RCB's tale of woe will not change track soon

Economy policy
(Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore is the only team to not have won a single contest this IPL season. They have lost six straight matches and need a miracle to make it to the knockout stage. RCB needs to win all their remaining eight matches to salvage any hope of making it to the Play-offs.)

More than any other format in cricket, Twenty20 is premised on the superiority of the batsman over the bowler. Even the most-skilled practitioner with the ball gets merely 24 deliveries to have a say on the match. But if a destructive batsman is present for 120 balls, you would bet that his team will go on to win the game.

Royal Challengers Bangalore is a team built on this imbalance. It's not that skipper Virat Kohli and the team management are not aware of the various ways in which a successful T20 team could be composed. Rather, it is their insuperable belief that might with the willow will deliver the loudest blow.

It is an approach that has worked for RCB in the past, most notably in 2016 when the franchise reached the Indian Premier League final. Since then, however, the Virat Kohli-led side has won only nine of its 34 matches. This season, RCB has already emulated the worst ever start to an IPL campaign by losing its first six matches. Any hopes of making the playoffs are extinguished before the tournament even reaches its halfway point.

But even before one looks at RCB’s strategic failures, an assessment of fundamental failings must be done. The franchise has dropped 14 catches, bowled six no-balls and misfielded or overthrown the ball 17 times this season, according to ESPNCricinfo.

No other team has performed worse on these counts in the ongoing IPL.

 But it is the manner of RCB’s defeats that tell the story of a top-heavy batting unit creaking under pressure.

Star India standalone profit after tax dips 44% in FY18 on higher expenses

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Companies News:

Star India’s standalone profit after tax was down 44 per cent in FY18 as expenses increased at a faster pace while revenue growth was sluggish. According to the company’s filings with the Registrar of Companies, Star India's revenue for FY18 rose 5.8 per cent to Rs 9,199 crore as against Rs 8,698 crore in FY17. The company’s net profit slumped from Rs 1,155 crore in FY17 to Rs 642 crore in FY18, a 44 per cent decline.

Data provided by financial data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler indicates that the company’s total expenditure for the year grew 18.6 per cent to Rs 8,242 crore. In September 2017, Star India won the global media rights to the Indian Premier League for Rs 16,347.50 crore for five years (2018-2022).

Sources reveal that the Uday Shankar-led network’s payout to the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), included Rs 4,300 crore in the first year of the deal, while the remaining amount is to be equally divided over the rest four years. Sources said a part of the payout would have been accounted in FY18 financials, though the details are not available. This would account for the steep increase in Star India’s expenditure for the fiscal under consideration.

Other expenses, which accounted for 87 per cent of the total expenses, went up 20 per cent year-on-year to Rs 7,182.5 crore in FY18. Queries to Star India went unanswered.


 Star India hosted the first IPL season on its network from April 2018, and the revenues for the same will be reflected in the FY19 numbers. Industry estimates peg Star India’s revenue from IPL 2018 at Rs 2,000 crore.