Modi Entertainment் Network

I read a piece during the weekend where the Champions League was launched with great fanfare. Two teams each from the professional leagues from India, England, Australia, and South Africa. This, Mr.Modi will want us to believe, will be on the lines of the Champions League in football.

Suresh Menon has covered this issue well in his Cricinfo piece. What will Shane Warne do if Hampshire joins Rajasthan Royal? Will he turn up for both? Sounds ridiculous, but it may happen if Mr.Modi wishes! That will happen as long as IPL is professional and the others are not. Because ideally professional clubs will have the exclusivity angle covered, which would mean that both Hampshire and Rajasthan Royal cannot play Warne. The owners of Royals are no fools to allow Warne to play for any other team in the League. And there are more instances like this! Graeme Smith, Mathew Hayden, Muralitharan, and few others! So you will end up with a pretty lop-sided league, where six out of the eight teams will field less than their strongest teams for reasons other than cricketing matters!

Another important angle is the ICL. There are litigations round the corner if Mr.Modi bulldozes his way and disallows the ICL players from playing in the League. I think he can't stop that happening! If Lou Vincent is allowed to play for Lancashire, it is assumed that the club will field them in the League as well, if it qualifies. If he plays in the League, can we assume that BCCI/ICC is legitimizing ICL? The BCCI officials pat themselves on the back for 'professionalizing the sport.’ (What does that mean?) Banning ICL is nothing but plain 'dadagiri.'

But strange things have happened in this sport in the last month. Maybe this adds to the list………

My better half, the Smart Alec that she is, pointed out that she’d read somewhere recently that Modi in his early days ran an outfit called Modi Entertainment Network (MEN). ‘Isn’t this circus also part of MEN?’ she asked. I smiled almost to suggest, ‘You couldn’t more right.’