"I think their minds were already on the plane home. I am just not sure they were here to play today."
Jamie Siddons on Bangladesh's performance in the last league match of the Asia Cup Jul 4, 2008
We work alongside other journalists every day at our shiny ESPN towers, and I was chatting to a football scribe the other day about the IPL. He admitted to be “gagging” for the start, itching to witness what he considers to be a “mini World Cup”. It probably says rather a lot that he, who only has a passing interest in my sport, is more curious about the forthcoming IPL than I am.
Well, that’s not strictly accurate. I am definitely curious about it all - I just hate and loath the premise and the impact it will inevitably have. Cricket’s landscape has changed forever. But the prospect of watching Ricky Ponting and Ishant Sharma representing the same team - the Kolkata Knight Riders! - captained by Sourav Ganguly, is too ridiculous and balmy not to slap my thighs like a baboon and yelp “bring it on”. It’s a brilliant farce, succinctly described by The Sunday Telegraph’s Scyld Berry:
The owner of Kolkata Knight Riders is Shah Rukh Khan, as famous as any Indian film star. Their main sponsor is Nokia. Their coach is John Buchanan, simply the most successful coach ever in international cricket, as he was Australia’s last. Their opening batsman is Chris Gayle, the man reviving West Indian cricket, with a style of hair and cricket to rival Symonds; their wicketkeeper/batsman is Brendon McCullum, the nearest New Zealand come to a star cricketer; and Ponting is a useful batsman. Ganguly said: “I was personally present at the auction. Every franchise had an amount of $5 million to spend as a maximum, and there is a restriction of eight overseas players in each franchise, and you can play only four at a time. We have to have four Indian under-21 players, two under-19s, and four local players from our catchment area.”
My team will be the Kolkata Knight Riders - yes, because I can hear the twangy theme tune of the coolest TV programme ever made providing another absurd backdrop to the quacky-wacky madness of the whole charade. What odds KITT might appear to present the winners - and I use that term loosely - with a replica Pontiac Trans Am?
The tournament hasn’t even begun but already there are major concerns surrounding its coverage, though they have eased slightly today. The IPL has prevented websites from covering the tournament from the ground itself - they will not provide accrediation to journalists representing new media - and applied restrictions to the sale/rights of photos. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot. A boycott by at least one major media group surely beckons. Not the ideal start, but somehow appropriate.
I’ve got to say that some of these names are the worst I’ve ever heard. “Kolkata Knight Riders?” I’m sure they’ll find plenty of tough competition in the “Mumbai Magnums,” the “Kolkata Columbos” and the “Bangalore Cody Coyotes” (because come on, the Knight Rider theme can’t be twangier than Hardcastle and McCormack’s, can it?). Maybe if the Kolkata team win they’ll get beaten-down vintage Peugots. I’d much rather be in the Mumbai team, myself.
Chennai Super Kings? That’s a Futurama reference, isn’t it? I look forward to their contests with the “Dehli Zapp Brannigans” with bated breath- not to mention “Fry’s XI New New York.”
The only decent names in the lot are the Rajasthan Royals and the Deccan Chargers- so for this reason alone (because I can’t even remember who’s playing for whom- I’ll passively be going for them. Even if I’ll be more invested in the Rugby.
The names may be the most exciting part - what if the cricket is dull, the players disinterested in working as a team.
It’s a circus, so what are the tricks that will hold the fans? Even they must get sick of endless 6’s.
I anticipate hissy fits and spats breaking out. They ‘ll become the main entertainment, like the fiasco between the Indians and Aussies last summer. Perhaps they will be staged The crowds will boo the villains and cheer their favs like those old melodramas. Oh yes, that’s right, they already do that. So what’s new?
Whats new is a predisposition against it. A desperate feel-bad aura amongst many followers of the sport - and this website is excruciatingly symptomatic of that.
Yeah, its a circus, but its the same cricketers peddling their wares - why this negative slant to everything related? Doesnt Britney Spears sing between overs at the stadia during the T20 in the UK ? Seems like a roaring success with a lot of happy kids then.
The crowds that boo the villains and cheer their favs are different from who exactly ?
Its the sport going through changes. Its catering to a market thats real. Don’t confuse issues.
It will unearth all new levels of irrelevence in cricket. Having bombarded the game with meaningless, empty 50 over games we ae now subjected to even more meaningless 20 over cricket. With pride and loyalty connected solely to the wallet, surely the game is leaving itself open to corruption.
Re pride and loyalty being connected to the wallet and that “surely” leading to corruption - does that perception hold true for all club sport ? The EPL ? County Cricket and its foreign players? F1 ? NBA ?
Well I did say ‘open.’ I think over the course of an F1, NBA or EPL season, which is much longer you do create a team bond and there is a certain pride involved beyond the financial.
Its also the highest form of their respective sports, the highest level and where reputations can be formed. None of this is true for the IPL or any other T20 matches.
If this circus wasn’t Indian-based and Indian-bred, would you give a stuff, other than to look askance at it? I doubt it.
Try not to confuse your natural pride in India, ie, your Nationalism - with this now being THE market of cricket. The market is made up of people world-wide, not just Indians. The cricket market includes those of us with doubts, whether you like it or not.
The highest forms are rarely born at that pedestal. And the markets for these forms of sport which have now acquired pedestals above the national pride cannot be grudged to them because of the sheer quality which they accord.
England and Spain - with two of the best soccer leagues - are ranked towards the lower end of the top 10 at FIFA… but that doesnt change the fact that they see the best soccer.
