Skimpily dressed cheerleaders, billionaire owners, Bollywood stars, pouting models, super excited commentators, singing, dancing and gimmickry – that’s IPL. But where’s the “cricket” in all of this? Well, if by “cricket”, you’re referring to dangerous and nasty Mitchell Johnson, running in hard at the already petrified English batsmen, bowling with searing pace, with the ball literally taking off after landing on the pitch, accompanied by the cheers of the massive Melbourne crowd as it whizzes past the nose of the poor guy holding the bat, on the Boxing Day Test match – you won’t see it in the IPL.
Johnson is present in the IPL as well, of course. He is the main bowler of the Kings XI Punjab, and he gets a million dollars a year for this job. But he is not the same Mitchell Johnson who has caused such severe psychological problems to the English batsmen. He is a gentler, kinder version of that Brutalizer of the English, who gets pulled away for fours and sixes on the most placid tracks by the most mediocre batsmen playing for the various IPL teams, who wouldn’t last even two balls against him at Test cricket. It is said that cricket is an equalizer, with the law of averages catching up even with the very best. If so, then IPL is the ultimate equalizer, with utterly ordinary players who have never played Test cricket, acting as world beaters, taking on the best bowlers in the world, whether it’s a Steyn, a Johnson or a Morkel, hitting them all over the park, without a care in the world.
Don’t get me wrong. I like watching Chris Gayle murder one more poor medium pacer, hitting him for 3 sixes and 3 fours in an over just like any other ordinary, blood thirsty cricket fan. After all, who doesn’t like a bit of violence? More seriously, the way AB de Villiers took on Dale Steyn, hitting him for 23 runs in just one over – including a shot that can only be described as divine, a sweep off Steyn for a six, as though he was playing a spinner, not the world’s premier fast bowler – was cricket at its very best, and anybody who has seen it should count himself very fortunate. So IPL does have its moments. But is it really good for cricket?
Well, let’s talk about the good stuff first. IPL has made several cricketers in India from very humble backgrounds, very rich. It has also made several international cricketers rich beyond their imagination as well. So cricketers all over the world have a lot to thank IPL for. IPL has given young players in India a chance to square off against some of the best players in the world, giving them an opportunity to measure their skills and made them famous all over India, if they perform well. In fact, for many young players in India, a great performance in the IPL for their clubs is the shortest route to a spot in the Indian cricket team. IPL has got a huge section of the population in India – women and kids – interested in cricket. IPL has led to greater money for India’s cricket board, a portion of which has gone into building world class facilities at Indian stadiums, which is just great for the fans. I distinctly remember going to a Test match at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium as a kid and holding my bladder for the entire day because the toilets were broken and overflowing. (Ugghh!) But today, the same stadium has excellent facilities for the crowd and proper toilets as well. Thank God for small mercies!
Now, for the bad part. IPL may be the greatest thing to have happened for cricketers – made them rich, got them fame, and even a spot in the Indian team – but not necessarily the best thing to have happened to the game of cricket, especially Test cricket. Test cricket is all about the best 11 players from two countries engaging each other in a grueling, often devastating battle to the finish that lasts for 5 days, leaving them utterly exhausted, mentally and physically by the end of it. It is the ultimate test of skill, where only the very best like Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne rise to the top, and are remembered for generations. The IPL? Anybody can do well in IPL. And chances are, nobody remembers them just a week after that season’s IPL final. IPL is a world of instant runs, instant money, instant fame. And anything that is ‘instant’, doesn’t last long either. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Who can forget VVS Laxman’s 281 at the Eden Gardens against an Australian side that had Shane Warne in it? It is still remembered, 13 years later as the greatest knock in the history of cricket. Laxman was one of the greatest players to have played for India. But at the IPL, he was an embarrassing failure. Isn’t that what IPL does, celebrate mediocrity, but diminish greatness? Great players do perform well at the IPL, but when they do, it’s almost with an air of embarrassment, as though they would rather be doing something else. This is because they know very well that they will be judged by their performance in Test cricket alone.
Who remembers what anybody does at the IPL? Here’s a test for my readers, many of who are likely to be great cricket fans – you wouldn’t be reading this article if you weren’t one. Name the winners of each season of the IPL held so far. Enough said. My point is made.
