Has the bloody IPL finished yet?

I love cricket. I don’t just eat and sleep it, I revere it. I would prefer to watch Lancashire’s 2nd XI play Derbyshire at Old Trafford than Man Utd play Liverpool at the other Old Trafford. Subconsciously I even think of David Lloyd and Mike Atherton as friends because I hear their voices on TV so often. So somebody tell me this: why do I have no interest in the IPL whatsoever?

Some diehard Indian fans might say I’m jealous. Why? Because England is no longer the centre of the cricketing world – and we don’t like it. This theory was even proposed by Kevin Pietersen.

Whilst this might be the case with some people (albeit a tiny minority), it’s definitely not the case with me. I have no desire for Britannia to rule the waves, cricket or anything else. I’d rather we just kept our heads down and stop being loathed by other countries (except Scotland, as I find that quite amusing).

Perhaps I hate the IPL because I’m a traditionalist? Maybe. I do prefer a Bordeaux to new world Shiraz. But then again I sometimes prefer a Czech pilsner to a pint of Spitfire on a hot day. I’m not exactly an early adopter in marketing speak, but I’m not afraid to try new things either.

Is it just that I dislike T20 cricket per se? Absolutely not. Whilst I prefer the ebb and flow of test cricket, I quite enjoy the shorter version. I look forward to the T20 World Cup, and I like nothing more than tuning in to the English T20 on a summer’s evening after a hard day’s work. I even watched a few Aussie Big Bash games on TV this winter; it was decent entertainment.

So there’s no reason why I should dislike the IPL, right? Wrong. As I’m writing this it’s all becoming clear.

I don’t like the way the IPL clashes with the start of the English county season – and I don’t like the way it’s become a focus of the cricketing calendar worldwide.

I also hate the idea of holding an auction for players. Aren’t cricketers supposed to be loyal to their teams? In the IPL players don’t choose where they play, they’re bought like commodities. They don’t listen to their hearts, they listen to their wallets.

I also find the huge sums of money involved vulgar. I don’t mind cricketers earning a good living – when you think how much our ignorant footballers earn, the likes of Chris Gayle and Kevin Pietersen deserve every penny – but I find it dangerous that players retire from test cricket early to concentrate on T20.

You could say, therefore, that the IPL undermines international cricket. I don’t like what guys like Lasith Malinga have done, and I resent it when people like Gayle, who was Windies captain not long ago, make it obvious they can’t be bothered with the grind of test cricket when they can earn big bucks by hitting a few average bowlers out of the ground for half an hour.

My dislike of the IPL doesn’t stop there. I hate the idea of artificial franchises. How on earth can one support a team owned by a bunch of moneymen with some naff nickname. Delhi Daredevils? Give me a break. At least English T20 teams give their teams a name relevant to the community. The Kent Spitfires and the Worcester Royals are two wonderful examples. Shame on Hampshire for their rebranding exercise by the way.

I also hate how the IPL markets itself: a festival where the world’s best players come to celebrate cricket. It’s simply not true. Many of the Indian bowlers who play in the IPL would struggle to make my club side; lots of the so called big name stars are washed up; England players are barely represented while Pakistan’s are ignored entirely. The best cricketers in the world? Some of them more like – and we know they’re only there for the money.

So there you have it: one man’s tirade against the IPL. Is it really a threat to cricket as we know it, or am I just a sad little Englander consumed by the green eyed monster? I admit I’m exaggerating somewhat for effect, but am I that wrong? I’m willing to be convinced otherwise.

IPL fans, this is your chance to set the record straight.

James Morgan

42 comments

  • “Many of the Indian bowlers who play in the IPL would struggle to make my club side”

    Really? Are you a different James Morgan to the one who – on the rare occasions when fit – plays for famously weak St Anne’s Allstars?

    Which Indian bowlers would you say are weaker than Crazy Horse, Red October and Bear? And these three are by no means the weakest!

  • If Bear and Crazy Horse played in the IPL, they would be the leading wicket takers ;-) not sure about Red October though. You may have a point there. You could add the likes of Moses Henriques to the Indian bowlers though … didn’t mean to single out any particular nation!

