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CRITIQUE Some questions could be raised about the preparations for the IPL. ARAVINDAN

The biggest cricketing league is back again this summer after lots of setbacks and controversies. Within just a few days into the league, it has raised a few questions of common sense associated with the league. When IPL was launched last summer, it was intended to have different teams localised to a city/state, a model not new to sporting leagues and events. The franchise owners of the IPL teams, self-proclaimed lovers of the game, don’t seem to have much common sense in equating business with the love for the game. For instance, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans witness a promo of their own team in Hindi. Teams like Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) or Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have nothing to say about their home city on their promos.

Most IPL teams have failed to capture the essence of their own backyard, but does that make any sense considering the theme of the league? Back in 2003 Sony Max introduced a female host with absolutely no knowledge of the game on a cricket analysis show as a ploy to attract more women towards the game (or was it meant otherwise?). Needless to talk about the kind of reaction and attention the anchor generated, irrespective of age. The channel is back again this IPL season, with cricket analysts who analyse the matches in Hindi during pre-and post-match analysis. If this was a ploy to increase their viewer base, I won’t be surprised to hear analysts speaking in Tamil or Kannada or Telugu or Bengali during CSK, RCB, Deccan or KKR matches in the future. Sorry, but did I hear an echo prompting “NO COMMON SENSE”.

Lalit Modi, the proud chairman and the brain behind the league, may have caught attention for his dramatic management skills in making IPL possible in South Africa. If an event of this magnitude can be set in a different country in just a few weeks, what prevented him from letting Pakistan players play in the league? Preventing the players on grounds of time sounds absurd and mocks the professional standards set by Modi himself. The Page 3 IPL owners, are making more news than the Wisden listed cricketers for reasons which makes less sense than saying Lalu Prasad will be the next Prime Minister of India . KKR has an owner who doesn’t mind a foreign coach bossing his team and eventually ousting the captain, a man who is a demigod in their home city. Sacked from captaincy not on the grounds of performance or ability to lead but because of some extra terrestrial theories of their so-called successful coach.

Gone unnoticed

RCB owner Mallya has raised eyebrows with his bid for Pietersen in the recent IPL auction. What went unnoticed was the exchange of Zaheer Khan for the Bangalore lad Uthappa. And does this decision make any cricketing sense? Why would anybody trade one of the best contemporary bowlers in a “batsman’s game” for a mediocre batsman? A celebrity team owner in conversation with a pace bowler commented; “I hope you spin the ball better this time around!” Sorry, but it hurts to be a purist after hearing such comments from people who know nothing about the game. Thanks to IPL for giving them this platform. IPL may have succeeded in stealing the show from political parties this election season, but I doubt whether it has displayed any better sense than election manifestos or promises of Indian political parties.

Aravindan is a III Year B.E Student at Anna University

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