Representational view of a match under way at a cricket stadium
| Photo Credit: V.V. Krishnan
It has been in the air for a while. Now details are emerging about Saudi Arabia’s investment in cricket. At first, it was India and the IPL which that country saw as possible partners, now it seems to be Australia.
The global T20 league, according to reports, will have eight teams playing in four separate leagues around the year. Saudi Arabia’s SRJ Sports Investments is to fund the competition to the tune of $500 million. Going by how other sports caved, and given the gradual rise in Saudi’s involvement in the game (Aramco sponsorship, IPL auction in Jeddah), cricket seems ripe for a takeover.
These are early days yet. The Daily Telegraph headline: ‘Saudi Arabia ready to park tanks on cricket’s lawns’ captures the wariness with which Saudi Arabia’s new-found love for cricket is being received. The fear is not about the money alone or the ease with which governing bodies can convince themselves that everything is good for the game. It has to do with adding to an already overloaded schedule. Many will also see it as more powerful nails being hammered into the Test coffin. All that without even getting into the concerns over human rights abuses in that country. Or environmental issues.
Lure of the lucre
The usual reasons for the partnership will be trotted out by the ICC — spread of the game, money for infrastructure and development, more countries in the fold, more money for the domestic game. Greed is a powerful motivator. If, as it happened with golf, the Saudi plan comes in conflict with the ICC, we know which side will win.
In his perceptive book States of Play, Miguel Delaney has written about how the story of modern football has been distorted by three main forces: geopolitics, Western hypercapitalism, and the willing facilitation by the authorities due to power structures that are not equipped to deal with it. Soon you could substitute “football” with “cricket” in the above.
The temptation to bank on Saudi money as a counter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s influence must be strong. But Australia and other countries should distinguish between the frying pan and the fire. Currently there can be no “biggest tournament” without Indian participation. But Saudi money can smooth over that.
Saudi Arabia, which has a trillion-dollar Wealth Fund to dip into and buy up both sport and respectability, has already invested in football, golf, Formula One, and held boxing and tennis one-off with success. They are hosts of the 2034 football World Cup, and might even bid for the 2036 Olympics.
Human rights issue
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the Crown Prince, understands the power of sport to lend credibility to and buy acceptance for a regime which may not believe in human rights but has the resources to make the world act as if it does not matter. Saudi Arabia are emerging as the centre of world sport, through systematic planning, unmatched zeal, and mind-boggling money power. Not surprisingly, international sports bodies crave a share of the pie.
Countries, teams, star athletes, and sports administrators might wonder (perhaps) where the balance is between pocketing the large sums of money on offer and reacting to human rights abuses and treatment of women. Do you stand up for a moral principle or take the money and run?
Much the same questions were asked when the UAE entered cricket in a big way; now no one has an issue with that. Familiarity breeds acceptance. Normal sport in an abnormal society is not unusual.
I have said this before: Sport might be an artificial construct, but what it stands for isn’t artificial: inclusivity, fairness, justice, diversity, empathy. Sport is what makes us human, a bubble where we can see our better selves. To use it to support policies that make us less than human is a cruel paradox. Countries refuse to make the call owing to self-interest. Individuals and sports are often forced to.
All countries use sport to improve their image, not just the autocratic ones. Yet the autocratic ones will have the spotlight on them during world competitions, and at least some of their record will be up for public inspection. That is the hope, at any rate.
Published – March 19, 2025 12:41 am IST