Gopal Sau:
If Lalit Modi comes clean out of this mess, then it won’t be wrong to say that he has single-handedly changed the face of the game. The idea that jolted the nation and has pulled cricket far ahead of any other sport in the world. I recently came across a topic on the IPL in an English Premier League Forum. So it goes without saying that cricket will indeed rule for generations to come but only for individuals like Lalit Modi.
IPL 3 has had its share of ups and downs. The format as it is is too entertaining to be flawed. However few things didn’t work out.
1. Foreign Players
It has been too conspicuous that too many foreign players have failed to click together. Jacques Kallis has stood out but his slow scoring rate can hardly be called match winning. Case in point is Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum who have been known for their destructive starts have hardly been able to lift KKR out of the dumps. Local talent has been much more successful comparatively and it puts to question the retirement of so many foreign players to devote themselves solely to IPL.
2. Celebrities
Their presence is not talked about anymore. They are now just normal people who have come to cheer for their teams. Remember Shahrukh, Preity and Shilpa Shetty in the first version of IPL. 10% of the time the cameras would be on them and the little mob they used to be surrounded by. Now it’s all about the game. Little or no publicity needs to be done. Everything seems so eerily normal and usual.
3. Lalit Modi
True, he is the IPL commissioner. But politicians are too bad a breed to lock horns with. He should have kept out of comments and discussions. He knows his game i.e. cricket. He shouldn’t have thrown the dice at something he isn’t good at. Now the series of income tax raids and questions about visa and foreign models won’t help his popularity too much. If you wanna hang in there for another season, stay out of trouble.
4. Mongoose Bat
How many of us felt that RCB would have won the super over against Kings 11 Punjab lest Hayden wielded that tiny blade to leave a gaping hole in his stance that cleaned his stumps.
Well too much has been said about the mongoose but let’s put this to rest: Let’s not change the game to something weird. Innovation is good. But in such a format of the game where the bowler is plundered mercilessly the mongoose is just unnecessary and hasn’t been of much success. Personally I believe Hayden can murder the opposition with his usual Kookaburra. Of all people he should give it a miss.
5. Technology
It is a shame that LBW decisions still go wrong after such advances in imaging technology. And it is a greater ignominy that the wrong decisions are accepted after replays that show the ball veering far out of leg stump. I don’t deny the need to conserve the relevance of field umpires. But when the question comes to right or wrong, settling the matters off-field with actual evidence would be much better. Since so much money goes into something so big it is imperative to maintain the integrity of the game and question the rightfulness of every decision taken by the umpires.