Interview with Desh Sekhri: "By default we think everything is wrong with the IPL and therefore with cricket"

Sports lawyer, columnist and now author – Desh Gaurav Sekhri wears multiple hats at the same time. An alumnus of St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi and The College of William and Mary, Virginia, Sekhri recently launched his book ‘Not Out!’ under the banner of Penguin Random House.

The book throws light upon pertinent issues surrounding the Indian Premier League’s existence, including the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the league in 2013.

From conflict of interest to the financial implications of the tournament moving out of India, the BCCI’s new CEO to what impacts the league’s credibility the most, Sekhri opens up in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda.

You started as a national level Tennis player, moved to serious academics with Economics at St. Stephens, then shifted to legal studies related to sports. Now with your book in the market, you are one of the top opinion makers in the field of Sports law and economics. Has life come a full circle?

Well, first of all, thank you for calling me an opinion maker- in all honesty, I think it’s just a factor of having some strong opinions on sports, sports law and the business of sports which led to ‘Not Out!’. It has been an exciting although tough journey being a sports attorney in what is still a nascent and niche industry.

It was a combination of the exposure I have had to international sports leagues in North America (where I’ve spent extensive time growing up and also studying) and of being a student of every component of sport that has helped me formulate opinions and now set them to a book. In a way, you can say life has indeed come full circle because ‘Not Out!’ is a documented culmination of what I have learned academically and through practical real-life experience.

There's a deluge of books in the market that deal with the IPL, one will find a lot more material online as well. What according to you is your work's differentiating factor?

I’m glad you asked. Yes, there is a lot out there on the IPL, and rightly so. It has the single largest sports presence in India if not South Asia and the rest of the cricketing world. There is also an equal amount of undocumented and unverified information out there which is probably far more thrilling than just what’s available in the public domain and in available books.

How ‘Not Out’ differentiates itself is by being what in my opinion, is the first authoritative narrative documenting the tangible components of the IPL, and actually looking at the rationale, business and verifiable history of it.

My publisher- Penguin Random House, was very supportive in sharing the vision of creating a literary work that worked on facts, provided insights that stemmed from my domain knowledge, legal understanding, and of course international precedents.

It is a book, and I believe the first such book, for the serious reader who while interested in the scandals and controversies, is equally keen to understand what can be done better, and how the IPL can be an unqualified sporting success rather than a controversy-ridden entertainment hub. So, essentially I am confident that the final product is an objective tell-all that doesn’t pull any punches, and calls a spade a spade.

Do you think the murk and malaise that has come out of the Indian cricketing system in recent years (spot fixing, betting, conflict of interest, etc) has made the profession more lucrative for sports lawyers and commentators like you, who speak more on off-field matters?

That’s a valid question and my immediate answer to this would be a qualified yes. And the reason it’s a qualified yes is because, for sports law practitioners such as me who work on specialized contractual arrangements and on the structuring of leagues and tournaments, scandals and controversies actually lessen the business generated in the sports ecosystem. For a sports attorney like me who is not in the contentious litigation space, a glut of lawsuits isn’t the long term viability value proposition.

Instead, the second phase, where sports in India (hopefully) becomes professionalised, streamlined and regulated, that is the phase when the ecosystem would have matured enough to have created suitable opportunities for multiple practices and practitioners.

I will say this, though- the opaqueness and the reputation hit through scandal has immediately led to a greater need of and interest in engaging specialist sports lawyers for drafting, reviewing and negotiating complex sports-specific contractual arrangements.

The awareness of the risk of liability, and the need to manage risk in a volatile sports industry is something which is the successful by-product of the spot-fixing and conflict of interest scandals in cricket.

What off-field matter related to the running of Indian cricket are you concerned about the most? What have your recommendations about the same been?

One of the unique aspects of ‘Not Out!’ in my opinion is the fact that it not only points out and analyzes the credibility, governance and transparency issues in Indian cricket, but it also has assessed the possible future problems and how best to tackle them.

In some cases, even to pre-empt potentially harmful situations with minor tweaks- for example, recommending implementation of a player allocation draft rather than continuing with the player auction.

To me, restoring the integrity of the game is the single biggest issue, and this includes the lack of transparency, rampant conflict of interest, and a seeming inability to make inroads towards aligning expectations. We know too little about the workings of the IPL or cricket in India, in general, to be in a position to categorically say what’s wrong. Yes, there is, of course, a lot wrong with cricket and the IPL, but if one is objective, there is a lot right with it as well.

But what unequivocally is wrong with the IPL and with Indian cricket, is the complete lack of transparency. So what this has led to, is a bounty of public interest litigations on the back of the Supreme Court’s stern stance against the IPL and the BCCI, and the futuristic Justice Lodha Committees’ recommendations. Simply, it is the fear of and anger at not knowing what’s really happening. So by default, we think everything is wrong with the IPL and therefore with cricket.

