The IPL - apart from the surrounding controversy - was a huge success. The crowds thronged the stadium like they do for an India-Pak match. The cricket was good; in fact the second half of the tournament saw an equal contest between bat and ball which made the cricket more exciting. A lot of youngsters like Rayadu, Tiwari and Vinay Kumar came into prominence which can only be good for the Indian cricket. But there were a lot of things that irritated me no end. Every time I saw them, it made me angrier. My list of things which IPL can do without :
Salesmen behind the micorphone: I think the commentators were conspicuous by their absence. Their place was taken over by salesmen selling sixes and catches and 'could have been' sixes and 'could have been' catches. I am sure even the commentators did not like doing it. It was quite apparent whenever Harsha Bhogle was talking about the MRF blimp or a DLF maximum. It was like a kid made to apologise for an offence he had not committed! I wish the IPL do away with the salesmen and bring back the commentators.
Ads between balls: Another irritating feature of the IPL was the sight of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir fighting over a phone between two balls of the same over. As cricket fans we have learned to live with ads between overs, sometimes missing the first or the last ball of the overs, but ads coming in between the balls is a bit too much to handle. Its irritating not only when the ads actually come up but even when they do not. There is a constant fear after every ball,will the ad come now or after the next ball? As a result, the flow of watching cricket is interrupted abruptly.
Cheerleaders: After every DLF maximum, err.. a six, more screen time was given to the cheer girls' skimpy outfit than the replays of the shot. I can understand the commercial reasons for calling a six a DLF maximum or introducing ads between balls, but I cannot find any logical reason for the presence of cheerleaders. I don't think anyone watches IPL matches just to see cheer girls.
Camera on the Commissioner of IPL : Lalit Modi made good use of the private jet he bought recently, or did he just charter it! Anyway, the point is he was present at almost all the matches of the IPL. The energy of the man is laudable, but is it necessary for the camera to zoom on his (smiling) face every second over with the commentators repeating for the nth time - "Lalit Modi - the commissioner of IPL, blah, blah, blah...". Please guys, a little less of Modi and a bit more of cricket will definitely cheer up the fans.
Strategic timeout: If the strategies discussed during the 'Strategic timeout' in all the IPL matches is published as a book, the book will have no pages, only the front and back covers with sponsor's logos all over it. Probably a picture of Lalit Modi too! The timeout is more disturbing than the ads or cheerleaders because it actually changes the rules of the game. Imagine if Football is played in four quarters instead of two halves.
On the whole, I really enjoyed the IPL, the intensity shown by the players was good, the skills displayed - especially the fielding - was world class, some of the captaincy moves were exceptional. Yet, the above listed things were a bit of a spoilsport. I hope next year's IPL will cut down on these irritants and provide a better coverage of the real thing.
