A case of home comforts abroad for India

by Rex Clementine

There’s been a hue and cry over the privileges India have enjoyed during this Champions Trophy. From start to finish, Rohit Sharma’s men have set up camp in the same Dubai hotel, played at the same ground, and barely had to adjust to anything other than the opposition’s bowling. Meanwhile, the rest of the teams have been living out of suitcases, hopping from city to city, battling jet lag and varying conditions.

Spare a thought for New Zealand. The Kiwis started in Karachi, then jetted off to Rawalpindi, flew back to Dubai for their last group game against India and were then whisked off to Lahore before returning to Dubai for the final. They’ve spent more time in the air these past two weeks than A.C.S. Hameed did in a fortnight during his long career as Foreign Minister under three Presidents!

One set of rules for India, another for the rest – it’s simply not cricket. No wonder most Sri Lankans will be backing the Kiwis in the grand finale on Sunday evening.

India’s pampered scheduling is nothing new. The argument that India bankrolls world cricket and therefore deserves preferential treatment is as immature as Rainl saying ‘umpire hora’ after faring poorly in a debate. Broadcasters claim Indian fans want to watch their team play on weekends, so the schedule is tailor-made for primetime, with generous breaks between games. Meanwhile, the rest of the teams are running between the wickets just to keep up.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but the reality is that cricket’s power structure is lopsided and there’s little anyone can do about it. The unspoken rule in world cricket today seems to be: don’t upset India. Some call it cowardice, but others see it as self-preservation. Take Sri Lanka, for example. A two-week Indian tour generates more revenue for Sri Lanka Cricket than any other bilateral series. Not just Sri Lanka, but for many cricket boards, playing nice with India is a financial necessity.

But what about the bigger boards – Australia and England? Surely, they don’t need to kowtow to India? Well, the answer is simple – greed. Within a span of seven months, India played five Tests in Australia and will play five more in England – a financial windfall for the founder members of the ICC. Their own franchise leagues – the Big Bash and The Hundred – were once touted as rivals to the IPL, but even they don’t generate the kind of money that an India series brings.

That’s why it’s ironic that England and Australia are grumbling about India’s cozy Champions Trophy schedule. Let’s get real – neither of them has had it as bad as New Zealand. In ICC events, the Big Three – India, England, and Australia – always get the red carpet treatment, while the rest of the cricketing world is left to make do with the scraps.

Take the last T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA. India played all but one of their first-round games in New York. Australia and England? They never even set foot in the USA! They were enjoying a Caribbean cruise, with England playing in Barbados and Antigua, while Australia hopped between Barbados, Antigua, and St. Lucia. It was less a cricket tournament, more a winter holiday.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, were sent on a whirlwind tour – from New York to Dallas to Miami before finally landing in St. Lucia. By the time the tournament ended, the players were running on fumes.

And let’s not forget the 2016 T20 World Cup in India. England played two games in Bombay, three in Delhi, then strolled into Calcutta for the final – and that was that. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka and other smaller nations were dragged across the length and breadth of India.

It’s high time ICC ensured a level playing field in their tournaments. Right now, the scales are tipping too heavily in India’s favor. Cricket is a gentleman’s game, but when the playing conditions are this skewed, it starts to feel less like sport and more like a scripted drama with a predictable ending. That is not what the fans want. That is not what the game wants.