iSport | For the Fans, by the Fans

What starts with a bang ends with a whimper! At least that is something that you cannot associate with the extravaganza called the Indian Premier League [Read:Looking Back: The IPL-3 Summary]. Looking at the massive success of this league it was too hard to adjudge if this ‘Maha’ event would ever run into any kind of trouble. It had all the makings of the super nova smash hit which included sublime cricketers, grandiose stadiums, the best of coaches, cheer girls for distraction, imported support staff and to top the cake with some icing – a new stylized version of Bollywood deep pockets as owners of some of the most famous teams, a formula which surely stated that this league was here to stay. Or was it?

The first season which served as a curtain raiser brought the entire country to its feet. Starting from toddlers to old timers the IPL was a congruous amalgamation of entertainment frenzy and Bollywood subtleties. An unexpected media revolution which made every ‘breaking news’ not so ‘breaking’ and every channel dispatching every opportunity it got to unveil the elusive formula for TRP acquisition. Right from its inception, the IPL was ear marked for greatness and greatness it did achieve. The IPL got big and in the end, or call it the beginning, and the question that came to mind was – whether it was too big to hit or too big to miss?

Let’s not forget that unlike its not so affluent and mainly not so influential cousin the ICL, the IPL had official backing and wore a cloak of immunity and invisibility which was designed by the super cash rich BCCI [Read:BCCI: Badly Controlled Cricket in India], which only means that the IPL could be what the ICL only set out to be. J.K Rowling could not have come up with a better ‘Abra Cadabra’ to stir the entire nation into action and most importantly the vast number of bookies from making those magical sums of money.

Lalit Modi, the magician who finds himself expelled and lonely [Read:Lalit Modi’s Foot-in-the-Mouth Blunder!] at the centre of it all now was the final and foremost autonomy that made the IPL what it is today. The league is in the middle of a fix that can swing either way and if the BCCI can find a man who can simulate the charisma that Modi brought along then half of its problems will be solved. The remaining half will be solved by the people who don’t claim to take ownership of the teams in the IPL. At least that is what allegedly is what Modi is culpable of - non-disclosure of key aspects of team ownership and corruption in the system.

One is but naturally forced to draw parallels between the debacle in the IPL and the current state of the upcoming Common Wealth Games. It is absurd and obvious at the same time that whenever the stakes are high in any event such as the IPL the odds of a controversy or a can of worms being spilled are raised exponentially. Both, Mr. Kalmadi and Lalit Modi, may dread from the fact that it is easy to assume power of such programs but fairly difficult to see it through a rough patch. Especially if that rough patch destroys you.

Now back to the question if the League is going to survive or not. The IPL is here to stay and media moguls and TRP pundits will argue the fact that such an event can never be slipped into oblivion because of minor problems such as blatant corruption and sheer opaqueness in conducting its business. The creation is bigger than the creator and whosoever is at the helm of its execution will be rendered unimportant – unequivocally.