There have been 84 Twenty20 International (T20I) matches played till the month of April in 2016, which is considerably more T20Is (65) than were played in the whole of 2015. This is understandable given that there have been two big tournaments held — Asia Cup T20 2016 and ICC T20 World Cup 2016 — along with a smattering of bilateral T20I series in preparation for the T20 World Cup. These matches produced some fantastic cricket which was by and large enjoyed by spectators and TV audiences. There were, of course, some fairly one-sided affairs, but there were also some superb matches. IPL 2016 Schedule, Time Table, Fixture PDF Download
India and Australia played out three incredibly closely-contested T20 matches earlier in the year, the last of which was decided off the final delivery. South Africa and England played a closely-contested series where virtually every match went to the final over. South Africa and Australia too played a similarly close series. The Asia Cup produced the India versus Pakistan heart-stopper. The T20 World Cup qualifiers saw Oman hold Ireland to a 2-wicket win in what was one of the biggest upsets of the year. South Africa and England played out a high-scoring thriller. England and West Indies were involved in arguably the most thrilling World T20 final since 2007. READ: MS Dhoni proves his weight in gold in India vs Bangladesh, ICC T20 World Cup 2016
With so much excellent T20 cricket already seen in the year, the Indian Premier League (IPL) proved to be a saturation point. It has reflected in the numbers as well: there have been reports that this has been the second-worst start ever to the IPL in terms of TRPs, just behind IPL 2014. It did not help that the first few matches of IPL 2016 were rather lacklustre in terms of contest. However, there are other reasons to the apparent fan apathy. READ: Why Indian Premier League is losing its shine
One of the major reasons the IPL does not make a lot of sense is that there are virtually no real ‘home’ teams. Delhi, the First-Class cricket team, has produced some of Indian cricket’s biggest superstars of the past decade: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, and of course Virat Kohli. Delhi Daredevils (DD) the T20 team has none of the Delhi stalwarts.
The only Bengali cricketer in the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team is Shakib Al Hasan, who is from Bangladesh. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) consider Kohli, Chris Gayle, and AB de Villiers their ‘home’ players but do not have any Karnataka players barring KL Rahul and Stuart Binny. As for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the most Hyderabadi cricketer associated with them is VVS Laxman who is on the coaching staff. Pragyan Ojha, another Hyderabad stalwart, was not picked up at the auction. READ: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan: Three different styles, each one compelling
The most well-known player from Maharashtra, Kedar Jadhav, does not play for either of the two Maharashtra-based franchises Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) or Mumbai Indians (MI), but for RCB. Gujarat Lions (GL) is led by the Uttar Pradesh batsman Suresh Raina. Ravindra Jadeja is the only big Gujarat (actually Saurashtra) player in the team. Cheteshwar Pujara was not even picked up at the player auctions, while Parthiv Patel and Akshar Patel both play for other franchises.
MI have Rohit Sharma and for a long time had Sachin Tendulkar in the side, but the ‘Mumbai’ factor ends there. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) have a number of Punjab cricketers in Manan Vohra, Gurkeerat Singh, Sandeep Sharma, and others. Sadly, KXIP is the exception rather than the norm.
The fans, then, have a dilemma. Does a person living in Delhi cheer for the Delhi-less Daredevils or for the Gambhir-led KKR, or the Kohli-led RCB? Does a Chennai fan cheer for MS Dhoni and R Ashwin at RPS or Raina and Brendon McCullum at GL? READ: IPL’s unnoticed gift to Indian cricket
There is also the matter of the length of the tournament. No matter how die-hard a KKR fan one is, watching 14 matches is perhaps too much of a tall order. And if a fan supports more than one team then the number of matches doubles. This matter can be solved by shortening the tournament, but for financial reasons (read: more matches = more money, never mind the waning interest) that is unlikely to happen.
Then there is the miniscule minority of cricket fans (that is, fans of cricket and not the Bollywood-entertainment lovechild that is IPL) who are fed up with the absence of cricket and want to watch something that resembles the sport they love. Purists who covet Test cricket may turn their noses up at T20 cricket in general, but even they would agree that the quality of cricket seen in the T20 World Cup 2016 was admirable. Sadly the same cannot be said for IPL.
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is an animal lover and comic, film and TV geek. A fast bowler at heart, he enjoys watching a good, low-scoring game of cricket. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
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