Match Point
Bringing cricket back, the South African way

Bringing cricket back, the South African way

Zaka Ashraf is working on, what can easily be called ‘mission impossible’ - the Pakistani version.

Ahmad Fuad May 11, 2012

So, the latest news is that eight companies, including Ten Sports, Nimbus and Geo TV, have already made their recommendations to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), while another three are expected to do so this week.

Chairman PCB Zaka Ashraf is working on what can easily be called the Pakistani 'mission impossible'. He wants Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India to visit Pakistan; his players to be a part of the Indian Premier League, Sialkot to play the Champions League and to start the Pakistani Premier League in couple of months.

What the PCB needs to understand is that they are repeating a barrage of tried, tested and failed sequences all over again. These ambitions are the ones that led Mr Naseem Ashraf and Mr Ijaz Butt to their respective dead ends.

At this point, Mr Ashraf needs to analyse the situation proactively and understand a few ground realities that can help the board take a productive decision.

What PCB needs to understand

1. It was not the March 2009 Lahore attacks that kept international cricket out of Pakistan.

Sri Lanka was the last team to quit. New Zealand had witnessed terrorists’ attacks in Karachi, and rest of the world including Australia, England, South Africa and India had already stopped visiting Pakistan far before 2009.

2. India and Bangladesh will not be interested in touring Pakistan for many reasons. The terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team is one of the known reasons but there are many that are not spoken of.

3. The Bangladesh Cricket Board is under strong influence of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Had the BCCI not supported the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Bangladesh would have not been able to host it successfully. An unsupported Sri Lanka could not hold onto the Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL) because of this very same support or lack thereof.

4. Australia and West Indies will not visit a country that has shown signs of instability with regards to security, just as they did in 1996 when they refused to visit Sri Lanka for the World Cup.

5. The Pakistani cricket team has performed exceptionally well since the 2011 World cup. This on-field performance can help the PCB play its cards in meetings with other boards, especially knowing that the Pakistani players are crowd pullers.

6. The PCB has been unable to develop good diplomatic relationship with the other Asian boards. Mr Ashraf sternly reminded the BCB of the consequences when they refused to visit Pakistan and as a result, Bangladesh agreed to visit India at the end of the year.

Despite the fact that India is hosting England and Australia on those very dates and visiting Sri Lanka for the T20 World Cup, they will accommodate Bangladesh.

IPL, Champions’ League - way out of our league

The PCB should stop making efforts for its players to be a part of the IPL or the Champions’ League.

Even the BCCI cannot help. It is a political issue, and the quicker we accept that fact the faster we will be able to move on.

The PCB needs to give structured suggestions to the patron in-chief so that he can play his role more effectively. And “cricket diplomacy” or any “goodwill series” should be avoided as this really does not serve Pakistan anymore.

PPL is not feasible

The PCB is going to stage the PPL (a different version though) but this will not bring cricket back to the Pakistani soil. This is because most of the famous cricketers do not want to visit owing to the external media reports and internal environment. And without them, it will be a failure.

What to do now?

The PCB should follow the South African method.

In their toughest days, they strengthened their domestic cricket to the extent that international players started visiting South Africa even at the cost of their own careers. Players like Graham Gooch, Mike Gatting, Kim Hughes, Tim Robinson, Chris Broad, Graham Dilley and many other superstars rebelled and played in South Africa.

How to execute the South African Model

It should be altered to meet Pakistan’s needs:

The PPL should be played between November to February when the IPL is not taking place in order for Pakistan to make the most of the attention we get.

Domestic cricketers should be dealt with as brand ambassadors and should be paid heavy remuneration.

The top 10 domestic players from test playing countries and the top 10 international players of the non-test playing nations should be invited to be part of this tournament.

Multinationals should be encouraged to sponsor players, events and teams. They should further be encouraged to invest money for different categories of awards.

Organisations operating in Pakistan should be encouraged to have their teams play in the event.

City and district association teams should also be invited to take part in the event.

Matches should be played in all the major cities of Pakistan.

The board should focus on the players’ development; providing security should be the responsibility of the state.

Every moment of the event should be advertised via print, electronic and social media.

Superstars should be invited to the second phase of the event and should be encouraged to promote the event.

