Kirti Azad, the former Test cricketer who later went into politics and is now in a second Lok Sabha term, had called last year for the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament to be ended, because of the persisting controversies on match fixing.

"IPL is a commercial venture. They want the best individual who fits in a team. But for the players, it is important to perform, so that they can get a better contract. So, they play the best they can but for commercial reasons, not for the glory of their country or for the glory of the game. Their performance is a function of buying and selling. They are basically employees of the team owners. So, the team performance has to be good but an individual performance has to be better. Otherwise, there is always the insecurity that the next time when the auctions are held, people won’t bid for you…

"So, IPL is like two-minute noodles. They are tasty and they stave off momentary hunger. But they are not good for you. They are not food." Read More

Jyothi Shankaran

    Jyothi’s last role was as Senior Editor with the business news channel Bloomberg TV India. He also worked as News Editor at business-standard.com, the online version of the business newspaper Business Standard. Jyothi is a chemical engineer from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar.