After the humiliating loss for India at the Perth Test, reactions have started pouring in. Many former players like Micheal Vaughan and Bishen Singh Bedi seem to blame the IPL for the slide in Indian Cricket.
I am pretty certain, I will disagree to it. On the contrary, I believe that IPL will help Test Cricket grow and survive. The purists see the IPL as the manifestation of this rich monster called BCCI, which would eventually kill the game's purest version. But far from being the monster, it may well be the panacea for many of the woes of test match cricket.
India loosing abroad is not new. In fact India spent the entire decade of the 1990s without a single test match win overseas. India went, lost, came back and then forgot. There was no IPL then. So, suddenly these defeats cannot be attributed to the IPL. Before we start pointing our fingers to the IPL, it is worth looking at all the good it has done.
IPL is a huge platform where everyone gets to showcase their talents. From playing Ranji cricket in front of empty stands suddenly these young Indians are moved to packed stadiums. All of a sudden they start playing along side the best in the world.
Let us also not forget that it is courtesy IPL that we have players like David Warner are coming up. It is this new and exciting brand of cricket that will keep test match cricket in great health. Warner has showed that success in T20 format can be translated into Test Match cricket as well. Traditionally opening in test match cricket meant that one had be technically exact with the book. Openers were expected to score not more than two and half runs an over. They were expected to bat long and take the shine away from the new ball. With the advent of players like Sehwag, Warner, Dilshan and Watson there is transition to the openers being the game makers. They now make use of the new ball by crunching it t different parts of the ground. Now they make use of attacking fields and hit over the top. This radically new approach to cricket would have never come to being if we did not have shorter versions of the game.
Cricket is unique sport which is played in three different formats and each one of them helps the other in improving the cricketing standards. For instance ODI cricket brought speed into test match cricket and we started getting more and more games with results. Similarly, T20 and IPL are likely to benefit improve the other two forms of the game.
Indian cricket has also benefited from IPL. It was here in IPL that Suresh Raina got back into form. India unearthed Ravichandran Ashwin from IPL. Rahul Sharma who has not yet made a mark in international cricket but who seems to have the potential is an IPL product. Players like Irfan Pathan get a chance to come back because of this tournament. Ravindra Jadeja who has real future in the Indian team was also spotted in the IPL. IPL is a format where the young Indian players, who would never have been noticed get a chance to rub shoulders with the legends of them. They get to compete with them. They get a stage where playing well would leave a huge impression. I am pretty sure, IPL has done more good than bad to cricket and Indian cricket in particular.
IPL allows players from Netherlands (like Ryan Ten Doeschate) to play at big stage get recognized. Such, opportunities for these talented players from non-test playing nations do not come easily. If Ryan Ten Doeschate can take his game to a new level in IPL, it will encourage the other young talents from Holland to take the game seriously. This could be the stepping stone to spread cricket around the world. Surely, we cannot take a 5-day match around the world. It is this shortest format, which can get people into cricket. Once, they are into the T20 cricket we can hope that the interest percolates into test matches as well.
IPL in the long run has some great things to offer. At the same time there could some aspects which may not be so good for cricket. For instance it may allow the wounds of defeat in test match cricket heal far too early. But, that does not mean we throw it out of the window. We need to find a way to work with it such that we can reap all the benefits of IPL and yet not loose anything from it.
I am pretty certain, I will disagree to it. On the contrary, I believe that IPL will help Test Cricket grow and survive. The purists see the IPL as the manifestation of this rich monster called BCCI, which would eventually kill the game's purest version. But far from being the monster, it may well be the panacea for many of the woes of test match cricket.
India loosing abroad is not new. In fact India spent the entire decade of the 1990s without a single test match win overseas. India went, lost, came back and then forgot. There was no IPL then. So, suddenly these defeats cannot be attributed to the IPL. Before we start pointing our fingers to the IPL, it is worth looking at all the good it has done.
IPL is a huge platform where everyone gets to showcase their talents. From playing Ranji cricket in front of empty stands suddenly these young Indians are moved to packed stadiums. All of a sudden they start playing along side the best in the world.
Let us also not forget that it is courtesy IPL that we have players like David Warner are coming up. It is this new and exciting brand of cricket that will keep test match cricket in great health. Warner has showed that success in T20 format can be translated into Test Match cricket as well. Traditionally opening in test match cricket meant that one had be technically exact with the book. Openers were expected to score not more than two and half runs an over. They were expected to bat long and take the shine away from the new ball. With the advent of players like Sehwag, Warner, Dilshan and Watson there is transition to the openers being the game makers. They now make use of the new ball by crunching it t different parts of the ground. Now they make use of attacking fields and hit over the top. This radically new approach to cricket would have never come to being if we did not have shorter versions of the game.
Cricket is unique sport which is played in three different formats and each one of them helps the other in improving the cricketing standards. For instance ODI cricket brought speed into test match cricket and we started getting more and more games with results. Similarly, T20 and IPL are likely to benefit improve the other two forms of the game.
Indian cricket has also benefited from IPL. It was here in IPL that Suresh Raina got back into form. India unearthed Ravichandran Ashwin from IPL. Rahul Sharma who has not yet made a mark in international cricket but who seems to have the potential is an IPL product. Players like Irfan Pathan get a chance to come back because of this tournament. Ravindra Jadeja who has real future in the Indian team was also spotted in the IPL. IPL is a format where the young Indian players, who would never have been noticed get a chance to rub shoulders with the legends of them. They get to compete with them. They get a stage where playing well would leave a huge impression. I am pretty sure, IPL has done more good than bad to cricket and Indian cricket in particular.
IPL allows players from Netherlands (like Ryan Ten Doeschate) to play at big stage get recognized. Such, opportunities for these talented players from non-test playing nations do not come easily. If Ryan Ten Doeschate can take his game to a new level in IPL, it will encourage the other young talents from Holland to take the game seriously. This could be the stepping stone to spread cricket around the world. Surely, we cannot take a 5-day match around the world. It is this shortest format, which can get people into cricket. Once, they are into the T20 cricket we can hope that the interest percolates into test matches as well.
IPL in the long run has some great things to offer. At the same time there could some aspects which may not be so good for cricket. For instance it may allow the wounds of defeat in test match cricket heal far too early. But, that does not mean we throw it out of the window. We need to find a way to work with it such that we can reap all the benefits of IPL and yet not loose anything from it.
Despite the fact that it has been somewhat neatly written, capturing the flaws in the arguments of those who believe otherwise and all that , I feel that heed hasn't been paid to specifics that make a proper cricketer, if a definition for such a thing exists in this rapidly changing game.
ReplyDeleteI mean, you could have predicated your theory on what it takes to be a useful cricketer in the long run and expatiated on it. In that way, you could have debunked, if that is indeed possible, the theory that IPL has been the thin end of the wedge.
I know you have the proper thoughts and all that stuffing which makes one capable of sieving evidences and discerning things. All you need is a stronger argument, and I know you are capable of it.
For otherwise it would only be counted as something akin to a rant by a rabid IPL fanatic, albeit in this case it's far off from being one.
Hi, Anirudh! Thanks a lot for the comment. I do understand the point you are making.
ReplyDeleteThe basic purpose of this article was to point out that there are a lot of gifts which IPL gives to cricket but it also gives out some side-effects. While we are reaping the benefits, we should not start blaming it when something goes wrong. Possibly, it could be elucidated with more instances.
Ok. Thanks. I get the point now.
ReplyDeleteOk thanks bye. Let's meet sometime :P Haha!