Pakistani players have performed under all kinds of external and internal pressures. They have managed to beat the world’s best teams in all forms of cricket and at all venues. Even in the face of controversies they have performed well.

Pakistani spectators are mature and more likely to come to the stadiums even in the absence of superstars - just to enjoy the sport.

Pakistan has already proven itself a safe country for sportsmen to come and visit. Such a tournament, based on this model, will definitely bring cricket back to Pakistan, and perhaps more effectively than ever before.

Read more by Ahmad here.

WRITTEN BY:
Ahmad Fuad A corporate training specialist and motivational speaker. Fuad has also worked as a professional sports journalist for Daily Khabrain and has been writing bi-lingual articles for national and international journals. He played professional cricket at the Under 16 and Under 19 level.

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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COMMENTS (31)

Anoop | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: That was the assumption when Pakistan was created, wasn't it. There are, I think, 50 Muslim majority Countries, out of which how many are openly Democratic, Secular and do not adopt Sharia Laws? Even Turkey is under pressure from Religious parties. The reason India and Pakistan headed in different directions, at least one of the big reasons, is that one is a Muslim-majority Country and other is not. The data, from an analysis of U.S. State Department religious freedom reports, is clear: "Religious persecution is more likely to occur in Muslim-majority countries than in other countries." Among the researchers' findings: • Seventy-eight percent of Muslim-majority countries, compared with 10 percent of Christian-majority countries and 43 percent of other nations, had high levels of government restrictions on religion. • Violent religious persecution is present in every country with a Muslim majority with a population of more than 2 million. • Sixty-two percent of Muslim-majority countries had at least moderate levels of persecution, with more than 200 people persecuted. In comparison, 28 percent of Christian-majority nations and 60 percent of other countries had similar levels of abuse. • At the highest levels of persecution, 45 percent of Muslim-majority countries -- more than four times the percentage of Christian-majority countries -- were found to have more than a thousand people abused or displaced because of religion. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-briggs/muslimmajority-nations-mob806431.html The empirical evidence is right in front of you. If you disagree with the findings of your own Country, its your issue.

Megatron | 12 years ago | Reply @Anoop: You, as well as I, know that its not possible due to the Islamic ideology of Pakistan. I will be surprised if it happens, only time will tell I don't think the Islamic ideology has much to do with it, I mean the UAE and Lebanon are pretty progressive and they have an Islamic ideology, that being said I think Pakistan should be a secular state, but I don't see it becoming one.

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Anoop | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: I never said India doesn't suffer from poverty. My point was India has hope, it can afford to dream, its producing results! Don't believe me? I hope you believe the UN. I quote from the UN Millennium Development Goals report: "In Southern Asia, however, only India, where the poverty rate is projected to fall from 51% in 1990 to about 22% in 2015, is on track to cut poverty in half by the 2015 target date" Read the above lines carefully. You have been fed with wrong info, you have been reading too many Pakistani News. My point anyway was poverty in India was decreasing, while in Pakistan it was increasing. I hope I've made my point sufficiently enough. "Also the vast majority of IPL cheer leaders are foreigners, and the vast majority of cheer leaders in the NFL are American." Wonderful. But, what is your point? So, what if a few of the Cheerleaders are not from India? IPL is just importing talent which is not available in India. As simple as that. America has been importing talent for ages. Globalization, I think they call it. Its an Indian league, the cheerleaders are being paid handsomely. Everybody is happy. Apparently, you are not. Why is that? "The Pakistan premier league doesn't exist yet, and I really hope they recruit women as cheer leaders instead of men." You, as well as I, know that its not possible due to the Islamic ideology of Pakistan. I will be surprised if it happens, only time will tell. "I think the IPL should have a draft system and I think their should be stricter salary caps, I also think the stadiums in the IPL aren't really good either." Why? Its a different matter that Player's salary don't have a cap but Team's spending does, which also limits greatly as to how much a team spends on each of its star players. So, it meets the criteria you have set. Not that I care. IPL expects me to like it and I(By that I mean an average Indian) do. Your opinion I respect, but doesn't matter much. "You don’t need to import cheer leaders to have high class entertainment, you could recruit some locals, many foreigners think Indians aren’t attracted to their own people." Now, you are saying what is really on your mind. So, you say if League X hires Cheerleaders who are non-local, it implies the target population is attracted to them, not the local girls. Lets take that theory to Pakistan, shall we? As you know Pakistani League hires men as Cheerleaders, so does that imply the target population is not attracted to the local girls but men? ( ! ) See how easy it is to formulate theories?

