Fantasy time: players refuse to play, officials sit in the stands!

Since I began my career as a reporter, India have won four World Cup in two formats, become No. 1 team across formats, attracted more money, and power, and become the sole leader in a unipolar cricket world. But one thing hasn’t changed: the callous disregard for the paying spectator.

State cricket associations, like the national body, seem to believe that whatever they do or don’t do, the crowds will fill the stadium, media will ensure coverage, and television will bring in the riches. Players have little power to change things, so they don’t even try. In any case they are focussed on their game.

Still, it would be nice to hear one of them say, I will not play here, “till there are proper ladies’ toilets in all the stands” or “till there are ramps to allow access to the wheel-chair bound.”

Sunil Gavaskar once pulled out of a Test in Kolkata to end a run of 106 consecutive matches. But the reason was personal, not aimed at shaking things up. He had been heckled by a section of the crowd on an earlier occasion.

And while we are fantasising, how about senior officials occasionally sitting in the stands to experience the average spectator’s discomfort?

Confusion

The paying spectator is at the bottom of the priority list. As recently as two years ago, when India hosted the 50-over World Cup, the classic Indian confusions were present in public view. There was delay in the announcement of the schedule, for example, which left fans from within and outside the country little time to plan their own itineraries. The ticketing was a mess. Most venues continued to function by the theory: build something, however inconvenient, and they will come.

The usual complaints — messy toilets, exorbitantly priced food, insensitive security checks, poor transport and parking — popped up regularly.

Yet, none of this made the slightest difference to the bottom line. The International Cricket Council’s economic impact assessment concluded that the World Cup generated $1.39 billion to India’s economy. Whether actually or nominally, it is difficult to say, but whatever the final figure it is impressive even if not all the revenue accrued to the game itself.

Players have minimum requirements, media and broadcasters have minimum requirements, officials have minimum requirements, hospitality boxes have minimum requirements. The paying spectator might have minimum requirements guided by common sense, but he has to buckle down and accept whatever is given.

No forum for redressal

There’s no one he can complain to, no council for the redressal of spectator complaints. Maybe he knows someone whose uncle once played local league cricket with a former international star; he could explain to such a person the difficulties and the often miserable conditions. But that’s no guarantee a solution will be found, or even discussed.

The Annual General Meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India takes place on the last Sunday of this month. It is unlikely to change the life of the average cricket-watcher. The BCCI will have a new president. It might be a token former international who takes the job knowing where the real power lies — in the hands of the ruling party.

The president’s job is to ensure no one rocks the boat and to perpetuate a system that has been in existence for decades. When it comes to cricket administration, all political parties are the same, often even propping up one another on the theory that if they don’t hang together, they will hang separately.

Former cricketers do not resist the system; perhaps they can’t. It is too well entrenched. There’s something magical at the threshold between player and official. As soon as a player crosses it, he becomes indistinguishable from the entrenched official.

The transition has always reminded me of the final lines of Orwell’s Animal Farm where pigs take over the farm, but nothing ultimately changes. As he writes, “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig…but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

Even in informal discussions, there will hardly be a nod to the paying spectators and the hardships they are put through at many of our stadiums. Accountability is only for players and coaches; it is unheard of in officialdom.

Published – September 10, 2025 12:30 am IST