SlugDog Millionaire

Last week the hammer went down on the player auctioning for the 2nd season of IPL and with another round of Tamasha set to begin soon, I am left wondering at the distance I am maintaining in my mind from this form of ‘fantasy’ cricket. Looking at the auctions brought in a kind of revulsions & disgust, a niggling feeling of unease at how the game has been commercialized, pure Bollywood ishtyle. Cricket Atyachaar I said to myself as I cut through a sneery swathe of following questions in my mind looking for weary answers

Where is the Passion in this form of game? Cricket is religion in this country & its proponents reigning Gods right? And is one magic formula where our million mutinies gets temporarily absolved in oneness with the Blue brigade when they fight the marauding Aussies or motivated Pakis. Can the same be even remotely replicated here in IPL? Agreed, its packaged for entertainment but why in the name of Almighty should I show allegiance to some funny sounding city based team? After team India I can only identify with team Karnataka , yaah with that ‘Soil ke Phool’ feeling (duh).But with Jack Kallis , Kevin Peterson & ilk , and holding Royal Challenger flag? Naah...i’d rather take it as some offbeat advertisement and endorsement for Mr.Mallya & his tipple.

What were the Bollywood film heroines doing there at the auctions? Maybe to keep the glamour quotient off the field, remember that there are firang (Redkin) cheerleaders to take care in the field. But what the heck , are they not doing the same thing what Mandira did to anchoring & commentary during World Cup? Who cares as along as the eye balls are rolling in.

What about economics, is there anything called recession here? I read somewhere that it was the only asset class (for investors in IPL teams) where one could have got 100% returns in the past one year. Maybe that’s what prompted Raj kundra to pump around $16 million in Rajasthan Royals, prompted by all the calculators on valuation & RoI that JP Morgan & KPMG would have churned out. With million dollar babies (read players) around ,will the average cricket fan beat his recession blues to watch the celebrity slambang talent with price tag glitter remains to be seen.

What will happen to the real art & craft of the game? I mean the one suited for the original longer version of the game. T20 seems to be the ‘in-thing’, with its testosterone influenced plot, and IPL has taken it further by placing it on a commercial easel with a heady mix of glamour and money. Actual Cricket is dead & buried, long live Cricket!