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IPL not cricket? It's going to be the saving of the game!
The Indian Premier League has got off to a rip-roaring start with full houses crammed in to see the best in the world take each other on in scintillating style. Instead of criticising, we should be enjoying a ride which is going to see cricket take on baseball.
by Mark Rivlin on 21 April 2008
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1975 was a good year for cricket. And I saw a lot of it. The first World Cup, a great run by my boys from Yorkshire for the county championship (just failing) and a terrific Ashes series. It also saw the release of Rollerball with James Caan, a sci-fi sports thriller in which teams representing the great cities round the globe thump hell out of each other while traversing a cycle track on roller skates - the winner taking all.And so to IPL, 33 years on and very much the Rollerball of its time (without the violence). I've watched three games in full and I'm completely hooked. This is cricket at its very best.The purists don't like it. Stephen Moss, a writer whom I have a lot of time for has given IPL the Collosseum thumbs down in this piece. But I wholeheartedly disagree.
IPL is going to be the catalyst for a cricketing renaissance. It's got everything, the Rollerball costumes, heaving stands brimming with fanatical and knowledgeable Indian fans, the best talent in the world playing alongside the best young Indian talent - and most important of all, more than 100 per-cent commitment to the cause of the newly-named Indian teams.Yes, the BCCI, players, umpires and commentators are going to get rich - and why the hell not? Why should footballers, golfers, F1 drivers and tennis stars live in the lap of luxury while half-decent international cricketers have to traverse the globe looking for bits of casual work with bat and ball? Is Andrew Symonds any less of a media pull than Wayne Rooney? Is Billy Bowden expected to make a nest egg for his family from what the ICC pay him for standing in Tests? The motives of the BCCI are totally irrelevant, the effects of creating superstars out of players and a World Series effect out of the competition is going to reverberate round the world.Already, we see the way things are shaping up. Sir Allen Stanford's superb Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean is getting youngsters from Barbados to St Lucia getting all excited about cricket again after the US channels were grooming them for basketball and, heaven forbid, baseball.Stanford was mixing with the bacon-and-egg ties in the Long Room at Lord's last week persuading them to stage a one-off Twenty20 game between his Caribbean XI and England at his purpose-built ground in Antigua next year. The small matter of a winner-takes-all $20m prize has got the ECB's you-don't-have-to-be-posh-to-be-privileged brigade frothing at the mouths more than a seven-hour half century by Geoff Boycott.What we know about sport today is that unless there is money, there is no passion (and as a season-ticket holder of a League One club I can vouch for that). And for those who think the quality of play on the field is being diluted, then take a look at the breathtaking centuries by Brendon McCullum and Michael Hussey for Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings respectively. And it's by no means all crash, bang wallop. Sunday's enthralling game between Kolkata and Deccan Chargers, played on an outrageous wicket, was no different to a run chase in a Test match. Interestingly, while watching the game I flicked over to the Durham-Yorkshire 50-over bog-standard fare, where three old men and a dog were braving the elements. Exciting? Cricket has come of age. The director of Rollerball, Norman Jewison, had a cherry crystal ball with a seam.
Comments (12)
by MIKE HARRY on April 21, 2008
UEFACHAMPIONSLEAGUE
by vijay rana on April 21, 2008
lege raho india
by Greg Smith on April 21, 2008
I don't know how this is going to pan out... did the NFL manage to make me a fan with its reformating, or the NBA with its massive media campaigns ? No, I still don't watch baseball, american football or basketball... I doubt the chinese will switch on to cricket because of the IPL and not too many Russian will be swayed... I think Africa has potential, and the development of the game is genuine amongst the youth, the Makhaya Ntini Cricket Academy will introduce millions of new cricketers into the game over the next decades... these youngsters wouldn't be swayed from football to cricket otherwise and certainly not by the IPL !
by Arif Mir on April 22, 2008
Greg Smith, I don't think you get the point. You didn't get hooked to NBA or NFL because you were never a basketball or american football fan. About you getting hooked to Cricket is also unlikely if you don't like cricket. I am a football fan following the EPL but also have a little interest in cricket. And IPL coming in and moving things around have got even me excited. I want to see more games being played and hopefully more leagues around the world. Having an Australian League, English league etc compete with the IPL would definitely be exciting and also bring fame to the cricket players who aren't recognized other than cricket fans. If names like Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Messi Fabregas are on the mouths of even non-football fans, then why not Ganguly, Ponting, Shoaib Akhtar???
by Greg Smith on April 22, 2008
If building SUPERSTARS is the aim then I am concerned. 1. Is 20 over cricket the right yardstick for SUPERSTAR status ? 2. The BCCI has its hands on the steering wheel, this must be a concern. I shudder to think of another LANCE KLUSNER type being a celebrity big hitter and having bollywood glitter heaped on him to David Beckham status while TRUE greats are overshadowed !
by Brad on April 22, 2008
Test cricket is the true test of talent.
by mohammad jaffery on April 22, 2008
no coment
by meenu sindhu on April 22, 2008
IPL 20-20 deffnetely a mile stone of a future cricket.
by Partha Rajagopal on April 23, 2008
20/20 is going to attract the younger crowd a lot. Times have changed. People do not have much time on hand. A three hour cricket game with many international players thrown in resembles a Bollywood movie where logic is forgotten and people enjoy the entertainment. In a stress filled world, 20/20 cricket is a great source of relaxation for the crowd. And the IPL and ICL are great experiments in bringing together players fixated with their national allegiances and letting them mix and compete. At the end everyone goes home with no emotional feelings if a team loses. And the players get to make a lot of money in a short time. From a player's stand point this is a great boon. Why not? They deserve it. I wish they made the teams to include more foreign players - May be up to 6. I hope ICL grows big too so that there is choice for players. I want the ban on ICL players lifted. Players do not deserve to be punished. The IPL has made many converts overnight. I could never imagine McGrath and Asif bowling in tandem. Nor could I imagine Hayden and Dhoni in the same team. Shane Warne is shining as a leader. Ponting runs and hugs Ishant Sharma. What a dream? I love it.
by indecisive indian on April 23, 2008
well let me tell you guys, the latest TAM report says that IPL matches have the highest TV viewers, even more than T20 world cup. so definitely IPL has got the potential to reach out to those sections of people who were earlier not interested in watching cricket. well now its happening in india. and i am sure the same trend will be seen elsewhere in 2/3 years. hence, i completely agree IPL being a massive success in india and outside. checkout IPL news in internet. you can refer the IP address to every corner of the world. www.smokingkills.blogetery.com
on May 18, 2008 on May 18, 2008
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