Monday, May 25, 2009

IPL

And so another season of IPL ended yesterday. Congratulations to all the DC fans on this blog (which I'm assuming is all of us). IPL inspite of the nauseating publicity and Lalit Modi was decent fun. It helped that I followed a large part of it online, and then watched whatever I did on pirated links, it was a distilled IPL bereft of all the off field drama.

I followed most of it with a prejudiced mind set viz "bah...what nautanki" , while one read and discussed all the while the almost utopic situations of favourite players from different countries playing together, it really didn't hit me until the final match, when Kumble and Boucher were celebrating Gilchrist's dismissal.

What was most humbling (and disturbing) was the fact that IPL has "undemonized" all the Aussie players for me. I felt no anger when Symonds was sledging or abusing 19 year old Manish Pandey, and in one moment it exposed me to all of my bigotry. I dread about the day when I might end up cheering for Ponting, I'm glad though that he plays for KKR, I hope DC never decides to buy him. It showed me what I had missed while Gilchrist was thrashing us in a test in Bombay, the excuses I came up with to rationalize how and why someone could change a match in a matter of few overs.

There was a feeling of disappointment as it all ended, will I ever watch Warne spin his magic? or witness a c. Dravid b. Kumble? IPL turned out to be a second chance to appreciate some players I refused to acknowledge.

But, on the other hand, I have developed new prejudices.

5 comments:

ravptor said...

Did not watch a single game so I don't know about "nautanki" on field but there seems to be too much off-field.

So what are the new prejudices?

Leena said...

I didn't watch the series either, but I am happy DC won.. heard there were celebrations in the city with dhols, fireworks et al at a few places.. so i like the spirit. :)

nicely written, btw.

partha said...

@ravptor,
just to put the nautanki into perspective, the teams that made most money this year, never made it to the semis.

as a marketing strategy i can't reveal prejudices. you will have to follow the blog to figure it out ;)

@leena, thank you :)

Sharad Ragas said...

Nicely written. And I agree, even though I have not watched any games.. I could make out from the overwhelming pro-Gilly responses on FB, that fans of cricket are forgiving and good enthusiasts of the game. Always a pleasant sight/sound/read.

My mind always traces back to the article written by Harsha Bhogle after the inaugural IPL last season, when he wondered out aloud if the Indian public is ready to accept the dichotomous support in their heads - Sachin or Hyderabad? The second season eased the Indian fans out of some of their confusion, I think.

adr said...

"The second season eased the Indian fans out of some of their confusion, I think."

@SR, oh it din't ease much I'd say. People here are split downright in the middle, half for Mumbai (for the one obvious reason - Sachin) and the other for Hyd.