BCCI, open your purse for the Covid-19 cause

There has been debate on whether the IPL should continue at a time when the country is reeling under Covid-19

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, the world's wealthiest sporting body, needs to stand up and be counted in the war against Covid-19. There has been plenty of debate on whether the Indian Premier League should continue at a time when the country is reeling under a particularly vicious second wave of the disease, whose effects have been exacerbated by governmental bungling at various levels. This second wave has worsened considerably during the course of the tournament, making for the difficult optics of blazing floodlights and grinning commentators contrasting with makeshift funeral pyres burning not far away. The easiest solution would be to end the IPL prematurely, especially as a few players have now started falling sick. But a better option would be to get the BCCI to fork out half of its earnings of Rs 3,300 crore from the tournament for the Covid cause.

While tragedy and sport never make for good optics together, there are no straightforward answers to the question 'Should the IPL be stopped?' It's significant that the one other sport that is happening almost unnoticed in India currently (Asian club football) isn’t measured by the same high morality standard, but that's the price cricket has to pay for being the most popular sport in the country. Countries pointing a finger at India for hosting a spectacle while people are dying had no qualms in continuing with their premier sporting events bang in the middle of their respectively deadly second waves - be it the NBA in the USA, the EPL in England or Ligue 1 in France. In EPL alone, from January 1- April 18, 100 players and members of supporting staff had tested positive.

The IPL has contributed to keeping people off the streets and has been a distraction from the death and despair all around -- something that cannot be underestimated given the pandemic's impact on mental health. Viewing figures, even if lower than last year, are still higher than the 2019 edition. But hosting this tournament at this time is a luxury, and if it wants to keep this privilege, the BCCI needs to open up its coffers and come up with a far bigger assistance package than it did during the first wave last year when it contributed Rs 51 crore. The cricketers and the franchises also need to do more. The former are notoriously silent when it comes to anything that could be seen as remotely critical of the government, but there are several ways for them to frame their fight against Covid in a positive light.