Money talks

We all know there is a huge amount of money involved in cricket, especially in India. Top players like Sachin, Dhoni and Yuvraj attract huge sums of money for endorsements. It so happens that some companies cannot afford to pay such a huge amount to these players, which leaves them with few alternate options.

They may opt for lower paid stars like Dinesh Karthik or Suresh Raina, who are young upcoming players and there is a possibility for them to reach great heights in the future, in which case, long contracts negotiated at cheaper rates now is a real bargain.

A second option is to sponsor whole teams as opposed to players, and not Team India, but Ranji teams, in which players from respective regions are part of as a rule. Take the example of NECC sponsoring the Mumbai ranji squad. For a bargain price, they not only get Sachin for an advertisement, they also get the likes of Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Wasim Jaffer. Other examples would be Zandu Balm sponsoring the Mumbai Indians, Boost with Karnataka State Cricket Association (for Dravid and Kumble) or Kingfisher with most of the teams in the IPL.

The last remaining backdoor is to approach the organizers of major tournaments like the Champions Trophy, which are organized by the ICC, but played by teams contracted by the cricket boards of respective nations. This involves less risk, since all major stars of different countries play, but more money. But at the same time it leads to a legal impasse of clashing contracts with different companies between players and organizers.

When such huge sums of money are involved, we see a mutual agreement being reached (eg the players playing without competing sponsors logos) for the sake of maintaining relations which are beneficial in the future (BCCI being the richest cricket board and Indian cricketers drawing the most viewers etc.)

Some of our friends may be partially right in pointing out that there is not much to learn from our 'Heroes' as such, since they are where they are, in a position to demand, bargain and hold their position in an impasse, but at the same time, we should also aim to reach the pinnacle of our careers like they have done, albeit without the fame and adulation, but high enough to be fought over by employers and caught in contract disputes in which we can call the shots, not be herded about like sheep by HR departments.