Making IPL Relevant

IPL in it's sixth edition is doing pretty well for it's own good. All 9 teams, at the halfway stage, still have a chance to make it to the playoffs. Delhi Daredevils, one of the top four teams in the last editions languish in the 9th spot. Pune Warriors, team that made the 9th spot its own now is at no 8. Rajasthan, Punjab and Hyderabad teams have surprised a few with their strong shows. Not all would make it to the play offs though. Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai have looked strong, yet vulnerable in situations. Kolkata seems to still be finding its feet in this edition after the Championship win last year. Foreign players like Gayle, Narine, M Hussey, de Villiers, Watson, Dwayne Smith, Finch, Kallis, Steyn & Miller have done exceptionally well for their franchises. Whilst on the other hand only few Indians namely; Kohli, Dhoni, Mishra, Karthik, Gambhir, Vinay Kumar have shown any consistency with bat or ball.

The tournament every years starts with a bang and and ends with a relatively lesser enthusiasm yet still manages to get the buzz going. Its the middle stages that mostly disappoint. The better teams go about asserting their dominance and the weaker ones get into a rut of defeats. What's more? Indian Premier League is a platform to showcase talent. With the term Indian being prominent in it, it comes across as a platform to showcase Indian talent. Where's that?

Let's look at some areas that could be looked into that can increase the viewer's interest and more so relevance of the IPL to Indian and world cricket over all.

Captains

IPL, in the year 2008 started with most franchises being captained by Indians, most of them being termed 'marquee players'. Who are the marquee players now? Okay, that's not even the point. Ricky Ponting for Mumbai Indians, Sangakkara for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gilchrist for Kings XI Punjab, Jayawardena for Delhi Daredevils, Angelo Matthews for Pune Warriors, all first choice captains for their teams have mostly failed to get going, thus leaving their franchises short of a foreign talent in the XI. Ponting, Sanga, Matthews have gone a step ahead and have dropped themselves in the interest of the teams. Great sacrifice, but why even give way to that? Bring in young Indian talents to captains the sides. Rohit Sharma was made captain when Ponting's continued failures began to hurt the team. Virat Kohli being named captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore has got to be the best decision so far in this IPL. With the presence of the likes of Dilshan and Vettorri in the squad, it would've been easy for the management to name one of them. Kohli's elevation to captaincy will bode well for the franchise and for Kohli himself who can hone his captaincy skills which maybe required in the future for the national team when Dhoni is unavailable or sacked. Each franchise could take up the responsibility of naming a youngster as captain and have them trained by a senior.

Chennai Super Kings - Suresh Raina/Ravichandran Ashwin
Delhi Daredevils - Irfan Pathan
Kings XI Punjab - Piyush Chawla
Rajasthan Royals - Ajinkya Rahane
Kolkata Knight Riders - Gautam Gambhir (existing captain)
Royal Challengers Bangalore - Virat Kohli (existing captain)
Pune Warriors India - Yuvraj Singh
Mumbai Indians - Rohit Sharma (existing captain, replacing Ponting)
Sunrisers Hderabad - Shikhar Dhawan

The above list is just an example of what kind of players can be elevated to captaincy. Post the 2014 auction shuffle, some of these guys may not even be a part of their existing teams. But what this essentially does is encourage younger players, maintains team balance by allowing them four best performing foreign talents, hone captains who could lead the national team in the future if needed. If it's Indian Premier League, franchises must have Indian captains. To me, it was kinda strange to have Ponting lead Tendulkar. Unreal to see Jayawardena leading Sehwag in a Delhi franchise.

Indian Talent

Jalaj Saxena, Shami Ahmed, Parvez Rasool, Ishwar Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha are all good enough to be named amongst the probables for the Champions Trophy but are not good enough to represent their franchises in IPL? Cheteshwar Pujara just finished as India's best batsman in the recently concluded international season, yet can't find a place in the playing XI for his franchise. Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund after brief stints with the national side have gone off the radar so much, they can't get a game for their sides. Sreenath Aravind, in reckoning for the national side in 2011 hasn't played a game in IPL 2013. Where do these guys showcase their talents and come back into reckoning? They play their heart out in domestic games, but who watches them? Wasn't IPL supposed to be the platform where talents which don't get visibility have a chance to make it big? Strange, the franchises and the organising committee, in the bid to get more money out of the cash cow is forgetting the premise on which the tournament was founded. Rahul Sharma, Ashwin, Jadeja are example of talents that got recognition through IPL. Even this year the few new guys given the rare opportunities to have flourished. Mandeep Singh, Ajit Chandila, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohit Sharma, Karan Sharma to name a few.

