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This one is the biggest block bluster, the "mother -of -all" carnivals of our times. Ever since the Indian Premier League matches started on April 18, television channels that beam this 6-week-long soap have beaten every TRP (Television Rating Points) statistics to hog the maximum limelight. Imagine close to a billion people in India glued to their idiot boxes.
The cynics call it the "pedestrianisation" of cricket, while those who are making money euphemistically dub it the corporatisation of cricket. Who cares what the new format of Twenty20 does to the soul of the game, who cares if consummate cricketers forget their master strokes to make quick runaway scores and register instant wins, who cares if this "fast food" version of cricket kills the "fine dining" test version. Nobody does because it is jingle all the way for anyone remotely connected to the IPL. Beginning with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that is making billions, to the television and sports channels that have bought the telecast rights, to the cricketers and film stars and business magnates who gained from the auctions, to all and sundry sponsors, it has been a green journey all the way. That is not all, former cricket commentators, old cricket fans, ball boys, pitch keepers, out-of-job mathematicians and statisticians have all been roped in to run the great IPL juggernaut. Parents who pulled out their truant boys from gully cricket, are now encouraging their "also-ran" sons to play cricket. In India I believe IPL has become the most celebrated Employment Guarantee Scheme of our times.
What's most intriguing is to see the likes of Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist being cheered by spectators who two months ago belonged to an arch rival country - India.
On the same side
We have erstwhile rivals of the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar batting on the same side, while traditional collaborators like Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly have thrown down the gauntlet as rivals. It is all a bit muddled, the loyalty aspect.
That brings to my mind an old war poem by Wilfred Owen, entitled Strange Meeting. The poem revolves around two spirits who meet in the "twilight world". One is the spirit of our dead protagonist, who was a soldier at war and the other is the spirit of a rival soldier he killed. The poem goes on to enunciate how death is a great leveller and those who fought on opposite sides actually rest together in the "other world". IPL reminds me of that noble spirit where the lure of money and showbiz has actually brought all the erstwhile rivals together. While the poem questioned the futility of war, can we really question the futility of healthy competition that was so much a part of our psyche? Frankly, I loved that rivalry and competition where the spectators, came attired in the colours of their national flag or waved one and celebrated their camaraderie with the team that belonged to their nation. It somehow seemed right to cheer for your nation as far as cricket was concerned. I understand that cricket needs to evolve from those narrow parochial confines and graduate to "league" status, but somehow, to me, that takes the punch out of the game.
It is difficult to emulate the kind of excitement an India-Pakistan or Australia-England match generated. That was patriotism/nationalism at its best and traditionally the "cheer" test was known to be the best evidence of your loyalty to your country.
I think if you were to ask the architects of this new genre, they'd say who cares for these inconsequential feelings as long as the players and their managers are making as much money in one season as they probably made in ten. It is disturbing to the traditionalists, but there is nothing much you can do when an entire nation is on an adrenaline high the entire season.
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