Megatron | 12 years ago | Reply @1984: I'm talking about average Americans at my school, who don't know that Indians work in the Obama administration. I don't care if Americans don't watch the IPL, in fact they don't know it exists. I'm criticizing the IPL because I'm a Cricket fan and I have the right to do so. The Indians you're talking about were born and raised in America and they're American, they had an American education and benefited from living in a first world country, perhaps if they stayed in a third world country they wouldn't have succeeded. Russell Peters, Kal Penn and those numerous Spelling bee winners wouldn't have been known if they stayed or their parents stayed in a third world country. P.S I'm an American born and raised as well, and I feel closer to Indian-Americans than native Pakistanis.

Megatron | 12 years ago | Reply @Anoop: I don't like the BPL, I like the BBL(Big Bash League) in Australia, you should learn how to read man. I understand Pakistan has a lot of poverty, but so does India, around 40% of Indians live below the poverty line, that's more than 400 million people, more than two times Pakistan's population, it's going to take India a long time to eradicate poverty, that being said I think India is going in the right direction. As far as cheerleaders in America are concerned, the vast majority of them are American, cheerleading is a varsity sport in America. My High school and many colleges have cheerleading teams, and because of gthat America has many homegrown cheer leaders. Also the vast majority of IPL cheer leaders are foreigners, and the vast majority of cheer leaders in the NFL are American. The Pakistan premier league doesn't exist yet, and I really hope they recruit women as cheer leaders instead of men. Maybe you can enlighten us poor mortals in India? I think the IPL should have a draft system and I think their should be stricter salary caps, I also think the stadiums in the IPL aren't really good either. for somebody who does not watch IPL, you do know a lot about what goes in the IPL ! By importing the ‘gori’ cheerleaders, IPL is showing off how much money is in the game and that they are putting up a high class entertainment act. You don't need to import cheer leaders to have high class entertainment, you could recruit some locals, many foreigners think Indians aren't attracted to their own people.

issac | 12 years ago | Reply Pakistan is safer than any other country and stronger than any other nation

Anoop | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: I see that you have no response for the 43% Poverty rate in Pakistan figures I've put up. Nor, have you explained why is it so important for the Americans to know exact coordinates of Indian cities. "I simply don’t like it because it doesn’t appeal to me" I don't like Chinese food. That doesn't mean Chinese food isn't actually good! You might like it. Who am I to tell you otherwise? Again, you are propagating your personal opinion upon others as facts. Your personal opinion is also wrong can be proved by the simple fact that the BPL that you love so much is modeled on IPL. Heck, even the name is similar! Not only that, IPL model is also being aped by Sri Lanka! Plus, going by the number of IPL themed articles, its pretty safe to assume there is a certain following of IPL in Pakistan as well. So, there is not much to differ between the formats of IPL, BPL and SLPL. So, what aspect of IPL do you hate so much? If there was one such aspect, which is not present in BPL or SLPL, I am sure you would have stated it already for my benefit. Since, you haven't its reasonable to assume that you don't have any particular aspect that you do not find appealing apart from the fact that it is an Indian league. You like Big Bash for it is "well put together", as opposed to IPL which is not? What are the criteria for you say it is "well put together"? Is it "well put together" because some teams chose to take Pakistani players, as opposed to IPL teams which rejected them? "I’m not envious of the IPL, I think India was innovative by bringing the franchise system in Cricket but it could have been done better." I am glad you feel that way, but what could it have "done better"? I come up empty when I try to think of ways IPL "could have done better". Maybe you can enlighten us poor mortals in India? P.S. "I don’t know why the IPL imports it’s cheerleaders?!I’m pretty sure you could find some in India." I could easily rub in the fact that all the cheerleaders in Pakistan premier league are men, but I would be offending a certain section of society, so I will not take that route. Can you prove that all the Cheerleaders in America, where the art originated, are native Americans, or atleast born in America? If Americans can import talent, why not India? Plus, have you seen Pune Warriors's cheerleaders? They look Indian!! Probably they are. :) So, what IS your point in your post script?

shabbir | 12 years ago | Reply @Megtron: for somebody who does not watch IPL, you do know a lot about what goes in the IPL ! By importing the 'gori' cheerleaders, IPL is showing off how much money is in the game and that they are putting up a high class entertainment act.

