Future of Cricket

When we talk about football today, most people will think of the English Premier League or the UEFA Champions League. If you ask someone which is his favourite team, most likely he will say Manchester United or Real Madrid or some other European club name. Football today is synonymous with club football. International matches are once in 4 year rituals like the FIFA world cup or the Euro Cup. Of course there are international friendlies and Olympic qualifiers that happen once n a while. But even in these matches, one rarely sees top international players, since they are occupied with more important club commitments. For football fans, its all about club allegiances. Many an Englishman will adore Portugal’s Christiano Ronaldo, but will loathe a Steven Gerrard who plays for a rival club. Club allegiance/rivalry is much more prominent today rather than nationalistic patriotism which is put on display once every 4 years.

 

For us cricket fans, thankfully the situation is quite different. Or is it?

Well, most of us Indians still identify our favourite team with the colour Blue. And most Australians cheer for the Baggy Green. We all love to watch Hayden vs Zaheer, Bhajji vs Symonds or Yuvraj vs Shoaib encounters on the field. But one wonders for how long. The IPL today is a 6 week annual tournament. Come year 2015. Imagine that the IPL is held over 40 weeks with 15 teams across India. Imagine similar leagues being played in England, Australia, Sharjah and South Africa. To add to this, we will have the so called Champions League, in which top teams from these elite clubs will compete to decide who is the best in the world. Of course, we will still have the World Cup and maybe even the Champions Trophy. After all, they are a once in 4 year commitment and it will give cricketers a chance to play for their country and realize their dream.

 

If you think that the situation I’ve described above is far fetched, then think again. Almost every decision in this world is taken based on economic logic. Every cricket board worth its salt, will take that course of action which is most profitable to itself. Over the past 2 years, it has become clear that 20-20 cricket is the most marketable form of cricket. Clearly it is the future. And the great Lalit Modi has proved that profits can be maximized by adopting the private club franchisee route. The IPL model is already a grand success with all involved making money and the audience is also apparently overjoyed. TV advertisement rates are the highest for T-20 than for any other format. Stadium tickets are equal to, if not higher than ODI matches, even for IPL (which is technically club cricket). Many IPL franchisees have made profits in the first year itself and all teams are expected to make profits from the 3^rd year onwards. Above all, the BCCI’s coffers are overflowing. All this, just from a 6 week tournament making its debut.

 

It is only a matter of time before people forget the Ashes, Border-Gavaskar and India-Pakistan series and instead talk about Chennai Super Kings Vs Bangalore Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians. Cricket as we know today will not exist 10 years down the line. Our children will know and follow cricket the way football is followed today. Is there a way to prevent this? I wish there was..

Obamania

Like so many others around the world, I am at awe with Barack Obama. Not least by his oratorical skills. This man is amazing. He’s gifted in his speech, his intelligence, his courage and of course his charisma. I haven’t watched much of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi or Winston Churchill tapes. But Barack Obama could be remembered as one of the modern political greats and compared with these yesteryear greats in the years to come. The funny thing is, Obama has only just won the election. He has only just entered the stage, but the applause from the crowd would seem to suggest that the play has reached the climax. At the risk of repeating what the media all over the world is saying, there is an ENORMOUS amount of hope pinned on Barack Obama. Looking at people’s expressions during his victory speech, one wonders how can so many people have so much hope from one man? And how can one man possibly meet the expectations of so many? He is not Jesus Christ. He is only a political leader of a less than perfect democracy. Yet, even Obama isn’t doing anything to play down the expectations. In his victory speech he only underscored these hopes. For the sake of the American people and for Obama himself, I hope he can meet a great deal of these expectations. But honestly speaking, I have no idea how he can do that. Meeting expectations in good times is difficult enough. But making people happy in these tough times… oh boy… Good Luck Mr. Obama!

What’s more interesting is that, perhaps for the first time, almost all nations of the world seem to be rejoicing an American president elect. Obama should partly thank George Bush for this international goodwill that he’s receiving. Well, after eight years of bull shit, the world would’ve been sure that things couldn’t get any worse in the White House.

The world in general needed an honest and intelligent leader in these turbulent times. Obama will be the right guy to create “win-win’ situations for everyone. From an Indian perspective, I think the Indo –US Nuke deal might suffer. This deal, at a higher level smells of American double standards and hypocrisy. Unlike some opinions, I believe the outsourcing industry will remain unscathed. Obama is smart enough to understand its economic logic. And economic logic always wins over politics.

