It146;s cricket

Harbhajan Singh has inadvertently achieved what the Board of Control for Cricket in India has been seeking all these weeks. With the Indian Premier League having gathered to this country the world8217;s best cricketing talent, it has been something more than a party every night. The cricket has been top-class and the contests keen, and the BCCI has remained distinctly unsubtle about making its case that the board is up for a shakeout at the International Cricket Council. Harbhajan8217;s misconduct has, unexpectedly, brought the BCCI centrestage. Rumblings that Indian cricket administrators are getting away with whatever they desire are already audible. This is why the aftermath of the Harbhajan episode will impact more than the fortunes of the Mumbai team, for whom he was standing in as captain due to Sachin Tendulkar8217;s injury. It comes as a cold reality check for the franchisees and the BCCI that the IPL is not just a summer8217;s break from the cricket.

The Australians will certainly be watching closely. Harbhajan8217;s entanglement with Andrew Symonds during India8217;s tour Down Under turned into a battle of wits between the Indian board and the rest of the ICC establishment. But more than that, for the BCCI the concern should be the iconisation of its cricketers. The IPL is founded on the star qualities of Indian cricketers. Barring a high bid for, ironically, Symonds, India8217;s leading cricketers are the highest paid members of the eight squads. It was obviously felt that an Indian icon was required by the squads for a sense of city loyalty to coalesce around each of them. Without the stars, it could be said, the IPL as a summertime entertainer would not be possible.

Harbhajan8217;s outrageous 8212; though unsurprising 8212; behaviour shows the dangers of nurturing the star system. In a strange way, the episode makes the BCCI8217;s point to critics of the IPL: the league is, ultimately, about cricket and its codes.