The Surfer

Unlike England, South Africa have at least won one ICC tournament out of the past 20. Remember the inaugural Champions Trophy in Bangladesh in 1998? No, not many do. There were limited expectations back then and, realistically, there should be this time, too.

The financial valuation range based on these lies somewhere between $83 million and $133 million (Rs 370 crore and Rs 600 crore), a far cry from the $370 million (Rs 1,665 crore) bid the Pune team finally attracted. However, I do have use with this number. It can be argued that there is significant value appreciation to the parent’s brand. But whichever way you look at it, apart from UB group no other corporate owner is extracting significant branding. Reliance is not the face of Mumbai Indians.

I have always been deeply ambivalent about the IPL: the gross commercialisation, the greed, the pandering to celebrities and the salesmanship of some older players who should know better have done little to enrich the game. Against that, it is important to recognise the good things: the competitive, sometimes compelling, nature of the cricket, the new audience brought to the game, the promotion of younger Indian players and the wealth created for them.

But once you define Twenty20 cricket and the IPL as a form of showbiz — the cheerleaders, the gold-trim uniforms, the filmstar owners, the mid-over commercials, the commercial crassness of the strategic time-out, the stadiums wall-papered with advertising — its main justification becomes the money that makes it a gilded marvel. When the buzz about a game becomes its success in monetizing everything from post-match parties (where guests pay 40,000 rupees a pop to mingle with tired players) to sponsored sixes, what you’re seeing is cricket’s transformation from one sort of heavenly body into another: from a sun that burns with its own fire to a planet that preens in the reflected glory of money.

Same quay, same boat and carrying the very same suitcase as he had 18 years before. Harrowing irony for now, 18 years on, the renowned fast bowler – possibly, even in 2010, still the most far-famed fast bowler of all – was not surrounded by jostling well-wishers, a commotion of newsreel cameras, swankpot MCC bigwigs, nor any press of press men.