  • You forgot to mention how tediously long the whole thing is. Might be more palatable if it was shorter

  • Pretty much sums up how I feel about it.
    At the start of the IPL i got into q row on twitter about this (stating many of the views you have here) and got accused of being an old duffer who doesn’t understand the modern game.
    I’m 33 and I don’t want this to be the future of our great game. I don’t hate T20, it’s my 3rd favourite form of the game but it definitley has it’s place, but the IPL is hideous.
    I write this just after Gayle has scored his world best score and is being lauded for it. He’s just battered some 4th rate bowlers around the park, I would laud him much more if it scored a battling hundred in a day and a half to save a test match at the Wanderers.

    It’s just not Cricket

    • And not to mention its cricket on will …. It treats bowlers as human beings .. They dont just bowl 140kph to be leaved by the batsman , Batsman have to score on will , Opposed to england players who can’t .. Score on Will. Cricket is About scoring on both good and bad balls of a bowler and not picking the worst delivery of a bowler and lauding yourself for it..

  • Great article, I totally agree, although I do watch RCB when they are on because I love watching Gayle bat whoever he plays for! Some of the Indian domestic players are dreadful, batsmen with no brains and poor slow-medium bowlers! Shame that the IPL is here to stay, the BCCI rules everything in world cricket and they always get their own way. Players like Gilchrist should just retire all together, its not how I want to remember some of the greats of the game – edging behind some 25 year old domestic India bowler for a duck! Give me county cricket any day. Rant Over!

  • IPL is a good thing simply because it contributes hugely to cricket’s growth and also in providing a solid platform for B and C grade domestic players to pursue excellence by practice at the top level. And people who think it’s gonna hurt the Test format are pure morons.
    You, the author seem to be suffering from something we call ‘Typical Brit’.
    Normal Brits outnumber you hundred to one but you folks refuse to go extinct !

  • Morons eh? I take it you think the likes of Michael Holding, who doesn’t like T20 either, are morons too ;-)

    Since when has the IPL been the ‘top level’ of anything. Test cricket is the top level, and IPL isn’t even the top level of its own format – the T20 world cup is. And as for helping ‘B and C grade’ domestic players, whose players exactly? India’s and India’s alone. Even top players from England and Pakistan struggle to get a look in during the IPL, let alone their lesser cricketers.

    We see players retiring from test cricket to play in the IPL, so why is it unreasonable to say that it’s hurting test cricket. I’m sure Sri Lanka fans would much rather than Malinga was playing for them in test cricket, rather than chasing the big bucks in the money-driven artificial American-style ‘festival’ they call the IPL.

    New Zealand will also be missing players when they play a test series in England next month. A few of their best ones will be playing IPL instead. They’d rather be representing their country, but they can’t turn down the megabucks the faceless moguls in India are offering them. Yet still you say the IPL isn’t hurting test cricket.

    Try again mate …

    • You’re exaggerating a tad, all of NZ’s players will be present for the 1st test. Some will have only been in England 2 or 3 days due to IPL commitments mind, impacting test preparations mind

  • AS Harris right ly said you are a “typical brit” no doubt about that…simple example would be the number of time praised English clubs and your views. You are just self centered and more jealous because another country has totally taken over the limelight while nobody bother to look into English county cricket now. Even there 40 year old people are playing and you don’t have a complain about it. IPL is not just about cricket here. It s like the movie s get s together people, families in the name of cricket. And I dont think domestic players are that worse as you guys defined because we know how your main stream bowler Brod got from yuvraj. Sometime when player s like Gayle are batting you cant say anything. IF you don’t want to watch it don’t watch, Nobody s forcing you to as anyway Brit s are not playing.It s a personal choice and You dont call Indian s faceless moguls while England is soon going to bite dust because of continued recession. We work hard while you write these pathetic stuff. And England players and Pakistani s need to play proper cricket first to be even let into IPL lols

    • “And England players and Pakistani s need to play proper cricket first to be even let into IPL lols”

      Are you as witless as you sound? There are no Pakistani players because the franchises have refused to buy them in the auctions.

      And there have been English players in every IPL. Two of the best paid players were both English.

      “And I dont think domestic players are that worse as you guys defined because we know how your main stream bowler Brod got from yuvraj.”

      The reason Indians still go on about that one over seems to be it’s the only happy memory you have against England, having been pumped home and away by England, and getting thrashed in eight consecutive overseas Tests. You can have your Yuvrav over, because the rest of the cricketing world has been laughing at you. It clearly hurts, otherwise you wouldn’t bother coming here to write your drivel when you’re apparently so busy.

