Thursday, May 01, 2008

IPL

Lots has been written and said about the IPL. I have been quite closely involved, AND have been going through some life-changing moments (the two are not necessarily linked) to comment here or anywhere else. Suffice to say that "so far so good". crowds are coming, people are watching on TV, city loyalty has come to the fore reasonably quickly, strangers are striking up conversatons in barber shops and bus stops and no one (not yet anyway) is talking about Paanchvi Pass (SRK's latest game show on Star, which was supposed to steal all the thunder).

Early days yet, but as I said, so far so good. I was skeptical, as was, I suspect, most others - but the Indians have loved it so far.

Single most important reason for success - THE CRICKET HAS BEEN GOOD.

Players are taking this damn seriously (some too seriously - e.g. Bhajji and Sreesanth)and it is showing. The cricket has been very good - and some pitches have been excellent.

What would I tweak? No. 1 priority - make all the pitches favour good bowling and brave batting - I would like targets of 120-150 being chased down in the last over. Rest will take care of itself. Oh yes, I wish the teams could do more to foster local loyalty, build fan bases and make the cabbie on the street thump his chest with pride and say he supports the local team.

Peter Roebuck gives four thumbs up for the IPL here.

Last point - and this could be seminal - first time in living memory (well, last 20 years anyway) - that a major tournament in India has become a success without a single shot hit by Tendulkar. India has, indeed, moved on. Who knows, maybe Sachin will recover and take this tournament to another level altogether - but Indian cricket has begun to walk without its favourite crutch - the Tendulkar straight drive.