The return of the comeback King

The comeback king has done it again!!!

But this time his comeback is not getting the kind of universal support he got when he made his famous comeback to the Indian team. A lot of voices are asking the question – Why? Why he wants to play in IPL so desperately? What is the point in playing for a team which needs to win all its remaining matches to even qualify for the semis? And finally,the question which is being asked the most - Why can’t he retire gracefully?

I will come to the “retire gracefully” part first. I always find it strange when people ask great players why they are not retiring. In fact, there is a clichéd saying in cricket that players should retire when they are being asked why, rather than why not. To be frank, I find this a piece of bull s***. One of the greatest qualities of any sportsman, apart from talent, is the never-say-die spirit, the ability to fight back from any situation. Ganguly has that in abundance. When he took over the captaincy, Indian cricket was in shambles, thanks to the match fixing controversy. It was his fighting spirit that enabled him to fight against all odds and build a team which made it to the 2003 world cup final. It was his fighting sprit which enabled him to make a comeback into the national team when most so-called experts thought his playing days were over. When we so much admired his never-say-die attitude then, how can we expect it to suddenly vanish? If he was to “retire gracefully” now, he would have never built a world class team; he would have never made the glorious comeback to the Indian team; he would have never become one of the fines Indian captains of all time.

It would be naïve for anyone to think that Ganguly is doing all this for money. With the kind of respect and stature he has, I am sure he can easily earn much more money through other means. He is desperate to play in IPL as he has a point to prove. Kolkata Knight Riders have been the laughing stock of IPL for the past couple of years and as captain and a senior player in the team, a fair share of blame must go to Ganguly. Ganguly wants to set right the things. He wants to show his critics that he still has the firepower to hit those sixes over long on and long off; he can still find gaps in offside no matter how heavily guarded it is; as a leader of the team, if not the captain, he can still inspire youngsters to give their 110%.

At 38, I don’t know if Ganguly can still weave his magic, but what a moment it will be if he can. After all, isn’t it what sports is all about? To continuously challenge oneself without the fear of failure.

Why should I support RCB ?

Here is a question. In the Formula one championship if Karun Chandok is on the racing track, whom will you rather support? Karun Chandok or the team Force India (Owned by Vijay Mallaya)? I would rather go with Chandok than supporting a supposedly Indian team without any Indian drivers.

I have a similar dilemma with the IPL. For the last three years I was a die-hard fan of RCB. RCB had some of the stalwarts from Karnataka in Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid along with promising players like Robin Uthappa, Vinay Kumar, A Mithun and Manish Pandey, all of whom played for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy. Having these players in RCB gave me a reason to support the franchisee. The support to RCB was almost natural as there was continuity in supporting Karnataka and RCB.

Now that none of the above mentioned players are in the team except Mithun ( Kumble as a ‘mentor’ doesn’t count), I am finding it difficult to support my ‘home’ team. In fact, in RCB’s first match against Kochi, when Vinay kumar got Virat Kohli’s wicket, it made me happier.

So, the question comes, why should I support RCB? Is it because it has ‘Bangalore’ in the team name or because it plays all its ‘home’ matches in Bangalore or because its owner is based in Bangalore? Frankly speaking, none of these reasons excite me enough to support RCB.

It is not possible for any of the Franchisees to have all the players from the local region, but if at least 4-5 players are from the local team, it is easier to build a fan base and gain support.

Come April 19th and the match between Rajasthan Royals and the RCB and I might just support the Royals.

Things IPL can do without

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.

Champions League T20

A big talking point in the recently concluded Champions league Twenty20 tournament was the inability of any of the IPL teams to qualify for the semi-final. While Deccan Chargers were knocked out in the first round, RCB and Delhi Daredevils only managed to reach the super eights. This point has been used by all and sundry to ridicule the IPL as an over-hyped tournament without any “real” cricket. I would completely disagree with this point of view.

There is a big difference between IPL and other domestic teams. The players in the other domestic teams play together for the whole year, and not only the T20s but also other forms of the game. This allows the players to gel together and play as a team. On the other hand, the IPL players get together for a very short span before a major tournament which doesn’t allow them to bond together and it shows in the results.

Secondly, teams like NSW have a history behind them and money is not their only motivation. Continuing the legacy of stalwarts like the Don Bradman and Waugh brothers (all of whom played for NSW) is as important as the money they earn. If they lose, they not only let themselves and the team down, but also these cricketing greats. In contrast, the IPL players are mostly in the team to earn some good money. True, no sportsman wants to lose, but there isn’t any motivation to win either. As Dale Steyn famously said after the IPL-1, “IPL was a paid holiday”. This after RCB lost 10 of their 14 matches and finished seventh out of eight teams! I wonder whether he would have made this statement if he was representing his national or even the state team.

So, will the situation always be the same for the IPL teams? Will they just make up the numbers in tournaments like Champions league? I don’t think so. It will take time, at least couple more years, but IPL teams will get there. The other day in the match against Otago Volts, Ross Taylor received such a big reception from the Bangalore crowd that he must have thought he is in New Zealand. No, that’s not quite true; he doesn’t get this kind of reception even in New Zealand! From now on whenever he goes to bat for RCB, he will not only carry the million dollar cheque, but also the hopes of RCB fans. He will not only be accountable to Mr. Mallaya, but also to thousands of RCB fans. Once the players start associating themselves with the team, they will get that added motivation to perform, which in turn will allow the IPL teams to be more competitive. Also, the more matches they play together, the better will be the team spirit and better will be the performance.

What about the future of Champions league? The TRP ratings were recorded at 1.6 for the event, while it was 4.6 for IPL-2. The matches not involving any IPL teams were played in front of largely empty stands (Thank god the commentators did not make a fool of themselves by uttering the clichéd “What an electric atmosphere”, as they did in IPL-2).

But I think the tournament will only improve from here. Once the fans start relating with the foreign teams, the viewership will increase. In fact, even in this addition of the tournament, a lot of fans who did not support any team to start with, started supporting T&T by the end.

On the whole, Champions league was a very good tournament with some high quality cricket, though it would have been more enjoyable had any IPL team done better. Hopefully, the next edition of the tournament will bring more joy to the IPL fans