Having seen the drama unfold over the last several months, I hope to see over the next 4 years, if one man can change America and the world for the better. I hope to see peace in Afghanistan and in the middle east. I hope to see an end to American political hypocrisy. I hope to see real economic and social prosperity. Am I audacious with my hope? Well, then so shall I!

Just before concluding, I was thinking who could be the best analogy for Obama. I could think of no one better than Rajnikanth. When all the chips are down and the world is at the mercy of the bad guys, all it takes to restore things is one man- Rajni, the Superstar. In the current scheme of things, people’s expectations from Obama is very similar to what the audience expects from Rajnikanth when he enters a scene. And Rajni never fails his fans!!

NM Memoirs

Another phase in my life is coming to an end. Two years at NMIMS, Mumbai, doing my MBA. Looking back now, it has been a happy two years. Of course there have been good and bad times. When I first came here, I was disappointed- with a lot of things. My college lacked in a lot of things. But it also gave us a lot, which one sees only when the college days come to an end.

I shall try to talk about my most pleasant and unpleasant moments here. My first year here was difficult. I was initially disappointed with the college and hostel infrastructure. I also had difficulty adjusting to the food and the climate. Also, the people were different. I was interacting with north Indians after a long time and it takes some time to adjust. Added to this, I fell sick quite often- probably not adjusting to the Roti & Dal diet after a long time. The most difficult aspect for me at NMIMS was interacting with North Indians. It sounds kind of silly, but after these 2 years, I strongly feel that I am much more comfortable with south Indians around me. Of course I’ve had a few good friends from Northern and Western India (not least my room mates). But, in general, I’ve found it much easier to build a rapport with South Indians. It probably because of the obvious difference in personality between north and south Indians. This difference is kind of accentuated in girls. That probably why I never was comfortable with girls at NM. The matters were made worse by the fact that there was not a single Chennai girl in my batch L.

When I look back, the most enjoyable times of my life have been the three years in Chilka, the final semester in engineering and the 2nd year at NM. Being in Mumbai and away from any relatives, I got introduced to some of the materialistic vices in life- and I don’t regret it at all. The 1st year freshers party, the nights in Asiad and Harish were really enjoyable. The daaru parties in hostel were rocking too! The freedom that I got after the repressive atmosphere in my engineering college was very refreshing. It helped me feel mature and grow up. Most important was probably meeting some good people who will be my friends for a long time..

The last two years have been a break from life- from responsibilities, work, routine, etc. I have cherished these years for that. So many new experiences, new lessons and new friends have made these years worthwhile. I have truly enjoyed these years. The experience of doing MBA from NMIMS is truly unique. It is different from any other b school in the country. The spirit of NMIMS is unique and special and I am proud of being a part of it.

Note: Most of this article was written during my last days at NM. Some part has been added more recently.

Savings and Investment- Part 1

Before starting with this post, let me warn you that I am not an expert in investments and I do not claim responsibility for any actions taken based on this post. This applies for all my blog posts!

This will be a two part post. In the first post, I will give some fundamental ‘gyan’ on savings and the characteristics of basic asset classes. In the second post, I will try to give an idea on how exactly to proceed with things on the ground.

Savings Account
All of us earn. And all of us spend. Most of us manage to save something at the end of the day, which we put into banks. But, is putting money into banks really saving? Technically speaking, it is not. All of us have savings accounts, which generally give an annual interest rate of 3-4%. The actual inflation rate in India today is around 10% (Don’t go by the govt’s WPI figure of 8%. CPI is the worldwide standard, which is not measured in India and is typically 1-2% above WPI). This means that the value of the money you hold in your pocket is decreasing by 10% every year. i.e., if Rs.100 can buy you 10 chocolates today, the same Rs.100 can buy you only 9 chocolates after 1 year. So you know that high inflation is a real killer of money value. Most of us get a salary raise every year. Let’s assume that on an average we get an annual raise of 15%. Let’s also assume that the long term (over a 20 year period) inflation rate (CPI) for India will be 7%. This means that, in effect your salary increases by approximately 8% year on year. That is a pretty decent number. But consider your savings. Let’s assume that you save 20% of your salary every year and leave it in your saving account. This amount will grow nominally by 3% every year. In real terms, you have actually lost approximately 4% of your savings. If your annual salary is Rs.5 lac, a devil called Inflation just ate Rs.4000 of your hard earned money. You would have been better off spending those Rs. 4000 on buying yourself some new clothes rather than see it vanish into thin air like this! So you now know that Savings Account is a bad guy and you should limit your association with him. But Savings Account is a necessary evil for all of us because he is the most liquid asset apart from cash in hand.

