Corporate necessity & the balance

It is unusual to see T20 cricket in whites. For a change, it is interesting. The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Trophy that wound up in the Capital on Sunday, March 4 was deprived of the colorful ambience and razzmatazz of the shortest form. But it wasn't shorn of stars.
In months of so much cricket, an event like the PSPB one is hard to fit in. This one had to be sandwiched between the league stage and the knockout stage of the Vijay Hazare inter-state one-dayers.
Lack of time was evident. The organisers couldn’t arrange for coloured clothes, apparently due to some logistical problem (time shortage perhaps), but that they managed to pull it off was an achievement in itself.
Even while the league games of national one-dayers were coming to an end, the PSPB event began with players like Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Munaf Patel among others rushing in. Ojha and Rahane had to stay back in Delhi as their teams qualified for the knockout stage.
Ojha, whose team Bharat Petroleum lost in the semifinals on Saturday was there with the Hyderabadis at the Ferozeshah Kotla nets on Sunday, rolling his arm over to get ready for the knockouts.
Same was the case with Jaffer, who led Indian Oil to the PSPB Trophy on Sunday but turned out for Mumbai on Tuesday.
In times when the money in mainstream cricket is pretty good, turning out for companies would ideally be avoided. There are issues of exhaustion and as Ajinkya Rahane’s finger injury in the final proved, it is also fraught with risks.
But then Pragyan Ojha gave the explanation. “They gave me a job at a crucial period. They provided me with an early option to earn a (regular) living,” he said almost gratefully. Ojha, with a place in India Test side and an IPL contract should be least bothered about it. But that he is bothered is something commendable.
Jaffer too pointed out the importance. “We have to turn out for our employers. We can’t miss these games!” he said weighing the question with incredulity.

Do jobs matter?
At the prize distribution ceremony, Chetan Chauhan, the former India opener, urged companies to come up with jobs. “Although there are a lot of options to make money these days, I would still ask more companies to give jobs to players.”
Within the statement there may have been a concern that’s been pointed out by other players.
“What if the IPL goes bust one day? Or what if a player's career is cut short by injuries?”
Services batsman Yashpal Singh has no IPL contract and, apart from first class match fees, is reliant on what the Navy pays him.
Only some players’ bank accounts get swelled by the money. For the rest, it is still a grind. Among the PSPB companies, just three --- Indian Oil, ONGC and BPCL are providing jobs and Chauhan’s worries were about that.

Winner: Indian Oil
Runners up: ONGC
2nd Runner up: BPCL
Man of the tournament: Suhail Sharma of ONGC