high rewards and growing potential for corruption. It is also about an India which increasingly sees itself as playing a greater role in international affairs and, in the natural course of events, becoming a great power. What this paper does is discuss why the IPL model is successful and how it is grounded in the overall Indian approach to the control of cricket. Further, what are the potential opportunities and pitfalls for the future growth of the game and Indian control of it? It concludes by discussing how the IPL fits into the rise of a modern twenty-first-century India.

Notes

¹ Ireland were the surprise team of the tournament in that they defeated England and, arguably, in George Dockrell had one of the best spinners of the tournament.

² Norman da Costa, ‘ICC revisiting its shameful decision to exclude associates form the World Cup – Coaches and captains leaving their jobs all over – Players love the IPL’, Toronto Sun, 24 April 2011.

³ Huw Richards, ‘Indian Premier League rewards native sons at auction; Cricket’, International Herald Tribune, 13 Jan. 2011.

⁴ Robert Craddock, ‘India take Big out of our Bash’, The Courier Mail (Brisbane), 10 Jan. 2011.

⁵ Robert Craddock, ‘Cricket faces a gloomy future’, The Courier Mail, 21 March 2011.

⁶ Matt Wade, ‘The poor superpower’, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 April 2011.

⁷ ‘Go fetch that: The Indian Premier League’, The Economist, 15 Jan. 2011.

⁸ Simon Wilde, ‘IPL IN A FIX: Lalit Modi is going but a whiff of corruption still hangs over his league', The Sunday Times, 25 April 2010. Kochi has now been dropped from the IPL because of financial problems.

⁹ Sharda Ugra, ‘Daniel Vettori asks for IPL window in EPL’, Cricinfo, 26 April 2011. Available at http://www.espncricinfo.com/indian-premier-league-2011/content/story/512671.html

¹⁰ David Hopps, ‘Counties balk at ECB plan for Championship restructure’, The Guardian, 29 April 2011.

¹¹ Andrew Wu, ‘Crowded schedule and small salary cap could hamper new Twenty20: Cricket—The Big Bash’, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 Feb. 2011.

¹² Rohit Mahajan, ‘Twenty Questions, One Answer’, Outlook, 15 Jan. 2011.

¹³ Robert Craddock, ‘Aussie T20 must welcome Indian investors’, The Courier Mail, 28 Oct. 2010.

¹⁴ Robert Craddock, ‘Aussie T20 must welcome Indian investors’, The Courier Mail, 28 Oct. 2010

¹⁵ Ivo Tennant, ‘Counties “made plans for rebel league”; Cricket’, The Times, 28 March 2011.

¹⁶ Michael Roberts, ‘John Howard: Cricket Australia's misjudged power-play’, The Drum, 5 July 2010.

¹⁷ Malcolm Speed, ‘Howard was rejected because he would foil the ICC's saboteurs', Sydney Morning Herald, 1 July 2010.

¹⁸ Malcolm Speed, “Howard was rejected because he would foil the ICC's saboteurs', Sydney Morning Herald, 1 July 2010

¹⁹ Simon Barnes, ‘Wisden debate is all over bar the shouting’, The Times, 22 April 2011.

²⁰ Simon Barnes, ‘Wisden debate is all over bar the shouting’, The Times, 22 April 2011

²¹ Simon Barnes, ‘Wisden debate is all over bar the shouting’, The Times, 22 April 2011

²² IMF, World Economic Outlook 2011, 2.

²³ Thomas Friedman. The Lexus and the Olive Tree, New York: Anchor Books, pp. 101–112.

²⁴ Simon Wilde, ‘IPL in a Fix: Lalit Modi is going but a whiff of corruption still hangs over his league’, The Sunday Times, London, 25 April 2010.

²⁵ Vikas Bajaj, ‘Cricket king in danger of losing throne: Indian league's founder in scandal linking sports, politics, and business’, International Herald Tribune, 24 April 2010.

²⁶ Jamie Pandaram, ‘Match-fixing claims could finish off IPL’, The Age, 27 April 2010.

²⁷ Richard Edwards, ‘Scandals may tear IPL apart’, Sunday Express, 17 Oct. 2010.