Fixed Deposit
Today banks give 8% on FD. Considering that inflation is 10%, this is a slightly better choice than a savings account. But the downside is, FD lacks in liquidity. Since your money is locked-in for a fixed period, you may not have access to your money when you need it.

Gold
Gold is the traditional inflation fighting tool. Over the years, the price of gold has managed to keep pace with inflation. If you want to protect your savings against inflation, then gold is one of the safest bets. But due to the emergence of bullion/commodity markets, gold prices are bound to fluctuate; but over the long term, gold inevitably keeps pace with inflation.

Equities
Now, lets come to the interesting part. The asset classes that we’ve discussed till now are conservative with little or no risk of loss in face value. But with no risk, comes no reward. Equities or stocks, are an exciting asset class which actually help your savings to grow. Investing in stocks is like giving your money to a businessman who will use it to build and grow his business. When he makes a profit, he gives you a share of it. As we know, at all times, there are businesses that make profits in the economy. Hence there is always money to be made by investing in stocks. But again, like gold, stocks are affected by traders and speculators. Hence their prices do not always reflect their true value and they are vulnerable to short term volatility driven by “market sentiment”. This implies that there is risk involved even when you invest in a good business/stock. Knowledgeable investors will always make money in the equity market if they stay invested for the long term. Trouble is-most of us are not knowledgeable investors. So it makes sense to take professional advice. Go to Mutual Funds and stick with a fund for the long term. You will be rewarded.

Real Estate
How can one ignore this asset class. Everyone dreams of owning a house. There are some of us, who are lucky enough to afford a second or third home. For people with such kind of surplus money, real estate is a good option to have. During times of economic boom, returns from real estate can be mouth watering. But there are many risks associated with real estate. Lack of liquidity is the biggest risk associated with owning property. But if you are smart with your decisions and not too aggressive, buying property with your surplus money is a good thing to do. But again, remember that you are not an expert real estate dealer; So be conservative with your choice and stay invested for the long term.


This brings us to the end of this part. In the next part, I will dwell a bit on some of the more sophisticated saving/investment instruments and also hopefully give some broad guidelines on managing your savings.

Need your suggestion!

Long time no posts.. I've been very lazy. Sometimes I have the time and inclination to write something, but not much clue as to what I should be writing on. So, I am asking for help from YOU, the reader of my blog. Suggest any topic, and I will try my best to write a post on it. Please help me out- Any topic under the sun!

Abstract

• Sometimes trying is succeeding.
• The greatest leap is the leap of faith.
• When your heart wants something badly, you can’t listen to the mind.
• I live to enjoy the journey; because the destination will last but only a moment, whereas the journey lasts a lifetime.
• God, give me the courage to do what I must; and the intellect to not do what I shouldn’t.
• Pink Floyd: Don’t give in without a fight.

My favourite sports personalities

In this post I will talk about the people in sports that I have most admired in my life. I will divide the list of people I like based on the sport they belong to. As an Indian, it is obvious that I should start with Cricket.

Cricket:

Sachin Tendulkar- I started watching cricket from the 1992 world cup. That was the first world cup for the young star Sachin. Those days, Sachin was called “The little big man from Bombay”. He was the favourite among the commentators. Though India didn’t do well in that world cup, Sachin’s performance was well noted by the world. He was marked as a star for the future. And what a star he has been since then..

Mohammed Azharuddin- Despite the match fixing allegations and other scams, I have always enjoyed watching Azhar play. Not just his batting, but also his fielding. He was India’s best fielder for a very long time. I would really love watching him run between the wickets- he was such a wonderful judge of runs. He would almost never get run out.

Steve Waugh- I like Steve Waugh for his never say die attitude. He is one man you can trust to bat for your life. I cannot remember having seen a better fighter in world cricket.

Sourav Ganguly- To me, The prince of Calcutta was the best ever captain of India. The 3-4 odd years that Dada and John Wright were together, was the time I loved watching Indian cricket most. It was a time when the Indian team was characterized by determination, courage and a bit of arrogance. The Natwest Trophy final will remain etched in my memory. Apart from his captaincy, Dada is a fine batsman too and is a delight to watch when in full flow. If there is something more remarkable than his batting and his captaincy, it must be his grit & determination which he showed in ample quantities by making a successful comeback to the national side against all odds.

