It is the season of fours and sixes and quick fixes as the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets under way in Chennai today.
Over the next 54 days, a huge collection of international stars will be engaged in a battle of wits in an Indian domestic tournament, which has caught the imagination of the sporting world for all the right and the wrong reasons.
Just like the Twenty20 format where unpredictability rules, the IPL too has followed a similar pattern. Not a single year has passed without a major controversy, and with it, talks of an unpredictable future have followed.
Oddly enough, the tournament proper has rarely been affected and each edition has thrown up new stars.
While the franchises and sponsors try to milk the maximum out of the event, the biggest beneficiaries have been the players, both Indian and international. Cricket had never been so lucrative before with many players even pulling down the curtains on their international careers and opting to play the IPL.
The success story of the IPL has spawned similar leagues in Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but none has matched the IPL in terms of money or popularity.
In effect, it has allowed players like Chris Gayle, shunned by the West Indies board, to lead an active international career without turning out for his national team.
The IPL has broken cultural and racial barriers too as the dressing rooms of all teams are buzzing with players from various parts of the world speaking the same language of cricket.
Just as it has helped the Indian players grow in stature, the international players have also gained immensely. Stories abound of how Graeme Smith and Shane Watson learned from the inspirational Shane Warne at Rajasthan Royals and how Kieron Pollard, shy of meeting Sachin Tendulkar, looks up to the batting maestro as his role model.
If Warne and his band of unheralded heroes stole the show in the inaugural year, Deccan Chargers – no hopers in that same year – turned in a stirring display in the next edition staged in South Africa.
Once the IPL returned home in 2010, Chennai Super Kings, who came close to winning it in 2008, ensured their supremacy by claiming the crown and repeated the feat last year as well.
The 2011 edition probably attracted the lowest attention in
spite of the presence of the maximum number of teams (10) and a big factor attributed to it was viewer’s fatigue.
The ICC World Cup hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had already left the nation on a high with MS Dhoni & Co lifting the regaining the trophy after 28 years on a cool night at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The IPL, which followed a week later, understandably failed to draw the crowds and many felt the tournament just dragged along.
The interest in the fifth edition however picked up steam in the past week even as the Indian cricket fan was left disillusioned by the insipid display of the national team last season.
Dhoni summed the optimistim, saying, “last year, the nation was hooked to the World Cup, which we went on to win. It must have been an emotionally draining experience for everyone in the country.
“With us having won the ultimate prize, as it were, and the IPL arriving soon thereafter, there was little interest. This year, though, I’m sure there’s going to be a remarkable increase in television ratings.”
The biggest attraction, apart from the regulars, this season will be pacers James Pattinson (Kolkata Knight Riders), Marchant de Lange and Doug Bracewell and dashing South African opener Richard Levi. All four launched their international careers in sensational fashion last season which heightens the interest level in them.
Australian captain Michael Clarke will be another player under the spotlight, since he had been amongst those who had decided not to play Twenty20 events to focus on his Test career.
Supporting Clarke’s move, former Ricky Ponting said, “It’s a personal decision for him, doesn’t really matter what everyone else thinks about it. He’s just got to work out what’s best for him and his body as far as his cricket is concerned over the next few years”
Ponting even requested cricket boards to grant a separate window for the IPL which would allow all international players to complete in the lucrative tournament.
While the negatives had outweighed the positives in the build-up to the tournament, these moves augur well for an event, which continues to march forward in an unpredictable fashion.
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