Shantanu Guha Ray, writing in Tehelka, analyses the perform-or-perish mantra that has been on display in the IPL.
The leaguing of cricket has ushered in corporatisation, fabulous salaries and high voltage drama on the playing fields, but it’s come at a price — punishment for non-performance is swift. Worse, the execution is very, very, public. Midway through the IPL season, the first CEO axing has been effected: liquor baron Vijay Mallya pulled the plug on his Royal Challenger team boss, Charu Sharma, who resigned last week, citing ‘personal reasons’.
With the Challengers bottoming out the points table, with two wins in seven matches, you didn’t need rocket science to know what those personal reasons were. Coach Venkatesh Prasad (also India’s bowling coach) could also face the axe. Hours before the firing, Sharma called his counterpart in Kolkata, Joy Bhattacharya, and asked whether he was facing tension from Shah Rukh Khan or Jay Mehta. The Knight Riders, with two wins in six matches, are ahead of Bangalore, but not by much.
Makarand Waingankar, in the Mumbai Mirror, says the bottom-placed teams are suffering as they are constituted more of ”sifaarshi (recommended) players than of performers.”
The Indian Express’ Sandeep Dwevedi reveals how old friends L Balaji and Ashish Nehra, who last played together on the tour to Pakistan in 2004, have enjoyed each others’ success in the IPL.
