In the article, “BCCI: Billionaires Control Cricket in India” (Jan. 17), P. Sainath has echoed the anguish of Indian cricket lovers at the team's dismal performances in England and Australia. India is no stranger to series losses in foreign tours but the defeats have not been this pathetic in the recent past. The Indian Premier League tournament has indeed killed our players' capacity to play long innings. They are quite content with hitting a few balls and scoring a few runs. It is time the BCCI regulated the IPL and concentrated on holding effective local tournaments.
B. Gururajan,
Chennai
Mr. Sainath has rightly diagnosed the cause of Team India's poor show — the IPL. That the world's top-ranked team should have been decimated in a span of months is a sad tale in our cricketing annals.
Never before has such mediocre talent commanded so much dough. The BCCI is giving scant regard for playing standards.
T. Santhanam,
Chennai
The IPL has its advantages and disadvantages. One cannot overlook the indirect employment it provides; players such as R. Ashwin are IPL products, performing extremely well at the international level. The better option would be to reduce the number of matches played. Currently, 74 games are conducted over a period of 54 days, with each team playing 12 league matches. The total number of matches can be brought down to 45, reducing the duration of the competition.
Parthiban Veerabadran,
Chennai
This refers to the editorial, “Behind the cricket collapse” (Jan. 17). Our formidable batting line-up comprises top run-getters. Yet, they could not withstand a bunch of young pacers. As the editorial points out, the quality of our cricket pitches (batting paradises and spin friendly) need attention. Unless the BCCI develops pacy, bouncy tracks, our batsmen will continue to struggle outside the subcontinent.
Praveen N.V.S.,
Kozhikode
