Sport

The Champions caravan arrives in India

Vijay Lokapally

MOHALI: The Champions Trophy has come a long way from its inception at the Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka to the serene cricket fields of England, before arriving at the modern home of cricket — India.

Launched with the noble concept of globalisation, the tournament, hit by some controversy or other in every edition, has offered cricket administrators a platform to boost their coffers. It is another matter that the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) would incur a whopping loss of rupees 85 crore by agreeing to play host.

"The Champions Trophy matches have been thrust upon us and we stand to suffer a huge loss because we lose an international match according to the Board of Control for Cricket in India's rotation system. Our revenue from a Champions Trophy match is restricted to just ticket sales," said the PCA president I.S. Bindra.

PCA's assumption

The PCA is, however, conducting the five matches here on the assumption that the ICC would pay for the organisational costs and the BCCI would not include Champions Trophy fixtures in the rotation system. "We haven't heard from the ICC, which, we suppose has agreed to our demands," added Mr. Bindra.

The Champions Trophy was born out of former ICC Chairman Jagmohan Dalmiya's obsession of taking the game to countries like Japan and Finland.

Exotic venues were lined up to host international fixtures in order to attract new spectators, apart from raising funds to push the globalisation programme.

True champions

A beginning was made at Dhaka in 1998. Nine countries participated but not the host. It was bizarre indeed as a packed audience cheered on all playing days even though none of their own heroes was in action. Cricket remained mediocre due to poor pitches but it hardly mattered to South Africa, which was a convincing winner of the inaugural edition. The true champions of the tournament were the cricket-crazy fans, who responded by taking every seat available, much to the astonishment of the competing teams.

Nairobi was chosen as the next venue and once again all matches were played at the same venue. Bangladesh and Kenya competed with the elite of the cricketing world at the Nairobi Gymkhana, a wonderful venue.

Unfortunately, cricket failed to capture the imagination of the local populace despite some fascinating stuff.

Cairns's show

The tournament saw Yuvraj Singh arrive with a bang, his 84 against Australia a gem, even though the crowning performance came from Chris Cairns, who crafted a century in the final and snatched the title away from India. It was a worthy show by Sourav Ganguly-led India, coming on the heels of the match-fixing scandal that had rocked the world of cricket.

The Champions Trophy travelled to a Test-playing nation in 2002 but the timing did not go down well with the fans, who chose to stay away. The conditions in Sri Lanka were not ideal for good cricket and the tournament culminated in India and the host being adjudged the joint-winners after rain played havoc in the final.

Lop-sided contests

England was the host in 2004 but the tournament hardly gained in stature. The playing conditions improved dramatically but not the cricket as lop-sided contests made a mockery of the claims that it was as good as a mini World Cup. The ambush marketing policy showed the relations between the ICC and the host in poor light and it reflected on the overall quality of the tournament.

The final was played at The Oval and it sparked off a West Indian resurgence as England suffered a defeat much against the majority expectations. Brian Lara's team discovered new heroes as the cricket world celebrated a Caribbean triumph after a long time.

"Good for the game," was the general refrain as the West Indians did a lap of honour in near darkness.

The first ball is yet to be bowled in the 2006 edition but a veiled threat by PCA did create a stir on Thursday. The PCA may revise its decision to hold the next four matches if its conditions are not met. Champions Trophy has made an expected start with controversy striking at the very first step.

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