Cricket and the Indian economy

Over the last fifteen years India’s extraordinary economic progress has been accompanied by some pretty staggering political upheaval. From single-party-majority rule India hurtled into one coalition after another, the love affair with the Soviet Union gave way to a grudging but increasingly strong infatuation with the US and the number of legislators with criminal records grew alarmingly. But it only required a couple of visionary budget proposals and the corresponding unshackling of the economy to unleash Indian entrepreneurship. Soon governments became irrelevant.

So what is this political treatise doing on Cricinfo? Interestingly there is a parallel. The two most significant forward movements in Indian cricket were accompanied by bitter power struggles within the BCCI. When John Wright was appointed AC Muthiah was locked in battle with Jagmohan Dalmiya, and the first few months of Greg Chappell’s stay in India have been accompanied by some pretty forgettable administrative manoeuvres. And yet, in either case, a couple of key decisions, either through a sudden, unexpected burst of foresight or sheer accident, let loose critical positive energy for Indian cricket.

The Chappell-Dravid combination is a coming together of two erudite, studious and tough cricketers. It has coincided with delayed player contracts, a chaotic television-rights situation and farcical board elections. Maybe democracy as we know it is not so good after all!

While politically, India and Indian cricket may have dithered, it has set off a movement in small towns and hitherto untapped parts of cities that cannot now be shut off. Young boys are discovering that their initiative and ambition can now be noticed thanks to the mushrooming of the media and their desperate need to have a different story. And with the selectors going along with the Chappell-Dravid combination, the arrival of the likes of RP Singh, MS Dhoni and the continued presence of Harbhajan Singh and Mohammad Kaif will act as an incentive to many more such talents. As India searches into its rural heartland for economic growth so too does sport for the cities grow over-populated, and space and time, the two necessities for sport, get strangled.

There is yet another crucial link between commerce and sport. In industry performance is rewarded, initiative is worth its weight in gold and laxity is accompanied by a nudge towards the exit gate. These parameters, first under Wright and then, rather forcefully, under Chappell are finding acceptance with a new generation that sees this climate all around it. The most important people are not the erstwhile government employees who could stroll to work and never get sacked. The big achievers in today’s generation are hardworking call-centre executives, insurance and telecom salesmen, even retail executives; people who work hard to keep their jobs and have no qualms displaying their success.

It is this climate that Chappell and Dravid are appealing to; it is from such geographical areas that their best recruits are going to come from. All they need is polish and direction to go with their confidence and enthusiasm. The BCCI could help with some forward looking thought but truth be told, they could actually help even if they did nothing but did not come in the way of progress.