The Indian Premier
League, from its inauguration in 2008, has been the most anticipated and
perhaps celebrated tournament every year. There is no question about the
fact that an amazing reach to spectators all around the world has been made
which has resulted into exponential amounts of money being collected. It has
almost been like a lucrative way of globalising cricket. It is only logical to
assume that the BCCI and Indian cricket team would've reaped the maximum
rewards. Although this couldn't more true financially, the same cannot be said
for other aspects.
The IPL has almost
turned into a business for the BCCI. The production and revenue collection are
maximum while consumer satisfaction and loyalty is also very high. Apart from
the millions of dollars collected as revenue from sponsors and advertisers,
The
money collected from the sale of tickets is vast. The players also benefit from
a salary that alone overtakes their yearly earning while the fans just get
entertained to the core. However, its original purpose hasn’t yet
been fulfilled. “Where talent meets Opportunity” may be the tagline, but
almost no players have gotten into the senior team via their performances in
the IPL, especially in India.
Cricketers like
Paul Valthathy, Swapnil Asnodkar, CM Gautam are publicized and trending one
season and almost forgotten in the others. Promising young talent such as
Ishwar Pandey, Sanju Samson, Gurkeerat Singh and Hardik Pandhya is mismanaged-
given a stint in the A team or the invitational teams and not given a promotion
regardless of their performance. Consistent performers like Piyush Chawla,
Pragyan Ojha and Naman Ojha aren’t even selected in the A team itself. To add
to this dilemma, MS Dhoni’s public harangues about there being a dearth of
‘quality' all rounders and fast bowlers reveal not only reluctance but also a
lack of information. As medium pacers and fast bowlers, only 2-3 bowlers have
been used long term, and same goes for allrounders. Even for the A Teams, the
same group of players like Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwari and Robin Uthappa, have
been used and none of them has made the Indian team for even a short period of
time.
It is not that the IPL
hasn’t been successful overall, it is turning out to be reasonably ineffective
and monotonous now. Ironically, its main purpose hasn’t been carried out for
India, but for other countries who have benefitted greatly. Players like David
Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Kieron Pollard and many more have earned a place in
their national teams due to recognition in the IPL. For many countries, playing
well in the IPL has become a way to assure your selection in the playing 11 or
better still set a bar for selection. The other teams have been beneficiaries.
The reason- Too much of focus on the 4 foreign players selected, and even with
there being 7 Indians, not many selections are influenced from it. No rules
such as mandating a certain number of domestic players in the playing 11 have
been made.
To add to that, Fanie
De Villier’s recent statement about IPL benefitting SA more than India is absolutely
spot on. India has almost become a second home for a majority of South
Africans, Australians and West Indians. The mind-boggling stat of AB de
Villiers playing more T20s in India than SA may also suggest that India may be
the primary home for some! With the added experience of the conditions, the
effects of the pitches has also severely appeased with better preparation of
the opposition. Playing in India has almost become a fixed constant for most of
these players, which was a massive contributor to India losing “at home” (where
they were playing after almost 2 years) and SA winning “away.” The IPL hasn’t
been short of controversies either right from the first season itself with
Lalit Modi being ridiculed, spot fixing coming up more than a few times,
players, team owners and recently even franchises being banned.
Regardless of its
merits, the IPL has certainly raised a more than a few problems for India. To
make it even worse, it has benefit their opponents. While it continues to be
popular among fans and players, its major purpose should be brainstormed by the
BCCI pundits, because just revenue collection doesn’t make your team
successful. To discontinue the IPL wouldn’t be a mistake, but not to take
advantage of it will. Change of mindsets is required; for the IPL has done for
other countries what it should’ve done for India.
