Batting Buddies

When the International Cricket Council (ICC), to guard its Champions Trophy sponsors, asked Indian players not to honour their own commitment to 'rival' products, the boys didn't speak to their conscience or anything else that traditionally appears in full-length mirrors. They chose to speak to such men who use words like "synergy". That's why Sachin Tendulkar spoke to WorldTel's Samir Singh to find out what the future course will be. Saurav Ganguly met Percept D'Mark's Shailendra Singh to ask what was happening in this devious world where there always seemed to exist two contracts. V.V.S. Laxman called up Sporting Frontiers' Steve Smith who says, "He asked me for my advice and I told him that if I were him I wouldn't sign the contract". That's, in essence, the advice all the suited men gave their carefully-nurtured celebrities. But they quickly add a postscript that's stunningly uniform—"Ultimately it's left to the cricketer to decide. It's a matter of pride to play for the country and we'll never interfere". When all marketing men parrot the same line, it's usually a lie.

Who exactly are these Jerry Maguires of Indian cricket? What do they do for a living? How do they get a cola and a cricketer together? How do they get so close to our heroes that they advice, groom, direct and have beer with the eleven most inaccessible Indians? What makes Saurav Ganguly send an sms to his agent, Shailendra Singh, after the dramatic NatWest finals to come up to the Lord's balcony and hug him. How does Steve Smith with an accent that will make Geoffrey Boycott sound like a newsreader strike a deal with Harbhajan Singh who calls up people on the phone and says, "paaji"? How do they do it?

It's the money, silly. It's the money that forges the chemistry between the players and their managers. The managers cut deals and bring in the moolah for the cricketers from corporates, and earn 15-25 per cent as commission. And everybody is happy.

It was not so some time ago. Former all-rounder Eknath Solkar, for example, lived during times when there were no marketing men. Today, he commutes on Mumbai's crowded public transport. When legendary spinner Prasanna is called by a writer for a quote for a cricket story, he'll invariably say: "That will cost you money." Some of the past greats live in highly embarrassing situations. That's the reason Shailendra Singh says: "The glory of playing for the country cannot be measured but a cricketer also deserves a secure future after spending his best years for the country. That's where we come in. We become his global office. We take care of his present and future needs."

The late cricket marketing honcho, Mark Mascarenhas, was the man who ushered in professional player management in India. He guaranteed Tendulkar to fetch business worth about Rs 100 crore over five years. Till date, he is regarded as the only man who had the guts, and in a way foresight, to do it. Sachin today endorses Fiat, Pepsi, Visa, Adidas, MRF, Britannia, ESPN-STAR and the good old Boost. Mascarenhas' relationship with Sachin, according to WorldTel's Samir Singh, "was more than personal. He loved him and the feeling was mutual". WorldTel nurtures Sachin with great care now. HomeTrade, the star-endorsed shady trading dotcom which shut down, was a mistake that still brings a certain blush to the faces of its executives. "Usually we are very careful about the brands or companies Sachin associates himself with. In the past, we have rejected some corporates because they simply didn't fit his image," Singh says". He will never endorse a tobacco or liquor product." Toothpaste too may be out. "Something like Colgate was great for Sachin at one point. But now he has grown up. He has grown in stature. He is a national treasure.We feel a product like toothpaste doesn't go with his image any more." Telephony, service providers and watches are the routes Worldtel is looking at for tomorrow's Sachin whose contract with the firm is till 2006. His good friend Agarkar is the only other present Indian cricketer managed by Worldtel.

While some players grow well with some agents, some don't get any richer, and by that extension, happier. That's why just under two years ago, Saurav Ganguly sent a handwritten fax to Shailendra Singh from Lancashire saying that as soon as his Worldtel contract ended, he would sign up with Percept. Shailendra calls it "a friendship note". It is said to be one of the cleverer moves by Ganguly for, according to Shailendra, the Indian captain earns between Rs 5 and 7 crore a year now, endorsing Hero Honda, S. Kumar's, Pepsi, Air Tel, and more recently, he has signed up with Colgate and LG. Percept also represents Kapil Dev, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. According to Shailendra, Kapil, despite walking into the sunset a bit unpleasantly, is as big a harvest as Saurav in the market. He endorses S. Kumar's and is close to signing Hero Honda which together may fetch him anywhere between Rs 2.5 to 5 crore a year. Yuvraj Singh endorses Pepsi, West Side Store and Colgate, earning an estimated Rs 1.5 to 2 crore per year. This, for a cricketer whom Pepsi abruptly dropped a few months ago after he was not picked for the one-day side. Zaheer Khan, being a bowler, is less appealing: he endorses Pepsi for a little over Rs 50 lakh a year.

