Beware, advertisements are sucking the soul out of cricket

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IPL has been going on in full swing at the moment. We are a couple of weeks in and it’s already looking like an exciting affair given that all past winners are struggling. The IPL 2022 seems to be perfectly poised to give rise to a new winner this year.

This article however is not about all that. It is instead about advertisements and how it dilutes the integrity of the sport.

So spit out your vimal pan masala and sip some Tatpal tea while gambling away all your money on dream11 with your my11 circle during the CEAT strategic time out.

And let’s talk about advertisements in the IPL

Money from these ads is indeed what makes the IPL function at this high a level. It is the reason for players getting paid Crore and Croes of Rupees for hitting a ball. There must however be a line that should not be crossed; a balance that should be put in place so ads don’t take over the game.

Lately, I have been seeing cricketers making fake sob stories to get the youth to gamble on dream11 and other such problematic platforms. Simultaneously coaching institutes like Byju’s, unacademy and others have made a business out of the cut-throat, rotten Indian education system. The government, BCCI and parents do not see any problem in it because it brings in money for the first two and absolves the third of any educational responsibility towards their kids.

Indian parents think spending money on these parasitic coaching institutes for their children is the best they could do for their educational needs. Instead of finding a good school and teaching other life lessons at home, they pay these institutes to take care of their children’s learning.

Just the other day I was watching the IPL and saw a plyer get paid Rs 1 lakh for bowling. His contribution to the match, you ask?

2.2-0-35-0!

In 2.2 overs Nortje was hit for 35 runs without getting any wickets. While other bowlers were going for 6 and 7 runs per over, he was giving 15 runs an over. He was the reason for the loss of the Delhi Capitals. Had he gone for a couple few runs less, DC could have won the match as LSG won it with just 2 balls to spare.

Why was he awarded then?

Because we have let ads dictate how cricket should be played now. What started out as a small mention before trophy names crept into the commentary and encroached our fours and sixes. Unacademy cracking six?

Now ads are dictating what should be considered a good performance and what shouldn’t. Anrich Nortje was awarded the prize because Swiggy wants to promote their USP “fastest delivery” and Nortje bowled the fastest ball of the match.

Nortje was awarded the same amount of money as the player of the match de Kock who made 80 runs off of 52 balls. Now tell me, was their performance worthy of the same award? And before you tell me that money has nothing to do with the performance of a player, let me ask you to request Rohit Sharma to play for half of what he’s earning right now.

He would slap you across the floor by the same hand he eats vada with!

Money is the marker for everything these days, certainly, player performance and it’s not even up for debate. There is a reason why IPL teams are given the same amount of auction money to spend. There is a reason why there is Financial Fair play in football, Financial Regulations in Formula 1 and some sort of cost cap in every sport in the world.

So one team is not able to gather all of the best players in that specific sport since player performance is equal to money!

It is not long before a detergent company awards players for slapping each other on the field with an award called “Mast dhulai award”

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