“Interesting Article”
Just FYI just found this interesting thought I’ll share it with u especially the
Indian media..– finally a sane article in the Economic Times written by Raghu
Krishnan.
An IPL auction turned into a diplomatic row, on the night of Tuesday, January 19,
almost every Indian TV news-channel spun a conspiracy theory about the fact that
there were no takers for Pakistani cricketers among the IPL franchisees in the
auction held earlier in the day. It could not, the TV news-channel anchors solemnly
opined, be a coincidence that none of the IPL franchisees had bid for the Pakistani
cricketers. Pakistan, the anchors noted, was the reigning T20 world champ and the
non-participation in the IPL of that country’s cricketers for the second consecutive
year would have a detrimental effect on Indo-Pak relations. The TV anchors apparently
failed to realise that the answer to the question of why no Pak cricketer had been
bought lay in the comment that the channels had themselves made that the 2010 season
would be the second consecutive year in which cricketers from Pakistan would not be
participating in the IPL.With only 11 players being bought out of 67 and with each
franchisee not having more than one or two slots to fill, it would have not made
much sense to invest in a player about whose participation there was considerable
doubt, going by the previous year’s experience. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi stated in
the post-auction press conference that Pakistani cricketers had not participated in
the 2009 tournament because their cricketing board had advised not them not to play
in India in the wake of 26/11. After such an experience, the IPL franchisees would
themselves have not been too keen on even the most gifted Pakistani
cricketer. Instead of hinting at conspiracies and insinuating that the Government of
India (GoI) had informally told the franchisees through the BCCI not to bid for
cricketers from Pakistan, the anchors could have put themselves in the buyers’
shoes.Where was the need for any GoI advice when the TV news-channels were quoting
not just intelligence agencies but even visiting US defence secretary Robert Gates
as stating that a Pakistan-based nexus of Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the LeT was
planning another 26/11. Unless, of course, it is anybody’s contention that Lalit
Modi got Gates to say all this! Instead, the TV news-channels outdid each other in
spinning out inside stories and conspiracy theories of GoI intervention being behind
the absence of bids for Pakistani cricketers. And in a subcontinent where people are
only too willing to take offence, it did not take too long for those in Pakistan to
react to this `snub’. A Pakistani parliamentary delegation cancelled its visit to
India. Pakistan’s ministers stated that what happened during the auction would
affect bilateral ties.India’s sports minister M S Gill stated that the GoI had
nothing to do with this and that the franchisees were taking their own bidding
decisions, based on their specific cricketing and corporate strategies. However, the
hype goes on and some TV channels have even talked about the adverse impact on
Indo-Pak relations! To equate the IPL with a full-fledged Indo-Pak CBM (confidence
building measure) is patently absurd. A performance in India by Pakistan’s leading
Sufi singers could do more to build good will than an individual investment of even
$750,000 by an Indian franchisee on Shahid Afridi for IPL3, 4 or 5!
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