Thriving amid conundrum

Has the Indian Premier League made an impact in the 2023 season is a question that begs to be asked. The answer is a certain yes, though the number of changes which have been implemented leave quite a few confused. It includes team owners, casual viewers, hardcore T20 cricket fans as well as coaches and think-tanks of various teams.

The premier domestic tournament in India is in its 16th year, with no recession in sight. As you read this piece, the first-week action has got over, with plenty of highs and lows. The IPL has made an impact, though the ambiguity over the ‘Impact Player’ rule has caused mighty consternation. If the constant is boring and change is interesting, one will agree. Yet, to make changes which are bizarre, goes against the very rudiments of cricket which fans have loved for several decades.

A quick mention, what the masters behind the scenes have done in the IPL regarding the ‘Impact Player’ is not really an original idea. After all, Australia’s T20 Big Bash League has dabbled with the X factor rule. Substitution in it was pretty clear: A player cannot be replaced if he had already batted. Second, the player replaced (bowler) must not have bowled more than one over. There was more than a murmur over changes done in the BBL, but what is happening in the IPL is kind of weird.

If you hear the commentators, now available on television and digital platforms plus debates on a few more platforms, it will only confuse you more. Commentators on TV who have played for India, Sunil Gavaskar and Harbhajan Singh included, are lavish and laudatory. It is not about an original view they are giving, they have to tow the BCCI line. After all, the BCCI controls the IPL, directly or indirectly.

Sample this, we have all known cricket as a 11-person game, whatever be the format — white ball cricket or pure and pristine Test cricket. This ‘Impact Player’ rule may go on to become a ‘gamechanger’ in the long run in the IPL but, certainly, the first week suggested that even teams are confused over how to use it. Getting five guys into the dugout and making a change looks creepy.

One must not forget, the custodians of cricket as sport were originally from England. When rules were framed and changes were made, it was with good consultation and deliberations. Likewise, when ODI cricket started, it was first 60 overs, then cut to 55 overs and now at 50 overs. In the official ODIs and the T20 internationals, you cannot do much tampering. However, the IPL continues to tweak and turn things which go against the very grain of the game.

There never really was a need to bring in this ‘Impact Rule’. At least, that is the discussion and chatter among fans who have watched cricket for decades and are aghast at the charade. If someone is going to tell you this format of cricket is also a team sport and you can adapt from football and hockey, do not believe it. In this new jargonised IPL, where ‘Impact Rule’ is being used by teams, many fans are tearing their hair. A batter gets out and gets replaced. More bowlers are being used. Is this the cricket which was conceived by the lord and masters from England? No way.

The easiest way out is to say there is experimentation going on in the IPL. One does not tinker with the game unless there is a genuine need for it. Yes, even the International Olympic Committee wants to change sporting disciplines that will be part of the Summer Olympics programme. That is to ensure that the game gets faster and it can be viewed more on TV.

Certainly, that has not been the case with the IPL, where getting to see more than 11 players being employed by one team is creepy. Some teams have already shown that they can use it to their benefit, which looks unfair from beyond the boundary. For the serious cricket fans, the ‘Impact Player’ rule is a dilemma, a conundrum. It’s a bit of a joke like the open-book semester exams now in vogue in universities. Pray, are students not supposed to come well-prepared and then take the exam?

As it is, when this edition of the IPL decided that team names will be exchanged after the toss, it sounded crazy. Is the plan to make the IPL more comical or more entertaining? In this, you will see more batters coming and slogging, and then using bowlers who can be a surprise. All this will definitely result in the death of genuine all-rounders, so important in shorter formats of cricket. In Indian cricket, the dearth of all-rounders is acute, which is why people still fondly recall Kapil Dev’s contributions.

Well, despite all this agony for the IPL viewers, brand IPL remains strong, and viewership is soaring, thanks to TV and the Jio Cinema app. In the good old days, when you were forced to watch only Krishi Darshan, Chitrahaar and one movie per week on Doordarshan, none cribbed. As choices grew, fans got more choosy.

From watching the idiot box to getting your own dish or cable connection and then flicking buttons on the remote to surf channels became a fad. The variety is now so huge, anything can sell. Likewise, the IPL is no longer just watched by pure cricket fans. Even for the fun of it, people will watch the IPL and love the maximum sixes. Yes, standards of belting the ball have gone up. Hitting sixes is now so easy, at least that is what you see from so far away. Fielders have become more athletic and sharp. In fact, you can dump someone who has butter fingers!

Amidst all this, when one comes to the more serious stuff, watching Virat Kohli has been delightful. His knock at his home away from home in Bengaluru was emotional. Perhaps, that was a more engaging and emotional connection, where his team RCB showed Mumbai Indians how to win a match. Mind you, Kohli is not the captain but still gets love from the audience and respect from the franchise where he is accorded top priority. If people had said his T20 career is over, please laugh. The way Kohli is batting these days, he looks good to walk into any team — Test, ODIs or even the 2024 ICC World T20.

If Kohli continues to be the superstar, MS Dhoni holds many in thrall. In three balls, he smashed two sixes at home. That, alone, is enough to make the CSK skipper a big hit, wherein he still continues to be strict with the bowlers. When his bowlers gave away too many extra runs in a match, there was a veiled threat that he would give up captaincy. For all those who think MS Dhoni is playing his last IPL, please wait. He has no problems, really, in getting ready for these two months of slam-bang cricket. And if you happened to be in Chennai before their first match at home in four years, the mass hysteria had to be sampled.

The sea of yellow, which is the CSK colour, still catches the eye, be it fans inside the stadium in Ahmedabad or Chennai. They are the most passionate fans who will continue to show loyalty to their side, through highs and lows. If 2022 was bad for them, 2023 promises to be better. These are still early days and one cannot make predictions about what will happen towards the business end of the IPL.

Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians continue to (non) perform. Reasons for it are different, though if one were to make a comparison between leaders, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul (Lucknow Super Giants) are under pressure. How they shape up in the next six or seven weeks will be interesting. Losing form is one thing and not being able to raise their own level quite another.

Injuries have hit the IPL hard and some ‘purchasing’ is still going on. Surprisingly, Shikhar Dhawan’s Punjabi puttars are enjoying themselves in this edition of the IPL. Maybe, there is no pressure on them. In contrast, the other team from North India, Delhi Capitals, is flat — like stale beer.

One man who continues to catch the attention of all is Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya. The more you watch him, the more clear it becomes that he has taken up the leadership role with felicity. As a leader, he has his thinking cap on. A team is as good as its boss, be it at work or in the field of play, Hardik’s lusty hitting is not all that matters, his bowling is also useful. Surely, as an all-rounder in the true sense, Hardik Pandya remains the flavour.

Viewed from the prism of the IPL returning to the home-and-away format, it is nice to see more venues being used now. This was the charm of the IPL, before the Covid 19 pandemic struck. Fans are flocking the venues, though Lucknow’s tepid response despite reasonably priced tickets is surprising. Guwahati, too, has hosted a match where Shikhar Dhawan, ‘Sardar’ of the Punjab franchise showed he can still go hammer and tong.

If week one needs the shortest summary, the IPL 2023 has made an impact but the ‘Impact Player’ rule is causing nightmares!