The Indian Premier League has been shifted to South Africa, clearly the cricket IPL lost to the other IPL- Indian Political League…
The government’s decision to shift the IPL has clearly broken Indian hearts but has curtailed fears of many multi–million dollar investors and International players who were concerned about their safety (b*****t!). But the biggest beneficiaries here are, not surprisingly, the opposition political parties. The BJP has already reacted venomously with their poster boy Narendra Modi calling it “national shame”, but Mr. P. Chidambaram reacted in an acerbic reply aptly reminding Mr. Modi about “Gujrat riots” the real national shame.
Average Indian however is unperturbed by the opportunistic politicos making IPL national shame issue, because ever since there have been issues which acquire public attention (read affection) the Indian politicos are first to pounce on the opportunities. May it be the BCCI president ship, the IPL franchises, the cheerleaders, the list is endless…
But then all the average Indian is worried about is future of cricket in India.
Cant India take care of a month long tournament?
Is India going to lose its image as a safe world cup venue too?
Really??
Darn No..
This is nothing more than a gossip topic on company canteen lunch or a CCD/ Barista conversation starter. The real fact is that India (because of the IPL alone) is attracting to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of foreign investment, thats humongous especially in current global economic scenario, the players do not earn this much in their life times as much as they do in this one month of the year! India has become a cricket world magnet which is now attracting even its detractors, the ECB, which could never imagine such investments in their own country.
I think it was Saeed Anwar who said some time back that “India has had as many terrorist attacks; if not more than the Pakistan, still the cricket in India is not suffering because BCCI is paying lot of money, it’s unfair.”
In fact the IPL will be even more popular now once it gets the global exposure by spreading to a different continent, imagine South Aftrican businessmen wanting stakes in Mumbai Indians or the Microsofts or Apples wanting to put their logos on Chennai Super Kings or Vijay Mallya bidding for some Durban prodigies over KPs and Flintoffs… When children in Australia will say I want to grow up and play for Delhi Daredevils! It will be just like young Brazilian or Argentinean kids wanting to play football for Manchester United or Real Madrid when they grow up.
The global face of India as a cricketing nation is just getting brighter and we are getting exposed to unprecedented levels of fame and prosperity, our teams are no longer local, our games are discussed in West Indies bars and Australian cricket academies. I don’t think its national shame. In fact I dare say the cricket as a game is going to change forever.
