An analysis on Indian Investment in Australia's domestic T-20 set up
Anu00a0analysis on Indian Investment in Australia's domestic T-20 set up
Here's a sobering fact - of every dollar raised in world cricket, 81 cents is generated by India.
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| Andrew Symonds bowls for Queensland Bulls during a Twenty20 Big Bash match against Tasmanian Tigers at The Gabba, Brisbane this year. PIC/Getty Images |
Here's another one - whatever money Australia makes out of this summer's Ashes series it will budget to make four times as much when India tour here again. India is the home not just of the sacred cow, but the cash cow as well.
When a Victorian cricketing sponsorship manager spoke to an Indian billionaire about a prospective deal two years ago the Indian didn't even bother looking up from his chicken tikka masala to nonchalantly drop the line: "how much would your home ground cost to buy?" He offered to buy the MCG.
The secret for other nations is to learn how to milk the cow, not to run scared into the next paddock. You cannot fight India's influence in cricket. That battle has been long lost. Australia should not be scared of Indian money propping up its own domestic scene.
If anyone can profit out of owning an Australian interstate cricket team they should be immediately recruited for more important challenges such as finding a cure for breast cancer or tracking down Osama bin Laden.
Even the IPL teams with all their television rights and fabulous crowds averaged $7 million losses in their opening year.
Big bus
If Cricket Australia officials want to have a whinge about India let them do so about how a bus full of Australian players have spent the last three years in the IPL and Australian cricket has barely got a round of drinks out of it.
Here's a chance for payback. Domestic cricket in Australia is in a parlous state. The new 45-over competition has been underwhelming, with crowds of fewer than 1000. The Sheffield Shield attracts even less and it is not even on television.
A survey done by Cricket Australia showed that cricket has dropped off the radar of Australians under 30. The game needs a pep pill and fast. The new city-based Twenty20 competition is a gamble Australia must take but it needs private investment badly because it is almost certain that teams will make substantial losses.
Australian officials should have nothing to fear from Indian ownership of Australian teams. As a wise man once said, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