Umair | 12 years ago | Reply @ayesha_khan: “Pakistan has already proven itself a safe country for sportsmen to come and visit”. Pakistan is not even safe for Red Cross. Pakistan is much safer than Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Somalia & your cruel comments. :-)

Megatron | 12 years ago | Reply @Anoop: I watch the NBA,NHL,MLB and MLS and they all have teams in Canada as well. I'm not trying to belittle the IPL's success, I simply don't like it because it doesn't appeal to me, and not having any Pakistani players isn't a factor. I understand that the IPL is for Indians and Indians have benefited from it, but that isn't my point, the Big Bash league was for Australians but I still like because it was well put together. The NBA and NFL are trying to expand their leagues globally, and are playing exhibition games in Europe and Asia. I'm not envious of the IPL, I think India was innovative by bringing the franchise system in Cricket but it could have been done better. P.S I don't know why the IPL imports it's cheerleaders?!I'm pretty sure you could find some in India.

1984 | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: Hi Megatron I dont want to bring this as India-Pakistan debate..but.... Could you classify which Americans you mean by average americans?? Those Red necks in West Tennesse who even dont know what life is outside their state Or those blacks in New Orleans who waste their money on drugs Or those who go to yoga classes every week and practice it everyday Or the ones who visit the Indian restaurants which are mushrooming all over the east coast Or the ones who pay $200 for a last row ticket to hear Russell Peters take funny jigs about India Or the ones who are annoyed watching the Indian and Chinese kids dominate the Spelling Bee contest for the last decade Or the ones who watch Raj Koothrapalli and "Harold and Kumar" series Or the Democrats whose leader Obama has included Indians in his taskforce I can go on with the list. The bottomline is that you need not be happy that average american is not watching IPL..Its already a hit and a potential billion dollar industry.... Americans are never concerned about the audience of SuperBowl,so are Indians about IPL

Anoop | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: Not only Football, they have leagues for Basketball as well. Basketball is an olympic sport and a global one. But, they do not care if Indian or Japanese or the Chinese dont watch it, do they! Stop giving silly reasons. IPL is intended for Indians and I am over the moon because my team- Royal Challengers Bangalore- jumped to the 3rd spot on the rankings. (They keep this up and they enter the playoffs). Why on Earth would I care if you watch IPL or not? Me and my friends do. That's who it is meant for. You somehow want to belittle India and the success stories like IPL (IPL because you feel humiliated that Pakistani players were somehow dishonored when no team picked them in the auction 2 years ago). Well, you are not doing a good job of it and silly comparisons and reasons are not helping matters much either. IPL is a success because it really targets the heart of India. It has generated thousands of jobs and generated millions of rupees in revenues for the Government. It is a win-win for everyone around the world except a few guys who don the green when playing Cricket. They are losing a bounty and you can't handle it.

Anoop | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: "the quality of life is better in India." This is a very important topic and I usually am glad when people from Pakistan bring this up. I want you to look at this report. http://tribune.com.pk/story/181361/economic-survey-2010-11-has-the-real-poverty-rate-hit-43/ And, this: http://tribune.com.pk/story/339764/poverty-a-stark-spectre-for-79m-pakistanis-report/ Poverty in Pakistan is actually INCREASING! "By the ADB’s estimates, as cited by the ministry of finance, every 10% increase in food prices pushes 2.2% of Pakistan’s population below the poverty line. The ministry estimates that food prices have risen 94% since its last poverty survey. If the ADB’s estimates hold across several years, poverty in Pakistan has increased to an astonishing 43%." I am sorry buddy, you have lived in US for too long. You are out of touch with Pakistan's reality India has poverty problems but its on the decrease. According to UN MDG report, India's poverty will halve to 21% by 2015, 3 years away. Still want to talk of quality of life, eh, Mister?

