After 11 years, the Indian cricket team wrote its name on the ICC trophy by winning the ICC T20 World Cup. After that, while praises are being showered on the cricket team from all over the country, on the other hand, the BCCI and the Maharashtra government are now being criticised by the Opposition due to the extravagance of money in the form of prizes for this cricket team. Why does the government have a different attitude towards cricket and other sports? And why so much kindness only in cricket? Such questions are being raised by senior athletes and sports critics.
The controversy of neglecting other sports and players compared to cricket is not new. Obviously, cricket is a money-making game. BCCI is the richest cricket board in the world. BCCI announced Rs 125 crore as prize for the T20 World Cup winning team. And Rs 125 crore is not a small amount. But if the cricket team is getting so much money as a gift, then what is wrong with other sports? After being showered with Rs 125 crore by the BCCI, Team India entered Mumbai. Here, not only did the Mumbaikars welcome this team with great enthusiasm, but the Maharashtra government also invited team players to the legislative assembly for felicitation, and announced a special prize of Rs 11 crore to the team and one crore each to four players. The objection lies precisely here. When the BCCI has already given Rs 125 crore to the team, what was the need for the Maharashtra government to give another Rs 11 crore from the state coffers? Who gave the government the right to waste people’s money when Maharashtra is already financially weak?
The government of Maharashtra is being heavily criticised as the attitude of some politicians seems to be that even if the poor die, the government should be appreciated for such a generous act. Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Vijay Vadettiwar while speaking to the media said that 1,068 farmers committed suicide in the last four months. Is it the right justice for not giving a helping hand to the farmers on the one hand and spending crores of rupees on cricket on the other hand? Congress leader Vadettiwar said that if the farmers do not get help, then the people will expose the government.
The reason for being so kind to cricket is Indians’ madness for cricket. Looking at the huge crowd of cricket fans in Mumbai to welcome the T20 World Cup winning team, one could get an idea of how deep the connection of cricket is rooted in the minds of Indian sports fans. Lakhs of people gathered for the victory parade organised at Marine Drive in Mumbai to welcome the team. The people of Mumbai have also suffered a lot due to this parade. After the victory parade, the Municipal Corporation cleaned the Marine Drive overnight. About 100 employees of the municipality were engaged for this work. According to a report, 11,000 kg of garbage was removed during the clean-up. The next day, a pile of hundreds of shoes and slippers was found on the road.
Despite the fact that cricket has become infamous due to match fixing, betting and doping in the last few years, crores of rupees are spent on this sport. Today, BCCI’s is worth more than two billion dollars, which makes it the richest cricket board in the world. The successful hosting of IPL added a lot to BCCI’s wealth. Apart from that, BCCI has also surpassed ICC in terms of media rights and sponsorships. BCCI may have announced crores of rupees to the Indian cricket team, but still the question that arises is ‘why only cricket’? Why are other Indian games not important in India? Why not make it mandatory for the BCCI to sponsor other sports? Many such questions are being raised by citizens on social media. In fact, Indian athletes always perform well in the Asian Games, and India’s performance in the 18th Asian Games is considered to be the best ever. India won a total of 69 medals. It had 15 gold, 24 silver and 30 bronze medals. How many crores did the Indian athletes who won these medals get? In fact, most of these athletes are training with their own money.
Be it wrestling, swimming, running or other sports. As compared to cricket, these sports have very less infrastructure and training facilities. Along with this, there are financial and popularity issues. Due to lack of facilities and publicity, the inherent quality is not easily noticed. In rural and semi-urban areas, people are unaware that they can make their future in sports. Those who know, don’t know what to do. Where is the platform to prove one’s quality? Players enter the competition only on the basis of their own hard work. They play even more enthusiastically if they are strongly backed by the government. Cricket offers both money and fame, which unfortunately is not the case with other sports. Today, a cricketer playing in Test cricket gets Rs 45-60 lakh per season from the BCCI. Apart from that, ODI and IPL accounts are different. In that sense, the amount received by other sports and players is far less. Apart from this, the job opportunities are also very less for these players. Considering all this, if Indian sports want to gain momentum, there should be substantial provision for other sports in the budget, be it State or Centre.
