Indian Cricket
If It is April, Must Be Time For IPL
By Gaurang
April 1 2013
As the sixth edition of the Indian Premiere League gets underway, it has established an identity all its own, and the cricket world's eyes are now all focused on this season ending romp of cricketing razzmatazz.
One sour note however is the increasingly shrill attempts by the English Cricket Board to somehow resist the call to establish an official IPL window, allowing the Best in the world to play in the biggest Twenty20 tournament in the World. But never mind, their's is a losing cause and there are increasing signs that England's cricketers if not its administrators are clamouring to get in on the action.
Of course in a country as big and diverse as India nothing is ever totally smooth, so it is this time as well as the IPL faces the somewhat embarassing issue of having to instruct franchises to not play their Sri Lankan players in Chennai. The Chief Minister of that State, having decided that the IPL offers a unique platform to kill two birds with one stone has indeed launched her pebble from her sling shot. Firstly her sudden opposition to Lankan players playing in Chennai brings her unprecedented global publicity, secondly it curry favors with a key section of the electorate in her State, who see the mistreatment of their fellow Tamilians in Sri Lanka as a grave injustice and human rights violation and will likely help, or so she calculates in upcoming elections. One must be sensitive not to trivialize a serious issue, because there is truth in the allegation of mistreatment of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka, but there is also truth in the Sri Lankan governmental position that the LTTE was a violent organization that pioneered the tactic of the "suicide attacks" which is now the hall mark of terrorist organizations of all ilk.
What is forgotten in this politicization of the issue of Tamils in Sri Lanka are several points. The first being that Cricket has always been a force for bringing people together, though it has been used by politicians of all kinds to further their agenda. In the the case of the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka one must not forget that one the biggest heroes of Sri Lankan cricket is Mutthiah Muralitharan, a Tamilian by ethnicity. And Murali in turn showed the true spirit of patriotism when he lambasted inept Lankan officials and lent his name and credibility to the relief effort after the Tsunami of the middle of the last decade, devasted his homeland. I am sure he would not want his fellow Lankans to be threatened anywhere in the world, and more particularly in his spiritual homeland of Tamil Nadu. But this too will pass, though the way the matter was handled was a combination of the tactlessness and compromise that the BCCI seems skilled at.
So, here we are at the start of the Summer Vacation for Indian kids, and the start of another IPL season. What a perfect combination. Growing up in the era of only one TV channel, the black and white State run Doordarshan, this author's summer vacations were filled with reading books (mostly comic books and mystery books) and playing cricket from morning till noon and then again from late afternoon till a bit after dusk or even longer if a suitable patch of ground happended to be lit by sufficient street lights. Now the Big Boys play this same brand of instant cricket under lights, and the passions it stirs are similar. It is a brand of cricket played for fun and with friends, keen but friendly rivalries abound and generally having a good time is the motif. And as many a mother today will attest the play was not strictly restricted to the boys. Yes co-ed cricket existed in India many decades ago. No wonder the Indian kids and yes, even their parents, both Dads and Moms, are hooked on this form of the game. They can identify with it on a very personal level.
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01/04/2013 22:46
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:04:15:17:52:34 by Birbal.
"Ghettoization" as practiced by the BEEB...
Meanwhile New York Times has a piece on the start of the IPL tournament... (though it mistakenly calls it the start of the cricket season... guess that is understandable considering it is start of the baseball season in USA)...
[www.nytimes.com]
Their's posted on April 4...mine on April 1...
Now you know why they are worthy of being DETESTED ...
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2013:04:04:18:40:05 by Birbal.
you cricketing knowldege and writing skills are valued by a lot of us here
The old fuddy duddies in the ECB better take note...if they can get over the wave of indignation, bitterness, bile, jealousy, and envy that they are wallowing in...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:04:04:22:04:48 by Birbal.
Quote:It is where we are, every April, in IPL land. And that applies to the cricketers of Nottinghamshire, Sussex and Somerset because they wish they could bin the beanies and the mittens and the warm-up matches against the Universities and be there too.
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