Politics
How Australian cricket convinced the powerful Indian cricket board to stage a BBL match in Chennai
Standing in the middle of the MCG, Steve Waugh was asked if he would like to see the stands packed for an Indian Premier League match at the ground.
His response began with a hint of skepticism, before Waugh began to imagine the vision in his mind.
“It might be a bit of a stretch, but it would be nice to see it,” he said. “I’m not sure they would let a match be played in Australia, but it would be amazing to see a match here played at the MCG in front of 100,000 people, that would be exciting. So a good idea.”
The moment was a good summary of what had already happened at the MCG on Friday morning. There had been even greater scepticism, from cricket and the public, about the idea of a BBL game being played in India.
Yet Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Narendra Modi announced exactly that, between the Melbourne Renegades and the Perth Scorchers, on December 12, while making it clear that this would not be an isolated case. ‘G’day Namaste’ in Chennai in December will be an annual event where business, culture and government revolve around cricket.
This will also work alongside deepening sporting relations between the countries.
So how did the adventure begin?
Cricketers have long charted a path to India, as Waugh mentioned when talking about the callow group that Allan Border led to Chennai for the Tied Test in 1986.
“It was a bit unknown when we first went to India,” Waugh said.
“There weren’t many teams on tour before us, we were a bit worried and probably had a siege mentality, we didn’t understand the culture.
“The players are doing a lot better now because they are playing the IPL and understanding the people and how it works. There are great financial opportunities for the players. India is truly a hub of world cricket.”
But while players are regular visitors, businessmen and sports administrators tend to be more transactional. According to Richard Ostroff, Cricket Australia’s Head of International Growth:
“It’s essential to be on the ground regularly to build relationships and build trust. It’s a common observation there that Western business leaders look at India’s rapid growth and assume they can do FIFO once or twice and get things done.”
“The reality is you have to make a long-term commitment. The only thing that matters is relationships.”
Ostroff was tasked by CA to make India a bigger priority in late 2023, shortly after the governing body signed a seven-year, $360 million rights deal with what is now JioStar.
Regularly speaking to sponsors and broadcasters in India, Ostroff also began dialogue with Australian High Commissioner Philip Green and the Center for Australia-India Relations, of which Waugh sits on the board.
They have hosted numerous season and series launch events in India, bringing in Anil Kumble, Matthew Hayden, Waugh, Harbhajan Singh and Sunil Gavaskar to provide information and entertainment. On one occasion, in Mumbai, Waugh and Hayden even took on Kumble and Robin Uthappa in a ‘MasterChef’ competition.
Green was a proponent of a series of “G’day USA” style events to connect countries together, but he wanted cricket to be the main draw. At the same time, CA’s new president, former NSW premier Mike Baird, was building trust and rapport with BCCI secretary and soon-to-be ICC president Jay Shah, the son of Modi’s right-hand man Amit Shah.
In India, former JioStar head of sports Sanjog Gupta was another champion of the relationship, helping to grow the Indian audience for Australian cricket by providing commentary streams in many local languages beyond Hindi.
These measures have increased Indian viewership not only for international cricket – to the point that the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar bout was the most watched away Test series in history in India, and the second most watched Test series ever in India, home or away. BBL has seen similar growth.
In Melbourne in March last year, Gupta met CA’s new chief executive Todd Greenberg on the sidelines of the SportNxt conference and shared his view that CA should further develop the BBL brand in India – perhaps by playing a game on it. Gupta and Ostroff discussed the idea in more detail in May.
This was tricky territory. As their categorical refusal to allow Indian players to participate in overseas T20 leagues shows, the BCCI and IPL have always been fierce protectors of their own market.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, CA’s first request to the IPL board was met with little enthusiasm. In the past, that might have been the end of the story. But Baird, Greenberg and Ostroff persisted.
The turning point came in October last year, when Greenberg and Baird met Shah and Gupta, now ICC president and managing director, and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia. In essence, Shah agreed to promote the concept in India, securing support from the BCCI and the government.
From there, it was about settling on Chennai as a venue, because of its knowledgeable cricket fan base and its recently rebuilt stadium, which also has a rich history: 1986, Dean Jones and all that.
By the time the story of the bid for an India BBL game broke in February, Baird and Greenberg were privately convinced that it was no longer a possibility, but a reality. Above all, there was still an in-person meeting and a handshake to confirm everything.
This relational, rather than transactional, attitude was summed up by how, on one of their many recent trips to India, Ostroff and Greenberg found themselves dining not only with the owner of a key sponsor, but also with his family. For looking at India through this relational lens, they both credit Baird.
“The role of the AC chair is seen by most of our stakeholders in Australia as a national, membership-driven priority,” Greenberg said. “But the reality is that this role is focused on global relations in a meaningful and crucial way.
“Throughout his tenure as Chairman, Mike has developed a very trusting relationship with BCCI and its leadership. This trust has allowed me and the team to make this discussion a reality.”
With that in mind, an IPL game at the MCG is starting to look less like a pipe dream and more like a genuine prospect.
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Daniel Brettig is the cricket editor of The Age and the author of several books on cricket.Log in via X.From our partners
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Sources 2/ https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/no-more-fifo-business-how-australian-cricket-won-over-the-world-s-most-powerful-board-20260710-p60ebo.html The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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