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Finals : Australia Vs Pakistan - Who wins and
who loses? |
Our Special Correspondent Sarb Johal reporting
from Amstelveen
27/08/04:
The Videocon Cup
tournament was hailed as a firecracker
competition between three ICC Champions Trophy
favourites; India, Pakistan, and Australia. The
reality has turned out to be more of a damp
squib. On the eve of the Videocon Cup final
between Pakistan and Australia, let me share
some ideas as to who the real winners and losers
are likely to be.
The attraction of playing in the Tournament
seems clear for the teams. Testing yourself
against world-class competition in the weeks
preceding a major tournament seems like sensible
preparation. Yet India has fared badly in this
tournament, and not just because of their
lackluster performances. Various injuries (most
notably to Sachin) and lack of games due to the
weather conditions mean that India now have a
big question mark above them, magnifying the
little question mark that followed the Asia Cup.
India’s batting again looked fragile, seeming to
be psychologically bereft and directionless
without their talisman. Moreover, they developed
a worrying tendency to concede a lot of runs in
the closing overs of the innings. Instead of
helping to sort out some of the difficulties,
India are now left with a team that will have
had little opportunity for solving these
problems by the time they arrive in England for
the Natwest Challenge – another warm-up
tournament.
Pakistan fared better in the tournament, gaining
a second victory over
India in a short space of time. The team looked
disciplined, and showed depth in both batting
and bowling. At a ground where all the talk had
been about the short straight boundaries and the
sixes we could expect to see, it was a surprise
to see the Pakistani slow bowlers take seven
wickets between them on a stodgy, slow turning
wicket. The only batsman who mastered the pitch
was Ricky Ponting (v India), who looked in
cracking form before being given out LBW after
being struck on the back leg by a high-ish ball
from Balaji – one of the few bright sparks for
India. So, in terms of the teams, Pakistan will
probably be happiest with the tournament
outcome, and India the most disappointed.
However, modern cricket is not just about what
happens on the field of play. One major new
stakeholder is Videocon, and my guess is that
they are none too happy about the way the
tournament has turned out. The rain delay on the
sell-out opening day match between India and
Pakistan meant that Shah Rukh Khan was not able
to participate in the rumoured Gala Opening of
the tournament. As the tournament unfolded, and
the rain continued to fall, the Sony SET TV
executives looked increasingly fraught with
thoughts of diminishing advertising revenue.
Mandira Bedi managed to smile through the
cloudbursts in a valiant attempt to keep viewing
figures up.
The stakeholders who will have lost most from
this venture are the
local organisers – the Royal Dutch Cricket
Association (KNCB). The
combination of rain, agreed revenue
arrangements, and limited
tournament organisation experience may have left
the KNCB in a very precarious position. My
sources inform me that protracted negotiations
over sponsors, TV rights and revenue streams
meant that the tournament only got the official
go-ahead some eight weeks before the first game.
The revenue agreement meant that the various
National Cricket Boards retained the sponsors /
TV revenue, whereas the KNCB would keep the gate
receipts. There were no reserve days scheduled
for rained-off match days, and there was no rain
check insurance for spectators. If it rained,
that’s cricket – no refunds. This also means
that if people did not come to watch the
matches, the KNCB would be left out of pocket.
One of the aims of the tournament was to
increase the profile of
cricket in The Netherlands, and the profile of
Dutch cricket in ICC
circles. In a nation where only around 3500 of
the registered 6000 club cricket players are
active, an increased profile could prove very
helpful. Unfortunately, the games were severely
rain-affected, and were played in a nation
avidly following the progress of their hockey
teams in the Olympics. Additionally, the
national TV station were allowed only 1 minute
of videotape by the exclusive rights broadcaster
consisting mainly of crowd shots of India v
Pakistan. In terms of increasing the national
profile of cricket, I was left wondering about
the short-term effects of the Videocon Cup -
nobody Dutch I talked to seemed to know about
it. I even got directed to the wrong ground,
some 10km away, by the Tourist Information
Office in Amsterdam.
Perhaps more damaging for the KNCB was the
intervention by the Police to control the entry
of fans to the ground on the opening day of the
tournament. Starting the tournament with the
most challenging game in terms of crowd
management (India v Pakistan) always looked an
interesting decision. Filing 10,000 fans through
a 15-foot square entry point looked crazy, and
at around 11am the Police agreed. The gates were
opened, and tickets were not checked as the fans
flooded through. I heard of no public order
issues as a result of this Police intervention,
but the KNCB (and ICC) cannot view this as a
success in terms of tournament organisation.
Hopefully, this will be a learning experience,
and I would be encouraged to see the tournament
happening in The Netherlands again.
Pakistan and Australia are still to play in the
Final. I hope the weather holds out for them and
the KNCB – but the forecast looks decidedly
rainy. The biggest winners of the tournament are
likely to be the airlines and the tour
companies. Several thousand Indian and Pakistani
fans made pilgrimages to Amstelveen from the UK,
North America, and South Asia itself. There are
few sports where you see 10,000 fans from around
the world traveling to watch two teams in a
neutral country where the game is played at a
non-professional level. It’s a crazy idea, and
they nearly pulled it off. Next time, I’d run
the tournament in July, not at the same time as
the Olympics (or the soccer World Cup) and get
some decent insurance in place for the
organisers, and the spectators.
Oh yes, and schedule reserve days for the
small possibility of rain.
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