The Indian Premier League will throw up a long list of injured players who will be unfit for India duty at the World Cup which is just round the corner. The case in point is Sehwag, a key player who has already been ruled out. This goes to show the utter disregard the IPL organisers have for the game and the players. This is what happens when businessmen and film stars are involved in running sports. Apart from the sourcing of funds which continues to be murky, the timing of holding the tournament just ahead of such an important event indicates that ultimately it is the game of cricket that is going to suffer. Here is an appeal to the Board of Control for Cricket in India to save the game.
C.M. Umanath,Kozhikode
The CPI (M)'s demand for a complete probe in to IPL (April 21) is justifiable in the context of lack of transparency in all aspects of its functioning. The spat between Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor is a revelation of sorts to the fans who have now understood how their passion and love for cricket is being exploited to fill up the coffers of the rich and the famous in the fields of business, politics and entertainment.
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The controversies are nothing but the fallout of the government's failure to regulate the money-minting machine called IPL. Instead of banning the IPL, it might be better to tax it heavily and make it a source of revenue for the government and spend it on developing other games.
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The game of cricket has fallen into the hands of politicians, Bollywood stars and other celebrities and has been converted into a three-hour commercial.
P. Varuneswara Reddy,Kurnool
The point of P. Sainath's article (April 17) on cricket billionaires is well taken. But cricketers do not get into IPL teams overnight. They rough it out before coming to the limelight. If they evade tax, let them pay the penalty. Why belittle or deride sports or sportsmen?
K.V.V. Subrahmanyam,Hyderabad