Tag Archives: IPL

#icccricketworldcup2023: Could It Be Any More Boring?

by Shashwat DC | Leave a comment

  • A confession, to begin with, I am a reformed cricketing aficionado. Namely, I don’t follow the sport as it is now. To be honest, I don’t think there is much sport left in the way cricket is played now.

India is hosting the biggest cricketing spectacle in the world — the ICC World Cup. The last time it was held in India, back in 2011, we also won it. Remember, the Tendulkar being hoisted on the back of the teammates and being taken for a round of Wankhede moment. Coming back to 2023, the way things are progressing at the moment, there is every chance that India will be holding the cup again. Though I doubt, if the team will be hoisting Rohit on their shoulders’, he is not all that fluffy afterall.

Winning the World Cup should be an exciting thing. The prospect of winning the cup in front home crowds cheering “Jai Shri Ram“? A real moment of history? India reaching the cricketing pinnacle, yet again?

It would have been wonderful and great indeed, except for the fact, that we seem to be undergoing a cricketing-withdrawal of sorts. One days are no more as exciting as they used to be.

Forget the stadiums with empty seats, there is almost no buzz on the streets, no passionate discussions at coffee stations or exchange of notes at grocery stores. People are not thronging outside electronic shops to see the matches on the big TVs there. You might argue that they are watching it on the mobile screen. Well, they might be, but they certainly are not discussing or debating matches or stats, like it used to be in the past.

All in all, this is the most thanda cup that I have ever seen. The boringest of all. In fact, the cup is so thanda this time, that you could possibly serve vanilla ice cream in it — plain and cold.

There are essentially two reasons why ICC World Cup 2023 is not working. I am sure everyone kind of knows it, but let me state it nevertheless.

Primarily – an overkill of cricket.

Back in the days, when I was a kid, we were often warned against doing too much of the same thing. If you eat the same thing over and over, you will lose interest. If you play the same game over and over, you will get bored. Moderation apparently was the secret to enjoyment. Cricket a decade back, before an abomination named T20, used to be a sport that was rather sparingly played. A one-day or test series would be like an Aamir Khan film, you would have to wait long for it to happen, even though it was a dud. But nowadays, cricket is more like an Akshay Kumar franchise, it doesn’t matter if the series fails or fails miserably, the next one is just round the corner. The top guys at the ICC in their fascination to earn money, are scheduling one series, one tournament, after the other. So, if India loses to England today, no big deal, we will get a chance to extract revenge next fortnight.

Continue reading …

2020: Just not cricket

by Shashwat D.C. | Leave a comment

Thankfully, the curtains come down on the IPL tamasha today in South Africa. Over the past month and more, we have been inundated with victories, defeats, controversies, etc., from the second season of IPL, the 2020 cricket tournament. Various teams named after different cities and regions of India dressed up in bright ‘in your eyes colours have a go at each other for some 20 odd overs in company of cheer leaders who strut their stuff every time a boundary is scored or a wicket falls. 2020 cricket has apparently found its feet and is now has some critical mass, so as to be dubbed as a form of sport in its own right. And yet, somewhere I feel it nothing more than an abomination on the name of cricket.

In a country devoid of many heroes, cricket is not merely a sport but a religion of sorts. People have taken to worshipping the cricketers, who are nothing less the avatars of the divine lords. Ironically, the game is a colonial import, brought  and introduced by our English masters. But it was in 1983, when Kapil Dev and his team lifted the Prudential Cup over their heads; we fell in love with the game. For a young and vibrant nation breaking from its past, the game came as an ego-booster; India had arrived so as to say.

Over the years, the game took on different connotations as we progressed, from being a steroid shot to a revenge mechanism (Indo-Pak matches), cricket continued to enthuse and excite us. We were fortunate as well, having a recurring crop of world class players, from Vijay Merchant to Sunil Gavaskar to Kapil Dev to Sachin Tendulkar to the current bunch of youngsters led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Though, we haven’t won another World Cup in one-day cricket, we continue to be a force to reckon with both on and off the field (financial clout).

