The gentleman’s game has had a makeover. So move over Test cricket and One-Day cricket as the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 tournament is here to stay.
The BCCI-backed IPL claims it will give serious competition to the saas bahu soaps on television as a "sizeable number of women" have shown "tremendous interest" in the shorter format of the game.
According to a new survey there has been 70 per cent increase in TRP ratings of cricket after India's World Cup win in the Twenty20 format.
With a new format, Bollywood actors promoting it and business tycoons financing the teams – the game has just got bigger.
And that brings us to the question of the day that was asked on CNN-IBN show Face the Nation: Is IPL the best thing to have happened to Indian cricket?
On the panel of experts to debate the issue were Chief Executive of Bangalore Royal Challengers Charu Sharma, Editor-in-chief of Outlook Vinod Mehta and southern actress Shriya Saran.
Charu Sharma opened the debate by saying that IPL is a blessing for Indian cricket.
“The infrastructure is going to receive a huge boost because of the funds that are coming in and also the cricketers will be making good money. A lot of these cricketers would not have ordinarily been able to make that kind of a living, particularly the domestic cricketers in India. They are also going to get invaluable experience from playing with such fine stars,” Sharma said.
Sharma also believed that there is nothing wrong with movie stars being involved with the IPL.
"What’s the harm? You talk about film stars being involved with sports, the cricket T20 in particular. They are practically involved everywhere, whether it is politics or human rights causes or television. So, what’s the problem here? Let us not be cynical, let us be a little mature,” he added.
However, Vinod Mehta had some reservations about the latest revolution that has taken the entire cricketing world by storm.
“I don’t want to sound like a kill-joy but IPL is to cricket what page three is to journalism. It is a bit of harmless diversion and a bit of tamasha. And if somebody makes money on this, then good luck to them. But in page-three journalism we have to be careful that it should not become page-one journalism. Similarly, if IPL, which has the potential to undermine Test cricket and One-Day cricket, becomes the sole concern of the BCCI then we are going into very tricky waters,” Mehta explained.
“It is Bollywood extravaganza and has nothing to do with cricket. And the skills, which you need for T20 cricket, are not the skills, which you need for Test cricket and One-Day cricket. In fact, skills for T20 cricket destroy your skills for the longer version of the game. This has nothing to do with cricket. This is about money and glamour. I have no problems with it as long as you leave my cricket alone, which is five-day cricket and One-Day cricket. I don’t want to see this beyond a point," Mehta added.
PAGE_BREAK
So should film stars be kept outside the cricketing arena?
"I think Indians love cricket and they are passionate about the game and cinema influences people in a very big way. So it is interesting how both of them have come together and it is the game, which matters the most. I don’t think anyone will ever watch the game if it is not interesting, no matter which star is standing there to back the team. At the end of the day, the game has to be interesting and fun. So I don’t think Indians, who are so passionate about the game will ever watch it if it is not for the game. But film stars and the glamour adds a lot of zing and excitement to the game," Shriya Saran said.
Cricket or entertainment?
Sharma thought otherwise. The core of the IPL remains the game of cricket, he said.
"Ultimately, it is about cricket inside the stadium. And there is no doubt in my mind that the kind of excitement that it offers is what draws the crowd. The movie stars and whatever distractions that are there are only for a short while. The primary focus is what is going on inside the field,” Sharma argued.
However, he added, "Vinod is concerned about the fact that the Test cricket is going to get affected. Let me assure you that Twenty20 cricket was found in England and it is played in great gusto in Australia, Pakistan, South Africa and now in India but Test cricket too is thriving.”
But is the intensity in Twenty20 cricket less than what is there in Test and One-Day cricket?
"Absolutely not,” Sharma said.
“On Sunday, Zaheer Khan squashed Dominic Thornely’s cheekbone. Now that’s a very intense experience. You should be asking Dominic how many stitches he got; 15 I believe. Chanderpaul got a knock on his knees and he could be out for a while. There is some very hard cricket going on,” Sharma added.
Mehta, however, believed that the T20 IPL might not only kill the longer versions of the game but it can also harm its own cause.
“Someone might now say that the four-hour long game is too long. I want the 90 version of the game. So I am not accepting T20 cricket, I want T10 cricket,” opined Mehta.
All about money
Mehta said that the amount of money the IPL is bringing into the game is going to threaten the desire of a young cricketer to represent his country in Tests.
PAGE_BREAK
"If you are 18-19 years old then will you want to do all the hard work and sweat it out to get into the Test team when you can make so much money by developing all the nonsensical skills of T20 cricket? So what T20 cricket does is that it throws so much money in that it will divert the attention of young people," Mehta added.
Sharma believed that Test cricket will never die because of the advent of T20.
"Test cricket did not die when One-Day cricket came up in 1971 and it has been there for 37 years now. Test cricket is not dying, it is flourishing in all the countries where it used to flourish," argued Sharma.
And getting into the IPL is not going to be a cakewalk for a youngster, Sharma believed.
"Vinod is worried about the youngsters getting diverted by the IPL. Let me tell you it is going to make it to the IPL. Let me assure you that you have to be an international star or a very promising domestic cricketer, who is looking forward to play for the country. The bulk of cricket as it stands now is played country-to-country and it is 95 per cent of the total cricket played. So unless you are playing country-to-country you are not going to get the exposure and money. IPL is just a small filler in midst of the Test and One-Day cricket programme,” he added.
Starry affair
Are the movie stars in the IPL for the love of the game or are they just there because it is a profitable venture for them? The question was put across to Saran and she said it is a combination of both.
"At the end of the day you are making a lot of money and it is a game which the entire country is passionate about. You will not put your hard-earned money into something when you know you are not going to make profit out of it. Secondly, you are putting your money into something that you are really passionate about,” said Saran.
But Mehta still believed T20 is not about cricket, it is about showbiz and glamour.
"If I went to see a match in the IPL, I will go there to watch Akshay Kumar, Preity Zinta and Shah Rukh Khan. I’m not going to watch cricket. Even if you gave me a free ticket and told me that Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan are not going to make a fool of themselves, I won’t watch it. And there is nothing wrong with the tamasha but it should not undermine the seriousness of the longer version of the game, which 1.1 billion people of this country love," he said.
But Sharma had no doubt that the IPL twenty20 is a winning formula.
"There is every indication that the IPL is here to stay and it will sustain itself, though these are still early days. As far as I’m concerned, this is a new formula. What is the need to pull it down?" concluded Sharma.
Final results of the SMS poll:
Yes – 64 per cent
No – 36 per cent
Comments
0 comment