IPL 2012

Its almost 2 weeks since IPL-5 begin.Apparently IPL is loosing its shine.

I haven't heard any body talking very positively about it.Also if recent news are to be believed, the TRP of the recent IPL edition is the lowest among all till date.
While pondering over all these facts my mind suggested some points that go in the favour of IPL.




Here are some of those:

The biggest benefit IPL has done is, it has given a platform to many new emerging players to come into limelight.

Because of this form of cricket many players like Watson, Shaun Marsh, Murali Vijay, Valthati, Saurabh Tiwari, Rahane from the recent IPL are known to people today. Some of them even went ahead to make a base in their respective National teams.
Before IPL, all players had to sweat out in Ranji, Devdhar trophy etc. But only a handful of those who at some point were able to get selected for the Indian team were able to attract some attention of people.But behind every one such player there were atleast 1000 other players who worked equally hard but could not make it to the final 11. They never got recognition of people and were easily forgotten over the time.
All those players were may be known in National level circuits, but how many of us really follow Ranji and Devdhar trophies?
I agree this form of cricket does not provide any great advantage to players.
But imagine a case of player who has devoted many years of his life, worked hard only on his cricket career and then at the end of the day, could not make it to the Indian National team. It is very difficult to give new  direction to his life if he can not make in the Indian squad.
IPL has given an opportunity to many such players to either:
Grab a seat in National team
or
Attract attention of the selection commeetee and come in the lime light
or
A small chance to earn some quick money and in the mean time realise that his cricket skills are not good enough to linger long in this field and so start looking for other options.

Before IPL, there used to be a bunch of selected players who were in lime light, be famous, earn good money and live a lavish life.

Now the size of this bunch has increased many a times in size and those who can not make it to this bunch realise it very soon and start looking for options at an early age.

 The other point that I liked about IPL is it has succeeded in breaking the boundaries of countries. I know, have and totally believe in national pride, but isn't it amazing that somewhere people are forgetting the boundaries of countries. 

Ofcourse for the reason of big and quick money, but still players today prefer to play in a unit made out of players of different countries rather than just playing with a bunch with same origin.It shows that humans don't require same origin to be able to live together. They can get well along with people of diverse background. May then it be money, country, language, colour.
Best example is of Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds who at one point were close to enemies learned to live and play together as a team.
On one side it is disheartening to see  many good players  retiring from regular cricket only to remain fit for the shorter version of games but it is interesting to see players like Malinga, Bret Lee, Gayle, Bravo, Pollard, Samuels to play in IPL while there fellow countrymen are busy representing their respective countries.

I would say somewhere for some reason, some people people select world integrity over national integration.

Another interesting point is the opportunity IPL has given to some senior players to be able to play a little longer. Players like Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Ganguly, Dravid surely make it to list of favorites of many Cricket fans. IPL allowed these fans to enjoy the game of these cricket icons for few years.

Ofcourse it comes with sad part that some other interested senior players like Mcgrath, Vaas, Brian Lara, Laxman sometimes don't find any takers which feels like a disrespect towards such icons.

 One more thing that comes out of IPL is it has in a way shifted the center of cricket governing power to India. Earlier this power more or less appeared to be in the hands of England and Australia. But India has emerged as a new center of power with a big say in any decision. IPL has its own contribution in this shift of power. It has affected the international arena in many ways:
 Many players chose IPL over their National teams. They either took early retirement or restricted their participation to particular formats of the cricket. A big bunch of West Indies cricket players prefer to play IPL over the Cricket series representing their country.

England player Pieterson tries to point out how England is jealous of IPL and spreads negative publicity about it". 
Player like Ricky Ponting tries to suggest that there should be separate window for IPL in the World's Cricket Time Table. Newzeland  apparently learnt this at very early stage and so does not arrange any of their cricket series in this time allowing their players to freely participate in IPL.

I believe IPL has brought lots of new ideas with it. It has allowed new emerging players to make a mark. It has allowed old senior players to extend their career a bit. It has vanished the boundries between different countries and has brought all the players under one domain. I think that is the biggest success of IPL and thats why I look forward to more editions of IPL