There is a lovely Indian word tamasha which means fun, excitement, high drama often leading to an unexpected conclusion, all rolled into one.
The (IPL) has provided us wonderful tamasha. It has generated the sort of publicity Indian cricket rarely gets. But it has also damaged Indian cricket.
It may be at the centre of world cricket but this week's events have left a huge tear in the Indian cricketing fabric, which no amount of IPL money will easily repair.
to host the faces a classic English problem: followed by a "but". A but so pronounced that what might appear a smooth bid drive on a well-marked highway of , well-tested infrastructure and organisation backed by passionate crowds could become a bone-jarring drive on a narrow road full of potholes and dangerous badly lit corners created by the shifting world of football politics.
So, while everyone may say how nice it would be if England, the country that gave the world the game and that has not hosted sport's greatest competition since , staged it, no sooner is this comforting thought uttered than the but kicks in.
Buying a football club does not normally involve the person doing the deal being the subject of an extraordinary vetting process, the potential owner being given a fanciful undercover name, and the whole thing ending up in the .
But attempt to buy last summer, which came within hours of being concluded, involved all of that and more. I have discovered fascinating details which read like a thriller which Bollywood, let alone Hollywood, might find a shade too implausible.
The court case which City firm , a member of the powerful and clan-like Kuwati family, now looks like being settled. Investment bankers Seymour Pierce were responsible for advising the Kuwaiti on his proposed purchase of Liverpool and claimed various fees had not been paid. Khorafi's lawyers have now agreed to pay some of them but are, I understand, asking for more time to come up with the cash.
The has been keen to play down its meeting being held in Dubai on Monday. It may have been the first official talks since the attacks on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, but it has been presented as dealing with fairly routine business - the decision to .
A decision taken, we are told, not on security grounds but on weather conditions. Sri Lanka at the time the tournament was due to be held often has very heavy rain, and it was rain after all that washed out a previous final there.
Indeed Monday's conference was so low-key that apart from its president David Morgan, hardly anybody was present in Dubai with Giles Clarke, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, taking part in the teleconference from Trinidad, where he had witnessed England's latest defeat.
British racing needs to find a narrative which will act as a hook to capture and engage the public. The marketing men have come up with .
What they mean is that they want racing to copy the successful formula of and although shudder at the term, they all argue that it is absolutely necessary.
The would suggest that British racing doesn't need to change too much. This year's meeting has felt the odd gust from but it still gives every impression of being able to withstand any economic gale.
Following the dastardly attacks on the , all of us will rightly feel that this is no time to be talking about sport. The horrors that everyone went through and what the families of the bereaved are now experiencing can only be imagined.
I have never bought into the theory fashionable in some parts of the western world that life in the developing world is cheap. Having grown up as a child in that part of the world, I am very aware that life there is very different to the west and, for the vast majority, much more difficult. But it is just as valuable.
But even amidst the fearful carnage, the implications for cricket, though secondary, cannot be ignored.
Jump to more content from this blog
Mihir Bose's blog is no longer being updated. You can read recent entries about ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport's coverage and insights into the latest issues on the Sport Editors' Blog.
You can stay up to date with Mihir Bose via these feeds.
Mihir Bose Feed(RSS)
Mihir Bose Feed(ATOM)
If you aren't sure what RSS is you'll find useful.
´óÏó´«Ã½ © 2014 The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
