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On a turning track
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Boria Majumdar talks about his book, the “Corridors of Uncertainty World Cup 2007 & Beyond”
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candid Boria Majumdar dissects much in the world of cricket
On the surface when Team India is doing reasonably well, raising a voice for a book on Cricket World Cup 2007, where India and Pakistan could not survive even the first round, seems absurd. But historian Boria Majumdar has done exactly the same with
telling effect. In “Corridors of Uncertainty World Cup 2007 & Beyond” published by Harper Collins, Boria scratches the surface and brings to light the gloom that surrounds the world of cricket beyond India and Pakistan.
“Indeed the book would have become much easier to write had India not lost. But at the same time my attempt was to look deeper into the cricket economy of the minnows and the legacy the Cup left on the Caribbean islands and role of cricket in shaping contemporary societies.”
Having written extensively on the history and politics of cricket in India and abroad, Boria says some of the players face the prospect of unemployment for participating in the World Cup while some of them have run up huge debts for having undertaken the trip to the Caribbean. That two prisoners turned up for Bermuda and some teams participated without any match practice put a question mark on ICC’s attempt to globalise the sport. “For now the cricket foundation is resting on unstable shoulders. Cricket is in bad shape in Holland, Scotland, Canada, Ireland and Bermuda, countries that participated in the World Cup. The money is coming from India and Pakistan and to some extent from Australia. ESPN has to recover 1.1 billion dollars it has invested. And it can’t be done if India doesn’t do well”
Putting things into perspective, Boria says last year’s Ashes was considered a bonanza for Cricket Australia but this winter India’s visit Down Under is going to earn the board three times the money it raked in the Ashes. So there is too much pressure on India. However he refuses to believe that keeping India on the podium could mark the return of match fixing. The book dissects the impact a sports event could have on an economy. “The IMF had predicted that the World Cup could hit the Caribbean economies hard as 500 million dollars spent on construction costs were unlikely to bring economic benefits.” He says people lost their homes for stadiums to be built and a 20,000-capacity stadium is meant to cater to a population of 75,000 Antiguans. People bought tickets but didn’t turn up to watch games. The sale of the tickets helped the organisers but had a negative impact on local economy which thrives on tourism.
Boria also looks into the Woolmer episode and Lara’s sudden retirement and his controversial legacy. Calling Lara a selfish cricketer, Boria says Lara was a brilliant cricketer but a bad captainOn rampant lobbying in cricket journalism, Boria says there is lobbying in every sport that becomes a commercial success. “It happens in Olympics, it happens in FIFA. There is lot of socially irresponsible journalism happening.” He agrees favouritism happens in commentary as well. Like when Sachin edges a delivery, it is described as strength to edge a good delivery. “Simple. Every body wants to be in Sachin’s good books.”
Howzzatt!
ANUJ KUMAR
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