IPL vs IPL

I am quite sure that there is one man who will lose his sleep after seeing those three alphabets (IPL) on my blog, no prizes for guessing as it’s obvious who’s that chap. Since neither I had paid any royalties nor did I sponsor any team in the IPL so it won’t be a surprise if I receive a notice from BCCI that how dare I use this term without their permission. This term has become a rage in our country, I bet you ask any Tom, Dick and Harry and they will be able to tell you what IPL is.? Don’t get surprised if soon you get IPL featured as a Noun in a Webster’s or Oxford dictionary. For years three letter words like IITs and IIMs has been a craze amongst student, but nowadays when the IPL season is on everything else takes a backseat. Now I understand this is the reason why we have World Cup every four years, otherwise students would have dismal marks every year on their report cards (Actually it’s one of the primary reasons why I got pathetic scores every fourth year).

The best part this year is that we are witnessing two IPLs; most of you must doubt that it’s a typo, but my dear friends you are wrong. I am talking about the two biggest reality shows running concurrently (The Indian Premier League and The Indian Political League). Yes they are no less than reality shows; you have thrill, excitement, fun, conspiracy, drama, back-biting, abuse. The last two words are highlighted as they are prerequisite for any good TRP raking show these days. This year both the leagues had their share of controversies and media coverage, I feel, the media companies must be cribbing that why these two events are scheduled at the same time. (They don’t have anything new to write these days, as most media companies are just cooking up news to fill pages/slots). When we have two most popular leagues at the same time, one can very well expect some fireworks when they both clash for supremacy. It all started when BCCI and Government of India locked horns over the IPL schedule, with Central Government not taking the onus and leaving it on the individual states to decide, everything looked in a limbo. For few days it seemed that we won’t be having the biggest money spinning event of the year (I won’t call it biggest sporting event as I still consider Olympics as the pinnacle of sports, and in my view there is a much bigger sporting event coming up i.e. Commonwealth Games 2010 scheduled in New Delhi).

As we all know India is a land of ‘Jugaad’ and ‘Jugaadus’, so the organizers managed to pull off things in the last minute. With so many corporate juggernauts and Bollywood celebrities involved, they couldn’t afford to cancel it in its second season. The Indian cricket lovers will be a bit disappointed with the IPL moving outside India, but they must be happy to see the action on the televisions at least. With some big signings this year the matches will certainly be more intense, also the bouncy pitches at South Africa will produce a fair contest between the bat and the ball. With no Bajrang Dals and VHPs there (Most of them will be busy campaigning for various other parties in another IPL) we can expect the eye candies grooving to the tunes after every fours and sixes hit outside the park. The organizers will ensure that if the cricketing skill fails to catch the eyeballs for the advertisers, skin show will at least do that. The IPL season 2 finally kick-started in South Africa; though certain flanks raised their concern on weather conditions there. The organizing committee initially said that there is a chance of rain in England during that time but it seems exactly the opposite, when couple of matches got washed out in the first week itself. South Africa was chosen the destination may be because their board shared a greater percentage of revenue with BCCI, after all in these recessionary times “It’s all about money, honey”.

Both these league garnered quite a lot of buzz in their pre season build up. On one side we had teams declaring their latest line up; taking about their expensive player signings at prices equivalent to the GDP of poor countries; bollywood celebrities joining the league; news on sacked captains; and best of the lot (Multiple Captaincy Theory). On the other side we had election manifestos to lure voters; bollywood celebrities campaigning for different parties; new coalitions and emergence of third front, every other politician projecting themselves as the next PM and same old caste and religion based agendas. It’s ironical to see all these politicians spitting venom at each other, because we know once the election results are out this same lot will be seen shaking hands and posing for photographs when they will be forming a coalition government. There is one interesting trend that has emerged during this election, after the shoe throw incidence on Ex US President it seemed that all our politicians are paying people to throw shoes/chappals at them. I wonder why till date no shoe/chappal thrown haven’t hit the target, because that ways they show that they are still alert enough to run our country.

One thing that gives me immense pleasure is that internet as a medium is contributing in a huge way in both the IPLs (Why shouldn’t I feel so, being in the same industry makes me proud). We have seen some great social initiatives like “Jago Re” which is actually promoting the voting culture amongst youth. Many political parties also rolled out their websites, and are spending huge money to promote themselves. One such party actually flooded almost every website on internet with their banners showcasing picture of an 80 plus year old man projecting himself as a fearless leader capable of providing proper governance. (I actually doubt that person as after looking at his face he himself doesn’t seem to survive next five years, how will he make his party run the government for five years). The IPL franchisees also joined the Web 2.0 bandwagon and rolled out their interactive websites, I wonder how much that will help in creating fan following. I personally feel performance is what ultimately decides fan base and not the PR by the franchisee. But this time the showstopper was one blog that claimed to give the insider story and bringing up news behind the scene. Though nobody is sure about the authenticity of the source but the blog has achieved a cult status overnight, Appam C and Vinnie D are now commonly used lingo among cricket lovers (This also shows the power of web, and its implications that how devastating it can be for any individual/institution, if it is used negatively).

Looking at the level of craziness among Indians for these two different IPLs I think I should contact Mr. Laathi Maroo (Yes, that name is apt for him as he implemented “Danda Raaj” in the cricketing world, where money speaks louder than cricketing acumen) to include some new teams in the competition. Why not have an IPL team full of politicians; it would be twice the fun if we combine Politics with Cricket (Anyways cricket has lots of politics in it and politics has lot of cricketing action, I still remember that UP assembly chaos). Some of you must doubt “politician playing cricket” how can that be possible? My answer is why not! If we have such dirty politics doing rounds within the cricket ground why can’t we have people in the team who are actually masters in doing that work. After looking at the performance of few teams who are placed at the bottom of the league, I can bet it’s not the cricketing skills which make franchisees. Who cares if that team win or lose, anyways there can only be four teams for the semifinal spot, at least that team will be good enough in off the field action; like post match press conferences where they will blame external factors (read opposition XI) for their dismal performance (They are good at blame games).

I don’t know whether I will see such a team or not but I personally feel that the best team should win both the leagues. After all it’s about our country and its people, while one league runs the country, the other runs the emotion of this cricket crazy nation where people might not be unhappy if they don’t get full meal everyday but they are unhappy if Sachin misses a century.

SR