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This is inconceivable for many. Perhaps, it is hard to imagine but it is there for real. Former Test cricketers in Kolkata are given 35 tickets for every IPL game that the Kolkata Knight Riders play at the Eden Gardens while there are cricket associations like in Mumbai and Bangalore who dole out a mere four passes for every former Indian player. But the rest, like in Hyderabad, don’t even care. They absolutely don’t. Issuing passes to some former cricketers does happen on requests and continuous pleadings in other venues. Otherwise, there is no system or a fixed number to oblige those who also contributed to make cricket what it is today.
Sad but this is what it is!
Leading by example, Cricket Association of Bengal has set the bar high. Not the way tickets are distributed in Kolkata and different districts in West Bengal, but that 35 is a staggering number.
Not that every ticket CAB is providing is a VIP pass. They are mostly the spectators’ stand passes and there are a few good premier passes that some of the former players can access if they wish to. But isn’t this a great culture? “We are thankful to our association for giving us 35 passes in an IPL game,” former Indian cricket Ashok Malhotra told this blogger. Hearing this, Karsen Ghavri, another former cricketer from Mumbai, was completely taken aback. “This is something really amazing. I am entitled to get four,” Ghavri said.
So, what if the number of Test cricketers are less in Bengal. Those who are depriving their former international cricketer should at least allot a fixed-numbers, which they are not doing. Rather the state association officials, who are controlling the tickets, are very conveniently ignoring the requests of the former cricketers, citing the reason for limited numbers of seats because of franchises doing the selling bit.
At one level, it is true that some of the state associations have so many of their members to oblige but you can’t really ignore those who gave glory to your state. “We understand, it is the team owners whose income could be at stake if you distribute too many tickets for free. But there has to be a system to tackle this. I asked for some tickets and there was no one there to take care of my request,” another former cricketer, who didn’t wish to be named, added.
At the end of it, the premier pavilion looks good when former cricketers are in it. At least, the former cricketers’ presence could spark some cricket discussion, which goes completely missing at times. Most IPL team owners are open to the glamour quotient but are not open to the idea of inviting former cricketers of the state in every game. They tend to forget that IPL is serious cricket, besides being a heady concoction of cricket and Bollywood, and whatever brand value this top Indian global brand has achieved is because of making the event more cricket centric rather than the glamour quotient!
