IT TAKES ALL KINDS…

Dreams come true
“There are several of my batchmates who earn a lot working as investment bankers, but they can only dream of sitting with the world’s greatest bowler and discussing strategies with him,” says Iyer, who isn’t embarrassed to say that within 10 minutes of the meeting, he asked Warne about the famous ‘ball of the century’ the legend bowled to Mike Gatting.
Actually, there happens to be one of Iyer’s former classmates at Narsee Munji Institute of Management Studies who can match these cricketing stories. Sundar Raman is the CEO of IPL — an assignment that opens his off-the-field cricketing innings. While Iyer has names like Hutchison Max, Sony Entertainment, Reuters and Discovery on his CV, Raman is credited with working out the marketing strategy for brands like Unilever, PepsiCo, Motorola, Samsung and Amex.
The biggest challenge that Sundar is dealing with these days is to sell the brand-new concept of a city-based league in a country obsessed with Team India. “Cricket in India has always been a sellable brand. Cricketers are also among the country’s biggest brand ambassadors, after all. Twenty20 itself is very exciting and India’s success in the version’s World Cup added to that excitement. The matches will be held in eight major cities across the country, where the following for the game is immense. Therefore, I have no reason to think a city-based league structure won’t be successful,” says a confident Sundar.
Another heavyweight who has crossed to an IPL franchise is Ravi Krishnan, the former Managing Director (South Asia) of the International Management Group. He now happens to the vice-president of the Rajasthan Royals.

New challenges
Along with the management big-wigs, there are several retired cricketers who have suddenly surfaced and extended their non-playing association with cricket. Sunil Valson is famous as one of Kapil’s Devils since 1983. But now, he is a Delhi Daredevil.
Valson had intentionally kept a distance from cricket all these years, but the IPL proved too tempting for the 49-year-old.
The former left-arm pacer’s job these days is to make the supporters’ trip to the Kotla memorable.
“I have to provide a good three-hour experience for the crowd. They should have a feeling akin to going for a movie, for instance, where you get your money’s worth. They need to relax, enjoy and go back home satisfied. Being a cricketer, I know the requirements of a cricketer, so I can take care of them too,” says Valson of his new job profile.
Making it an interesting mix outside the boundary line are famous cricketing talking heads Harsha Bhogle, Charu Sharma and BCCI’s former media man Amrit Mathur. Bhogle is the strategist in Mumbai Indians’ think-tank, Sharma the CEO of Bangalore Royal Challengers and Mathur, like Valson, is the logistic man for Daredevils.
Ask Sharma about his vital position in the franchise and one can feel the excitement in the voice.
“I have always been a huge fan of the game and fortunately my profession also revolved around it. To be part of the Bangalore team today is not just about the challenge of learning something new, but understanding and ensuring that this game can be taken to newer levels,” he says.
Sharma isn’t the only fan-turned-administrator as most men in sharp suits switch to their team’s training gear in the evening. Contrary to the mood but in tune with this season of the billion dollar league, one asks these administrators if the ‘package’ they take home is competitive. The Rajasthan Royals marketing man smiles with the answer: “Certainly not what the investment bankers earn, but it is enough for my family to get two square meals and pay for my children’s school fees.”
(With inputs from K Shriniwas Rao and GS Vivek)