Raasukutty's

Tag: cricket

  • What’s it about IPL?

    IPL. If you are in India, you should have recognized this word by now. Everyone speaks about it. It has been the headlines for a week now. What is so special about IPL? Let me try to figure it out.

    • In IPL, the players are not playing for the country. So there is no must-win situtation.
    • Cricket is being seen as a game, entertainment sport rather than as a war between the teams.
    • It is the shortest version of the game. Must similar to street cricket to which each and every kid in India can associate to.
    • It provides a place where you can see Ponting (Australia) providing tips to Ishant (India) on how to bowl.
    • It crosses all boundaries and lifts the spirit of the game.
    • It has also brought Sharukh, Preity, Karan and all into the game to add value.
    • It has provided BCCI, the stadiums, the local cricket board, ad-sponsers with more revenue.

    What more can one ask for a complete entertainment. Enjoy watching cricket! Enjoy the stars!

  • IPL: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

    The big gala event of Cricket started yesterday in Bangalore. Lalit Modi (Chairman IPL) and Vijay Mallya (RCB Owner, UB group) must have been happy with how the crowd responded. There was a grand cultural extravaganza before the actual ‘Karmayudh’ started.

    Surely, there was glamour, high decibel scream brought in by the dancing girls, acrobatics, Shankar Mahadevan, bollywood stars and King Khan himself. The crowd should have enjoyed a lot.

    IPL had a theme for each team. Bangalore was all Red (Why doubt, KingFisher man), and my favourite team for this IPL, Kolkatta were truely attired as Kinght Riders in Black and Gold. Even the helmet was Golden colour. After all the cultural openings faded, the match started.

    Ganguly collapsed for 10 and Ponting for 20. Then came McCollum. He made a massive 158* runs consuming just 78 balls. An innings expected out of Twenty20. There was great cheering for each six he sent out to the gathering. What more could Sharukh ask for.

    Then came the RCB innings, though the local crowd expected a lot, the first blow itself showed what was in store. Ishant Sharma took the first wicket of Dravid in his very first ball. Deadly! and the story continued. Nice game play by KKR and the match was theirs.

    Every news channel, screams the head lines. IPL, IPL, IPL. Just tune in now, you could read something on any news channel about IPL, exclusive interviews …. Indeed Cricket is India’s National Game. We have it in our mind and in our blood.

  • Indian Premiere League

    India – though not the land where Cricket was born; has unofficially become the capital of Cricket. This is the land where cricket is closely debated to religion. Cricket is one thing that brings all the people in India together. People here criticize, celebrate, worship cricket and cricketers. We have a lot of cricketing icons in India. I feel proud when my team wins; and I get upset when Team India loses. This is one feeling common to many people here in India, though we have some few people who love the game over the team.

    A cricketer in India earns more money than any other in the world. ‘If Cricket is religion, then Sachin is God’, ‘Dada is the best’ are some slogans that keep reverberating in every nook and corner of India. Such is the status of a cricketer. They also suffer a lot in the hands of the public when they fail to deliver. Why not! when there is such a huge following, it is the duty of the leaders to deliver. And if the game is against India, then it is not a game; IT IS WAR.

    Each cricketer endorses a brand and earn a lot. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is one of the largest money making boards in the World. To add to this craze, Indian Premiere League has been started. A move to have large corporations to run business with cricket.

    It is more like the English county, but a lot bigger in terms of money. I like the idea of having county like cricket in India, and corporations involved in promoting the game further, but should it mean the players need to be auctioned? A price for the head and skill, won’t that spoil the spirit of the game? What would Gilchirst think about his talent? Is he not a better player than Dhoni or Symonds. Is it not creating inequality between members of the same team.

    Why not pay everyone the same amount of money within the teams. Why not distinguish with  the prize money for the winning teams? Won’t that be a better solution to create better cricketers?  Just a thought!