IPL – TV soap or actually just cricket???…

When the IPL was formulated and began with the big auction of players and other . I hardly payed any attention to it. It was part but i am least interested from this. What with ‘ambassadors’, politicians, owners, the entire cast of the BCCI and others fist fighting with each other , there seemed to be very little of cricket happening. Talk in the press was mostly about what SRK had to say or who Preity thought was hot or who among Mallya and Ambani would dish out more cash and other things.

When the auction of players happened I found myself wondering to what level of crazyness that BCCI could sink, just to make money.. I mean… they are after all cricketers and not sex workers  or something to be saled!… But when it was all done I must admit a few really good teams were brought together and under some impressive leadership as well.With huge businessmen and actors and other ‘non-cricket’ people taking a huge interest and investated a lot of money for teams then that teams has to work hard for best result.

SO finally the ‘games’ began and very few people knew whom to support. With home favorites playing for other cities as a result of the auction, it also happen that audience like one player but playerfrom opposite city ,that make more complicated. So people tended to look at the big names in the teams and for example  one of the teams with the most ‘fan following’ at the beginning of the tournament was Deccan Chargers. Boasting a lineup that included Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi, Andrew Symonds ,Rohit Sharma, R.P.Singh and some others.

But more than all this what really got me frustrated was how the cricket that was taking place was receiving so little attention. A big 3 column pic and story of SRK saying some rubbish like. In between every ball the camera would swing around to show the dancing models or to the‘ambassadors’ of the teams or the filmstars and politicians who had come to watch the match. Often times deliveries weren’t even shown as a result of the cameraman’s obsession with Preity’s boobs(?) or SRK’s waxy smile or even Sharadh Pawar’s big belly!… Advertisements were being shown while the over was going on… above, below and to the sides of the screen… jst as soon as the over ended without even sparing a sec… and even during breaks in play when a decision was referred to the 3rd umpire. It even happened once when a player was given out by the 3rd umpire and the new player started batting without the people watching on TV knowing about it because the decision was not shown as Pepsi and Kingfisher and all were  paying to  much money to  Set Max!!!…

All these things do make me want agree with Ram and his branding of the IPL as a new TV soap. Sreesanth crying got a lot more coverage on the media-waves than say the earthquake in China!… Yes, loads and loads of girls started watching cricket in order to catch a glimpse of an SRK .Yes, cheap politicians did use such trivial stuff like the dresses the models were wearing to win some points with the people. Yes, entrepreneurs did have a month full of field days as a result of the IPL.

Yes whatever we r seeing on TV is a ridiculous. The coverage of the IPL by various news channels, newspapers and websites . Yes everyone with an inch of power has used it to gain popularity through the IPL but then that is one of the side-effects of the fact that in India cricket is a religion. If parties remain in power using communalism and religion as their major weapons then it was only a matter of time b4 cricket came under the microscope. 

But after having said all this the very quality of cricket that has been produced makes me say that this Power league is still good 4 cricket in general and Indian cricket in particular. The exposure and experience it has given the Indian youngsters is unparalleled. As things stand now with only 4 foreigners able 2 make it 2 the final 11, a lot of young Indians are shining. But knowing the mentality of the BCCI i wuldn’t be surprised if this rule is scrapped in the coming years.

Maybe one can say that the jury is still out on the effect, impact and need of the IPL. But being an ardent cricket fan and a close follower of the game i think that this competition (whatever its vices regarding media coverage) will eventually end up improving the game. Short formats of any game help in improving the skills of a player and T20 will have the same effect. I think it is a cricket, whole is not a soap ,it is something cricket as i think.