MUMBAI: Now that we are in the heat of the action in the crucial third Test between India and Australia, the graceless gibberish on both sides has been kept on hold, but not for long. Whatever the outcome of the match, the verbal duel will be resumed with as much, if not greater, vigor.
The bickering and hostile asides had actually started during last season’s tour of Australia. The projection of the same is now seen and heard even in India. Can one say that this off-field battle of one-up-man-ship has added spice to the series between the two countries? We are not sure, but everyone now agrees that they do not come any bigger than this.
India is in a state of rare rejoice, as they had the Aussies down on all four at Mohali and inflicted upon them their most humiliating defeat. If the kangaroo does not leap back then Ponting’s pack is a real goner.
Be that as it may, and for the Ferozeshah Kotla pitch to decide, but there is another and bigger battle emerging in international cricket. Untimely and ungainly, one might say, but it is one which might bring about a vertical split in the International Cricket Council.
Sadly enough, what had started as just an expression of envy by the English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) over the runaway success of the inaugural Indian Premier League, has now found its echo in Sri Lanka.
The change of guards in Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is becoming a cause of a major rift between the boards of the neighboring countries. The new chief of SLC, former captain Arjuna Ranatunga, is not kindly disposed to his players participating in the next edition of IPL in coming April-May. He has agreed to his team playing a Test series in England at the same time. He says his players’ contract with IPL was only for the first edition, while BCCI insists that the Sri Lankan players have signed a three-year contract.
Money seems to be at the root of the conflict. While their players will be unhappy to lose the fabulous IPL fees, Ranatunga is using the situation to get more money from the BCCI. The original understanding was that the BCCI would pay $40 million to SLC to make up for the loss they may incur by giving the England tour a go-by. Ranatunga, on his part, wants nothing less than $70 million. He also wants the banned ICL players to be allowed to play for Sri Lanka.
The BCCI, quite angered by these proposals, has decided to keep cricket ties with Sri Lanka on hold until 2012. For a moment, both sides seem to have lost sight of the fact that they are partners in the organization of 2011 World Cup, to be held in the four Asian countries, with Pakistan and Bangladesh being the other co-hosts.
The sooner the issue is resolved, the better for cricket not only is Asia, but also for the sake of the next World Cup, not to mention international cricket at large.