Yet, even as the game has transformed over the past decades; there has been a steady descent. Thanks to the millions and billions of monies, cricket has ceased to be a ‘gentleman sport’ but merely a money spinner. And 2020 is the worst manifestation of the greed that now enshrouds and has its grip on the game. To be honest, cricket has died an ignomious death in the last few years, and strangely we the worshippers didn’t even realise it. Continue reading …

Interview: Sundar Raman (CEO, IPL)

by Shashwat D.C. | 1 Comment

In an interview, IPL’s CEO Sundar Raman spoke about how technology has really impacted the sport of cricket and how technology and IT has helped making IPL the kind of show that it is. This interaction was published in the Dataquest Magazine.

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DLF IPL has revolutionised the way the Cricket is watched and followed in India and the world

Without doubt, IPL is the biggest sports extravaganza in the globe with a turnover running in some Rs. 7000 crores. But not only as a cricketing innovation, IPL has also been embroiled in a host of controversies. At the very center of it all, is the CEO of DLF IPL, Sundar Raman. He was appointed last year to give a professional touch to the game, prior to this Raman had been associated with the WPP group for over a decade. 

Raman’s biggest challenge came when the game was abruptly shifted to South Africa due to election and political issues in India. It was a logistical nightmare, considering the short time frame. But Raman and his team have done their homework and thanks to investment and knowledge of IT solutions, they were able to ensure that all goes according to plan without a hitch. Caught up with the rigmarole of the upcoming event, Raman took some time out for an exclusive interaction with Dataquest, wherein he talks about how the game has been revolutionised by the 20-over innovation and how technology is helping it make a success. Excerpts.  

In IPL2, what will be the additions over the very successful IPL 1?

The inaugural season of the DLF Indian Premier League was a huge learning for the BCCI and our team. For starters it helped prove that India can sustain a franchise based model in Sports and quite profitably. But perhaps more important was the fact that we were able to help create a model that has helped grow the game at the grassroots level and significantly enhance the infrastructure across India through private participation. Drawing in the crowds through a mix of world-class action on the field and entertainment, were critical elements in the success of the IPL. That aside we made some unique additions to the quality of cricket played through innovations like the MCC Spirit of Cricket Charter, the Purple Cap for the Best Bowler and Orange Cap for the Best Batsmen.

In the second season, we have explored similar opportunities and avenues to create excitement for the fans and help improve the quality of on-field action. The five minute ‘strategy break’ is on such strategic innovation in the sundar-ramanlong line of innovations that the league has pioneered from the start. We did a calculation last year and 100 per cent matches went over an hour beyond their schedule time. It was just one delayed game after another and this inspite of the fact that we had enforced extremely high penalties. What we discovered then was that a majority of the time teams were ready to pay the money because the coaches and captains/players were consulting one another as the playing situations evolved on-field to fine tune their strategies. It is because of this discovery that we attempted to innovate with this new ‘strategy break’ at the end of 10 overs.

That aside we have identified areas of improvement around spectator comfort and the in-stadia experience, which we will rigorously implement in the upcoming Season 2009 in South Africa.

Then there will be the non-stop Cricket and Entertainment Carnival that we have planned throughout South Africa for the coming 36 days. No efforts are being spared to ensure that the fans in India and the Rainbow Nation are privy to a sporting spectacle the likes of which have never been experienced before. Season 2009 will be an expansive and grand celebration of cricket with a dash of Bollywood and local South African flavor added into the mix for good measure. More importantly, we are expecting strong support from our Indian fans, arriving in South Africa, to make their presence felt and display their solidarity towards their favorite teams. We believe that the kind of interest the DLF IPL has generated over the months and days—right from the time it was announced till today—will channelize into stadia’s across South Africa packed to capacities during the league. 

What would you term as the enhancements to the game brought about by IPL. A lot of purists are balk at the comparison made between traditional cricket matches to IPL ones? Continue reading …