Cricket, not Khan, should be the king

The famous saying ‘you reap what you sow' is very apt for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). They sowed the seeds of entertainment and glamour in cricket by inviting film stars into the Indian Premier League, but when on Wednesday superstar Shah Rukh Khan, owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, created a ruckus at the Wankhede Stadium, they realised that involving them comes with a heavy price.

Film stars are known for their dramatic scenes. In Khan's case he carried his screen skills into the Wankhede Stadium. So Khan cannot be blamed for wanting to bash up the security guard and abuse officials who might have looked like villains to him! One should remember that Khan's rise to stardom was through his performance as an anti-hero in the very popular Hindi film Baazigar.

Khan states that he got provoked because the security guards manhandled the children he was with. One wonders why only Khan's kids were manhandled despite hundreds of children in the stands. It's clear that Khan's children could get access to near the playing area. Just because Khan invested money in a team, should he and his family be given access to any part of a stadium?

The IPL organisers should be happy that Khan's children did not run on to the ground and pull the coat of an umpire or seek Sachin Tendulkar's autograph in the middle of an innings. Khan is known in film circles as King Khan, but he should ensure his children are seated during a match and that cricket should be king, not him.

However, it is not Khan who is totally wrong here, but the officials too. Giving access to anyone close to the boundary is wrong. At the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, all access to the playing area is blocked with doors which have swipe cards. A historic stadium such as the Wankhede must invest in such a facility so that officials have control over which people can go near the boundary.

To glamorise cricket, IPL officials permitted film stars to enter the field and even hug their team's players. The sanctity of a cricket ground was right away destroyed there. Televisions focused more on these hugging scenes, choosing to ignore replays of good shots. These film stars were even asked cricketing questions despite their total ignorance of the game! So it should come as no surprise if, very soon, a film star recalls a batsman in the IPL instead of a captain.

Expecting these film stars, who were made bigger heroes than the cricketers, not to cross the boundary line is foolhardy.