Why IPL is Not So Important?

“When Cricket becomes a commodity, the only thing that matters is the price”.

The decision of BCCI to conduct the second edition of IPL in either England or South Africa may be bad news to Indian fans. But the decision has ended the biggest problem for the Indian Government – Providing high-level security for nearly 40 twenty-twenty matches.
There has been a huge uproar caused in India due to this decision taken by the BCCI.
But ultimately sense prevailed and the government refused to allow IPL to be conducted in India.

An Issue of Great Concern: The terrorist attacks that happened in Mumbai on 26/11/09 and the one in Pakistan on March 3rd 2009 have highlighted the fact that Cricket is not immune to terrorism. Post 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, cricketers from various countries have hesitated to tour India stating security concerns. Taking this into account, the Indian Government had promised to provide high-level security to any international sporting event held in India.

Unfortunately, the dates of the parliament elections to be scheduled in the months of April and May clashed with the schedule of the IPL tournament. Since the conducting the elections in a safe manner took the highest priority, the government decided that it would be very detrimental to conduct the tournament stating arrangements for security and requested Modi to postpone the tournament to a later date.

Modi’s Callousness: Being the spearhead of the IPL, Modi acted in the least responsible way stating that the IPL cannot be postponed due to commercial issues and put the Home Ministry of India in a fix. The Home Minister of India, Mr. P. Chidambaram asked Modi and the BCCI to get the approval of the concerned state governments. As expected, majority of the states refused to accept Modi’s request. As all other options were extinguished, Modi had no choice but to conduct the tournament in a foreign country.

The Needless Hue and Cry:
Once BCCI announced that the IPL would be held in either England or South Africa, many politicians and sports lovers made an unnecessary hue and cry stating that the Indian fans were deprived of their entertainment. But in doing so, they failed to notice the following issues.

1) India is a country with a population of 1.3 billion. The IPL is supposed to consist of 40+ matches in 8 different venues across India. Providing high level security to every match on the eve of elections is a very improbable task.
2) Although India is still a very safe nation, the recent rise of terrorism across the world has placed unnecessary stress on the government. Although the government can secure the stadium and the hotels, it cannot provide security to the thousands who arrive at the stadium to view the match
3) The Parliament Election is a very important event. To secure the polling booths across the country, the government and the Chief Election Commission has to deploy thousands of policemen. So if the IPL is held in the same period, there is an acute shortage of staff, which ultimately results in reduced security.
4) The IPL is not an international tournament, but rather a domestic twenty-twenty game held by an autonomous sports body called the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). The government does not benefit from the revenues and nor does the sport. So the IPL is of least priority compared to the Parliament Elections.

Is IPL good for the Game?
Many people hail IPL as a pioneer for Twenty-Twenty Cricket. What these people don’t know is that the IPL is based on the same format used by its predecessor and rival, The ICL (Indian Cricket League). Although the BCCI claims that the IPL provides enormous entertainment value for cricket fans, the matter of fact is that the long schedule of the tournament ensures that only a few matches are really interesting to watch.

Effect of IPL on the Cricket World:
In order to eliminate their rivals, ICL, the BCCI used their influence in the ICC to instruct fellow nations to not select any player who is directly/indirectly involved with ICL. Due to the BCCI’s big brother attitude, nations like New Zealand and Pakistan have been forced to drop their star players. The world of cricket lost talented players like Shane Bond, Cairns, Craig Mcmillan, Astle, Abdur Razzaq, Imran Nazir and others.

The enormous sums of money have lured many talented cricketers to ignore their national commitments and play IPL instead.

Taking this into account, I conclude by saying that the IPL is nothing but an over-hyped tournament. It is just not worth the hype.

A Dastardly Act!

anybody thought that sportsmen, especially cricketers, would not be affected by Terrorism, they were proved wrong woefully on March 3rth 2009, a day which would be remembered as one of the worst days for Pakistan, and perhaps the entire cricketing world. The Sri Lankan cricket team, which was the only team to visit Pakistan for nearly a year, nearly lost its cricketers due to a terrorist attack. 6 lankan cricketers nearly lost their lives, while one umpire was cricitically injured.

History of Attacks: Pakistan has never been a safe place to visit. Many cricketing nations, especially Australia, England, and South Africa despised even the thought of visiting Pakistan due to the threat of terrorist attacks. The New Zealand team which had braved all odds to tour Pakistan in 2002 returned back shell-shocked when a bomb explosion rocked the hotel where they stayed. Things went from bad to worse since the Military President Musharraf was replaced by a so-called Democratic government, whose rule helped the terrorists to mushroom immensely in Pakistan. Considering that the dreaded terrorist group, Taliban alias Al-Quaeda, had gained a stronghold in Pakistan, it was unwise of the Sri Lankan team to visit Pakistan. But as fate had it, the Sri Lankan team braved all obstacles to tour Pakistan and played a test match successfully.