Loan Players

What is Wriddhiman Saha, a top wicket keeper in the domestic circuit in the running for national selection doing in Chennai Super Kings, captained by Dhoni? Why can't he be loaned to Pune Warriors who are having to do with Robin Uthappa as a wicket keeper or even Kolkata Knight Riders who are putting up with very average Manvinder Bisla behind the stumps? Delhi Daredevils have been playing with poor spin attack and being forced to keep out Morne Morkel to play foreign spinners Botha, Jeevan Mendis or van der Merwe. They could easily exercise the loaning option to seek a unused spinner from one of the other franchises. Loaning of players should be introduced immediately to the IPL.

IPL 2014, with refreshed teams should also alter some rules to make the going ons more interesting for the viewers and followers. Brands have already been cashing in on the IPL and have been making the most of its popularity amongst the views. Be it contests giving away match tickets, meet and greet with players, IPL is a new boon to marketers and consumers both. But without innovations and tweaks it could fall into a rut and slowly rot. That's why its important there are dynamic changes made to the way things are.

This IPL could well be the last time we see the likes of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ponting, Muralitharan, Gilchrist play any kind of cricket on Indian soil. Big salute to the stars and hope they make the most before bid farewell. Cricket will be poorer by some of the greatest talents but the show will, as it always has, go on.

Indian Premier League 2011: Almost Glad It's Over

Fourth edition of Indian Premier League has been surely the most dullest of all 4 yet. The 2011 edition had two new team participating which understandably resulted in an increase in the number of matches played. Though 4 best teams in the competition made it to the play offs, there was monotony, boredom and lack of interest in the middle and latter stages of the competition. After the World Cup win, even the appetite for cricket of the insatiable Indian cricket fan was whetted. The 51 day IPL extravaganza was just saturation Indian fans hadn't experienced before.

Chennai Super Kings retained the trophy after clinical performance against the Royal Challengers Bangalore and rampaging Chris Gayle. Mumbai Indians, after dominating the initial leg of the competition lost their win with a string of losses, yet made it to the play offs. Kolkata Knight Riders, under new leadership of Gautam Gambhir and a good all round team made their first play off in IPL history. Some exhilarating individual performances were witnessed, some exciting new talents were unearthed, some old war horses continued to prove their immense worth, some talented players flopped and some teams came a cropper in a tough competition.

Rahul Sharma surely has been the find of the season. The leg spinner earned repute for his probing line and length and excellent variation very crucial in the T20 format. Iqbal Abdulla, Paul Valthaty, Ashok Menaria, Sreenath Aravind were other domestic talents who made a name for themselves this season. Ravichandra Ashwin, Manoj Tiwary, Ambati Rayudu, Vinay Kumar, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma presented case for themselves for selection with good performances.
Chris Gayle, James Hopes, Micheal Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Doug Bollinger, Lasith Malinga, Adam Gilchrist were surely the best overseas players in the tournament. Their presence in the team made enormous difference to the team's fortunes. A special mention here for Chris Gayle who well and truly changed Royal Challengers Bangalore's fortune with his mighty hitting and calm demeanor. Every time he came on to bat, he lit the stage alight. He missed out in the all important finals but had done enough to instill fear in every bowlers minds.

Indian World Cup heroes Tendulkar, Dhoni, Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Harbhajan, Munaf, Yusuf Pathan, Kohli were all backbone of their respective teams. Their presence boosted the team's morale as well as saleability of the team to the fans. Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings benefitted from having more than one member of the World Cup winning Indian team in the squad. Kings XI Punjab & Rajasthan Royals in a way suffered by not having Indian stars or the local flavour in their teams. Kochi Tuskers Kerala had son of the soil, Sreesanth in their team who made up for the lack of other big Indian stars.

