Conflict of interest and nepotism have sadly become cricket’s middle name. The conspiracy of silence is deafening.
It is at long last that people called out Dhoni for continuing to play when he is well-past his prime. Sadly, nothing new about this. Tendulkar behaved similarly. Both players overstayed their welcome at the expense of fresh talent. They could do this because such ‘great players’ had a huge vote in their own selection. There are a few underlying reasons for such rampant conflict of interest in cricket:
The utterly ingrained Indian tendency to hero worship. To make the cricketer/actor/politician as a proxy for what one cannot be OR worse an escapist fantasy. This becomes part of identity. Therefore, calling out the ‘star’ for being a shadow of what he used to be is treated as a personal affront for the hero worshipper.
The cricketer is keen to squeeze out every Rupee (especially from the IPL) that his limited shelf life can afford. Retirement drastically slashes brand value.
Complex web
Most importantly, the ecosystem of cricket now resembles a vast marketing and brand promotion operation. Brands back the BCCI, franchises, and players. Sports management agencies are essentially two-way brokers. A player cannot retire or be dropped (Despite being in terrible form, KL Rahul got a super-extended run because he was being managed by Bunty Sajdeh, the same guy who also manages Kohli’s business interests. Incidentally, Rohit Sharma is married to Sajdeh’s sister) until he has fulfilled his deliverables.
I don’t know how true this is, but apparently, Tendulkar was dead set against retiring in 2013. He still had one more year of ad contracts in store. After months of negotiation, the BCCI finally managed to convince him to retire after hastily arranging a farewell test match for him at Wankhede against the WI.
The conspiracy of silence is enforced like the Sicilian mafia’s code of conduct. Inconvenient truths are hushed up and conflict of interest is known to everybody but never questioned. Have Tendulkar, Dhoni or Kohli ever spoken about match-fixing? Why did Dhoni not speak out against the massive match-fixing fiasco around Chennai Super Kings? How was Dhoni allowed to start his own sports management agency while still playing? Why is BCCI Boss Ganguly endorsing a fantasy cricket league?
Finally, the sports media knows how vulnerable it is since it is completely at the mercy of the cricket industry. Ad monies and just basic access depend upon bending – but most will prefer to crawl. For those who don’t play by the script, the immune system can be tough as Sanjay Manrekar and Harsha Bhogle discovered.
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