THE FARCE CALLED SAPL
(The “Indian” premier league)



Disclaimer: This post reflects the personal views of the author of this blog. He confesses to watching it occasionally, even though he wholeheartedly condemns it as a farce. Reader discretion is advised, owing to the heavy bias in the mind of the author. The content should not be taken in any way as an edict against viewing the IPL, Extra innings, the hot cheerleaders, the exceedingly charming Mandira Bedi, and the apologies in the name of the show anchors.



I have never been able to warm up to the concept of the IPL. During the first season, there was the IPL vs. ICL hype and other problems. It was clear that IPL as a commercial initiative came to life after the threat of the Essel Group-run ICL came forth. If ICL could be branded detrimental to the interests of Indian cricket, then what does IPL offer that “benefits” Indian cricket? (Money is not a problem for the BCCI. It has more in it’s coffers than it can handle).

The IPL was designed on the format of the EPL. But, if the IPL teams act as the “representatives” of their cities, then what is the purpose of the Ranji trophy teams, which, like the British soccer and cricket clubs, have stood tall as institutions over decades. Rather, it is all about the rich owners, Messrs Mallya, the “Rab Ne Bana Di” Jodi of SRK and Dada, and so on. As for the other excuses, such as scouting of young talent, development of cricket infrastructure etc. I am sure that IPL is in no position, or atleast, in no better position than the Ranji trophy to rectify the ills, and not surely when it is now the SAPL. The current Indian team, for example, has all of its players brought out through the Ranji system, and not through the IPL.

If we begin accusing English football clubs of using money power to buy up players from other leagues, then the IPL is the biggest joke on those aspects. With the auction of the players to different IPL franchisees, a la cattle auctions in villages, one point is very clear: cricket and soccer are different with respect to the fact that the dominant form of cricket is international cricket, as opposed to club soccer. So, for having a proper league, you need to have more teams, or scrap the IPL, given the hectic international cricket calendar.

One point which I was particularly peeved about is the arrogance of the BCCI with respect to the IPL throughout. The penalties imposed on the ICL players were harsh, and so was the treatment meted out to the Haryana Hurricane Kapil Dev. Indian cricket owes a huge debt to this man, who won us our only ODI world cup. Insulting him by stopping his pension, not inviting him for the 25th Anniversary function of the WC triumph etc. was a bit too bad. Imagine the skipper of that triumph not getting the anniversary invite. (I am not a supporter of the ICL. To me, both ICL and IPL are redundant in the context of cricket. But I do feel that Kapil Dev, EAS Prasanna, and some others were hard-done by the BC

The period between IPL-1 and IPL-2 was full of action as well. The multiple captains’ theory, the “restructuring” of RCB kept the junta interested. Then came IPL-2, and its metamorphosis to SAPL. They might as well have named the various franchisees as Paarl Prancers, Bloemfontein Royal Challengers, Durban Daredevils, Cape Town Superkings, (Port) Elizabeth Emperors, Pretoria Kings XI, Maritzburg Indians and the Kimberley Kite Riders. The whole affair smacked of stupidity. Lalit Modi is an MBA from Duke University (as per wiki), but he, and the fellow administrators of IPL couldn’t foresee the clash with the general elections, and make appropriate arrangements. In fact, all that they did was blame the authorities for….well, God knows what, and finally shifting the IPL to South Africa, as commercial constraints didn’t allow the more sensible options. This also led to various satirical articles in the newspapers and on the internet.

Commercialization isn’t a sin. But, in the name of glitz and glamour, IPL has taken things a bit too far, making it sickening. Imagine having to hear “DLF maximums”, “strategy breaks”, “ads between consecutive deliveries” etc. And, of course, the inept team put up by Sony MAX, to cover the “mega-event”. I am sure of doing a better job than that. During IPL-2, the TV authorities were also forced to make South Africans (not many in number) speak about how brilliant the whole thing was. You could see yawning gaps in the stadia, except during the final few matches. Add the “Miss IPL South Africa” and other gimmicks to the things mentioned above.

The idea of IPL itself never enthused me, owing to the above reasons. The horrid coverage on TV makes viewing IPL all the more boring and irritating. The thing that did make me watch some matches are the extremely close finish to the matches, even though I felt that some of it did smack of fixing (refer to Maneesh’s blog for details), or at the least, very substandard cricket. There were hardly any consistent performances, barring a few exceptions. The hatricks by Yuvraj (2) and Rohit Sharma, and the all-too-frequent collapse of the batting lineups point to the poor quality of cricket on offer.

With Messrs Modi suggesting now 2 IPLs in a year and two extra teams, I await “with bated breath”, the next stupidity in a long series. But now, it is time to focus our attention to England and the T20 cricket world cup. I enjoyed every bit of the previous edition in 2007, especially the semis and the finals in the BITS Auditorium. I am hoping (and confident) that “YE CUP KAHIN NAHI JAAYEGA”.