The true colour of IPL

Hasn’t something struck you as slightly odd in the IPL, considering this supposedly billion-dollar valuation sports franchise is expected to have great marketing whiz-kids, astute brand managers, creative insight of ad professionals etc ? Logically, shouldn’t all franchise owners be looking at competitive differentiation? But yet, surprisingly enough, there seems to be a collective herd mentality when it comes to the most visible, visual element that attracts viewer-ship and eyeballs, and registers indestructibly in the mind —-color.

Check the apparel colors in IPL and you will find that Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, and Rajasthan Royals appear as if in school-boy uniforms, totally soaked in similar blue. Delhi Daredevils are also having the same overwhelming flood in their uniform. Bangalore , Kolkota and Chennai are clearly the most distinctive, and stand out. Punjab looks surprisingly insipid, despite having high profile style statement-maker in actress Preity Zinta.

But there is a one peculiar conspicuous color that is missing; green. Queer, because in fact, nowadays 5 international teams, South Africa, Pakistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Kenya – are all wearing the environment-friendly , green.

So why are Indian franchise owners oh- so- blue? And not so green? Have you ever wondered why?

BOLLYWOOD OF 1970s !

Once upon a time, the Mumbai -Rajasthan Royals match last night would have evoked endless chatter on it’s ” nail-biting ” finish. Now no more ! Since last-ball/ last-over endings are almost mandatory ( I am not hinting at anything, let me clarify) , there is hardly much of a suspense element left in the IPL. It’s monotonous. It’s like every match of the Champions League or the EPL being played purely on a penalty shoot-out. After a while, you switch off. If a team is getting hammered for 18 overs, like a drowning man clutching at a straw, a saviour invariably emerges. The script ensures the entry and exit of the valiant and the villains, reminding you of Bollywood films of the 1970s. Predictable to the core.

Since money says, “hello” big time in IPL, everyone is ostensibly gaga at the forced carnival, but truth be said, it is so deja vu. I confess I never saw that match last night ; I have watched an aggregate of 3 hrs of IPL since it began, and have not read the last few pages of a daily newspaper since mid-April. Instead, I watched the ATP Masters Madrid Open, and that was pure divine stuff.

FIX-ED!

There was something strange that was reported before the tournament began; the dreaded underworld D-gang was targeting the IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi over some match-fixing issue; change of location to South Africa had upset their devious plans, was the weighty rumor. Then surprisingly, the two billon valued IPL thought it commercially imprudent to engage the ICC Anti-Corruption Bureau because it was deemed ” too expensive”. Really? Barring a few, the conscience-starved media scotched that piece of dark news conveniently. Have they done dope-testing on players, most likely to happen in the IPL format where physical fitness and energy levels are being constantly challenged? Have they? Is WADA in? Does IPL even care? Why is the ICC tongue-tied all the time? I guess the more important agenda is pure “fiscal fitness”.

Interestingly, out of the blue there is an SMS contest on predicting run scores; which is a subterfuge for giving betting a legal sanctity, almost. Then it is quickly withdrawn. Too many obvious questions, but there are several more who do not want to hear the answers.

GIMME 20!

Chris Gayle wants the moolah; he is the first international cricketer to publicly rubbish 5 day cricket . Gayle is the same guy who almost sold his soul when on a trip to India not long ago, if initial investigations were anything to go by. Desperate and missing out on costly remuneration from KKR for an abbreviated stay , Gayle damned Test cricket as increasingly irrelevant . The visitors were embarrassingly routed within 3 days by England; Gayle arrived with a jet lag and money bags 2 days before the match commenced. It is symbolic of the structural collapse of cricket.

T 20 reigns. Gayle represents a huge cricketing nation, which has produced legends like Sobers, Lloyd, Marshall, Richards and Lara. Now we have a West Indian captain, who does not want to be skipper. And he does not want to play Test cricket either. What a shameful tragedy for the game.

About Gayle it can be said that what he lacks in intelligence, he makes up in stupidity.

You enjoy today’s pre-scripted ” thriller”, while I watch the clay courts of Madrid.