In many ways, the hard hitting by India’s batsmen over the past few weeks has been matched by some almost unbelievable figures from those who run the game. Both sets were at the National Stadium today, and the men in the suits had broad smiles as the boys in blue justified their hefty investments — specifically the $612 million Nimbus paid the BCCI for TV rights.‘‘I think it’s good for Indian cricket’’, Board president Sharad Pawar said today. ‘‘The players will get 26 per cent from the gross income of the BCCI, not just media rights, and that will be divided equally among all, over and above the gradation policy.’’The balance, he told The Indian Express, will used to improve infrastructure in all the grounds, facilitate more money to all state associations and improve state and even university cricket. ‘‘The money is not to swell BCCI coffers. It will be spent extensively for developing cricket in the country.’’The man who put up the numbers, Nimbus’s Harish Thawani, was busy accepting congratulations in the Chairman’s box. Yet he sought to play down his own importance. ‘‘I’m just an ordinary man, the most famous name will still be Rahul Dravid,’’ he said.Yet he will need to do some Dhoni-like batting to achieve his break-even target of $4 million revenues per matchday. Is that too high an asking rate? ‘‘I’d call it a fair price. When I paid around $550m for the ICC Champions Trophy and World Cup last time, everybody said I would sink. A few days later everyone said I’d got it rather cheap. This time too, people are saying the same thing, just wait and watch,’’ he says.What he stresses is the quality of India’s opposition over the next four years. ‘‘India are playing good cricket and there are some really fabulous tours coming up — all the big guns will be visiting India. You must remember that all the top five teams in the world are playing well and competition is tough.’’And domestic cricket, too, will be given its place, he assures.Combined bid for 2011KARACHI: Sharad Pawar said he would meet his Pakistan counterpart, Shahryar Khan, in New Delhi this Friday and also invite Sri Lankan and Bangladesh cricket board presidents to sit and decide on holding a combined World Cup in 2011. However, he ruled out any reconsideration of India’s participation in the Twenty20 World Cup. ‘‘The working committee of the board unanimously decided not to participate in that for a lot of reasons. The BCCI decided that it was not in the interest of the game.’’
