Finally the most awaited Indian Premier League has commenced and this novel concept is probably the not the best but the better that can happen to cricket – the gentlemen’s game.
I watched the opening ceremony on 18th evening and was mesmerized with the way it was done. I couldn’t look anywhere apart from the TV for the first half an hour of the Ceremony. One of the best opening ceremonies I have ever seen. Its rocking to see the film stars owning and supporting their respective teams and see them screaming their head off for every six their team players produce.
It happened in the first match. The Kolkatta Knight Riders vs. Banglore Royal Challengers was an awesome highscoring game. Funnily, Vijaymalya spoke with Jadeja before the match began and was too proud of his team. I heard him say that his team is full of experience and probably the best in the eight. Sadly the team lost with a score that hardly reached 100 and Vijaymalya’s high paid cheer leaders had no dancing to do. Sharukh on the other hand was seen standing over the railings and dancing while his team almost broke the ball with hard-hit sixes.
This game, emphatically, is a million dollar fun, but I wouldn’t agree with the group that says this is best thing that can happen to the game of cricket. I don’t know if I am correct thinking this way but in my opinion, I would like to compare the situation with that of Football. There are leagues confined to the country clubs (men play for other country’s clubs too) and that way we see a lot of players endowed with ball-wielding skills on the field. And thus for them the World Cup becomes such an ambitious play. The feel the players and the viewers get for the FIFA World Cup is definitely unrivaled. However the in the game of cricket, the domestic play has been of interest only to the BCCI and very few of the public take involvement in watching and commenting on those games. In fact, I found one of my friends oblivious of the fact that India won the Under 19 ICC Cricket World Cup.
This is a situation like the cricket’s own situation in the type of play. Test cricket and One day Internationals were dominating and after T20’s entrance, many lost the patience to sit and watch Test Cricket. Now the favourites have become the ODIs and T20s. Probably cricket has crossed the stage where domestic play would ever demand attraction by any means. International Cricket is always the cynosure.
But this is no censure to the league. As I have stated in the title, this form of cricket is spellbinding. IPL is a stupendous entertainment any cricket fan can experience. Not the just the viewers, but also the cricketers, especially the younger ones, will have glutted excitement playing with other experienced International players. My already existing joy about IPL was stirred when I saw Ricky Ponting hugging Ishant Sharma for taking a wicket in the first game. We would get to see lot more of “International Hugging” for sure…
IPL is superb, fantastic and entertaining. But for the game of cricket, the International matches are always the best and the entertainment and excitement one would get while watching an action packed India vs. Pakistan game on the field has no equal emotion!!
I watched the opening ceremony on 18th evening and was mesmerized with the way it was done. I couldn’t look anywhere apart from the TV for the first half an hour of the Ceremony. One of the best opening ceremonies I have ever seen. Its rocking to see the film stars owning and supporting their respective teams and see them screaming their head off for every six their team players produce.
It happened in the first match. The Kolkatta Knight Riders vs. Banglore Royal Challengers was an awesome highscoring game. Funnily, Vijaymalya spoke with Jadeja before the match began and was too proud of his team. I heard him say that his team is full of experience and probably the best in the eight. Sadly the team lost with a score that hardly reached 100 and Vijaymalya’s high paid cheer leaders had no dancing to do. Sharukh on the other hand was seen standing over the railings and dancing while his team almost broke the ball with hard-hit sixes.
This game, emphatically, is a million dollar fun, but I wouldn’t agree with the group that says this is best thing that can happen to the game of cricket. I don’t know if I am correct thinking this way but in my opinion, I would like to compare the situation with that of Football. There are leagues confined to the country clubs (men play for other country’s clubs too) and that way we see a lot of players endowed with ball-wielding skills on the field. And thus for them the World Cup becomes such an ambitious play. The feel the players and the viewers get for the FIFA World Cup is definitely unrivaled. However the in the game of cricket, the domestic play has been of interest only to the BCCI and very few of the public take involvement in watching and commenting on those games. In fact, I found one of my friends oblivious of the fact that India won the Under 19 ICC Cricket World Cup.
This is a situation like the cricket’s own situation in the type of play. Test cricket and One day Internationals were dominating and after T20’s entrance, many lost the patience to sit and watch Test Cricket. Now the favourites have become the ODIs and T20s. Probably cricket has crossed the stage where domestic play would ever demand attraction by any means. International Cricket is always the cynosure.
But this is no censure to the league. As I have stated in the title, this form of cricket is spellbinding. IPL is a stupendous entertainment any cricket fan can experience. Not the just the viewers, but also the cricketers, especially the younger ones, will have glutted excitement playing with other experienced International players. My already existing joy about IPL was stirred when I saw Ricky Ponting hugging Ishant Sharma for taking a wicket in the first game. We would get to see lot more of “International Hugging” for sure…
IPL is superb, fantastic and entertaining. But for the game of cricket, the International matches are always the best and the entertainment and excitement one would get while watching an action packed India vs. Pakistan game on the field has no equal emotion!!
No comments:
Post a Comment