This opinion has gained popularity because finally powerful entities are taking on the notoriously opaque BCCI. So, every single aspect of the board and the IPL’s functioning is scrutinised, and sadly in some cases, the IPL has even become a scapegoat. This is a dangerous line of thought to pursue. And, if pushed into a corner from every angle, the board and the IPL may just retaliate. Don’t forget, that in world cricket the BCCI is still the market leader by a huge margin, and there are quite a few cards it can play if pushed too far. The recent example of a board official hinting that the IPL may move from 2017 onwards is a good example of that.

You have covered the aspect of conflict of interest in your book. The issue is a little more nuanced than it seems because for the longest time, barring a couple of journalists, no one in India really cared much about multiple hat wearers.

What do you think is the reason people have woken up to this grave concern so late? Will the persistent effort to fight conflict last or is this just a momentary 'join the bandwagon' phase?

You’re absolutely right- barring a few respected journalists and sports activists conflict of interest was mostly left unexplored. But if there’s one thing that the spot-fixing scandal did, it was to ensure that conflict of interest has become a part and parcel of cricket awareness. And, it’s scrutiny, rectification and eventually the elimination of potentially compromising conflict of interest positions is a work in progress that should hopefully be successful.

The Supreme Court and it’s committees I think will focus on eliminating that component over time, and the duality of roles or using positions for unfair advantage are definitely going to be curbed over time and hopefully eliminated.

So, we have the spot-fixing controversy to thank for the court-appointed committees to be given the opportunity to closely scrutinize the workings of the IPL and the board, and in a way expose and educate the Indian fans about conflicts of interest.

After a long wait, the BCCI appointed its first ever CEO, in the form of Rahul Johri. According to you, is this an eye wash that will restrict him to a titular role or is he going to have any serious impact on how the sport is run in this country?

It’s a very interesting time for Indian cricket. And because so much change is happening so fast, it’s difficult to assess whether the change has been led by a new perspective within the BCCI, or whether it’s a result of managing the judiciary and committees’ expectations. So, we have a dilemma as to whether the board is being proactive or reactive.

And here, one should give credit where it’s due. Since Shashank Manohar’s term in 2015 began, there has been a visible and conscious effort to improve systems and instill better practices. Is it too little too late? Possibly it’s not enough now that the court and the Indian public wants so much more, but implementation and aligning of everyone’s expectations will be very difficult to achieve.

In the case of the new CEO position, we still know very little about the roles and responsibilities, and whether the tenure and obligations will be in line with the Justice Lodha Committees’ recommendation. In fact, the concept of a CEO and CFO has been in place for the BCCI since October basis the recommendations of the consulting firms it has hired to help it transform and professionalise. So it does seem to be a genuine board-led initiative.

We’ll need to wait and see how open the board is to letting go of control and delegating key responsibilities. My guess is that the final outcome will be somewhere in between, but it’s really too soon to say.

Hypothetical question: say tomorrow, the very BCCI that you have criticised on certain aspects hires you to fight its cases on similar issues, will you take it up?

That’s a tricky question, and the answer, unfortunately, isn’t as clear-cut as I’d like it to be. Yes, I have criticised numerous aspects of the IPL and the board’s functioning, and I think now that I’ve authored a book that in a way is a cited /sourced tell-all and roadmap, it would be difficult to assume a role if ever asked that toes the past line and lack of transparency. If however I was asked to advise or provide solutions on certain aspects that I have highlighted or hinted at in ‘

If however I was asked to advise or provide solutions on certain aspects that I have highlighted or hinted at in ‘Not Out!’ it would be hypocritical and unfair of me to not provide my limited expertise towards helping improve and clean the systems in line with global best industry practices. In my mind, I have set down what I feel should and can be done, and I feel my job with that is done. Let’s just say that I’m not waiting with bated breath for an email or telephone call.

Your book has grabbed attention and is sure to end up becoming extremely successful, what next for Desh Gaurav Sekhri?

Thank you - I do hope the book does end up being quite successful. This is actually a time when I feel I’m on the verge of completing one phase of my professional and writing career- which leads back to your astute question earlier about life having come full-circle. To complete the full circle, I am now writing a book on sport and the economics & law of it in India and how each compares to the rest of the world.

Over the next couple of months, I am also moving from a strictly legal role to a strategy, policy, and implementation role which for me is very exciting, and a culmination of what I have been working towards. From a writing perspective, I am eager to resume writing columns, and to work on another narrative in the sports space, for which I need to start brainstorming.

For now, though, my sole and fervent hope is that ‘Not Out!’ achieves the goals we have set for it, and in whatever way it can, shapes thought in the discourse on the IPL and its way forward.

Buy the book online here.