When Indian cricket became a goldmine

By this time, Gavaskar was a best-selling author, a print columnist, an entrepreneur, an ambassador of multiple brands, and an activist who in the 1970s had taken up issues related to the players’ remuneration and welfare with the board—all in addition to being a cricketing legend. Mindful of the limited career-span of a sportsperson, he had tapped other legitimate avenues to supplement his earnings.

Among PMG’s many accomplishments were Gavaskar’s debut as a TV host, the inception of the syndicated newspaper column, and the creation of annual awards and ratings for international and Indian cricket, years before the ICC and the BCCI considered doing so themselves.

Others built on the foundation laid by PMG. Sachin Tendulkar became India’s highest-earning sportsperson when Mark Mascarenhas, who headed WorldTel, signed him for ₹31.5 crore for five years in 1995. As Tendulkar’s manager, Mascarenhas was so successful that the association between the two was renewed in 2000 for ₹100 crore for another five years. By then, all the leading cricketers were being managed by professionals. A successful collaboration in later years was the one between Virat Kohli and Bunty Sajdeh, founder of Cornerstone.

The advent of colour television in India with the Asian Games in 1982 and the cricket World Cup win of 1983 ushered in the era of cricket sponsorship. The Hyderabad-based Vazir Sultan Tobacco Co. Ltd—which produced Charminar, a popular cigarette brand that was named after the city’s most prominent landmark—signed what was the country’s first-ever professional sports sponsorship contract, with the BCCI in 1983. The contract covered all cricket—international and domestic—for a period of three years. The ODI series played in India in those seasons were christened Charminar Challenge, with a replica of the Charminar being presented to the winners. VST paid the BCCI ₹300,000 per ODI.

“VST had been associated with cricket for a long time. It used to field a team called VST Colts in Hyderabad’s annual Moin-ud-Dowla tournament. Youngsters from all over the country would be invited to represent this side, many of whom went on to represent India. The 1982 Asian Games gave a fillip to sports sponsorship in India. As the government was reluctant to provide advertising slots for cigarette and alcohol brands on Doordarshan, the only TV channel at the time, VST created special branding for sports sponsorship and a ‘spirit of freedom’ concept for the sponsorship of cultural events such as musical concerts. Sponsorship in Indian cricket had been sporadic till the early 1980s. VST’s role was not restricted to merely giving the BCCI money. We travelled to the venues and worked with the local authorities to ensure that the branding and everything else was in place...

“I remember handling the first-ever international cricket match to be played at Srinagar, which was an ODI between India and the West Indies in October 1983. The dressing-rooms were still being painted on the eve of the game, and the magnificent chinar trees were literally rising from between the stands! Working with M.L. Jaisimha, who was a consultant with VST, was a pleasure and honour. He was as popular as he was in his cricketing days and he opened many a door for us. The circumstances in which we extended our contract for three more years in 1986 were entirely different. The BCCI had grasped cricket’s potential by then. The senior office-bearers made it clear that there were other contenders in the fray. As per the new agreement, we paid the board an astronomical ₹7.5 lakh per ODI. The costs spiralled even higher after 1989 and there were changes within VST as well. It was never the same again."

—Charu Sharma (Media personality and former VST employee)

The liberalization of the Indian economy in 1991 was the catalyst for several tangible and intangible changes. It was also a time of serendipity for the BCCI.

After Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and the beginning of the end of apartheid in South Africa, India proposed the country’s readmission into the ICC in July 1991. Jagmohan Dalmiya, who had initiated discussions with the newly constituted United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) in his capacity as BCCI secretary, lost the board elections in September 1991, but Madhavrao Scindia, the new board president, took things forward. It was decided that South Africa would return to international cricket with a three-match ODI series in India in November 1991.

The BCCI was surprised when the UCBSA expressed its desire to purchase the TV rights of what was to be a historic series. Having paid Doordarshan to telecast its matches for years, the BCCI had no clue about TV rights and it had to first check who owned them. The board discovered that it did. The officials then decided to quote $30,000 for the series. However, the South Africans began the discussion by offering the BCCI $40,000 per match.

This was the point at which the BCCI realized that it was sitting on a goldmine.

1991 was also the year in which the Star TV network, which was headquartered in Singapore, commenced operations and transmission in India. The BCCI sold the TV rights for England’s tour of India in 1992–93 to Trans World International (TWI) for $60,000. The series was telecast live on Prime Sports, a channel that was part of the Star network. For Indian viewers, the coverage by multiple cameras was a refreshing departure from the amateurish ways of the state broadcaster. The icing on the cake was a star-studded commentary team that comprised Geoffrey Boycott, Sunil Gavaskar, David Gower, Henry Blofeld and Charles Colville.

Excerpted from ‘Running Between the Wickets’, with permission from Rupa Publications.