On Friday last week we witnessed the biggest blockbuster ever produced by Indian sports.

Like all producers I am sure Lalit Modi would have been nervous to the core since this latest avatar is his own brainchild. IPL can be compared with a blockbuster movie which hits the jackpot on its first weekend of screening. And this tournament is going to have 44 days to prove itself.

The Chinnaswamy stadium was full to capacity and the first three days of the tournament is already a hit. Capacity crowds on all grounds, a plethora of celebrities add such masala to the game that you really need guts to avoid watching it. The glitz and glamour attached to this youngest prodigy of BCCI is really what an Indian needs after a slog of a work at office.

'Rewind two months and the same bunch of Indian and Australian players were on the verge of cancelling a tour'


For once, India was the centre of attraction throughout the world. Responses such as ‘this is our answer to football and baseball’ coming from fans show how deeply an Indian cricket fanatic is attached to the game. This is what sport is all about, being deeply ingrained in the emotions of its followers.   

Another great change IPL has brought is the camaraderie on the field. Rewind two months and the same bunch of Indian and Australian players were on the verge of cancelling a tour because of the animosity between them.

The same Ricky Ponting is seen hugging Sourav Ganguly after a wicket falls and VVS Laxman clapping when Andrew Symonds hits a six.

Apart from this, imagine the kind of good work a tournament like this does for youngsters like Virat Kohli and Sidharth Trivedi who are getting the chance to play with the best players in the world.

The credit for all this should go to ICL and Subhash Chandra. If he had not put his hands in the lion’s den, the king would never have woken up.

And thanks Lalit Modi, the franchisees and many others who have made the new Packerisation of cricket a hit.

Its long-term future will be decided once it completes its first year but to date, it's party time for Lalit and Co.