IPL – Hi PL- High PL

Everyone’s writing about IPL. Any blogger worth his sitemeter writes something about Bhaaji.. oops Bhajji on the beach, Cheergirls and short pants, Imported vs. Local talent, death of cricket and the emergence of shorts (short form of cricket, that is), etc etc etc.

Its my turn now. And rant, I will!

IPL’s biggest benefit – Slapgate would have shot the TRPs as much as K..k.k.k.Khan’s histrionics. If Mohali’s performance was not setting the stage on fire, probably Lalit Modi’s disappointment at not being hugged tightly by Preity Zinta was. While Katrina Kaif is cheering the royal losers/challengers, Akshay Khanna Kumar is showing his daredevilry elsewhere. Net net, the TRPs have been high. So much so that King Khan’s struggling to balance Fifth Graders (Paanchvi Pass) with Night Fallers/Riders.The initial questions about the IPL investments being worthwhile and the revenue being limited are surely out of the window now..

Biggest beneficiaries of IPL – Everyone wrote about the big money that a lot of good for nothing cricketers earned because of IPL. However, very few wrote about the opportunity it has created for youngsters in India, who would have tried to make a carrier out of the otherwise mediocre Indian Domestic Cricket. I hope everyone’s watching youngsters like Ravindra Jadeja (19 Years, Jaipur), Shikhar Dhawan (22 Years, Delhi), Abhishek Nayar (24 Years, Mumbai), Gony (24 Years, Chennai), Dinda (24 Years, Kolkata). Given a chance to play alongside the best that cricketing world has to offer, even if its in an unconventional format, these young guns are trying to elevate their game to the next level. At the end of the first couple of weeks, while there are some exemplary knocks from the established biggies like Hayden, Gilly, Sehwag, there are some equally significant performances from some youngsters as well.

Side benefits – Barring what Sreesanth did to Bhajji (with Bhajji doing Sreesanth in return and paying the price for it), this is a perfect platform for cricketers from different nations to be a little more amicable to each other. I have monkey’s idea of what was happening on the ground, but the feeling I had was that these two are not just from different countries, but probably from a different planet! When you share the dressing room, you share a lot of common jokes too. And it helps ease the tension when international sides play

together.

Also, there is a lot of competitive information that suddenly starts flowing hither wither. Imagine a Kallis sharing the fine points of Dada’s batting weakness (based on what he might have heard in strategy discussions with Dravid) during a south African team meeting! Nice!!

Yummm.. I’m loving it!