With every newspaper,website,news channel,ad,mail,sms,magazine,booklet,leaflet trying to bask in the 'glory' of the IPL,none can blame me for trying to eat a piece of the historic cake :D The question isnt whether IPL is worth talkin or not-that, it definitely is, as evident by the recent "breaking news" like 'Bachchan has a cold', 'Khali is back', 'Mauja ki Mauja'(the most ridiculous of the lot definitely! :P ) blah blah blah.. on the country's 'leading' news channels (the leading probably refers to thr undisputed lead in banality and an utter disregard for viewer sensibilities)-the big question is if IPL will change the face of the game....will it do to all competitive cricket what Kerry Packer's Pajama cricket in the '70s did to the erstwhile gentleman's game...
Hmmm...if we take a look at why the IPL was born in the first place,we can see that its more of a reaction to the rebellious ICL rather than a novel concept in itself.That it was later purported to be an Indian and cricketing equivalent of the EPL was an obvious after-thought and a laughable one at that...EPL has been goin on for decades an hs a worldwide fan following tht few events/sports/sitcoms/movies can rarely boast of...its probably the most watched tournament worldwide and clearly IPL has a long way to go to even match 0.01% of it...
coming back to yesterday,the first match promised to be an evenly matched contest between intellect and raw power,a battle of minds,a war between old warhorses,a game of strategy and executional perfection and last but not the least,a tussle between the evergreen Dr.(?) Vijay Mallya and the 'self-proclaimed' King (ugh :) Khan....In the end,it turned out to be a heavily lopsided contest with the Kolkata tigers having the Royal Challegers for lunch,dinner and drinks!
Brendon McCullum took it upon himself to entertain the spectators and his was an innings tht wil be remembered for days to come...or wil it?Really,thr lies the answer to the question...how many wil consider it a marvellous knock 10 or even 5 yrs down the line...probably not many...it cud wel b remembered as just another entertaining knock...or as is more likely,it'll get lost in the pages of IPL record books a la Bhuvan's feat in Lagaan - 'ek aisi kahani jo itihaas ke panno mein shayad kahin kho gayi'...
The 2nd match today betn the Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings was a much much better contest and altho Chennai won quite convincingly in the end,it wont b an overstatement to say tht the match almost went down to the wire...the 3rd match between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils is turning out to be a damp squib as i write this...
after 3 matches,one thing is definitely evident-this is, and also isnt, cricket as we all have known,played,discussed and enjoyed sinc we can remember...altho the basic essence is the same,its different(like the ketchup) and not necessarily 'good' / 'bad' different...thrs lot more fun and the focus is on entertainment but how long wil ppl be distracted by cheerleaders and bands if the main ingredient isnt upto the mark? probably 1 or 2 seasons but beyond tht,if the IPL seeks to make a lasting impression,it'll have to ensure good competitive cricket...an thts possibl only if the players r inclined to consider thr team as thr own...jus like when they r playing for thr country...how many players wil b able to do this, only time can tel...
but goin by wat v hv seen in last 2days,its sure tht,post IPL,its gonna be back to business for every1 as usual...the one-dayers wil be welcome an so wil b the tests...an as for the game of cricket,it'll continue to be the unpredictable,at times unnerving,at times effervescent game tht it hs been for over a century :)
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