Commercialisation having adverse effect on cricket: CPI-M

CHANDIGARH - Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Nilotpal Basu Friday said that excessive commercialisation of cricket has adversely affected the quality of the game and demanded a tab on the flow of huge money into events like Indian Premier League (IPL).

“We all saw in the case of IPL that it involves huge money. Now who doesn’t know that what type of money was going into the teams. There are many questions raised over its source and there should be a tab on its flow,” Basu, a former Rajya Sabha member and member of the party’s central secretariat, told reporters here.

“There was absolutely no transparency. What was our government doing for the last two years, as some teams had not even filed their audited reports for the last few years,” he asked.

Asked whether the IPL had affected the performance of Indian team in Twenty-20 world cup, Basu said: “I am not a sports expert but definitely if any sport becomes so commercialised and if sportspersons, irrespective of their performance, start earning, this will adversely affect the quality.”

“It was not really a sport; it was really a pageant with cheer-leaders and music going around. If Twenty-20 world Cup can get over in just 16 days, then why should IPL require 60 days? It was driven only to make money and there was too much of mass marketing through electronic media for that kind of pageant,” he said.

“I think we need to seriously ponder over what impact this kind of commercialisation of the game is having on the actual quality of the sport,” he said.

Basu had come to this union territory to discuss the issue of Haryana khap panchayats (community councils) with other CPI-M leaders.