Malinga's retirement from tests, Gayle, Bravo & Pollard's omission from WI team against Pakistan for opting IPL to national committments, injuries to Sehwag, Gambhir, Gambhir's decision to play IPL and skip India's tour of WI for treatment re-ignited the debate whether IPL should get a separate window in ICC's Future Tours Programme. Tony Grieg's strong criticism of the IPL and claiming ICC to be highly influenced by BCCI  made a talking point half way though the tournament. Shane Warne's public spat with RCA secretary Sanjay Dixit too made big news. An extremely avoidable issue which was blown in the media by childish behaviour by the champion leg spinner and the administrator.

I strongly opine IPL mustn't get a separate window. Getting that would mean complete domination of BCCI over ICC. Separate window would also result in all T20 leagues around the world requesting for windows in the FTP. ICC must have a stronger say in the happenings in the IPL. Shortening the duration of the tournament and allowing senior players to rest, reduction in travel time between matches and cut down on endorsements which make the player jersey look like trash are amongst the issues players would want ICC to take up with the IPL Governing Council; which by the look of things may never happen.

Author also writes on http://www.isport.in/

MI vs CSK at Wankhede - An IPL 2011 Experience

First ever Guest article on Straight Drives. Shruti Mehta pens her first piece about her experiences at the Mumbai vs Chennai IPL match played at the Wankhede Stadium. 

It’s rare to find a household in India where cricket fever does not exist. I come from one where my younger brother, as every young Indian boy, once aspired to become Sachin Tendulkar. After the introduction of IPL, 4 years back, the atmosphere in my house would be electric, with each one of us choosing our favourite teams and players and cheering on. IPL 3 for me was quite an experience, as not only did I follow it religiously, I also went for 2 matches, including the spectacular finals at the D.Y. Patil stadium. However, the excitement for IPL 4 was dulled after the super exciting World Cup journey of the Indian cricket team.

The teams I decided to support this year are Mumbai Indians (I’m a Mumbaikar), Rajasthan Royals (for my marwadi roots and Dravid love), Pune Warriors (I studied there plus new found love for Yuvraj) and a wee bit support to Delhi (for the Morne Morkel love of course). So I jumped when my cousin called saying he had tickets for MI v/s CSK at Wankhede. 

This being my first visit to Wankhede left me super excited (and of course, the excitement of watching Sachin and Dhoni play live again). The atmosphere was electric with MI fans shouting away. The tickets in the Sachin Tendulkar stand offered a spectacular view and we were all set to scream our lungs out and cheer for the God. MI’s innings started off slow with a brilliant bowling attack by Albie Morkel. It was heart breaking to see Sachin get out so soon and miss the orange cap. Rohit Sharma however, chose this day to prove to others why the Ambanis paid him that huge sum.  Rohit and Ambati set the pitch on fire with their shots. Symonds also made the needed contribution to set up a somewhat achievable total of 164 for Chennai Super Kings.

CSK made a start with a boundary but what stays in my mind is the way Pollard lunged to try and stop that four. That man just stands out anywhere, not only with his height but also his excellent fielding. He just reaches out and grabs the ball where others run behind it. Mike Hussey and Badrinath seemed to have set the momentum in place when out went Hussey and the game swung back in favour of India. Harbhajan Singh was in top form, probably inspired by looking at someone holding a poster saying special ‘Pav bhajji’ for Dhoni with a very cute caricature of Bhajji.

Excellent catches and brilliant fielding led to Harbhajan Singh walking away with 5 wickets and the man of the match. I must mention that every time the commentators talked about the Mumbai Indians fielding, the camera zoomed in on a grinning Jonty Rhodes enjoying the match.

Needless to say, Mumbai Indians won the match, leaving most people in the stadium happy (except the uncle sitting behind us who insisted on abusing the MI team in a most unsporting way). 

Post this match, my interest in IPL this year is slowly coming back. It might not evoke as strong emotions as for the match winning Indian cricket team, but it’s still a joy watching my favourite players on the field. I hope to go back to Wankhede for one of the play off matches. Till then, I will be happy yelling at the TV and cheering for my favorite teams. 

Follow Shruti Mehta on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/shrumehta