Game-changing IPL plays safe

This column from its start has been diagnosing the problems and strengths of various teams and their players in IPL. But now since, IPL has been suspended temporarily, let’s try and understand what right and wrong was IPL on its own doing and should have been organised amidst this pandemic.

Let’s talk some numbers, as per Wikipedia, 2015 IPL contributed 11.5 billion rupees to the GDP of the Indian economy. So for other years, we estimated somewhere around those lines, which is massive money for just 60 days of madness.

The richest cricket board in the world has a total income estimated at around Rs 3,730 crores, out of which approximately Rs 2,500 crores comes from IPL.

There was a time when cricket was a sport and played to enjoy, but in the current world and after the entry of IPL, cricket is a profession and many people take it as a career option. IPL may provide entertainment to the people of India, but for many, it’s a matter of their bread and butter. We could easily include, players, groundsmen, curators, scorers and umpires at prime. IPL also helps boast other related markets. When such a massive mega event is helpful, it will obviously provide job and business opportunities to plenty of people. Business sectors such as food, hotels or resorts, restaurants, travel and tourism, events, freelancers, media, etc also benefit from the IPL.

How was IPL structured this year?

So basically, one person was kept in complete isolation for a certain time and made sure that he doesn’t have Covid through multiple tests. Once they are sure, then these secured people were only allowed to interact and be with the safe people only. They were allowed to be in very restricted places, rather than only in those places where they were required to be. Even though they are cut out from the world, still they would undergo consistent tests to make sure that they are safe. Also, no person was allowed to go out of this bubble and he/she did, then they had to again undergo self-isolation.

So what went wrong?

When you are dealing with a very large number of people, it is always possible that one small mistake could have a very big price to be pay. Although, still it’s not clear whose mistake it is, the biosecure bubble is no safer and the tournament committee realises it.

The social media outbreak and personal reviews!

For the past few days, social media’s one of the most trending topic has been, should IPL have been conducted this near amidst this pandemic or not? So we decided to take a few public reviews on this topic.

Jatan Sethia, Sr Finance Manager, MHD LLC mentioned, The continuation of IPL (like state elections) has been a distraction on the pandemic issue and hence I believe that IPL should be cancelled, and all its franchises should do more for the public in these tough times.

Sharad Krishnamoorthy, Group GM Finance, Towell Group mentioned, Considering that the bio bubble is no longer 100 per cent secure and Covid positive cases are emerging, it is best to suspend the tournament until the bio bubble is secure again. If this is not achievable, this edition of IPL should be rescheduled to a later date or cancelled.

Manikandan Rajagopal, Executive Secretary to Chairman, Al Naba Holding LLC mentioned, IPL gives a ray of hope for others. This virus is going to last at least for another year or 2, There is no point in sitting at home and waiting for it to go. We should learn to fight against it.

Varadharajan S, a local cricket enthusiast mentioned, Players are participating in the IPL by making a lot of sacrifices. Yes, money is there, but being in a bubble for 60 days is not easy. We must respect that aspect as well.

Hemin Desai, former Oman national cricket team player mentioned, If by putting in some more effort, if the IPL can be continued, then that’s the best option. IPL not only provides job opportunity to many but it’s also a platform for youngsters to showcase the talent.