      • Oh only happy memory….common we won world cup twice n you have big zero.
        Forgot what Caddy got from sachin in 03 WC;) lol…

      • No matter how much you whine IPL is here to stay…As china has put it money is what that ultimately matters and it is extremely entertaining (cant help if its not for you)…and as a matter of fact Brits have waned away from cricket …its not exciting now as it was before to watch england play ( days of stewart ,botham and other great entertainers… foul mouthed freddie resorted to sledging when he couldn’t compete in the field and Broad got the hammering he got in the ‘yuvraj incident’ because of it. And about Pakistani players, for godsake their countrymen killed over 170 indian lives! Do our lives seem so cheap for you people that its wrong for us to retaliate even peacefully…And those faceless moguls are backbone of our emerging economy…No player is compelled to participate if they are compelled to represent their countries.. gayle was sidelined in WI and he chose to play here…

  • I was really hoping to get an intelligent debate going here. There ARE reason why the IPL is good for the game (exposure and bringing cricket to new audiences for example) but we haven’t managed to attract a measured insightful response from IPL fans yet unfortunately.

    Just for the record, there aren’t many (if any) English country cricketers older than Sachin Tendulkar. The article doesn’t praise a ‘number’ of English clubs – just two actually, and only for their names (which reflect the history of the counties), whilst criticising Hampshire. Meanwhile, I don’t quite get the connection between Yuvraj, a batsman who endured a terrible test series against England recently, hitting a young Broad (who probably) gets more criticism from this site than anyone else, five years ago with this debate. There are pie chuckers in English county cricket too, but it doesn’t pretend to be the pinnacle of the game or some great event. The English IPL is just a domestic T20 event – which is essentially what the IPL is, but with more vastly overpaid players, an articifical auction, and artificial franchises.

    Is there anyone out there who can make an intelligent observation weighing the benefits of the IPL in terms of the international exposure it brings to cricket against the damage it appears to be doing to test cricket … or even an argument sensibly debating why the IPL isn’t bad for test cricket? And please no more racial / national stereotyping. We talked about ‘little Englanders’ as a joke; we weren’t seriously expecting to be labelled as such.

    • IPL could be bad for test cricket (boring to watch 5 days of defensive mastery anyways) but has helped players in T20 and ODIs…Artificial auction and franchise was probably adopted from the artificial models of English Premier League and other such football tournaments which makes IPL auctions look like alms and in the same way that these football tournaments help national players, IPL helps national players of India to compete with best from around the world and widens the reserve for Indian team while helping out of form Intl Players achieving their form without having to represent their national team and resulting pressure to perform..And the fact that these are lauded by former cricketing greats is proof in itself…How is all this wrong?

  • “but we haven’t managed to attract a measured insightful response from IPL fans yet unfortunately. ”
    Lol.

  • An IPL fan here. But also a fan who understands Test cricket reigns supreme.

    Why the IPL is great for the game?
    1. Increased pay for cricketers, encouraging more and more to take up the sport. It is already revitalising growth in West Indian cricketers, who are seeing Gayle, Pollard and co play in a vibrant environment and earn salaries comparable to American NFL and NBA. Say what you want, but it is globalising the game more than county cricket is at present. Cricketers give up so much to pursue their dreams, it’s only right they get rewarded for the risks they take. There is a market for it.
    2. The appeal of seeing greats who are into their twilight/have retired still come out for one last hurray. It’s a bit of fun. Shane Warne vs Tendulkar a few years ago was one for the cricket lovers. Similarly Michael Hussey today was incredible (albeit not a great). Rahul Dravid and Murali are other examples.
    3. The total package. I prefer test cricket by far, it is a far better test of a batsman’s calibre, but T20 and IPL is easy to watch for even a noncricket fan.
    4. The increased revenue generated. Some of you have a grudge against the BCCI. My criticism of them ends with their not adopting of DRS (which I think they should). But in terms of garnering crickets popularity across an entire nation, both at a grass roots level and at the higher elitist level, they have outclassed the ECB. Cricket here in the UK remains an elitist sport. Of course I wouldn’t want to see cricket become a chav sport, but look at the number of Grammar school educated players in the England line up? The BCCI generates the largest income in the cricketing world and then pays a pro rata share to the ICC who then distribute it to all the other countries. The BCCI has a 1 billion person market at its disposal and it is successfully tapping into it. For that I am grateful. So what if Holding is against it? Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd came out in support of the IPL. I know who’s opinion I value more…

    20 years of bureaucracy by the ECB led us nowhere. It is only fair to pass over the reigns to the BCCI and let them run the show now. We wasted our chance.

