IPL Diaries – By Chetan Narula

A Curtain Raiser

Lights, Camera, Action! On 18^th April 2008, at 7 pm IST, the world will sit witness to a new page being written in the annals of cricket history, when the first season of the Indian Premier League gets underway at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The first match will be played between Royal Challengers and Kolkatta KnightRiders, and it promises to be a mouth watering spectacle, and not just because it pitches the best in business against the best in films.

Yes, it is more than just Vijay Mallya and Shah Rukh Khan pitting their teams against each other, to see whose cricket, and business acumen comes out on top. Let us for a while leave that to the honchos in the European football leagues. Because a sterner test lies ahead for not only the two Fanchise owners, but also, the BCCI and in particular, Lalit Modi, the father of the IPL. For the first match will go a long way in deciding the fate of the multi-million dollar baby.

What one is trying to imply is, that in a jiffy, the IPL won’t become near and dear to the cricket crazy millions of this country. Like any other sane object of entertainment or leisure, this too will only grow from strength to strength, however it needs a major shot in the arm if it needs to do so. Why this so, one is is tempted to ask? Well, to start with, there is no culture of following sports in this country. What sets us apart from the football or cricket traditions followed in other countries, say England, is the simple fact that almost every night after returning from home, these people do not lumber up in bed, or waste their time watching dim-witted family sagas on the television. They actually shell out their hard earned cash to watch their football, cricket or rugby heroes play their rival teams and along with it, guzzle a beer or two.

No, one is not making a case of higher alcohol consumption here, instead what is being highlighted is the way that these long standing football cultures have been built. Teams like Manchester United and Arsenal were formed hundreds of years ago and they have since developed into multi-million dollar clubs, who now own academies as well as some of the world’s best footballers. While they didn’t grow over one season alone, the international competition was born out of the rivalries of the clubs. And, then of course, there came the money. The IPL, instead, is a case of the process being reversed. Take international rivalries and put them in the not so enthralling scenario of domestic cricket, to make it more appealing to the average Indian fan. And all this made possible, only by pumping in humongous wads of currency notes.

Here, one is trying to bring out the biggest headache that the IPL, or the franchises rather, will face, to the fore. And that is to pull away the couch potatoes from, well, their couches. To ask the middle class man to spend upto 250 bucks on a match ticket for seven matches over a period of forty odd days, is something they don’t normally do, not even on four consecutive weekends of a month, irrespective of the ever increasing GDP. And this brings us to the cards played by the BCCI, in order to lure the common man out of his home to the stadium nearest to him.

Go international, whenever in doubt in cricket, just go international. And that is precisely what the board did, and before them, Zee Group’s ICL. Getting foreign players to play in these twenty20 leagues is a well judged move. After all, these players starve for the kind of money there is in Indian cricket, especially New Zealand cricket, who are so cash strapped that as many as 15 players, current and retired are playing in the two leagues combined.

So much so, that some players have taken an early retirement from their budding international careers to play T20 in the dust of India. Shaun Pollock, Adam Gilchrist, Stephen Fleming are just a few of the prominent names. Maybe at their age, international cricket was actually getting too much for them. But what about some one like Justin Kemp or Lou Vincent, who are not even 30, and by virtue of playing in ICL cant play international cricket now. The latter, at one time, even complaining of depression, did the whiff of money make it all go away?

International players, after all, may not be the answer to the dilemma faced by the organizers. Consider this, in a match between Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians, you will be expected to cheer for Mohd. Asif against Sachin Tendulkar, or, Sanath Jayasuriya against Sehwag. Is that really possible? Will a Delhi fan ever do that, or for that matter, a Mumbaikar? Cricketers in India are demi-gods, the game is a religion and taking it to the masses, while there are no international rivalries involved, is something the masses will be apprehensive of. It has been tried before, the Premier Hockey League being a prime example, but then that is hockey and it doesn’t exactly set the fans’ imagination on fire.

All this is going to test the patience of the men (and one woman) who have bought the franchises. For these are the platforms on which the revenue generation models will be developed. For the IPL is nothing but a business opportunity for these spendthrifts, and considering a very old saying, they will want to reap more than they have sown. Ticket prices will need to be at a premium; for only then the common man will make the effort to watch the matches live. Only then will the huge stadiums be full to capacity and only then, will the whole venture be successful. Another option is to market the merchandise but given that it takes years to build fan followings, one wonders how much will they sell. One other option is to follow the Kolkatta Franchise model and put everything in the Eden Gardens, up for sale.

Talking about SRK, the talk shifts to the first match and there are many expectations. There are going to be eight international players, eight young stars ready to make a mark and not to forget stalwarts like Ganguly and Dravid, who will be the first ones to experience this new chapter in cricket history. The biggest point, however, is the way the match is expected to be played out. If it is a close one, or a high scoring one, and maybe someone is kind enough to hit four-five consecutive sixes, then we have a tournament on our hands.

Even then, there will be dark clouds hanging over the fate of the tournament. Events like these take a long time to settle in. Fan following is not created overnight inspite of the huge amount of money. Nor are the heroes jeered against so easily. But such is the beauty of sport that such incidences have occurred. In the last football world cup in 2006, Cristiano Ronaldo got Wayne Rooney sent off, Portugal beat England, and yet, today the former’s popularity charts in England are tearing up the roof. Similarly, there will be millions who will be tuning in to watch and you never know what to expect from the unpredictable game of cricket.

Lights, Camera, Action! Let the drama begin!