Line & Length
R Mohan
Shining IPL lights will change game forever
April 18, 2008
The shining lights of the Indian Premier league will cast their brightness far beyond Indian shores. No sooner than the luminescence hits Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday and the entertainment begins around the arena and the action begins on the field, the cricket world would have changed forever.
The good practices of American pro-sport will have already ensured that the sportsman, in this case the cricketer, will be the true focus of rainbow cricket. The international cricketer will transform immediately into the highly-paid elite athlete who will benefit immensely from the revenue-spinning modern era.
The truth is IPL players do not need to worry too much about life after cricket. An easy lifestyle in carpet slippers and pet dog by the side in a luxurious condominium would probably be more in keeping with what could be the scenario for them after such fantastic pay days.
Three decades ago, Kerry Packer saw the future but his war was about TV rights and he gave up all too soon once he clinched his deal. His revolution did open eyes but his players did not benefit as much as members of the current generation would.
Just imagine even the immensely marketable Dhoni earning Rs 6 crores for six weeks' work that would put him, at least for a few fortnights, in the same earning bracket as the country's richest men. Out in New Zealand, they cannot believe that a cricketer like McCullum ($875,000 per year) could command a fee beyond a million NZ dollars a season.
This leap in rewards in favour of the men who bring in the eyeballs to television and who make the turnstiles click at the ballpark is huge in the Indian context. For too long, sport may have gone on in the country with little thought lent to the need for a fair compensation to the athlete who sacrifices so much in order to enhance the skills that millions appreciate in him. The world's best players will continue to gravitate to India not only because the IPL money is so huge.
There are a number of other attractions inherent in the format, for instance the lesser demands on the physique, which will win the cricketers' vote. They may spend as much or more nervous energy in a Twenty-20 game than they do in an ODI that lasts the whole day, but they can live with it because the burnout threshold is much higher.
England is already actively considering setting up its own T-20 league. The country will use its logistical advantage to make the short and smart format work. However, IPL has the first comer advantage and it is already the market leader by far. Stanford's series that may put some in the same Richie Rich class may cause a few ripples but it is no more than a one-off.
Ultimately, television will pass judgment on the success of IPL. Given the huge captive audience and the success of the ICL second edition, it becomes possible to anticipate success for those who have dared to bid in excess of $1 billion for the 10-year deal. The size of the eight cities is such to expect 30,000 to attend seven games in a season is not excessively optimistic.
On the technical front, a great many fears expressed by experts who usually blame shorter formats of the game for all the game's ills may actually be unfounded. T-20 will not ruin the players' technique since most of them still use traditional methods of timing to gather their runs.
The cricket sage Mike Brearely who welcomes the format is on record as saying he was astonished at the cleanness of the hitting and the ability of modern batsmen to hit yorkers out of the ground. He also noted the importance of spin bowling in the world championship in South Africa last season, which was the real eye opener to many on the saleability of this slam-bang version. There are any number of events to look forward to: Brett Lee bowling to Ricky Ponting; Shane Warne coming up against Sehwag; Ishant Sharma's inswinging yorkers aimed at Dhoni's toes; Sachin Tendulkar lining up his array of strokes against all comers; Yuvraj Singh tuning his six-hitting skills to better those of Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds and Shahid Afridi.
The best of Bollywood-Kollywood creativity and the girls dancing to lively music in at-arena entertainment could be the figurative popcorn to the high-octane action out in the middle. Yes, IPL's version of T-20 will have more votaries than ever soon. As Stanford says — what works today will sell today. And hep, contemporary T-20 is the cricket of today.
Republished with permission from The Asian Age
The good practices of American pro-sport will have already ensured that the sportsman, in this case the cricketer, will be the true focus of rainbow cricket. The international cricketer will transform immediately into the highly-paid elite athlete who will benefit immensely from the revenue-spinning modern era.
The truth is IPL players do not need to worry too much about life after cricket. An easy lifestyle in carpet slippers and pet dog by the side in a luxurious condominium would probably be more in keeping with what could be the scenario for them after such fantastic pay days.
Three decades ago, Kerry Packer saw the future but his war was about TV rights and he gave up all too soon once he clinched his deal. His revolution did open eyes but his players did not benefit as much as members of the current generation would.
Just imagine even the immensely marketable Dhoni earning Rs 6 crores for six weeks' work that would put him, at least for a few fortnights, in the same earning bracket as the country's richest men. Out in New Zealand, they cannot believe that a cricketer like McCullum ($875,000 per year) could command a fee beyond a million NZ dollars a season.
This leap in rewards in favour of the men who bring in the eyeballs to television and who make the turnstiles click at the ballpark is huge in the Indian context. For too long, sport may have gone on in the country with little thought lent to the need for a fair compensation to the athlete who sacrifices so much in order to enhance the skills that millions appreciate in him. The world's best players will continue to gravitate to India not only because the IPL money is so huge.
There are a number of other attractions inherent in the format, for instance the lesser demands on the physique, which will win the cricketers' vote. They may spend as much or more nervous energy in a Twenty-20 game than they do in an ODI that lasts the whole day, but they can live with it because the burnout threshold is much higher.
England is already actively considering setting up its own T-20 league. The country will use its logistical advantage to make the short and smart format work. However, IPL has the first comer advantage and it is already the market leader by far. Stanford's series that may put some in the same Richie Rich class may cause a few ripples but it is no more than a one-off.
Ultimately, television will pass judgment on the success of IPL. Given the huge captive audience and the success of the ICL second edition, it becomes possible to anticipate success for those who have dared to bid in excess of $1 billion for the 10-year deal. The size of the eight cities is such to expect 30,000 to attend seven games in a season is not excessively optimistic.
On the technical front, a great many fears expressed by experts who usually blame shorter formats of the game for all the game's ills may actually be unfounded. T-20 will not ruin the players' technique since most of them still use traditional methods of timing to gather their runs.
The cricket sage Mike Brearely who welcomes the format is on record as saying he was astonished at the cleanness of the hitting and the ability of modern batsmen to hit yorkers out of the ground. He also noted the importance of spin bowling in the world championship in South Africa last season, which was the real eye opener to many on the saleability of this slam-bang version. There are any number of events to look forward to: Brett Lee bowling to Ricky Ponting; Shane Warne coming up against Sehwag; Ishant Sharma's inswinging yorkers aimed at Dhoni's toes; Sachin Tendulkar lining up his array of strokes against all comers; Yuvraj Singh tuning his six-hitting skills to better those of Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds and Shahid Afridi.
The best of Bollywood-Kollywood creativity and the girls dancing to lively music in at-arena entertainment could be the figurative popcorn to the high-octane action out in the middle. Yes, IPL's version of T-20 will have more votaries than ever soon. As Stanford says — what works today will sell today. And hep, contemporary T-20 is the cricket of today.
Republished with permission from The Asian Age
