The IPL Plenty-20

The IPL 20-20 Show has drawn to a close. People, press and the pros have said a lot about this tournament. But here are the 20 things that stood out to me – that very few, if at all any, noticed; far less spoke or wrote about.

Here is my 20-Plenty. From the sublime to the ridiculous.

1. If IPL is termed a success, never mind if it is for the right reasons or not, there is a lesson for the administrators if they seriously want to promote first class cricket in India. If marketed well, the crowds would turn up even for Ranji trophy or the Duleep and Deodhar trophies. Is someone in the BCCI listening?

2. None of the Indian players complained about too-many-matches-no-rest-burn-out and what not. This has been their oft-repeated quote when they lost matches. But not here; not now. IPL fee was money for their jam, you see!

3. What a piece of crap, this cheerleader stuff. We Indians are easily aroused by a cricket ball, thank you. We don’t need any more attractive pairs under a skimpy costume to get us up and running.

4. Did you notice the IPL Chairman was out there in the all the matches – more so when Punjab Kings XI was playing. Did you notice how much he was up close with Preity Zinta? Boy, he was really having a ball (no pun intended).

5. Talking about Preity Zinta, we now she loves cricket. We also now know she can clap; can cheer; and to top it all, come to a show completely dressed!

6. Have you ever seen a match, involving Indian cricketers, where the fielding was as good as we saw? Damn the entrenched old-legends in our Test and ODI teams. The local kids were falling all over the park making us wonder if the grounds were slippery.

7. Do you really think our old legends can’t field coz’ of their age. Then how come the 35+ International stars viz., Mathew Hayden, Shane Warne et al field as well as they did. It is due to an old fashioned word called ‘commitment’. Humiliating when you compare their fielding with our veterans who can run and fall down only when they do ads!

8. Everyone kept talking about how good the tournament has been for the young Indian cricketers who got a chance to interact with senior International stars. Fine; but on the other hand, why hasn’t anyone talked about all those International stars who got to practice Indian bowlers on Indian tracks and get well acclimatized to our conditions. Imagine how much it would have benefited Ricky Ponting to practice Ishant Sharma in the nets – day in and day out!

9. IPL yet again proved how Sachin Tendulkar while he may still be (erroneously) claimed a great batsman, has been and will remain just a poor sport. Post Mumbai Indian’s defeat against King’s XI in a crucial match, he complained about umpiring errors in a post-match press conference. Apparently a couple of decisions went against their team and they lost by 1 run. But what about umpiring errors that went in favour of them in their previous matches? Well, he didn’t comment but would have instead said they are part of the game!

10. Yuvaraj indicted Mumbai crowd, in a post-match presentation, for not supporting them when King’s XI played there. He said, “Mumbai crowd was partisan and they forgot a few of us in Punjab play for India.” Damn it Yuvi, that’s what happens in Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy or Deodhar Trophy matches. When a Banglorean watches a Ranji Trophy, he will support Karnataka, even if the opponent is Delhi that might have more than a few players playing for India.

11. Staying on the subject of crowd behaviour, Madras once again proved, as if further proof was ever necessary, why when it comes to crowd behaviour, they are light years ahead of every other city in India or for that matter any other in the world. They cheered for their home team – Super Kings alright – yet appreciated good cricket even if it came from the bat or ball of the opponents – as they have always done all these years.

12. Not just this IPL, I wonder why, any major tournament played in India – the finals are either played at Kolkata – the ruffian Nandigram nincompoops – or Mumbai – the partisan people (not my description, but Yuvaraj’s). Why not Madras? Here is a crowd that genuinely loves cricket – how many cities in India can actually claim that? They love the game for what it is. It has one of the most sporting pitches in India – good bounce for the fast bowlers, a hint of turn for the spinners and a good deck for the batsmen who can play on the rise. Moreover, Madras’s M.A. Chidambaram stadium, and most of it don’t know this fact, is the first fully covered stadium in the world. What more do you need for a great cricket match? Let BCCI or IPL seriously look at having the next final here in my hometown!

13. If Harbhajan Singh can slap Sreesanth knowing fully well he was being watched by fifty thousand people on the ground and millions on T.V, am I to believe he wouldn’t have called Andrew Symonds a ‘monkey’ in the middle of the pitch in far off Australia? Harbhajan would have said it and all of us, media included, cried from our rooftops supporting this rogue. Shame on all of us.

14. Everyone raves about the big hitting in IPL; the sixes rain and the boundary showers. But did you notice the boundary lines had gotten shorter? The ropes were roped in. As such the 75 yards grounds have been getting smaller with increasing commercialization of cricket. But IPL took it to another league. I could see the ropes getting in by a good 10 yards or so in most grounds - so there would be more sixes and a flurry of fours. What this would do, apart from the brutal nature of 20-20 batting, is stop any youngster dream of being the next Shane Warne or Muthiah Muralidharan. Spin would be sin, very soon!

15. More women watched IPL. The fairer sex who always complained about how their husbands were being glued to cricket didn’t mind getting a bit glued to IPL themselves. They were there to get a glimpse of their favourite film stars, not for the cricket. Women won’t change!

16. For all the glitz and glamour of IPL, the one thing that didn’t change was the battery of bad commentators on TV. We still had the same old grumps who shouted ‘good shot’ when there was a boundary or a six. We know it was a good shot damn it. Why can’t these guys analyze the game at a more strategic and tactical level. These guys need to take a crash course under a Richie Benaud, a Bill Lawry, a Barry Richards or a Michael Holding. Till then it would pay to watch cricket on T.V with the mute button on!

17. I didn’t check the statistics. But I bet there were far fewer no balls. Thanks to the free hit rider. It’s good for the bowlers and for the bowling team; these free hits have put the fear of God in the bowlers. If we are serious about cutting down the wides as well, we now know a simple solution. A free hit for every wide bowled!

18. Surprisingly, the coaches were conspicuous in IPL with their low profile. Nobody seemed to talk about the coach of the IPL teams! Wonder why! In fact, how many of us know who coached Mumbai Indians or, for that matter, Delhi Dare Devils.

19. Bartering would be allowed from season 3. Which means, Mathew Hayden can leave Chennai Super Kings and move to Bangalore Royal Challengers while Shaun Marsh can leave Punjab Kings and migrate to Hyderabad Deccan Chargers. The point is, when that happens, what happens then? Would the fans be loyal to their team or would they keep shifting loyalties?

20. Lastly, do you really think 20-20 is here to stay? Do you honestly think we would like to watch the ball being belted over the park three times an over? Will we continuously cheer when the ball crashes to the fence every other delivery? Wouldn’t the game get too predictable? Won’t we get bored of this slam bam thank you mam very soon? Then what happens? Will be shift to ODI, or even better, to Test cricket?