Tennis:

Michael Chang- He was never a very successful player. I think he won a couple of grand slams, but that was about it. I doubt if Chang ever made it to the No.1 spot in the ATP rankings. What I loved about this guy is that he never gave up. He would chase down every ball. You would hardly see any winners hit by his opponents. Chang would invariably reach every ball in this side of the court.

Formula One:

Frank Willaims- Though he is not a driver, I have been really impressed by this guy’s passion for racing. This has not been the easiest of times to lead an independent team in F1. The past decade has seen more than half a dozen independent teams exiting from the sport as manufacturers started to show their money power. At the end of 2006, most F1 pundits wrote Williams off, stating that it was only a matter of time before the team was sold off to another manufacturer. But old Franky stuck it out though the bad times. Today he has been finally rewarded. His team is fighting in fourth place in the world championship and also has one of the most promising stars of the future- Nico Rosberg- in its ranks.

Fernando Alonso- His reputation may have taken a beating after his unceremonious departure from McLaren last year, but Fernando Alonso remains my favourite driver on the circuit. 2005 & 2006 were the best years F1 has had in a long time. The battle of Alonso Vs Schumacher was just too good- especially in 2006. Even the mathematically closer 2007 championship did not match the intensity of the 2006 battle. If one were to ask Michael Schumacher to tell off the record, who is the best F1 driver at present, I am sure he would say its Alonso.

Basketball:

Michael Jordan- I watched basketball for 2-3 odd years around the years 1996-99. It was Bulls Vs Jazz in the NBA playoffs finals. It was my introduction to basketball, and I loved this guy, Michael Jordan. He was in complete control of whatever he did. He was cut above the rest. And the commentators were saying that this guy was actually making a comeback after a few years of sabbatical from the game. It was amazing. Come crunch time in a game, and Jordan was the man to give the ball to. His fadeaways and slam dunks are legendary. Unfortunately for me, my love for the game faded away as soon as Jordan left the Bulls and the game itself for a few years.

How about a world without cellphones?

Hypothetical situation:

Scientists in one the most advanced European research centres have finally gathered enough evidence to prove conclusively that communication waves generated by mobile communication devices including cell phones are harmful to the human body. A ten year old research has yielded a result that states that exposure to such signal waves increases the chances of cancer by 50% and brain tumour by up to 20%. In other words, if the world stops using mobile communication devices, the occurrence of cancer might come down by as much as 50%.

Back to Reality:

Almost since the beginning of mobile phones usage by the general public, debate has raged about their impact on the health of the users. Mobile phone manufacturers claim that there is no conclusive evidence that cell phone usage causes any physical harm. Today, it is generally accepted that cell phone usage should be restricted; long calls should be avoided; and usage of handsfree is being encouraged. People know that cell phones can be harmful and hence the above measures to reduce one’s exposure to the waves. But no one knows for sure as to exactly how harmful these waves really are.

Now let’s imagine that the hypothetical situation stated in the beginning of this article actually happens. For some people this might be reason enough to ban all cell phones in this world. But it is highly unlikely that such a discovery will ever be known to the world at large. There is simply too much at stake for the corporates that are in the business of mobile communication – manufacturers, service providers, software providers, et all. And it is not just the greedy corporates so to say, who would ignore such a finding. What about people like you and me and what about the way businesses function the world over today? Will today’s CEOs be ready to part with his Black Berry? Or would the Dalal Street trader retain his sanity if his mobile phone service provider were to shut shop?

Aren’t we all so very dependent on mobile technology today? Imagine two worlds- one is the present world with cell phones and another one without cell phones, but you will have 50% less chance of getting cancer. Which one will you choose? Well, I know it s a tough choice!

I like

Formula one, cricket, ar rahman, pink floyd, smirnoff, pink floyd+Smirnoff, kids- especially little girls, strategy computer games, relaxing at home, sipping beer in goa, mani ratnam, chilka, people who appreciate my sense of humour!, mom’s innocence, my unicorn, businessline, Frederick forsyth, Fernando Alonso, colour of the dawn sky, bawarchi briyani, wangs kitchen, besant nagar beach, mani’s, playing TT in GR Jani, IPO listing gains, rajnikanth, choosing a book from the library, ilayaraja