IPL 2009: Another round of cricketainment

As the stage is set for the commencement of the second edition of the Indian Premier League, my mind goes back to exactly a year ago when the IPL was launched amidst unprecedented fanfare and high expectations.

The concept itself was unique what with the public auction of players, the introduction of franchisees and the keen involvement of film stars, flamboyant industrialists and big business houses. The money associated with the event was the eye rubbing and mind boggling variety. They were detractors who scoffed at the concept and said that nothing could compare with countries vying with each other.

"When Mohali's Brett Lee bowls to Bangalore's Rahul Dravid, will it be the same as Australia's Lee bowling to India's Dravid" was the crux of their argument. Apparently the vast majority disagreed and when the tournament got underway cricket fans relished the rare spectacle of seeing Brett Lee bowling to Matthew Hayden, Glenn McGrath bowling to Adam Gilchrist and Muthiah Muralitharan bowling to Kumar Sangakkara.

Given the glitz and glamour and the fact that all the leading cricketers in the world were taking part in the newest 'avatar' of the game the average cricket fan could not wait for the IPL to get underway.

Brendon McCullum gave the tournament the dream start it needed with an electrifying 158 and interest in the IPL thereafter never waned. If anything it only kept getting higher and higher. The fact that the IPL scored over soap operas as also Shah Rukh's newly inaugurated game show "Kya Aap Panchvi Paas Se Tez Hai" underscored the unprecedented following for the competition on television. Almost every one of the matches spread over six weeks was watched by a packed crowd.

At the end of it all there was little doubt that the IPL had evoked a highly favourable response. The six-week extravaganza, which had cricket of the rollicking variety, turned out to be a whopping success giving rise to a new phrase - cricketainment.

Whichever way one examined the event there is little doubt that the IPL struck the right chords around the country. The IPL was also closely followed by cricket fans all over the world what with the cash-rich tournament having a truly international touch. Also keeping a tab on it were administrators who see Twenty20 as the game's future.

On the eve of the tournament Sachin Tendulkar predicted that the IPL would be a super-hit and indeed it caught the public fancy in this country like few events in the past.


Everywhere you went the discussion among cricket enthusiasts - and even those having only a passing interest in the game - centered round various aspects of the IPL. The fact that film stars, prominent industrialists and media barons were among the franchisees added more than a touch of glamour with the cheerleaders also doing their bit on this front while the astronomical amount of money involved was the subject of much debate. Various opinion polls focused on the large number of women followers among the millions of TV viewers.

But the IPL was not only about glitz, glamour and big bucks. It also succeeded in exploding many myths about the Twenty20 game - that it is a batsman's game, that it is a format of, by and for the youngsters and oldies have no place in it and that it is all slam bang with little by way of strategic moves or tactical planning.


Describing the IPL as 'a landmark time in cricket' Adam Gilchrist was of the view that after 30 years when people look back they would say it is the most important thing to have happened in cricket. "In time to come people will say IPL changed the direction of cricket," he said and it is difficult to disagree with this view.

In a tournament lasting 45 days and involving 59 matches there was bound to be a glitch or two. There was the odd incident and the hot-under-the-collar statements. Admitting the glitches IPL chairman Lalit Modi reminded everyone that it was the first year of a tournament run on a massive scale and he hoped that everything would be ironed out by the time of the next edition. Cricket fans could not wait for that to get underway such was the impact the IPL created. And now the time has come for IPL II to provide another round of cricketainment.