New Delhi: I wish I could greet the Indian Premier League with the anticipation of my first salary, or even the trepidation of my board exams. Sadly, the main emotion is disappointment, as some rather Draconian accreditation regulations have restricted websites’ scope of coverage to a bare minimum. Those who think that Twenty20 is the future of cricket are remarkably short-sighted when it comes to thinking of the future of the media.
The IPL was never going to die a quiet death. It may sound like a doomsday prediction, but the fact remains that irrespective of what emotion you address the tournament with – you may sing praises sky-high, or lambast it to the depths of disgust -- you cannot ignore it.
You will mistake it frequently though. You will mistake it for a platform for the young hopefuls to make it, you will mistake it as a forum that will provide these youngsters with so much attention, that they would not die away as unknown also-rans.
You will also make a mistake if you think that cricket as we knew it will continue. Whatever be the fallout of this league, the world of cricket will never be the same again. That’s not to say that it won’t be an improvement. Only someone totally blinkered would assume that this is all bad. This is just different.
Once One-Day Internationals came into being, the fallout was the filtering of unorthodox shots, and even lesser patience, into the Test arena. That resulted in more matches being decided, and in the recent past, there have hardly been Test series which have witnessed draws and draws only. Call it the reflexes of instant cricket, or the shift in the attention and concentration span, it yielded results.
So what will Twenty20 do? Simple. It will ensure that we don’t need five-day Tests. As it is, not too many nowadays see the fifth day, and with the techniques and quick-fix of a 20-over game coming in, things will happen faster. So shorter Tests, leaving more time for Twenty20.
But those may border on conjectures, and in the future. The immediate demands on the IPL are different, but no less intriguing.
The biggest draws, without doubt, are the Indian stars. But as things stand, looks like Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble won’t be around for a while, while Mahendra Singh Dhoni won’t be keeping wickets, thanks to injuries.
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There was also a lot of concern initially that the Australians, the biggest draw after the home boys, would not be seen in action in the initial year, which would have been potentially a sponsors’ nightmare. But some blasts in Pakistan were grabbed with both hands by the Aussies, as they straightaway diverted ship towards IPL. The Pakistan Cricket Board was remarkably silent about the whole thing. We guess money talks. It silences even more effectively.
But the thing that IPL will be sorely tested with is the grandiose BCCI-backed announcement that the league would improve Indian cricket. Sure, it has, and will, bring in the money. But to expect the fringe players to get more than drink-carrying roles is a bit optimistic.
Every team can play four foreigners, so let’s do a little experiment. Take the Hyderabad team. Do you think they would go in, in a 20-20 format, without (when available) Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi and Herschelle Gibbs or Scott Styris. Then there are the Indian players – skipper VVS Laxman, RP Singh and Rohit Sharma. That is seven players, maybe even eight. We have not even included Chaminda Vaas.
This leaves three slots, for 12 players, who include Chamara Silva, Nuwan Zoysa, Y Venugopal Rao and Pragyan Ojha. So how many of the rest will play, is a million-dollar question.
This grand announcement was more to sound noble than authentic. No sponsor will compromise on team composition, so most of the juniors will have to be happy with each cricketer in the IPL has denied – playing for the money.
But whatever may be the immediate challenges, there is no doubt that this is going to be huge. How it fares only time will tell, but cricket will never be the same once the first ball is bowled in Bangalore on Friday. One only hopes it stays human, and does not become a battle of mechanised gladiators, dancing to the tinkle of gold coins.
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