Its a common sight in US, to see star players and coaches traded like valuable commodities, every season. These players fetch multi-million dollar price tags, and switching teams every now and then does not seem to effect their fan following. There are no huge moral road-blocks for playing for one team in one season and another opposing team in the next. They perform to win and to imrpove their own worth.
Got me thinking, what will happen if cricket is commercialized in a similar way?
We may have Australian board making a bid for Tendulkar, and South African board paying top dollars to PCB and to Abdul Razzaq for a three-season deal.
Maybe we will have Saeed Anwar hitting to Waqar Yunis all over the ground in a test match between West Indies and England. Or may be Ricky Ponting hammering Brent Lee in Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe.
How much of a price tag do you think Razzak and Tendulkar will fetch? If nothing else, it will rid cricket of the match fixing nuisance. Afterall, no sane person will risk their multi-million dollar deal to help a shady Bombay underworld don. These cricketers already play to make personal fortune. If it is completely commercialized, they can make all the money they want and it will be completely out in the open.
Players can be transferred between county teams, surely not national teams as you are suggesting. The only decent county systems are currently operated in England and Australia and even there the clubs are not rich enough to pay multi million pounds for the players. I can’t see players being switched between countries. Imagine Tendulkar scoring a century for Pakistan against India and then Razzaq taking a hat trick for India against Pakistan. The poor chaps will never be able to return to their homes after that.
The poor chaps will never be able to return to their homes after that<<
That makes me curious. Really. We take cricket much more seriously than what a game usually expects. Instead of supporting our team, we support individual players.
Now, in American Football, a player can be playing for Oakland this year and scoring touchdowns for them, and in the next season he may be playing for Chicago and scoring touchdowns AGAINST Oakland. The fans of Oakland will support their team, no matter who plays for them.
Point being, it will be so much fun to see players traded like cards
Initially the rich teams will end up with best players. But with rapid commercialization, especially as it is in Indo-Pak, things will be balanced out. West Indies will probably disband their cricket team altogether. Paupers, that they are.
Pristine you are confusing playing for a club with playing for your country, two entirely different things. Many Pakistani and Indian players have played for english counties and no one objects. However if these football players actually played for say England against US, how would people in US react.