Sumed Shah, who owns the Professional Management Group (PMG) with Sunil Gavaskar, describes himself as an "opener" in this business of player management though he doesn't call himself an agent. He is highly suspicious of the figures that the marketing men say their "boys" earn. "Except for Sachin," he says, "the actual prices of other cricketers may be just half of what these marketers claim." But he admits that when Shailendra says that he has a great relationship with the players, he's not fibbing. Before the Wisden Cricketer of the Century award, in London, which Kapil won, Shailendra says, "I asked him to pepper his speech in Hindi". Which, incidentally, he did. The good question here is how did he know Kapil was going to win the award, even before it was announced? But he is a man who has many convincing answers to one single good question. The relevant point here is that he has the skill to befriend at a truly personal level.

Yet, at least twice, he lost out in this highly-competitive game. Four hours before Laxman was supposed to sign a contract with Percept, some hectic moves saw him put the ink on the contract of London-based Sporting Frontiers in which Steve Waugh has a stake. Harbhajan too went the same way. Shailendra says that before Harbhajan signed, "he called me up from Jalandhar to say 'what do I do? These guys have given me a big cheque and are asking me to sign'. I told him, 'they are not giving you the money because they think you are worth it. They are a foreign company hoping to get a foothold in India'." Harbhajan eventually signed up with Sporting Frontiers for a guaranteed amount of Rs 50 lakh a year, according to a manager who brokered the deal. He endorses Pepsi, Samsung, RayBan and Complan. Laxman was signed up for an estimated Rs 1 crore, though Smith refuses to confirm these figures. "It's indecent to discuss their earnings."

Laxman, it seems, is very choosy about the kind of brand he endorses. He refused to put the sticker of an alcohol brand on his bat despite the good money. Sporting Frontiers earns about 15 to 20 per cent of what Laxman earns and so, logically, every time Laxman becomes fussy, the 10 million pound company registers a cash miss. But Smith is not worried."We appreciate Laxman's ethical concerns. We too want him to be associated only with brands that are appropriate. We believe he will captain the Indian side one day and so we want to build a certain image around him".

Despite warm relationships that marketing men build with their cricketers, the contract that binds them is as grave as a sessions court. A common clause is that a player has to be picked for at least 50 per cent of the matches the national team plays or the deal is void. The promised money is proportionally reduced depending on the number of matches a player misses. This clause has led to whispers about how some agents try to influence selectors to get their own boys in.

Despite such whispers, player management in India today is getting increasingly professional. This, despite a legal system that doesn't intimidate anybody who wants to breach a contract, says Lokesh Sharma who manages Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Kaif, Hemang Badani and Ritender Singh Sodhi. But in the '80s, this industry was a lawless jungle. Kapil Dev signed up with two bat companies, one of whom went to court with no great success. Remembers Shah: "Many players demanded 50 per cent in black because taxation was so high. When we got the Visa contract for Sachin in 1995-96, the Rs 50 lakh deal was his first major endorsement. He refused to take any part of the payment in black because he said, 'my father told me not to do such things'. But I cannot say that all players looked at life the same way." One reason why Shah never really wanted to be an agent was because "many players were not trustworthy. They were not men who could maintain the sanctity of a contract." In 1986-87, Shah got two Rs 1 lakh contracts for a former Indian captain. The next year when a company approached the cricketer directly, he cut Shah out of the deal. But when the contract was not renewed the following year, he asked Shah to help. When the help was not coming, he told Shah, "The next time you come to Wankhede you will be bashed up".

If only some of these friendly suited men where around in the '40s, C.K. Nayudu, who endorsed Bathgates Livertonic, may not have done it for free, as his daughter recollects today. Venkataraghavan, in 1971, endorsed Phillips cycles—'Phillips, for the spirited youth'. He was paid, as he remembers, "between Rs 1,000 and 2,000". Chandu Borde, who endorsed Challenge bat, "got two bats in return". But ask today's suited manager and he will tell you: "I would have got Borde three".