IPL – India’s most successful cricketing stroke

If Leonardo da Vinci, the gret Italian artist, drew inspiration from nature to create his many masterpieces, Lalit Modi, the founder chairman of the hugely popular Indian Premier League (IPL), got his bright ideas about giving cricket a much-needed boost from the famous (or should we say infamous) Kerry Packer and the cricket series he launched.

There is no compelling reason to compare the Italian maestro and the equally successful Indian businessman except for the fact that both used their excellent skills to good use and reaped huge benefits in return. But while one ended up being remembered as the greatest canvas creator ever, the other is looked down upon as a fugitive by the law of his land and is holed up on faraway shores.

That’s the irony of life, isn’t it? Davinci may not look forward to a pat on the back but the latter is sure to crave appreciation. Nothing succeeds like success, eh? From when Lalit Modi launched it in 2008, the Indian Premier League has been on a roll like no other game.

A traditionalist you may be, but success is something you just cannot ignore. For all the passion the countrymen have packed into the ‘gentleman’s game’ over the years, there is not one World Test Championship for Indian teams to show as a reward. There may as well be more colour in the indulgence. To improve upon the original Packer series, the business wizard with the nation-transfixing second name added to cricket ingredients, the other obsession of the country – Bollywood.

His add-on dancing cheerleaders breathed fresh life into the sport – it still is what the now-richer cricketers will want to believe – so what if the forefathers rue the sight of leering spectators? The sponsors are smiling all the way to the bank, and they are the ones who call the shots. A couple of seasons ago, the IPL smashed box office records by netting Rs 4,000 crore annually from sponsorship deals that made the BCCI the richest board in the world.

The younger generation fills the stadia, the potential of which is doubled now because the IPL also got the women interested in the spectacle that cricket has gone on to become. A 20-overs-a-side game with spices aplenty appeases a generation with shorter attention spans and higher expectations a lot more. Be it politics or Bollywood, every force in the country deemed it best to fall in line with the IPL. The competition is just too hot to handle which everyone worth their salt realised very early on.

Nobody is arguing with a brand valued at $8.4 billion by the international brand valuation firm Brand Finance. The free-running ‘pyjama cricket’ has only grown from strength to strength with all eyes riveted on the matches which unfold under the dazzling floodights to the accompaniment of music and dance. Known for its innovative format, which includes features like team auctions, player trades, and strategic timeouts, the IPL is here to stay.

These features have helped make the league more engaging and entertaining for fans, and have also given team owners more flexibility in building their squads. And as long as the crowds and the moolah are flowing in, no one is asking questions on what happened to Test cricket.