This is what IPL is for me. Batsman seems to be in hurry to finish off as if some long pending work is waiting outside the cricket ground (may be shopping) and if he doesn’t finish match earlier than one and half hour he has to face the death sentence written by his wife/girl friend.  Bowler looks almost a clueless guy ..in a Siddhuism language..bowler behaves as if a child caught in a topless bar and fielder seems to be one who is there only to bring back the ball whacked by batsman…..I get thrilled during this 3 hr saga only for moments when the so called fielder (according to me those are only runners …they run only to bring back the ball) gets a chance to catch the ball or a run-out chance (which anyway he misses as it is an ‘Indian’ Premiere League), because that is the rare occasion during those 3 hrs. One entity which gets huge benefit from this and that entity is ‘An Umpire’. They get very good exercise throughout the match.   After all batsmen ask for more repetition of same move from umpire and those repetition increase per match.

                                    I was just brainstorming on what will start disappearing from the sport after this overdose of ‘T-20’ version and I think the list will definitely cross one full page.  The biggest danger is remembering a ‘Test’ match will be a test for an IPL fan. We will lose the thrill of watching tricks done by new ball. Slip catcher will definitely loose the market value as over some years ‘Slips’ are going to slip out from cricket’s dictionary.  Art of short catching will lose its sheen.  The list will go on….!!

                                    Ohh…I missed the ‘Mam’ part…There are no gifts, vouchers, free lunches for guessing these mams. Very ‘well’ dressed people sitting(?) on sides of this big soap-opera, dancing continuously  for 3 hours. Dancing on India Tunes after every  boundry or wicket fall is like watching a song starring Alok Nath and Reema Lagu (essentially from Suraj Badjatya’s film) in between Ramu’s ‘Bhoot’. You are half way through savoring (?) taste of the shot and suddenly some hindi song’s instrumental gets started and you have no other option than looking at those dancers.

                                    And what can I say about spectators! They are the gini-pigs on which the first experiment called ‘ICL’ failed. But taking residuals from that experiment Lalit Modi presented the same form in a more packaged way and the result…..huge money, record breaking TRPs and furious fan of Test Cricket!!

Kerry Packer, founder of the World Cricket Series, the man who laid the plinth of the ODI’s long back, bought Packer Cricus in front of the world, people were getting tired of the over longing 5 Day Test Series, the man changed the definition of Cricket.

We all have witnessed batsmen rising, fast bowlers showing nightmares to batsman in daylight, spinners doozling the ball from off to leg stump…..

Years passed, year and half ago, Kapil Dev launched Indian Cricket League, the only sole purpose behind it was to create a space for each and every player to play in the limelight, which the BCCI was not able to do so…..

The Indian Team for many years, was blind folded with players, who were stubborn on their positions in the team irrespective of their performances, where the other truth is that for past 28 Years the Indian Soil has not seen the flavor of a World Cup……

Keeping in mind the one and only Kapil Dev bought in the ICL 20-20 with players who were waiting for their chance to come in the Indian Team, he carved in the place for such players, truly Kapil was , is and always will be a true champion.

Then to Contest ICL, BCCI launched IPL in no time, blocked ICL from ICC saying ICL is not approved, IPL bought in the fame, fantasy, and players all around the world ….. no matter both ICL and IPL generate money, but the cause of ICL and IPL are different ….

ICL’s till date motto is to get a player sitting outside the field to get him in… and IPL wants to outright ICL…. thats the difference…

We have gathered here to talk about IPL ….but the innovative idea of fast and furious cricket was of Kerry Packer ….

So guys, come forward and share in your views as what improvement you would like to make in IPL …. whose your fav. team … what you would have done if you were the IPL Commisioner.

IPL’s like Parris Hilton… you like it or not it’s always in limelight.

Some of the common reasons why people like IPL are the cheerleaders, T20 wham-bang format, favorite cricketers playing for your city, intercity rivalry, Bollywood stars related to your favorite teams etc. Here are my own reasons for my liking to the coveted league…

The time of the year they conduct IPL is something very strategic as long as my own interests are concerned. It really is gripping, reasons are-

A)   March ends and the month of April are the most difficult months as the heat doesn’t necessarily remain in the atmosphere, my wallet and bank accounts too get deserted due the tax cuttings. IPL heals those deep wounds…

B)   Summer vacation is something I always miss and feel jealous about those kids enjoying it. IPL gives me similar feelings as I hardly think about the work during the IPL season. (I don’t mind if I carry extra baggage for the monthly targets in the following months.)

C)  Summers are professional hazards if you carry a Sales profile at work. Quiet you few terms are changed if you are a part of an on-field sales team as the routine requirements like you need to give your sweat and blood are naturally get tweaked. Even a single thought, a glimpse of a IPL match in these days makes me feel like I am on a skiing vacation.

D)  IPL is boon to “Man”-kind. The tremendous desire within me not to miss even a single second of IPL helps me rule my household at least for some short time.

Some of the serious cricketing reason I feel are:

A)   I do think T20s are more than wham-bang slog cricket, you still need to think and act fast. Its strategic.

B)   Combination you can see during the IPL season are unique as you can see the likes of Sachin and J’surya opening together. This is incomparable and are very special moments…

What are your reasons?

Imagine all people doing same thing at same time. What a powerful thought! Isn’t this the theme of TV ad-campaign for ‘that’ event? And boy-o-boy, doesn’t that event deserve such a powerful ad-campaign theme? It does by all means.

Many Facebook & Orkut profiles are throwing lines like “6-days-to-go”, “just a week away now…yuppi!” …and all that. Calendars in PDAs which would normally have entries like ‘Meet CEO of xyz’, ‘Biz Proposal for abc’…are also having entries like ‘KKR Vs RR’. Many husbands are preparing ground at home so that they are not asked to change the TV channel on those evenings - heard that DTH service which has recording feature has tripled the sales after confirmed announcement of IPL-2 J.

It has certainly caught imagination of all. IPL is ON.

Last year, till the first ball was bowled many of us were not sure how this IPL was going to feature. Many of us were reluctant to give out opinions on IPL’s future thinking it might not take off well. But actually it took off like fire in highly inflammable substance; IPL fire spread all over. After enough discussions on players’ contract amounts, people started circulating IPL schedules in official emails; circulating names of players in various teams; publishing opinions like who should be in final playing XI for various teams. ‘My team, your team’ ….. heated debates, friendly bates, many of us would have put our money (some of us would have actually put the money) on Deccan Chargers. Hardly anybody (read: nobody) gave any chance to Rajasthan Royals. But what happened? A truly unpredictable and sensational contest – a perfect event. Full of action, emotion, drama, comedy, tragedy…. Wow! Memories are fresh. Watson, Warne, McCollum, Nair, Asnodkar, Tanvir, Dhoni, Yuvi… SRK, Mallya, Preity, Ambani… the cheerleaders…. and also Charu Sharma, Dravid, Sreesanth….

A long wait, many schedules-reschedules, certainties-uncertainties have been put to rest and finally IPL-2 is happening. There was some ‘blah blah’ about location being South Africa, some players not being available and many other issues here & there making headlines. But don’t we know, all this will be blown away once the first ball is bowled in IPL-2? IPL is here.

Again there will be discussions, debates, bates, my team Vs your team and all that…… and we mad-for-cricket people, forgetting all other unpleasant things, will be doing same thing at same time! IPL.

May be at home or hostel or office-canteen (don’t worry, find your boss next to you) or pubs or multiplexes or on the streets in front of a TV showroom.

Wondering how would I end this blog… may I just say 126 hours to go!