IPL thoughts

I have no access to the IPL. My schedule does not permit me to watch any of the matches. Hence, my take on the IPL will be distinctly second-hand as the days go by. I don't have the doubts about the IPL that many of its skeptics do; I think the games will entertain millions of folks, and generate billions of dollars. I also think that problems of partisanship will disappear given a couple of seasons of aggressive marketing. Fundamentally, cheering for professional franchises is like cheering for Ford vs. Chrysler, but people are ready to be sold a package and the marketing folks oblige. In New York, a man born and bred in Washington Heights is regarded as the enemy at Yankee Stadium just because he plays for Boston. And a Japanese man picks up huge cheers, because he is identified as a New York Yankee. So, I have no doubts that soon McGrath will be regarded as a Dilliwallah, and that other cricketers of various nationalities will be adopted by their cities' youngsters. My concern has always been focused on one thing: will any of this help test cricket? I read in this piece for example, that Warne has taken a young Mumbai leggie under his wing. All I want to know is: any chance this lad will go on to become a spinner in test cricket for the Indian national team? (Sorry, I meant the BCCI India XI?) Perhaps he won't bother; perhaps he enjoys wheeling away for a few overs at a time and making big bucks instead.

I don't have an abstract interest in cricket i.e., the kind that is happy if the game flourishes in any form whatsoever. My love for the game is inseparably bound up with a version of the game that stocked childhood fantasies, and provided plenty of fuel for my imaginative tendencies. Twenty20 will not do that to me; and its too late for me to start constructing a whole new set of dreams based around this version. That said, I wouldn't begrudge the new generation of cricket fans the opportunity to develop an entirely new set of dreams, fantasies and hopes, all centered around a different version of the game. All I can do is hope that test cricket will not be completely annihlated by this form. If it makes tests rarer, and possibly only played between teams of reasonable quality (i.e., we will not be exposed to the Bang-Zim fiascoes any more) then perhaps some good will have come out of all this.