Corporate Culture and IPL Twenty20

Kolkata Knight Riders join, Royal Challenger Bangalore in enforcing the fact that Cricket is indeed no more cricket in its traditional sense in IPL. While Bangalore owner has reasons to fire its CEO and flay its captain for the lethargic performance so far in the IPL, It seems Kolkata Knight riders have something else in their mind as they asked 5 of their fringe players to vacate the hotel rooms today.

The reaction of Vijay Mallaya enforces the fact that the rules of the game are bound to change, as not only huge sum of money is involved but also the brand name of the corporate involved is at the stake. The decision of KKR to ask those five players, Ranadeb Bose, Rohan Banerjee, Sourasish Lahiri, Cheteswar Pujara and Yashpal Singh, to leave the hotel too can be taken in many ways.

The KKR Coach, Buchanan, says that with IPL almost in its closing phase, he pretty much has the team in his mind and these players might not get a chance in this season. And that is why there is no reason why they should be with the team. The owner Shahrukh Khan backed Buchanan saying that the decision is practical and cricketing in nature. He adds that carrying those 23 players for every practice session and managing it is a tough task. That is why they want to concentrate their energy on a smaller set of players. 18 instead of 23?

Both these reasoning sound logical to me, but have we ever seen such logics being applied in cricket? That is where I observe the change in the culture. Obviously this will be very discouraging for the players who have been asked to go for now. Can this be a move towards cost cutting? Imagine their lodging and related bills for so many days in a 5 star hotel? If it is all about cost cutting, is this a small hint of how much success IPL is providing to its owners, given the fact that the cost involved with these 5 players would be a very tiny amount compared to the millions of dollors already spent by each franchisee? In another words, does this sound like baniyagiri?

If the players are being tracked at such a minute level, the rules of the game are set to change. It is definitely going to keep all the players on their toes. We might see improved performance because of this OR the players might fail to absorb such extreme pressure too. It seems the corporates owning the IPL teams have their goal set in mind. Make enough money out of this tamasha and do whatever it takes for that. I would take such early developments in IPL cautiously or shall I say Fifty50?