How the razzmatazz of IPL changed the face of Indian cricket
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is biggest franchise based form of T20 cricket currently. There is no other cricket league which comes even close in terms of the glitz of this eight week tournament, the sums of money offered to the participating players, the volume of crowds pulled into the stadiums, the eye balls glued to the television and lastly the quality of cricket being offered. The eight week tournament where eight franchise based teams play against each other twice, one home game and one away game, sees some of the best players from all over the world come up against each. Surely, such a big tournament held once every year in the months of April and May every year would have had some impact on the way Indian cricket fraternity is being perceived in the world of this sport. This is how I feel that IPL has changed the face of Indian cricket completely since its inception in 2008.
The quality of Indian cricket has risen many folds
When IPL started in 2008, I told my friends in my university that the next few years will be the best for Indian cricket and Indian cricket team will whizz past the rest of the cricket playing nations in terms of professionalism, game skills and fitness standards. There was genuine reason behind this argument. I felt that domestic Indian players, who never ventured outside to play County cricket in England or Sheffield Shield cricket in Australia, were getting this amazing opportunity to share dressing rooms with the best international players, coaches and fitness trainers for nearly two months in India itself. And surely, India went on to win the cricket world cup in 2011. But surprisingly, I was wrong. The IPL has extended this run of amazing improvements in an Indian cricketer from a few years to nearly 11 years now. We now see so much competition for the eleven slots in the Indian motional cricket team that sometimes I feel, India could put three different teams on the park and each team could still beat most of the other national teams around the world. Never has Indian cricket seen so much depth and perfection in all three areas of cricket namely batting, bowling and fielding.
Change in attitudes and mindsets of Indian cricketers
With the large sums of money bestowed on some of the best cricketers via auction, a good domestic Indian player never had the financial prosperity and security that they have now. The domestic Indian players now have sufficient long term security for their families and they needn't worry about a backup plan in case their cricket career didn't take-off. A person having financial security could dare to dream big and hence carries a positive attitude which enables him to succeed more often then not. I see a distinct change in mindset of current crop of India international players. They play more aggressively on the field and their mindset is to go for a win than settle for middling outcome. This is distinct change when Indian cricketers in 2000s and 1990s would play well but still lack a killer punch to win the games. The current crop of India national players carry the confidence and experience of competing in close matches in IPL and hence they are able to experience more success at the international level. If you dig up the records for last ten years, you will certainly find higher win percentage for India's national cricket team than in the preceding decades.
They get to live an amazing eight weeks of roller coaster
Yes, IPL is a roller coaster. Cricketers travel to as many as ten cities in a span of eight weeks and they are on plane almost two-three times in a single week. The game and travel is hectic but it is one heck of an experience. With night games, which start at 8pm and end at mid-night, IPL cricketers don't get to sleep that night since they have to catch an early flight coming morning for a game which is scheduled in a different city the next day. So many IPL cricketers acclimatize their body clocks according to Greenwich Mean Time rather than operating on Indian Standard Time zone. Not only the players operate on Greenwich time zone but the television crews, broadcasters and even cricket commentators operate on Greenwich time zone to keep this roller coaster going. in addition, the after game celebrations, late night parties, advertisement filming and product promotions, the plate is more than full for these IPL cricketers for these eight weeks. An Indian player is not only enhancing his skills of the game on the field but he is also learning other aspects of business that takes place behind the scene in IPL. I will not be surprised if IPL becomes a sort employment engine for the retired Indian cricketers in years to come.
Unearthing of new talents
This is probably IPL's biggest boon to Indian cricket. IPL has given opportunities to people from the remotest parts of India to perform in front of massive crowds and compete against and with the best cricketers in the world. The IPL franchises pick talented young cricketers from their allocated catchment areas in various Indian states and allow them the express themselves on a big stage. In 2018 edition, young cricketers from even small countries like Nepal (Sandeep Lamichhane) and Afghanistan (Rashid Khan) made a lasting impression on minds of people with their stellar performances. Several current India national team players such as Ravi Ashwin were unearth from previous IPLs and subsequently have represented India with great success.
The rise of franchise based teams and fans
For long, India lacked a franchise based sporting event like the English Premier League, La Liga or Formula One. IPL provided just the right kind franchise based sporting spectacle where prominent cities in India like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Bangalore own their own teams albeit via private business houses. The fans in India can now follow and support teams in their own cities and are also able to color the stadiums with jersey color of their home team. There are home and away games which allows people of one city to see all the best players in the world in action is their respective cities. Then there are oddities like a big cricketer like Virat Kohli doesn't play for his home city Delhi but he plays from team Bangalore. Its great fun to see when Virat Kohli come to Delhi to play an away game for Bangalore and he gets the biggest cheers from the big crowd when he steps on the field.
