From Bangalore to Connecticut, and from doing commentary on All India Radio to founding WorldTel, Mark Mascarenhas has come a long way. The bespectacled, beefy bossman of the sports telecast and marketing firm which promotes batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar left India in 1976 at the age of 19 and went to America to do his Master's in communication. As a student of Christ College, Bangalore, he had played alongside cricketers like Brijesh Patel, who was representing India at the time.
After staying away from cricket for 16 years, Mascarenhas got back into the thick of things when he learnt that India was to stage the 1996 World Cup and the organising committee was looking for someone to buy the television rights of the tournament. That was in April 1993. Four months later, WorldTel had won the rights for the tournament, jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Today the man who started WorldTel in 1989 after brief stints with radio broadcasting stations in the US, including WCBS, which was CBS's number one news radio station, is in the eye of a storm, accused of allegedly depriving Doordarshan of $4 million in respect of telecast rights for the International Cricket Council's knockout tournament in Dhaka in October 1998.
In an exclusive interview with Faisal Shariff, Mascarenhas, who has an amazing ability to remember dates and figures, attempts to clear the air about any wrongdoing by his company or himself. He explains his relationship with Jagmohan Dalmiya and staunchly supports the former ICC chief. In Real Audio.
Why are World Tel and Mark Mascarenhas always viewed with
suspicion? Why is this company shrouded in mystery?
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Are you say that all the documents produced by Arun Aggarwal are
baseless and untrue?
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You say that you have never got a tournament for free. But that is not the argument. The claim is that you have got rights at dirt cheap rates.
How do you counter those allegations?
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Do you have facts to back up your statemants?
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What about your relationship with the ICC chief Jagmohan Dalmiya?
There has been a lot of speculation about your links with him in
getting WorldTel exclusive rights.
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People talk about Sharjah. What happened in Sharjah?
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What are you planning to do now ?
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Are you denying the allegations made about the ICC knock-out?
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How do you think tournaments at off-shore globalises the game ?
Besides, the television rights, what are the other facts influencing it?
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Why is it that everytime Mr.Dalmiya speaks about globalising the
sport it lands up in Dhaka? Why only Dhaka?
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Do you think corruption starts from the top?
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But can the argument that he is a rich man be used as a parameter
to declare him innocent ? Even Hansie Cronje is a rich man.
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Do you have any business association with Dalmiya?
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Do you think cricket can be globalised this way?
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Is it true that you were instrumental in getting the ban on Shoaib
Akhtar lifted, since he happens to be associated with World Tel ?
What role did you play in getting Shoaib reinstated into international
cricket?
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Besides Holding, there were other respected cricketers like Bobby
Simpson on the panel. Does their view not count?
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Why do you say that?
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How do you compare the two phases in world cricket-- Before
Mr.Dalmiya took over, and after he was appointed ICC chief?
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You are so passionate about cricket. Then why is it that you have
never thought of promoting the game in India and following it on the
lines of the Premier League in England?
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So, how do you envision cricket spreading in the U.S.?
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So what do you feel should be done?
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You mean David Richards is not the right man for the job?
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What was your reaction to Hansie Cronje's involvement in the
match-fixing scandal? You mean to say that you hadn't ever heard of
any player being involved in match-fixing earlier
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Do you ever bet on cricket?
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Do you ever bet at all?
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Why does the ICC have an account in the British Virgin Islands?
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Do you have any stake in that company?
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What about Lancaster Holdings? The company where you allegedly
have a stake in?
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Why did you choose to promote Sachin Tendulkar?
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