"I do not
wish Twenty20 well, though I welcome new funds for cricket and
cricketers. I think Twenty20 is a decadent, dumbed-down, third-rate
formula for sub-prime cricket."
Former Times editor William Rees-Mogg makes clear his dislike for the Indian Premier League
I've spent the entire past month watching the Indian Premier League,
like most of this country. I've been following the tournament's
progress right from the time Lalit Modi announced its creation. To be
honest, back then I was pretty disgusted. I knew, like everyone else,
that it was only a knee-jerk response to the ICL, and I figured it
would sink without a trace. And frankly, now I'm impressed. What annoys
me no end, however, is the procession of "pundits" who bash T20 and the
IPL.
When the 2006 football World Cup came up, I was bored of
cricket because Australia was winning everything and India were busy
trying to draw everything else. The front-foot defensive stroke seemed
to have become the way to glory. The doze-fest that the ICC put
together in the Caribbean in 2007 wasn't helping. When did I get hooked
on cricket again? The ICC World Twenty20.
And trust me, since
then, I've watched cricket in all its forms - the Tests against
Pakistan, Australia and South Africa and the ODI series against
Australia - both home and away. And I assure you, pre-T20, I only ever
watched the highlights packages in Test games. And this is not just my
story - it applies to many of my friends spread across three cities in
India, so I guess I can safely presume it applies to vast portions of
India's youth. So much for fears that other forms of cricket will
suffer.
You see Mr Rees-Mogg (and your ilk), T20 isn't all as
bad as you think it is. Tests a few years ago were seen by my
generation as slow, plodding affairs (except for the occasional
Atherton-Donald battle or Laxman tearing up Australia's bowling). We
young people kept track of the scores, but we didn't have time to watch
twenty-two men play defensive shots all day for five days running.
Remember that Saki once wrote of Lady Whortleberry's husband - "He
died quite abruptly while watching a county cricket match; two and a
half inches of rain had fallen for seven runs, and it was supposed that
the excitement killed him." Unfortunately, the great man wasn't
exaggerating much. Cricket was losing viewership, and you know it. And
there's no point in defending a sport no one is interested in, is there?
So
how does Twenty20 help cricket? T20 has reminded certain teams that the
objective of cricket is to take as many wickets as possible while
scoring as many runs as possible. It has reminded them that a draw is
not a result, but a win is.
It has taught cricketers that proper
technique works - yes, Mr Rees-Mogg, most of the really good scoring
strokes in T20 happen to be proper cricket shots, and you should know
that (unless the only T20 game you saw was the first one ever, where
nobody would've had a clue as to what works and what doesn't). It has
taught players to improvize shots where none existed - yes, the
Marillier scoop and the hoik over midwicket aren't in the textbook but
they both satisfy their purpose. And even your venerated cover drives
and square cuts had to be invented at some point, so why not recognize
these new additions as legitimate shots too? And while we're on the
subject - runs are more important than the choreography of the
batsman's stroke. Cricket is a competitive, professional sport, not a
ballet performance.
T20 has taught quite a few teams what real
aggression is. It teaches the value of clean hitting. It teaches
bowlers to bowl a good length, because otherwise they will be punished.
Horribly.
It forces defensive-minded bowlers to think of ways to
take ten wickets in two-fifths the time they usually have. It compels
them to think of ways to be niggardly enough to not drown in a flood of
runs.
It forces fielders to convert fours to twos and twos to
singles and singles to run-outs. It produces spectacular catches and
mind-blowing athleticism. It teaches players to think and act faster,
it teaches them the value of their wickets. It professes attack, not
defense.
Like it or not, limited overs games (whether they are
fifty overs long or twenty) encourage cricket to be played as any
self-respecting sport should be - with full-on aggro and in absolute
attack mode (Golf is not attacking because it is not a self-respecting
sport. In fact, I wouldn't even go so far as to call it a sport. But I
digress).
Look at the recent India-Australia tests down under.
In the era of silk shirts and polite applause, would any game ever have
managed over four runs an over in a test consistently? And if we had
stuck to silk shirts, polite applause and "Well played, sir!", do you
think this sort of scoring rate would ever have come about? And they
still made four hundred runs in an innings on a regular basis, mind.
The
point I'm trying to make here is that T20 only helps cricket. It is
going to bring in younger viewers who don't have time for defensive
plodding. Hell, it's going to bring in totally new audiences.
Try bringing in an American or a Chinese with a promise of an
"exciting" game that lasts five days. Then if you can bring him back
from wherever he flees to, show him the three hour version and see if
he doesn't get hooked. Then you can show him Tests.
Coming to
the IPL in particular - yes, it's ostentatious, but Lalit Modi has done
a heck of a good job. The opening ceremony made the last few World Cups
look amateurish (especially the last World Cup, which looked lousy even
before the IPL came along). As for all the talk of the money being
obscene, well, I guess you lot are just jealous. ("Blimey, where do
these Indian blokes get their money?")Remember, the players train their
bums off to play their game. They put on a spectacle that a few hundred
million people are watching. Twenty20 is entertainment for you and me,
but to them it's their bread and butter. The career risks are high and
reputations can be made or broken in an instant - look at Symonds' final over in the match against Rajasthan Royals;
will anyone remember his century after that? Hell, they deserve the
cash, and the BCCI deserve the profit for the work they've put in to
come up with this. Of course, I agree the media guidelines are over the
top and atrocious, but hell, the rest of the package is good. Look what
all the cash is producing - pure fireworks (and I don't just mean the
ones that went flying off the Chinnaswamy Stadium's roof). Did anyone
think even a team could make 158 in twenty overs, let alone one batsman
(for those of you who have just returned from holidays in the outer
reaches of the universe, Brendon McCullum played the innings of a
lifetime against Bangalore).
And
without the IPL, how would anyone ever give a chance to guys like
Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Salunkhe, Palani Amarnath, S Badrinath,
Manpreet Gony, Rajat Bhatia, Shikhar Dhawan, Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna,
Ashok Dinda or Dhawal Kulkarni? At the risk of sounding like a
tele-shopping commercial, now these guys get to play against the likes
of Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Brett Lee,
Mike Hussey, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh -
you get the picture. And the rookies are doing pretty well for
themselves too, despite the quality of opposition. You see, Mr.
Rees-Mogg, there has to be some way for our players to show their
talent. Our domestic scene just isn't good enough.
To me, the
victory of the IPL shows up in those little moments of brilliance -
Shane Warne leading his young and inexperienced side to two successive
wins against fancied opposition, Shane Warne on the shoulders of a
bunch of youngsters just over half his age, Metronome McGrath giving a
miserliness master-class over a year after retirement, Yuvraj Singh
hugging Brett Lee at the fall of a wicket, ditto for Sehwag and
Mohammed Asif. Matthew Hayden (finally) appreciating an Indian
cricketer (MS Dhoni), Hussey and Hayden sharing tips with a bunch of
Chennai youngsters, Warne running after young Ravindra Jadeja to
congratulate him after a match-winning cameo - all those feel-good
moments that money can't buy. Or dare I say it, moments that IPL money
has now bought.
I rest my case.
P.S. : Can you think of one other good reason
for the BCCI to finally clean up the Ferozeshah Kotla, make it look fit
to host a game and give it floodlights? Yes, they actually did. And all
for the IPL.
P.P.S.
: Cheerleaders are okay. They don't seem to serve any real purpose
except providing ogle-material for sex-starved testosterone-driven men
on the ground, but boys will be boys. All you moral-police wannabes,
please grow up.
Currently Reading: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Recent Movies: IronMan rules!