  • Good thoughts there Kartik. I don’t think anyone (including us!) would hold up the ECB or county cricket as a shining example of how to run a sport. We’re not having a pop at the BCCI here either, just trying to say we need to be careful about the IPL, and giving highly subjective reasons why we dislike it. The only point you’ve made I’d take issue with is No1. The IPL does pay certain cricketers more, but not the bread and butter in other countries. Plus the wealth of the IPL is taking players away from test cricket prematurely. That’s one of the big problems / danger with it. The wages are so high that a new generation of players is growing up wanting to play for Delhi Daredevils rather than India / England / Australia etc. If it was raising wages for cricketers in all formats, then it wouldn’t be so worrying. Great point re: the West Indies by the way. I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up.

    • Buddy test cricket is boring and anyone can stay on the crease when he gets set … Do footballers play all day long to prove who’s the best .. No they don’t .. Its simply cricketing on will .. If you’re a good enough bowler to save yourself from a batsman who’s in a mood in which he’ll thrash anything and you save yourself from it . now that’s talent .. Majorly test cricket is the reason cricket did not get its due audience .
      And what are you talking about wanting to play for England,India . Have you seen English premier league these guys dnt even consider playing for there national country . Except Ipl has taken in regard of national integrity and and compacted the tournament in 8 weeks otherwise bcci has no problem in expanding it over 5 months and paying all the boards for it . So don’t criticize ipl .

      Did you ever think that T20 cricket is life ITs about moving forward when conditions are against you not just standing there and playing out for a draw. So stop posting such bullshit its cause of you guys cricket didn’t get its due audience . Now its making leaps and bounds and you’re jealous . You don’t say anything about baseball its also derived from cricket other than the bats almost everything is the same.

  • My brother is just entering the county set up and he has said that he doesn’t like Test cricket, he would rather play T20. So there you have it; a fifteen year old bowler who has been told he resembles Anderson with no interest in playing the top level of cricket. It’s already done the damage. I’m just praying that when he is more mature he realises that playing in the Ashes is far greater than playing in the IPL.

  • why not just enjoy it for what it is a good old laugh. Where else would you get Steyn bowling to Kallis or Chris Gayle opening with Virat Kholi and all the other quality players who take part in the tournament. I think its just stupid that we don’t let English players take part because I would love to see Swann Anderson Cook etc. take part. I also agree that test cricket is the top form of cricket and so do more than half of the players who take part because they still play all forms of the game e.g. Kallis Kholi Jayawardene Steyn Morkel Ashwin MSD ABV and the list goes on and on so stop moaning and just enjoy Gayle smacking the ball about.

    • I’m an Indian who’s fed up with IPL and the over commercialization of cricket. I myself played the game till zonal level (Duleep trophy, Ranji trophy) before retiring from the game at age 22. I haven’t really returned to the crease for over 10 years now because of career reasons. I work in the corporate sector and as far removed from cricket as you can imagine.

      It’s fair to say IPL gas killed my last remaining interest in the sport called cricket. The greedy franchise owners, the cloying commentators and the present generation of cricketers disappoint me greatly.

      Today, I hate this game and everything it stands for. Thank you IPL, from someone who had spent his entire school and college years on the cricket field.

  • Guys cricket is not anymore about playing it safe its about its about risking it all. Have you guys realized that if there was no test cricket cricket would now be the no.1 sport in the world. What is it about you guys wanting to prove who’s better and who is not. A person who plays better cricket on the day is better. SImple . And IPL does like all the players . Its cause of ECB they aren’t allowed and we’ve seen you guys you’ll start playing your stupid test cricket in t20. Cause you’re just not good enough to play when things are going against you.

  • Maybe if England had sent its players to IPL, England team wouldn’t have been so pathetic in limited overs cricket.

  • Its depends on..
    How you like to see…How can you ignore the fact that the youngsters get an opportunity to interact with legendary players which will ultimately help them grow…Thus play better cricket in future… and lift the level of international cricket… Sorry that they are not from England

  • One liner reply to this Article by an Indian

    More you go on top, more you tend to face criticism

  • English cricket standard is no match . to mordern cricket. and we feel petty for you. kids in our town also play fair game than your national cricket team or county teams.

