Why the Ashes matter to India

Does it disappoint you? Anger you? I hope it does because you have a right to feel that way. Your favourite sport, the one you finance and nurture, is in turmoil. Most things are when they go into courts and hospitals!

Currently India8217;s biggest limited-overs tournament is on but the more significant action is taking place in courts, among bitterly divided members of the BCCI.

Currently Mr Muthiah is in court against Mr Dalmiya, or some club against the BCCI but it means the same thing, Mr Agashe is in court, Mr Rungta is in court. And very little of that has to do with the playing of the game; or indeed doing what it takes to be well prepared for the series against Pakistan. Almost all of it has to do with control and that often means controlling finances.

AFP recently quoted a BCCI official as saying 8216;8216;deadlines don8217;t worry us; as long as we make good money, everything will be fine.8217;8217; It is a cruel, heartless and offensive statement. And totally unsurprising.

Officials play for India as well. When they do well, they make it easier for the players, if they are only concerned with making good money then they ignore the two people that must come first; the public and the players.

The interesting thing, though, is that if they continue to walk on the path they are currently on, they won8217;t make good enough money either. The biggest source of revenue for any sports body is television. Stations pay outstanding money for the right to televise games and if they do it well something you should assume but cannot always they catalyse the process of earning money from sponsors, and in the long run from ticket sales as well by stimulating demand.

Currently the BCCI is in a funny situation where they seem unable to give the rights to either of the two highest bidders and are therefore increasingly squeezed into a third option which cannot pay them anywhere near as well.

Doordarshan won the rights outright from 1999 to 2004 by being the highest bidder and so there could have been no dispute on their right to show cricket in India. This time their bid is much lower than either Zee, the original highest bidder, or ESPN Star Sports.

But by a strange process that completely ignores the consumer, Doordarshan becomes the default option. They don8217;t show cricket in combination with somebody but do so exclusively. More important, this time they will pay significantly less than the other two options.

That means the BCCI incurs an opportunity cost. A big opportunity cost. The value of the rights after the Pakistan series will become, or should become, significantly smaller, and the players who get paid a fraction of the BCCI8217;s profits will lose as well.

I would like to believe that the players might want to protest that and I have no doubt at all that if those that run the BCCI were paid a fraction of the profits, they would be screaming the loudest. Are the players entitled to say that they should be allowed to play a private, independently run league to make good the possibility of reduced income?

So we now have a management whose key personnel are in court, whose income projections are likely to take a big hit and whose consumers are likely to be miffed. And in case you forgot, the President is going to be fighting an assembly election!

If you believe that the objective is to create a chaotic situation through which only some can navigate, I don8217;t think you would be wrong.

Oh, and by the way, do you find it unusual that you can watch Leicestershire play Glamorgan in Swansea but not South Zone vs West Zone in the Deodhar Trophy?