Anoop | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: I trust you have watch Jay Leno, the chat show host? He has a segment called the 'jay walk'. Normal, average Americans are asked simple everyday questions and can't seem to answer them. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80691723/ Do watch it. Its hilarious. Average Americans do not seem to know where the Great Wall of China is!! Forget locating Indian cities on a map. What is your point? If American's do not know where India is somehow India's value has diminished? With all the things that have happened in the past year, like Osama being found in Pakistan, most Americans know where Pakistan is. Congratulations! :) P.S. By the way, anti-Outsourcing is a major topic this election in America. I wonder which Country are they talking about! lol

Megatron | 12 years ago | Reply @Anoop: India might have a bigger economy than Pakistan and maybe growing much faster than Pakistan's but that doesn't mean that the quality of life is better in India. Mexico's economy is larger than Canada's economy. does that mean Mexico has a better quality of life than Canada?NO Quality of life is more important than GDP, Finland's economy is only as large as Shanghai's economy but the quality of life is better in Finland. Most people in America get their information about India from Slumdog millionaire.

Megatron | 12 years ago | Reply @Anoop: I'm talking about average Americans, who can't even spot India on the map. Most of the people I know here don't know a single city in India. @Dinesh I identify as Pakistani and so do my other Pakistani-American friends and family members. We aren't ashamed of our heritage. Why would I even claim to be Indian?It's not like they get the girls. Anoop the IPL is different from the NFL, Cricket is a global sport whereas American football is only confined to North America. People all over the world watch the English Premier league and their target audience is the world.

sars | 12 years ago | Reply "Pakistan has already proven itself a safe country for sportsmen to come and visit”. seriously, when did it do that? My take on this is forget about everyone coming or not coming. Build up the domestic teams which can play each other in very well fought tournaments in all major pakistani cities, hype them up and pay the players well and televise them. Other people will WANT to come play us only if we are very very good.That is a better plan than luring third grade talent from other countries, or calling favours to get a pity visit. There is no short cut when you want to get the rest of the world to trust us when WE say its safe to visit. Were not there quite yet.

ayesha_khan | 12 years ago | Reply "Pakistan has already proven itself a safe country for sportsmen to come and visit". Pakistan is not even safe for Red Cross.

Anoop | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: Good that you enjoyed the Big Bash, I've no problem with it. I'm equally pleaased that you didn't enjoyed IPL, because you are not its targetted audience. We are. Indians are. Does it matter if I don't watch the Super Bowl in America? Of course not. Why should it matter that you don't watch the IPL? P.S. The PCB is working hard to convince BCCI to let Pak players play in IPL. And, you can hear such sentiments from people like Shahid Afridi who say they want to play in IPL. You can draw your own conclusions. But, this settles it for me how nice the IPL is in every way.

Anoop | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: Clearly that's your biased opinion. If you look at the trade numbers, the tourist number(I just spent some time with some American tourists few days ago),etc. it doesn't corroborate your theory. http://www.rollingrains.com/archives/002356.html When Obama scares his people that their job will be 'Bangalored' (a term for outsourcing), it means the acceptance of India as a power which is capable of competing for American jobs. No way does it imply that India is any way close to resembling Somalia or Pakistan. You took offense you me comparing Pak with those Countries. But, you did not say I was wrong, you tried to pull India down to the same level! That shows you agree with me, but want to tell me that India is not that different. Good try, but thats simply not the truth. :)

1984 | 12 years ago | Reply I'm not sure which South African model are you talking about. When I saw the headline I thought you were referring to the 2010 Football world cup. When FIFA gave hosting rights to South Africa.There are huge uproar because south africa had the dubious distinction of being the "rape capital" of the world and many countries feared that foreign nationals will refuse to go for safety. But over the period,the incidence of rapes and mugging were drastically reduced and World Cup was a huge "waka waka" success.... If Pakistan were to host international teams.There should be improvement in the law and order of the country...No player wants to risk his life coming to Pakistan.

Frank | 12 years ago | Reply Dear Ahmed, Your own people are not even safe here, why should we ask others to come and stay here. Better is to focus on our local cricket rather than wasting time on useless hope.

