Shooting ad films by Indian cricket players

The front page article in the Times of India dated April 11, 2007 is a classic example of “Money Defending Money”. ‘Shooting ad films by the The Indian Cricket players"-the highest paid in terms of sponsorship in world- "doesn't hurt performance". It says moral police is at work against The Indian Cricketers. The Article further cites examples of "moral policing" such as, swooping on discotheques by the police, rounding of young couples, shutting down of dance bars etc.These instances stem from socio-political order and negative cultural values engulfing all developing and developed nations in the world and in no way relevant to the utterly dismal performance of the media sponsored Indian team in the field.Rather the references are only far fetched.What all this has to do with the Cricket?

I think, the writer is thoroughly ignorant of the system and conditions prevailing at discotheques or the venues served by the bar girls. How many Advertising companies have sponsored the bar girls in their ads,even for fun sake! And what steps have been taken by the sponsors involved in improving the plight of bar girls?

No doubt, the people must have fun in all fields including Cricket. But, whatever may be the ways for providing or deriving fun in the field of cricket or any other sport, the recent strip tease performed twice by the Indian team in Caribbean , even shamed the bar girls . Did it provide any fun to the thousands of spectators and supporters or even the moneyed advertisers?

To advocate the cause of the moneyed players, Advertisers and their agents, the writer considers the proposals regarding the reasonable restrictions on shooting of advertisements as lynch-mob morality against the cricketers .To define the likely or(most) unlikely restrictions on shooting of ads on the players in such strong terms as lynching, keeping in view the timidity shown by the BCCI , is a concrete evidence of the money game being played in the BCCI by the Advertisers and their Agents , in league with electronic and other media.

In fact, these very advocates led to the lynching of the younger players when they were on tour to South Africa recently. Pathetically, the Indian Parliament and a state legislature-West Bengal, were also involved in lynching of the upcoming but under performing young players who needed more exposure in foreign countries. Given the time, the younger players would definitely have performed better than the players who play as per the contracted time slot with their sponsors, and get payment from the Advertisers accordingly.

Bangladesh’s young ones have shown that they are better in the field since they do not believe in ad shooting off the field. Moreover, the interference of the Politicians backed by the big money has started recoiling in the form of further addition of Politicians like Raj Thakre. Who knows tomorrow it will be Yuvraj Singh being supported by politicians from North of India.

After the defeat of Indian team by the popular minnows, Bangladesh, and ouster of the Indian Cricket team from World cup, the big companies have lost so much that they need to encash the forthcoming Indian visit to Bangladesh through the contracted players whose Television Rating Points (TRPs) are higher to cover the losses. (India's exit caused a loss of about Rs.1.53 billion in terms of viewership)

It is further claimed in the article that that world over, money has created talent. The hard fact is that talent is never creatable. It just happens. Money provides infrastructure and helps groom talent to some extent. It is commitment, training and discipline without the accompanying adverse influences of money that matters. Money generates the necessary means for furthering sport to some extent and is not the prime cause for the creation of talent. All the erstwhile communist and closed societies, such as Russia, East Germany, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and China, devoid of market logic till recently, have ruled the world scene in sport for decades in the Olympics and the Asian and other world games.

Money does not fuel ticket sales .It is the performance of the players and the competition among the best that fuels ticket sales. Had it been not so, the contingent of people interested to see the world cup would have not cancelled their tours to West Indies and those who happen to reach there would not have asked for ‘refund of their hard earned money’ through the placards visible on TV during the matches, from the ad prone cricketers . Why the advertising companies withdrew their ads showing the so talented for ignominious defeat? And why these companies are not interested in further creating talent through the money! Why they are still defending the Seniors?

If the cricketers are allowed to 15 days of ad shooting there is no harm, the writer says. From where the arbitrary figure of 15 days has cropped in? He fails to explain.The people who support this view are confident that given a beginning 15 days in India can be easily extended to any number of days without affecting the performance!

The fact is that the excess of money power has rendered the players powerless in the field.
Every worst performance is echoed as one bad day. The good days are no longer available in the calendar of Indian Cricket. A bad day may occur due to circumstances beyond the human control such as D/L system ,if rains or other natural factors step in. When a player is not doing which one is supposed to do, blaming a bad day is escapism.

The vicious cycle of money has encircled and damaged the commitment of the players to an irrevocable extent. Seniors want to shoot ads despite non-performance and resulting defeats. So far as the sport is concerned in this country , the stories of Indian street kids are always awe- inspiring and never inspiring. The street kids would prefer burning the effigies of Indian players. They just need minimum wages. Has the writer ever visited Indian streets at Srinagar, Gauwhati, Kanpur, or other non-metros? If so just tell the kids that the senior cricketers are being denied ads to shoot because they want to create talent amongst you, and watch their reaction and then one will not be able to write sponsored articles.