(This article was written when the league was in it's half-way stage)
The Indian Premier League was kicked off in April with great fanfare. Starting off with eight teams, the IPL consisted of a series of T20 (twenty-twenty) cricket matches to be played by each side. The top four sides at the end of two rounds would reach the semi-finals. It was touted to be the cricketing world's own multi-billion dollar baby, it's own Premier League, baseball and football style.
It had its fair share of criticism, but I have to admit, it turned out to be a success.
After all, where else could entertainment-hungry cricket fans (which includes me!) find McGrath, one of cricket's all-time greats, bowling to Gilchrist, another iconic player in world cricket? Where else could they see Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasurya - two of the world's most experienced and talented batsmen - opening the batting for a team together? Where else could Rahul Dravid be captaining a side to fight against a side led by Saurav Ganguly? Where else would the Under-19s and the local players get a chance to play alongside cricketers they only ever dreamed of meeting, leave alone playing with. Where else could the viewers see sixes and fours being hit in every over, leaving the bowlers red-faced?
TRPs soared, with the initial matches garnering as much viewership as the FINAL of the T20 World Cup. Newspapers and media channels wasted no time in praising the BCCI for coming up with such a concept. The players were happy, the fans were happy.
The League was supposed to invoke interest of the Western audiences, especially the people of America, as it was thought that the T20 format, being exciting and short, could rival even baseball and football matches in popularity.
But my basic hesitation in welcoming this concept with open arms lies in the name of the league itself. Indian Premier League. INDIAN. Hey I'm a very patriotic person.
But I'm only saying, couldn't the organisers have made a couple of other teams, say the Sydney Dynamos or the England Giants or the African Fighters, with some teams going for a certain period of time to Sydney, London and South Africa and playing a few matches there, and then those teams coming and playing in India? Wouldn't that have made the event truly global? Instead, what we've is a bunch of teams, each team consisting of a handful of international players, the rest being local players.
Secondly, many of the players, like those in the playing XI of the Australian and the New Zealand Teams, had to leave even before the Championship reached the half-way stage, which was a big dampener. Couldn't the organisers have coordinated the timing and positioning of the League such that maximum number of international players would be available for the maximum amount of time?
Thirdly, I myself fancy ESPN Star's stylish and very smooth coverage of cricket matches. Compare their footage to that of other sports channels, and you can clearly see the difference in the quality of the camera angles and the telecast. But that is something purely commercial and we, as viewers, cannot have any say in it.
But all things said and done, the League has been a big success (at least till now), drawing thousands of people to the stadia and attracting millions others to their television sets all across the globe. Some aspects about it could have been better planned, but I would only like to say - Great Concept, Great Going.
P.S. May the Delhi Daredevils or the Kings XI Punjab win. Best of Luck guys!
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