Dinesh | 12 years ago | Reply @Megatron: Yes, that could be true that US children may be thinking like that. The reason is that you Pakistani people in US say that you guys are from India-Pakistan and not Pakistan. I stay in Florida and have heard this myself. I thought of putting the record straight, but felt pity for people who are ashamed to tell about their mother land. Shame on you.

Megatron | 12 years ago | Reply @Anoop: Here in America, people think India is in the middle east and is as poor and dangerous as Somalia. I'm not saying that, my white friends at school say that. I think the PCB should create a league kinda like the Big Bash League in Australia.There weren't any Indians and it was still a success. I enjoyed watching the BBL even though I'm not an Australian, on the other hand I found the IPL boring, not because there aren't any Pakistanis playing or that the league is Indian it's just that the matches have been boring and the IPL doen't appeal to me like the BBL.

Smirnov | 12 years ago | Reply The Champions should be organized by the ICC and not the BCCI and Cricket Australia. The Champions league is an international event, just like the FIFA Club World Cup. India not allowing Pakistan send a team to participate reminds me of Shahar Peer an Israeli tennis player who wasn't allowed to play in the WTA Dubai masters, the WTA later fined Dubai and Andy Roddick and few other international players boycotted the event. Remember this was in 2009 when Israel was bombarding Gaza, and the Arab world was angry the same way India claims to be angry about 26/11. The ICC should take action against the BCCI.

IslamabadiSnob | 12 years ago | Reply Firstly, this article has no direction. Youre just bashing every decision PCB's taking and coming up with counter decisions even though they're things already being implemented by the PCB. Secondly, it was extremely vague, you just talked about things in the air with no proper facts or ways to implement anything. Thirdly, you're contradicting yourself when you want PCB to invite foreign players. As you mentioned earlier, nobody will visit Pakistan because of security concerns and such. And such an event will never be successful in Pakistan because according to you, the Indian cricket board doesn't support us and 'never will'. It would have been better if, after you had passed your expect judgment on how everything the PCB is doing is bound to be a failure, you had suggested something like moving the PPL to the UAE, at least it wouldn't have been so contradictory and pointless then. ET should be a bit more selective in their blog publishing program.

Rehman | 12 years ago | Reply South African way is very difficult to achieve. You need public support to use South African model. Here is Pakistan general public is not willing to watch 4 day domestic matches and Domestic one days, where in South Africans went to stadium to watch those matches.

shah | 12 years ago | Reply We should not work only on one direction. We have to make security condition in Pakistan better, in order to invite the international cricketers back to our home land, along with the efforts mentioned in the article. Another event of the same type may push us far back in this race.

Anoop | 12 years ago | Reply Tough luck, kid. I can see you have given a lot of thought into it. WIll you travel to Afghanistan to play a sporting event or Somalia? No? Then, why would ANY Country cricketers come to play in Pakistan, considering Pakistan has been portrayed as something similar to Somalia or Afghanistan in non-Pakistani media? You and I know Pakistan is not as bad as Somalia or Afghanistan, but thats not a sentiment shared by majority of Countries in the World.

Truth teller | 12 years ago | Reply Pakistan has already proven itself a safe country for sportsmen to come and visit. Really ? What ? When ? How ? Why are you guys in denial ? Pakistan is not a safe place and no one is going to visit. So your idea of "top 10 domestic players from test playing countries and the top 10 international players of the non-test playing nations should be invited" will not work. When your country is being wrecked by internal tension and terrorism, why will players risk their lives by visiting pakistan? Not worth it !

bingo | 12 years ago | Reply can you quote any sources for your point 3 above? Or is that just usual Pakistani rhetoric of implicating Indians with all things bad(for Pakistanis) in the world? In what way did BCCI support BPL and didn't support SLPL? If you are talking about not allowing Indian players, then BPL didn't have Indian players too. If SLPL was going to fail because of the non-availability of players from just one foreign country, it was always destined to be doomed. And if you are under the impression that BCCI and BCCSL are at loggerheads, may be you need to read history. BCCI bailed-out BCCSL with a $70 millions-10yr contract back in 2008, which makes sure Sri Lankan players, who enjoy huge popularity in India if I might add, are available during IPL

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