IPL – a necessary problem child for World cricket

The rise of IPL saw a lot of heartburn moments especially in incumbent power cauldrons of Cricket especially in England, as they saw their traditional stronghold dwindling and the lure of fast paced cricket was allegedly tearing away their ‘traditions’. A tradition, one could argue, that never won them any laurel’s at world stage!

Be that as it may, not only did they try to emulate but even attempted to ‘surpass’ IPL by inventing a format called the ‘100’. Not getting into any nuanced discussion here on whether it’s a farce or a desperate SOS call by a cricketing nation who once held the torch for being the ‘founders’ of cricket, but rather it was an acceptance albeit a reluctant one, that world cricket had changed or indeed was chaging rapidly.

In the whole debate of whether IPL has been good or bad for world cricket and other Blah blah blah points…mostly from jealous corners of the world, what they didn’t recognize is that Cricket was in desperate need for a hype cycle. A global event that a cricket fan will look forward to year after year and live through it with passion and the live it again the following year. Unfortunately, neither the ICC nor any of the other Boards had the ingenuity of harnessing that thirst of a cricket fan. It was a brainchild, although reactionary one can argue, of a figure at BCCI that IPL was born. It now, over the years has organically evolved into what is now a global brand.

If IPL is being blamed for cricketers who are retiring early or prioritizing franchise cricket over country, then why aren’t home Boards being held accountable for not running a profitable business and then paying their employees handsomely so that they don’t look outwards for better opportunity, rather look at it as an extra pay day like Australian cricketers do.

The answer for this lies in their own demographic and the ability of respective Boards to harness it. BCCI is blessed that despite them not putting any effort in making match day experience an enjoyable one for its fans, the popularity of IPL is driven purely by passion of fans (including ones like me :) ) that we end up following each match of favourite franchise even after a decade.

So, what can other Boards do? May be the lesson for them is if you can’t grow artificial interest in people about cricket, at least nurture the ones who are already interested in it by creating experiences that is tailor made for your home context.

There is always going to be one side that is going sing praises and other side that’s going to curse it, however the impact that IPL has had either directly or indirectly at world stage is undeniable and whether boards can survive it is something only they can answer.