COVID pandemic has the worst affected sports globally. It has also changed the Indian cricket scene drastically, but 15 days of IPL have revived the spirits of cricket lovers like never before. The smash-and-bash short format, called T-20 has in no time jumped above the slump created by the six-month break.
This IPL is historic for several reasons. It is the first-ever multiplayer sports event being organised amid raging the Covid-19 pandemic. The implementation of bio-bubble, absence of audiences in the stands and the missing glitz and gala for which IPL has always been known makes it a different event altogether. The love and excitement for the crisp cricket format in India is higher than ever this time even though the matches are being played more than 1,620 miles away in the United Arab Emirates.
While this might seem like a radical step — akin to moving Major League Baseball to Costa Rica for a season — the shift makes a lot of sense. India locked down its economy but failed to stem the coronavirus. The country now has the second-highest number of cases, overtaking Brazil. Packing stadiums in the cricket-mad nation of 1.3 billion was a non-starter. But to deprive them of the opportunity to stream their favorite stars would have piled cruelty on the tragedy. Cricket is as much a religion as a pastime.
An alternative had to found, the closer to the sub-continent the better. The UAE is the best alternative as it excels as a transportation hub and a venue for international events. And IPL is a global business — valued at some $6.8 billion — headquartered in Mumbai. Far from showing the limits of corporate cricket, the pandemic era is displaying its strengths.
Critically, the eight teams in the tournament are all based in India and feature domestic stars sprinkled with the best global talent money can buy. In times of disease, it’s easier to manage what’s essentially a transplanted domestic competition than clusters of international teams with the diverse customs and quarantine requirements that come with them. Experts of cricket believe that the IPL is only going to grow in the years ahead. Holding this year’s competition in the UAE and without any fans is a big inconvenience, obviously. But it doesn’t change the long-term trends which are making the IPL an even bigger part of world cricket. Historically, cricket has been unusual in how much it has revolved around nation versus nation contests. T-20, especially the IPL, is moving cricket toward the [European] football model. There will be international tournaments, but fans’ day-to-day focus will increasingly be on club games. There’s clearly a huge amount of uncertainty, but the pandemic could well accelerate the changes, and the shift to cricket being a sport that increasingly revolves around club versus club matches.
Another interesting fact about IPL is that brilliant teams
didn’t generate over half of the cricket’s total wealth, as India now does with
IPL. So you have a country that’s the economic giant of the sport, and a team
that’s one of the best in the world— India is ranked in the top three in
the world in all three formats.
IPL is a preferred format for the players too. A player can
earn more in a single IPL season than many could in their entire careers under
the old model. It’s re-shaped the economics of the game. Look at the way the
international cricket calendar is now organized, COVID notwithstanding. IPL
gets its own window, free of clashes with any major international tournaments.
Nobody else gets that privilege.
Since the start on September 19, more than 18 matches have
been played so far in the present IPL and every game is adding to the love for
cricket. Cricket spirit continues to bowl the COVID dullness over.
#ipl2020 #Covid #ipladda
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