Now that the people from the movies have done what they are best at, the IPL can focus on what it is best at- Cricket. Eventually, though, the IPL will have to blossom as a cricket tournament. There is razzmatazz around a lot of sporting events, but the NBA is all about good Basketball, EPL is about good Football and the IPL will have to deliver good cricket, which, to be fair, it largely has so far.
Every season brings with it fresh challenges and the IPL will have to retain one of its strongest assets- the unpredictability of results. Everything has to be fair & square. The outcome of the toss must not have a greater impact on the game as sometimes, the game is lost at the toss itself. The new rule by the IPL governing body states that there are efforts going on to reduce the so called "Home Advantage" by preparing neutral pitches to play on, which to be honest is nothing more than the flooding home crowd which spurs the players to put that extra bit of effort at the home venue.
All leagues will inevitably produce a division between the richer clubs and their more middle-class cousins, and we can already see this happening in IPL, with player retention & trades, but the future lies in each club believing at the start that it can win the tournament. T20 as a format, has luckily produced many tight finishes, but it is still a worry. With short term skills being valuable in this format, I wonder what the future of test cricket has to offer with the emergence of IPL and hence, the after effects e.g: Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga , etc are only concentrating on the limited overs format.
The one thing that IPL has helped develop is the never say die attitude within players no matter what the situation of the game is. We can see captains bringing the fielders inside the circle even after the powerplays are over. The best way to win matches is by scoring runs & taking wickets. Also, the Groundsmen are to be held accountable for some matches that are played on pitches which are docile and flat as a pancake.Clearly, You cannot have flat wickets or those which limit good cricket, but the basic element of cricket. to be able to win on different surfaces must be retained.
What we love is a cricket match, and everything that the beautiful expression stands for, not a batting festival. T20 cricket cannot look like the last reel of a Hindi movie, where the good guys ( the batsmen) are beating the daylights out of the bad guys (the bowlers). All of a sudden, there is an alarming preference for taking all the pace of the ball in contrast to 5 years ago, when people thought that the slow bowlers (spinners especially) would be taken to the cleaners. It would be a great sight to see the ball zip off the wicket. One good example was, in last year's IPL , Dale Steyn & Ishant Sharma ripped off the batting line-up of the then existing Kochi Tuskers Kerala, which was equally pleasing to the eyes.
I am looking forward to some good things this year, Good pitches and good outfields; boundaries where they should be, not at an arm's length; young kids coming through and surprising us with their audacity; tickets priced reasonably so that everyone can come to the ground and enjoy cricket.
And since we are all sentimental somewhere deep down our heart, We would like to see Sachin, Sourav & Rahul give us moments of joy. Though playing for different teams; teams whom we may not support; but let us support the Legends of Indian Cricket and cheer them on while we actually can.
I wish this IPL has in store for us; abundance of good quality cricket & that would be the real testimonial to this wonderful game of Cricket!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment