This wonderful baby created by some financial big-wigs, nurtured and nourished by all of us keeps growing in stature with every season and every forward step it chooses to take. Too much of a fairy tale thus far, it has enthralled us all and redefined cricket the way we knew it. All the more paramount then to put away dissipative forces, help bring about empowerments and keep propelling it in the right direction for global popularity and fan-fidelity. Here are a few lessons we learnt this season:
Unpredictability. This has been a continual trend across all the 3 seasons of the IPL thus far. Forget the IPL; this will always be a prominent factor in governing the outcomes of T20 games at large.
Controversy. The IPL and perpetual doses of controversy (some excessive) shall remain brothers-in-arms. That’s also got a lot to do with the IPL’s popularity quotient. Nothing much can be done to change that. Can only channelize attention onto the field nipping them all in the bud.
Need For Sanitization. Given the enormous amounts of Vitamin M that the IPL assimilates, generates and manages, sleazy shenanigans with regard to corruption aren’t particularly flummoxing. But the amount of muck the underbelly houses is a matter of deep concern (not that they put the average cricket fanatic off), and sanitization of the enterprise is a must for preserving the sanctity of the wonderful game that enthralls billions across the globe. Guess pooh-bahs need to respect the pretense of the game more.
Modi Must Be Cut To Size. This guy has family members as stake holders in franchises, breaches confidentiality clauses on Twitter, romances cheerleaders (fully inebriated) at post-match parties, runs prejudicial propaganda against people (and franchises, as we’ve realized) and has become an autocratic dictator, a law unto himself. Plenty of charges, allegations about him flying around the place every day, some irrefutable facts and some mere accusations. There must be checks and balances over the functioning of Lalit Modi, the man who made the IPL. He is the reason why we're going ga-ga about a Sachin Tendulkar taking on Mahendra Singh Dhoni every evening. He's the creator of this Billion Dollar Extravaganza. He can doubtlessly be deemed responsible for making this a super-successful money spinning, fan-appeasing enterprise. And one that has established supreme connect with cricketing fans across the globe, made even the dismissive cynics take to cricket (in countries which did not speak of cricket) and has added a whole new dimension to cricket fanship across the globe. He took up a task (irrespective of the roots of the fundamental idea, or its inevitability to happen), built it beautifully and administered the venture with great skill. Anybody accomplishing arduous administrative tasks is worthy of plaudits. This guy is no different. Nothing takes away from the fact that he has been responsible in a large manner for making the IPL a tremendous global brand. Let us not dismiss him as a rotten fruit. When it was fresh, people longed for it and thrived watching it fascinate. Only when it turns rotten, we're beginning to question if it was ever fresh at all. That is absolute hypocrisy. Nonetheless, nobody (player, administrator, whoever) can be made to seem to transcend the ethos of the game. Hence, having some forced control on the operations of Lalit Modi is now a must. Clip the wings, but do not shoot down the bird.
Tracks/Conditions Still A Factor. Now this is for the ultimate connoisseurs. In today’s era where smacking the white shining thing hurled at you perfunctorily out of 60000 people’s sight might be made to seem like a prerequisite for a young player to earn the license to play the game, subtle aspects of the game like humidity, freshness of the pitch, breeze directions et al are still a significant factor in the game. This year in particular, slow and low wickets (think Feroz Shah Kotla, Chepauk and DY Patil) have demonstrated to us (leaving clueless couch potatoes groping for excuses) that it takes a lot of skill to play this game, irrespective of the format concerned. It is pivotal to have the ability to acclimatize to any given conditions to triumph, and that shall be so for all forms of the game how many ever invented in future. (Hoping Navjot Singh Sidhu’s 5-over ‘underwear’ cricket is never reality!)
Big Names Do Not Guarantee Definite Triumphs. While money-spinning, frenzy-ringing names like Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Yuvraj Singh, Sanath Jayasuriya flopped miserably this season, what has been established with considerable certainty over the three seasons is the fact that you need utility players in this format of the game—Blokes who can wield the willow with a decent strike rate, give you a few acceptable overs with the ball and save runs with their alacrity on the field. Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds and Suresh Raina this season have reaffirmed that notion.
Oldies As Proficient As Greenhorns. Look down the list of the most successful batsmen and bowlers this season and it might befuddle you when you discover some of the names. Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble are still good enough for this format. Yet, they did nothing crazy. Sachin Tendulkar played classical cricket shots (only three sixes all tournament), Jacques Kallis built the team’s innings around him, Sourav Ganguly was the good old belligerent himself at the top of the order, Anil Kumble was still flighting the ball masterfully and completely beating the batsmen for flight and turn, this tournament was in more ways than one a purist’s delight.
Security Concerns Tenable. The events of April 17th in Bangalore sullied India’s image as a safe haven for international sports, screw the low intensity of the blasts. In all, 5-6 bombs planted in the vicinity of a cricket stadium of international stature and you know for once something’s fundamentally wrong with the security establishment. Thing with sporting events in India now: Every minor security concern raised by other nations will be genuine and cannot be dismissed as insignificant. Sad part is: no assurance from our side will dispel the fears. The IPL is damn lucky to have carried on in full pomp.
Crowd Support A Factor. Contrary to many naive refutations of crowd support being a factor in determining the outcomes of games, this year’s IPL has seen several games won with the aid of tremendous crowd backing, particularly the games won by the Bangalore Royal Challengers and the Kolkata Knight Riders at their respective home grounds, from crunch situations. Home games make a huge difference after all (laud the Deccan Chargers for having fought their way to the semis without that luxury).
Venue Expansion A Great Prospect. Nagpur, Cuttack, Dharamshala and Ahmedabad have all been very hospitable to the IPL this season. Ebullient crowds, fantastic playing conditions have reposed the faith in the idea to move the league to new venues. Next year with the number of games increasing manifold, why not make each team play 7 home games instead of 9 and contemplate taking the league to unchartered venues like Visakhapatnam, Rajkot, Gwalior, Vadodara, Srinagar (no kidding) and possibly even a Dhaka or a Colombo? Some food for thought there.
We’re a couple of games away from bidding adieu to our favourite evening entertainment. Might as well bid goodbye with an enchanting thought—this season has been the best yet.
2 comments:
Nice Post. You need to have a relook at Nagpur, great ground bt very low turn outs. Srinagar, you gotta be kidding me. I don't think corporate franchises will agree though, for IPL does good for the game only in the papers, its after all a money making business. As we all know the money shalt only come from big cities. Put more small cities in the eqn, and u ll have problems like AI flights, Accomocdation, state security etc
Srinagar actually has a decent cricket ground. And security-wise, no real large scale issues there in recent memory. Come on, Bangalore itself had 6 bombs around the stadium. If terror has to happen it will irrespective of the city/geographical location.
And I forgot to mention Mysore. Decent ground. Excellent turnout for a Ranji final, the IPL will make it big there!
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