The logic of money equating to loss of pride is inherently flawed. Ask Tiger Woods or Roger Federer. And you might say, I should ask Davydenko. Which is precisely the point. Its not the ATP but the individual.
There have been people who have fixed matches playing for their country, you know….
Wise words. I’m not for a moment suggesting that this is THE market for the sport. (I’m based in Singapore so if anything, the 10 pm start kinda rules me out as a participant of the market for the most part).
It is however, a real market and a large part of it.
I’m actually hoping that the format succeeds so that the jingositic fan of the sport (in my country as much as anywhere) sees beyond that nationalism while appreciating the sport.
There’s a great joy when Ronaldo’s all the hero at Old Trafford when just a year ago, him winking was enough to put his security at risk. Its a athlete’s skill being appreciated for what it is.
This circus - skeptics and all - provides a pedestal for that. It could well boomerang bigtime but thats what we thought with Packer as well. (Yeah I know its not a perfect parallel). And even if that happens, it deserves attention - perhaps doubly so.
Yes, the IPL is a lovechild of cricket and greed - even monopoly - but it is still an assembly of some of the best talent that the sport has.
Hence, important - in my view - to more than just give a stuff.
I understand what you are saying. It’s just that I don’t see how Federer competing in Wimbledon can be equated to Ricky Ponting competing for Kolkata in the IPL. History will not judge cricketers on their T20 performances.
Sorry, I was meant to add that I wasn’t intending to equate money to loss of pride. An IPL a player has no attachment to their team other than financial. A player cannot forge his reputation as a cricketer in the forty day tournament, I struggle to see how Ricky Ponting (for example) can have a burning desire to perform for Kolkata.
“History will not judge cricketers on their T20 performances.”
Is that not the worry for most people though, that maybe in 30 years time history will judge cricketers on their T20 performances!
This could be a great tournament and good fun to watch but there is going to be that nagging doubt in the back of people’s mind that this could potentially ruin everything that made cricket great in the past. If tournaments such as thins become a major success we may see test cricket take a back seat to the T20 game, I’m not saying that it will go all together but just that it might become the second tier of cricket!
Is that not why the IPL is being criticised by many quarters, they are worried!!
We belittle history by assuming that cricketers will be judged by the T20 performances or that will be secondary to Tests or ODIs.
From a blogpost on the IPL -
“The same doubters probably existed when the ODI was born as well. Of course, it does not naturally follow that one can constantly keep abridging the game using that excuse. But its also true that a number of skills which were considered sacrilege produce of the ODI format are now virtually indispensable in Test sides. With that evolution has come a more result-prone Test arena. The number of high quality Tests, the rate of scoring , the crowds at venues are all higher than they were a couple of decades ago.”
I can’t see non_indian players having the burning desire to play for these teams, either - it’s mainly a money-earner for them. Nor the non-Indian audience to watch it. Especially as the number of foreigners in the teams is limited.
What’s to motivate me to want to support one IPL team over another? Love of cricket isn’t enough for me to want to back hybrids over national teams. There has to be some gut factor involved to mack me have more than a passing curiosity in it.
I’ll be interested to see how many people here follow it, especially when its the footie (rugby) season.
Would you rate Michael Bevan a better player than Lara or Tendulkar, his one-day record is phenomenal. I wouldn’t, because I believe Test cricket offers a stiffer examination of allround batting ability. In doing so I make no effort to belittle history.
This debate though, like many of the joyus ones in sport will never be resolved.
Bevan isnt quite Lara or Tendulkar - both of whom incidentally embraced and excelled ODIs - but he’s still a pretty terrific cricketer.
The ultimate test remain Tests but other forms of cricket are still cricket and skills there are part and integral parcel of what then comprises the ultimate test.
I agree abt the debate bit - but I’m just choosing the ‘innocent till proven guilty” side of this one.
People supporting the knightriders should realise that you can play just 4 overseas cricketers in your 11.The local bengali brigade is no great shakes.
Being from chandigarh, I can say with certainty that 1 or 2 young pacers will make an impression on what is one of the fastest pitches in the world,ie.their home ground.
Lee-Sree opening duo will be exciting to watch.Of course there’s the humongously talented yuvraj singh.Of the other teams some unknowns to watch out for are kris srikkanth’s son,anirudh srikkanth.Watches him play a local 20-20, he has some hand-eye coordination.Quality of spin will be good like it always is.Abhishek Nayar from mumbai is another juniour.
India’s wild west in haryana,and those badlands of western UP are producing cricketers instead of farmers now.We have sehwags cousins mayank tehlan & pradeep sangwan.Batsman & lefty pacer esp.Nice to see JATS coming into cricket.We need more of them.This physically dominant,aggressive community has traditionally avoided cricket.Dynamics of indian cricket will change and kids will not stop playing the game in their late teens any more, in search of greener pastures. would have never left cricket if this happened a few years ago.
Overseas players that interest me -warney,steyn,hayden,SYMONDS & oram.
I think these guys will have huge impacts.Though SYMONDS might have an impact on his own team.
Even though there is a lot of hype about IPL, most of which bacause of involvement of film personalities like shahrukh, Preety zinta, Akshay Kumar etc., the mock battles between Lee and Ponting, Symonds and Bhajji, Jaysuriya and Vaas will certainly lack the realisitc look. In the end the IPL is likely to be termed as farcical more than anything else
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We work alongside other journalists every day at our shiny ESPN towers, and I was chatting to a football scribe the other day about the IPL. He admitted to be “gagging” for the start, itching to witness what he considers to be a “mini World Cup”. It probably says rather a lot that he, who only has a passing interest in my sport, is more curious about the forthcoming IPL than I am.