Time: 10pm. Venue: ITC Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai.
After a day-long cricket workshop, interspersed with meetings with sponsors and franchisees, the visibly exhausted management squad of the Indian Premier League (IPL)—the domestic league launched by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)—is headed for the bar. CEO Sundar Raman is not with them. He still has some work to finish. He has to give a long-promised interview before he can call it a day.
The weary look on his face makes the reporter a bit anxious about the quality of the ensuing conversation. “Life has been a bit demanding of late,” he begins, “but I am not complaining. I am more excited than I have ever been in my life.”
The assertion, indeed, is borne out by the lively chat that follows. To be sure, for somebody leading a four-month-old enterprise whose value has crossed Rs7,000 crore even before it takes off, life can’t be simple. Yet, Raman can’t complain—he has a job that was coveted by most high ranking media and marketing professionals in the industry.
During his more than decade-old career in media buying, Raman remained closely involved with the business of cricket. Before joining IPL, he headed media buying house GroupM’s leading agency MindShare. Even then, he was a much sought-after man, who controlled the multimillion-dollar advertising budgets of firms such as PepsiCo and Motorola. Personally, too, he is a “great cricket buff”. “IPL is the culmination of personal and professional ambitions,” he says.
The shift to the other side of the table may have been seamless, but Raman seems conscious of the change in his eminence. There is an air of command in the way he speaks; he is more guarded in his words, and checks on “things” he is going to be quoted on.
As for IPL, he says, “You ain’t seen anything yet”. Consider this: For the first time in the history of Indian cricket, eight local teams will lock horns with each other. For the first time, stalwarts such as Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly will be pitted against each other, and their fans will have to choose between them. It will be for the first time that international players of the stature of Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting will play on Indian ground with Indian players for Indian teams in a domestic Indian league. And, the event will be covered globally. “I am happy to be part of this historic moment in Indian cricket,” says Raman.
There is immense interest in IPL for reasons other than the sport, too. For, IPL is well on its way to becoming the biggest commercial venture in the area of sports.
Broadcasters, marketers, advertisers and savvy businessmen have bet millions of dollars on the league. Many fortunes are at stake. Supporters and detractors, all have more than a few questions on their minds. The biggest one of them all: Will IPL be a success? Raman answers some such queries in an exclusive interview with Mint.
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