IPL: The View From London - Pinch Hitter

IPL: The View From London

Niranjan Rajadhyaksha - Monday, May 19, 2008 6:03 PM

The new Wisden Cricketers Almanack says what we have known for long --- that the T20 extravaganza being played across India is changing the nature of cricket.

But then this is not just any old cricket annual we are talking about. It is the Wisden, dammit: the Bible of the old (but increasingly irrelevant) English cricket establishment.

The very smart Scyld Berry has edited the 2008 edition. And what he writes is worth repeating here, if only because it is he who writes and it is the Wisden that has hosted his thoughts on Indian T20 cricket.

"Twenty-over cricket in India is shifting the tectonic plates of the professional game as never before," writes Berry (italics added). And: "City-based cricket has arrived and will surely spread, annulling the player’s traditional relationship with his county, state or province."

There’s more in there, as Berry asks cricket administrators "to be prepared to ride this Indian tiger… For a start, they took ages to understand what baseball discovered in the United States several generations ago: that the majority of people want to watch their sport in a package of three hours."

The rise of city-based cricket will also unsettle Indian cricket fans who have been passionately nationalist over the past two decades, and perhaps take them back to an age when support for your local Ranji Trophy team was an important part of a fan’s identity.

The unpleasant reaction of the T20 crowds to stars from visiting sides shows that city pride has started kicking again --- though in an ugly way.
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2 Comment

From Tarun

May 20, 2008 9:08 PM
City based loyalties will only ferment only if there are more local players in the team. Players with whom people of the city or the state can associate themselves. However, IPL in primarily a star based game, who happened to based on a particular city whose franchise were able to bid for them. It is not the voluntary participation of the city based player, only the money attraction. And currently IPL is nothing but pure and narcissist show of monetary power and management skill of the franchise. Though I support Delhi Daredevils but still I feel, somewhere some loyalties are missing, like my support for Indian team. However, one thing is sure that IPL is purely a show or rather a cocktail of good cricket and crass consumerism. And as far as shifting of plates of cricketing world is concerned,can you ever ignore a game adored by 1.1 billion people (one sixth of world's population. Imperialism is long gone, and more market realities rule the market, better if ICC accepts the fact.

From Prakash kr

May 24, 2008 12:36 PM
I don't think the recent surge of the new avatar of cricket the T20 matches are going to do good for cricket .I would like to be optimistic on such new initiatives but the hype and intense commercializations involved in the game wouldn't leave much to desire about.The youngsters who wants to be cricketer now need to horn only slogging and big hits .The passion for the original form the game is going to get faded soon.Because those who involved in this form of the game and players can earn huge money which they never though of in the yesteryears.Now the the chance to become instant stars is quite ample.The cricket and bit of entertainment with presence of actors make the atmosphere lively.The scope of the game and its exposure in commercializations is going to become higher now every cricket playing nations would try to emulate twenty twenty format.

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