IPL: A Liability or Asset for Indian Cricket?
Cricket, Glamour and Much More
Many feel that the term 'gentleman's game' is a misnomer for ipl live score. What with the Aussies getting racial and sledging non-white players and players, in general, hurling abuses at umpires, ipl live score is fast falling from its exalted pedestal of being a game only for polite and civilized gentlemen. But still, the label 'gentleman's game' suits ipl live score better than it suits football, which, according to many, is the world's most beloved 'ruffians' game'. (Football, of course, has never ever been called a 'gentleman's game'.) Besides, with more and more women choosing ipl live score as their career, it would be positively sexist to say that ipl live score is a 'gentleman's game'. live score cricket is more than a game. It is a great unifying force. When Indian and Pakistani players shake hands or slap each other's backs during or just after a live score cricket match, the gestures are capable of bringing tears to the eyes of the hardest of hardliners and fundamentalists. When different nations started playing live score cricket with South Africa after South Africa publicly proclaimed its repudiation of the contemptible apartheid, a legalized practice of racial discrimination and ostracism carried out by the whites of South Africa against the blacks of the nation, it was a red-letter day in the history of live score cricket that bowled everyone over.
With the advent of the Indian Premier League (IPL), live score cricket has acquired altogether new dimensions. A single IPL team is a melting pot of cultures and mores with Indian, Australian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, English, South African, West Indian players playing in it along with players from other cricketing nations. Players who always played against each other and who were considered to be archrivals and opponents now play together for the same team, leaving behind their prejudices and dislikes. As barriers of language, race and culture vanish with camaraderie between newfound teammates, cricket gains a new and interesting face with every passing day. The Indian Premiere League (IPL), as a Twenty20 cricket tournament, was founded by business and cricket tycoon of India, Lalit Modi, the then vice president of the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) in 2008. The very next year the IPL was shifted to South Africa for the UPA government couldn't give security assurance due to the General Elections-2009. After the third edition in 2010 the BCCI suspended Lalit Modi thanks to a plethora of allegations and cross allegations that culminated in 2013 when the BCCI banned him for life after a series of investigations. He shifted to London in 2010 and has been living there since.
Meanwhile the IPL has emerged as one of the biggest cricket tournaments of the world in terms of chiefly money-by the billions. Again, from the start, many cricket administrators and veteran cricketers including stalwarts saw the IPL as the gateway for young talents-it is not clear if they just approved it naturally or due to the money-oriented vested interests. It cannot be denied that young Indian talents did get opportunities through the tournament in terms of both recognition and some assured money; but the point of concern was that the national selectors started looking at the IPL as a yardstick for selection in Team India despite the various domestic cricket tournaments being available since decades. Obviously, competitive cricket is being played in the IPL with team rivalries for the coveted trophy; however, the intensity generated by national pride-representing one's own country in international cricket-can never be compared with the club-centric cricket of the IPL involving players of various nationalities. Problem is, the revelers started enjoying IPL matches as three-hour 'cricket movies', and the hype only magnified over time. We'll now consider the scenario in the last two-three years.
Cricket, Glamour and Much More
Many feel that the term 'gentleman's game' is a misnomer for ipl live score. What with the Aussies getting racial and sledging non-white players and players, in general, hurling abuses at umpires, ipl live score is fast falling from its exalted pedestal of being a game only for polite and civilized gentlemen. But still, the label 'gentleman's game' suits ipl live score better than it suits football, which, according to many, is the world's most beloved 'ruffians' game'. (Football, of course, has never ever been called a 'gentleman's game'.) Besides, with more and more women choosing ipl live score as their career, it would be positively sexist to say that ipl live score is a 'gentleman's game'. live score cricket is more than a game. It is a great unifying force. When Indian and Pakistani players shake hands or slap each other's backs during or just after a live score cricket match, the gestures are capable of bringing tears to the eyes of the hardest of hardliners and fundamentalists. When different nations started playing live score cricket with South Africa after South Africa publicly proclaimed its repudiation of the contemptible apartheid, a legalized practice of racial discrimination and ostracism carried out by the whites of South Africa against the blacks of the nation, it was a red-letter day in the history of live score cricket that bowled everyone over.
With the advent of the Indian Premier League (IPL), live score cricket has acquired altogether new dimensions. A single IPL team is a melting pot of cultures and mores with Indian, Australian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, English, South African, West Indian players playing in it along with players from other cricketing nations. Players who always played against each other and who were considered to be archrivals and opponents now play together for the same team, leaving behind their prejudices and dislikes. As barriers of language, race and culture vanish with camaraderie between newfound teammates, cricket gains a new and interesting face with every passing day. The Indian Premiere League (IPL), as a Twenty20 cricket tournament, was founded by business and cricket tycoon of India, Lalit Modi, the then vice president of the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) in 2008. The very next year the IPL was shifted to South Africa for the UPA government couldn't give security assurance due to the General Elections-2009. After the third edition in 2010 the BCCI suspended Lalit Modi thanks to a plethora of allegations and cross allegations that culminated in 2013 when the BCCI banned him for life after a series of investigations. He shifted to London in 2010 and has been living there since.
Meanwhile the IPL has emerged as one of the biggest cricket tournaments of the world in terms of chiefly money-by the billions. Again, from the start, many cricket administrators and veteran cricketers including stalwarts saw the IPL as the gateway for young talents-it is not clear if they just approved it naturally or due to the money-oriented vested interests. It cannot be denied that young Indian talents did get opportunities through the tournament in terms of both recognition and some assured money; but the point of concern was that the national selectors started looking at the IPL as a yardstick for selection in Team India despite the various domestic cricket tournaments being available since decades. Obviously, competitive cricket is being played in the IPL with team rivalries for the coveted trophy; however, the intensity generated by national pride-representing one's own country in international cricket-can never be compared with the club-centric cricket of the IPL involving players of various nationalities. Problem is, the revelers started enjoying IPL matches as three-hour 'cricket movies', and the hype only magnified over time. We'll now consider the scenario in the last two-three years.