Talking sport: IPL is showing signs of maturing, but more remains to be done

Sunrisers Hyderabad player Eoin Morgan plays a shot during their IPL match against Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on Thursday. (Source: PTI Photo)

I don’t think 500 matches was on anyone’s mind when the Indian Premier League (IPL) walked into the unknown eight years ago. As the fireworks went off in Bengaluru, there was a quiver of anticipation, but I don’t think anyone realised just how disruptive and, indeed, how wildly successful it would eventually become. 500 games is an achievement but as the great leagues of the world go, it is no more than a tiny step. The EPL plays 380 games a year with each game being roughly half the duration of an IPL game. I don’t think that is a scale that cricket can ever achieve but then, it doesn’t need to.

Almost all innovation comes from disruption, hardly ever from subtle changes in approach. The biggest disruption before the IPL came from Australia where Kerry Packer brought the zeal of an entrepreneur to what was really a very staid, very poorly paid game. World Series Cricket was hated and ridiculed in much the same way that the IPL was — and still is in some quarters. But a lot of good came out of WSC, and I have no doubt that a lot of good has already come out of the IPL. Most of it is apparent on television through changing playing styles, but as much happens through sharing of knowledge. It is indeed the world’s festival of cricket.

Has the IPL been universally good for the game? You will get all points of view, and whether or not the IPL agrees with them, they must be respected. There is a fear that young cricketers are coming into the game with financial, rather than cricketing, incentives. And while that could well be true, the game has a way of sorting those who play for the wrong reasons. But it is true that where the primary opposition to a cricketer’s progress was whether or not he could play or bowl a ball in different conditions, you also now need to consider the ability, or in some cases inability, to handle the fame and wealth that comes with playing cricket. The Indian cricket system continues to produce players, but keeping them on the right track is going to become a bigger challenge.

Some years ago, I had said that the two biggest threats to the IPL were fixing and the quality of owners. With the exit of the two franchises that paid unsustainable amounts of money, we are back to eight, and that is how it should be. I was watching on television the day the Kochi and Pune franchises were announced and I remember thinking this wasn’t right. The money was too big and often that is a warning. Their arrival weakened the IPL and their exit has strengthened it. More stringent governance norms could take away the pain points that remain.

The fear of fixing will never go away from our game because good and bad exist in all forms of life, even in organisations that do charity. There isn’t a player who plays in the IPL today who doesn’t know what he can and can’t do, and so ignorance or naivete is no longer an excuse. Not being part of the administration or a franchise, I don’t know what precise steps are taken, but I will be surprised if a lot of time isn’t spent on it and vigilance can never be eased.

On the playing side itself, it has been a magnificent success; dare I say bigger than was initially hoped for. The best players in the world want to play here, matches are close, most days any team can beat another, new shots are being conceived, the daring to play them still astounds and it has given talent the opportunity it needs. Just as critical, sustained team loyalties have emerged and fans are staying with their teams through victory and defeat which is one of the signs of a maturing league.

And stories that will eventually become part of folklore among fans have started to emerge. Remember this is still a very, very young league so these things take time. The Kolkata Knight Riders turnaround in the last 4 years is a wonderful story. Rajasthan Royals are a universally admired team and they have retained their approach to the IPL and are probably most people’s second team. Chennai Super Kings is still the team most want to break into and the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians have a well-defined team personality, too.

But as I say every year, the IPL needs some quiet off the field so that fans can stay with only the cricket. I still believe that it needs respected people from industry, from outside the cricket world, to sit in on governance; as much to make it stringent as to assure people that it is so. At the moment, the IPL doesn’t need another peak to scale, it needs a bit of calm. As this year’s attendances have shown, the peak will find itself.

Source:: Indian Express