  • Interestingly enough, I’m now being paid a bit of money to write about the IPL on the side! I actually quite enjoy it now. My Mum was born in Rajasthan, so I have a natural team to support. Apart from the uniforms (some of which are extremely unpleasant) it’s a vibrant, watchable tournament.

    PS The original article was written 2 years ago!!!!

  • Get well soon according to me england cricket is nothing but just a show off and if Bangladesh can beat u than you should shut your mouth up and much more to say but you are not that deserving candidate eighter

  • I understand your reasons for not exactly liking IPL.

    You can’t help with artificial franchise thing. We have far too many states with distinct languages and identities; 25+at least.

    And yes, we need more international player including that of England and Pakistan.

  • Well said…You need Pak
    Sir,can u pls advocate Pak to stop promoting terrorism…After that we can start a healthy relationship.

    Apart from inclusion of Pak…I agree to most of the points….

    It’s not 5 days test match and more commercial entertainment so the teams are named funny and saying it as festival is a marketing funda….

    Sir,don’t ask ipl to advertise like “hey! we are doing business come again and let us earn super profits again”

    Personally I hate cricket as a sport !!!

    But I find no issues if sponsors,players,coaches,curators,media,umpires etc earn money
    And that the fans are happy to enjoy the same.

  • As Indian, I entirely agree with this post. I’m sure there arr many more like me.

    Till the time England and ICC were the ideological centres of world cricket, it was governed by a sense of genteel decorum (thus, the origins of the phrase “It’s not Cricket!”) and we all used to absolutely enjoy the game. I stopped following cricket ever since the IPL circus began dominating all the attention. It’s not what I used to watch in my childhood.

    A bunch of ugly, moneyed Indian businessmen have hijacked everyone’s favourite sport. Quantity over Quality is commanding the discourse. The focus is now on scoring sixes and patience which used to be synonymous with the game of cricket, has simply gone out the window.

    IPL has ruined cricket. They even play it at overseas bars and Irish clubs.

    I think the British ought to take back India. This country is presently dominated by rulers far oppressive than the British used to be. Everything is valued and measured in money. Nothing is sacred anymore in this age of commercialization.

  • i don’t agree with you sir, in every format of sports there is money. you know very well in this world people are very greedy for money. Cricket fans watch IPL and get entertained, sponsors invest money to make more money that’s the truth of the sports accept it. without money sports will never grow worldwide you know that sir, even football leagues earn more than regular matches than you should ask people to never watch the league matches. before speak calculate well sir.
    thanks
    Shubham

  • Some separatist are calling themselves as Indians and indirectly blaming our beloved govt for ipl…only a non Indian would think of going back to slavery… The so called MR SDRI has no courage to write his own real name ? That’s what we call cowards !!!

    All Indians support our new elected government because this is the first non corrupt govt India has seen from a long time.
    Only this govt is doing best work against black money,scams, and doing best to develop our country and change the CORRUPT LABEL that our past govt has given us.
    Indians are not going to be fooled by hypocrats and our youth has 100% trust on this govt.
    At least new govt is trying but others would have sold INDIA in hands of others and poverty !

    Long live new leader we all know that you are not corrupt at least !

  • You’re right – shit cricket, shit bowling, shit batting, and while the fielding may be spectacular at times, shit fielding. You can’t take the IPL or to be honest any form of short form cricket seriously anymore when top edges and check drives regularly end up being huge sixes. Shorter boundaries and lethal bats, they should have at least not brought the boundaries in.

    The other day, the IPL was on TV and I watched for 20 mins as flailing Indian bowlers with no technique, speed or sense of accuracy kept bowling terrible ball after terrible ball – and batsmen kept hitting half baked shots that would have resulted in being caught at long on – or a measly single back in the days of real cricket. I then went to watch Curtly Ambrose to appease myself.

    Cricket is dead. The only format worth watching since the turn of about 2010/11 has been test cricket because the red ball moves, pitches aren’t so dead, and batsmen are so woefully out of their depth that a result is imminent. Even then, if its India playing (away) you can bet your bottom dollar that the pitches will magically become placid.

    This isn’t cricket or a rant against anything from India. Players like Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Tendulkar are true icons of the game, and the world cup 1983 is one of the great stories in cricket. But this circus we have today isn’t cricket, its just a parody.

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