I P L Mania

IPL (Indian Premier League) mania seems to ride high on India, modeled after football’s EPL (English Premier League) and a recovered version of the flop show called ICL, IPL seems to be a rage among the cricket buffs and is attracting the otherwise non-cricketing audiences as well; it is very much anticipated as the ‘thing of the future.’ It seems like the BCCI, business tycoons and entertainment industry flooded this new concept with filthy money, whether it be the auction of teams or of the players, the bidders did not hesitate to pay off whopping amounts to own their desired franchise and make sure that their desired players play for it, without getting into the economics of the money involved its adequate to say that the amount infused in the 8 IPL teams is enough to resettle China’s earthquake survivors.
With controversial cheerleaders dancing near the boundary and stars from Bollywood matching the steps, one may wonder does cricket, the gentleman’s game as its intended to play; survive among all these fireworks and gilts? India being the cricketing nation it is, never previously thought before cheering a four or a six hit by an Indian batsman, irrespective of the state for which he played. I will use my example to demonstrate the untouched aspect of this trailer format of the game. I was born on the 24th of April and coincidently this happens to be the birth day of Sachin Tendulkar as well, after his exploits in England in the test series of 1994, I instantly became an admirer of this living legend and what followed was my cherished memories of the 1996 World Cup where he was named the master blaster, the 1998 back to back centuries against Australia where he scored a hundred and won the tri series for India on 24th April, the 1999 World Cup where he came back to score a century 2 days after his father’s funeral, The186 not out in India, his 2003 genius in the World Cup for which he won the Golden Bat, double century on Australian turf on 2nd January 2004, his streak of scoring 90’s against England last year and his recent three consecutive half centuries against South Africa; all this and many more of his innings are viewed and memorized by me over the years and as a kid I have even cried when he used to get out. Last evening I was taking full delight in his batting against Kings XI Punjab but Mumbai’s loss was essential for Delhi’s Semi- Final hopes to stay alive.
I saw an unconscious and unknown myself cheer my lungs out when Tendulkar got out, a sight unexpected to my mother and she wasn’t too amused to see this reaction of mine as she has witnessed my fad over the legend’s batting over the years. What I want to point out is that just like me; even you must be facing this problem of confused loyalties in this new saga called IPL. Should I go with the team which has my favorite player? Are my loyalties to my hometown or towards the owner of a particular whom I admire in his respective profession? Should I go gaga over the brand ambassador’s looks who is for a particular team? Should I cheer the team which plays the best? Or should I just go with team which has the best cheerleaders?????
The answers to these questions are highly subjective and the struggle between reason and passion to support a team or a player is among all of us, for people who belong to any of the eight cities after which the teams are formed should not face this struggle but for the rest of the viewers it still is a question unanswered as to which team do they cheer for? Among all this chaos and interlinked galaxies of players, one must ponder over some other questions like- Will I ever cheer for an Indian player who was instrumental to defeat the IPL team I supported? Will I land up cheering for a Shoaib, taking Sehwag’s wicket in an ODI because he did the same in an IPL match when he played for my team? Or will most of the viewers identify with the Indian players who don’t belong to their IPL teams?IPL is surely entertaining and these cocktailed teams provide a value for your money but unlike football where this trend is adapted over a period of time, cricket has a lot of international matches all round the year where it might just be difficult for players to gel as a national team after this IPL fever. The other concerns this IPL puts forward is that yesteryears players were groomed to play test cricket and with IPL the new generation might be seen struggling in the original format of he game which is really a ‘test’ of your talent and ability

Three Big Guns

I started following this game since 1994 and I was the premier fast bowler of my team but I was barely 6 years old then, so you can get the juvenility of my passions for the sport named cricket and here in India this sport happens to be a religion uniting religions where 'the three big guns' namely Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid have accomplished the stature of demi-Gods and they do deserve it, in my opinion, no matter how much people write them off they will always remain there, right at the top, the Dhonies and Gonies will be gone and forgotten eventually because thanks to our all trade jack media, which has recently got into the shoes of detectives and cops to solve the Noida murder case and like this they have always boo peeked into cricketing analysis to determine the future of these living legends whose service to the sport and country is unparallel and cannot be matched by any amateur poster boy having two good seasons in a row. Can’t the media restrict its role to what it is supposed to be and stop behaving like the ‘know it all’ Dharmatmas; then don’t complain ‘Salman Khan ne thappad maara!’ oh! where did he come in all this? Remember the controversial star slapping a couple of nagging reporters after his break up with his girlfriend? I mean a guy had a break up and you go up and ask ‘how do you feel?’ you might as well ask ‘Hum Chloremint kyon khaate hain?’ because the rationality behind both the questions is similar and so is the result. Coming back to the point, our dear news anchors who in my opinion never even held a bat or a ball outside their domestic compounds, analyze and determine the worth and future of these living legends! And more amusing is the fact that they invite idle, forgotten and retired cricketers who have played less number of international matches than the number of international 100s scored by any of the three above mentioned cricketing legends. And you the reader, you might as well open a couple of cricket stats websites as I am doing right now to cement my view that Old is Gold and form is temporary; class is forever because it is because of your forgetfulness that these cricketers are under the scanner time and again.
Let me take Sachin’s record for instance, as I can see in another window Sachin Tendulkar has played 147 tests and 417 ODI till date scoring 39 hundreds and 49 fifties and 42 hundreds and 89 fifties respectively and its futile to write on the stats of the remaining two gentlemen as theirs are similar in stature. Saurav Ganguly was the highest Indian run scorer and most consistent ODI batsman in 2007 and yet he is dropped from the team, The 2003 world cup roller coaster ride is attributed to Sachin’s bat and Saurav’s captaincy, Rahul Dravid has consistently saved and won tests single handedly for India on foreign turfs and so has Sachin and Saurav. The Master Blaster, The Prince of Kolkata and the Wall are respected world over by some of the best bowlers the world has ever seen and yet in their own country they are time an again humiliated and questioned by news channels that go all hay-hay for a rookie who managed to score once or twice and happens to be likable by girls to attribute to his fan following. ‘Give chance to young players’ is what the ‘cricket gurus’ say who wasted chances given to them in their time. You depend on the quest to search and give opportunity to young talent which is indispensable in my opinion but one must believe that the future should not come at the cost of the golden present. Their will be cricketers in the future who will match and may even surpass their achievements but should this mean that one must show them the way out at their twilight? The zeal of their youth is remarkably evolved into years of valuable experience as one can see them playing the role of sheet anchors and rising up to the occasions when it matters. Saurav recently saved a decisive test for India on the home soil against the might bowling attack of the South Africans and Sachin single handedly scored above 60 consecutively in the last three ODI against S.A. to win the series right after a high on success cricketer commented publicly that ‘seniors must concentrate on their game’. Ok I guess enough of stats are furnished to prove the point, please it’s a request to the media and ‘infotainment’ fraternity keep your feet in your own shoes and if you want to expand then don’t assume cricket field as place to carry out your blue eyed sting operations. When we watch the news we see advertisements flashing on the strips intended for stock information and news then how can you say that a cricketer is unjust to advertisements, moreover the advertisements they do are aired on your esteemed channels only. There is a selection committee and whole lot of thinking and analysis of performances that go in the selection of cricket teams, no one can live on his name without performances backing up and if some one gets a chance to play, he deserves that chance to play irrespective of his age.