An Ugly Incident: The second test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was in progress. Everything seemed fine as two days of the test match progressed peacefully. On the morning of the third day of the test match, the Sri Lankan team was on their way to the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore. Everything seemed routine till the team heard sounds of firing. After a few moments of shock, reality dawned in for Lankans, they were under attack from 12 well-equipped terrorists. Fortunately for the Lankans, the driver acted intelligently by turning the bus directly to the stadium. The terrorists had fired continuously at the Lankan Crickets. Since all the cricketers had ducked, they escaped with minor injuries. 6 of them namely Sangakkara, Jayawardane, Samanaweera, Mendis, and Vaas escaped with minor injuries. 6 Pakistani policemen died while trying to protect the lankan team. It was reported that a grenade aimed at the Van didn’t explode.

Terrorism knows no boundaries: Just a few months before, former cricketers like Imran Khan and Javed Miandad had urged the International teams to tour Pakistan. They promised a very high level of security. Imran Khan even told the press that the Cricketers won’t be targeted by terrorists as they knew that any attack on the cricketers would spell doom to them. But contrary to all their statements, the terrorists made a direct attempt to kill the Lankan cricketers. The most shocking fact was that this happened in broad daylight in a CITY. This proved the fact that the terrorists have only one aim in the mind, “To Kill and Terrorize”.

The Effects of this Incident on Cricket:
Now, the Sub-continent would no more be considered a peaceful place. Any main cricketing event would require high amounts of security. Countries like Australia, South Africa, England, and New Zealand would now have second thoughts before visiting countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Pakistan would be now out of the Cricketing Radar for months, perhaps years. The World Cup 2011 schedule would be very badly affected. Totally, Cricket in the sub-continent would not only be remembered for its huge crowds, noisy atmosphere, colorful banners, cheerful people, and exciting matches, but also Terrorism. Hope our World Leaders find a solution to end this menace soon.

No more flat pitches please:

The Indian team, at present, seems to be very intent on batting on flat tracks. Perhaps, they want to bloat their image by thrashing opponents 6-1 or 5-2. But, unfortunately, it is not going to do any good to their batsmen especially when they tour places like West Indies, SouthAfrica, and Sri Lanka. Pardon me for saying this; most of the current Indian ODI players seem to be flat track bullies, especially Suresh Raina, Uthappa, and Yuvraj Singh. Even though Yuvraj did hit two masterly tons, 138 and 118, against England, these innings came on either flat or less assisting tracks. The same Yuvraj struggled to score in sportive tracks in countries like Australia and Sri Lanka. The same stands true for Suresh Raina and Uthappa, these so-called good batsmen fail to score outside the subcontinent.

It is a pity that the BCCI still prefers to prepare such tracks in India despite knowing the consequences. Flat pitches provide Indian batsmen with a false sense of greatness which is dangerous. These same batsmen tend to be troubled even by average bowlers on tracks that provide assistance to bowlers.

Why Flat Tracks Don’t Help?
Most Batsmen seldom depend on good technique to score runs on flat tracks. In India, the tracks prepared for ODIs seldom support swing bowlers or seam bowlers. As a result, Indian batsman can swing their bat across the line; play the good ball with ease, without the fear of being bowled. Although this may seem beneficial for the Indian batsmen, it is bound to prove dangerous in the long run.

The technique of a batsman will only improve when he is truly tested by great fast bowlers and good spinners. True pitches which assist seam, swing, or spin, help batsmen to improve their footwork and judgement. Batsmen have to work hard for their runs, in the process; they have no other go but to improve their batting technique.

But in India, the tracks are prepared to guarantee a run feast. The outfields are lightning quick and the pitches do not provide assistance for pace and bounce. As a result, batsman can score freely at 6.5 - 7 runs per over. BCCI justifies this saying that the matches provide good entertainment to the audience. But I beg to differ. True cricket lovers would rather watch a match where the first team scores 220-240 and the second team fights hard to win it. Such matches provide to be truly exciting contests. Such instances are rare these days. Additionally, players like Yuvraj suffer badly due to this flat-track syndrome. Yuvi is a good player, but he fails to score well on pitches that provide assistance to spin. The reason is that his footwork and technique are susceptible against good quality bowling.

India have just beaten Australia 2-0 in the recently held Gavaskar-Border Trophy. In the ongoing ODI series against England, they are 5-0 ahead. If India desire to be world beaters, they have to prepare a team that can perform well across the world. In order to achieve their goal, they have to first prepare pitches that are sportive. Initially, the Indian batting order may find it tough to score runs on these tracks, but on the longer run, their technique will improve vastly and help them score runs against quality bowlers.


There is a saying, “When you fall down, don’t see the place you fell rather the place you slipped”. Similarly, India must analyze their past defeats and see why they got defeated. As of now, the only reasons I can see is “Overconfidence, lack of planning, and the lack of batting skills to suit seaming/swinging pitches.”