Not a peddler selling his imaginations or a vodaphone selling their voice sms. It is not sale of romantic cell one or the prevention by an IPill. It is IPL, an abbreviation which only Modi can expand as (I Pledge Luck)
Cricket few years back was never a product. It was a game of passion. A game which retained the pedigree of Wimbledon for its compulsory white attire. Where celebration of success by the teams were limited to a pat on the hands. Removing shirts and pointing the pavilion added aggression for sure … but at times it was considered as rude…. Somewhere it was losing the flair of a sport. Umpires who had their clothes of dignity (and not to fly emirates or pen Mont Blanc) were the ultimate deciders of the game.
’83 world cup changed the game in India and ’85 Benson & Hedges added color to the game. Audi car was known to the Indian public more than Ambassador, though only Ravi Shastri owned one. The conventional game was on the move … giving place to the limited 50-50 thrillers. Batsman who can loft over the circle were more recognized than who strictly struck in the “v”. The inevitable principle of change together with the socialistic approach of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh entering the big stage was appreciated, but then again it was rule of money that had the ultimate say.
Enter T20 (which even forced parle to change their tag line from 50 – 50 to 20 – 20) which meant “to whack”. And it really whacked..!! With the cheer girls on the steps, 4’s and 6’s yield more runs for the money. Conventionalist even approached the judiciary to rule the size and extend of the cheer dress..!! Each cheer was dropping the entire India's morality was their reason of scare. Apex court, quite rightly, abstained from interfering.
IPL added tremendous commercial flair to T20. Pump money, and Symonds started Hugging Bhaji..!! Hayden was proud of Chennai Cements on his chest..!! Ganguly became Ricky Ponting’s HMV …!! Teams started to change their tour itineraries according to IPL schedules. Any cricket in India attracts public, and with the added glamour and pomp, IPL became a grand success.
In came IPL 2, and India looked only as a third choice for Modi. The two options were England or RSA. They chose RSA finally. Elections in India were only a “reason” to shift the venue. Even Indian government gave it a low profile since Chidambaram knew that his intelligence were not intelligent enough to block even a “AK’s (Ajmal Khasab’s) AK47 within a small area ... forget Chidambaram stadium..!! due to elections in India, the government may not be able to provide “adequate security” to IPL was the home ministry version, which was accepted by 1.1 billion happily to avoid India to have Pakki fate of isolation in cricketing world..!!
Congrats Modi … you have 'Modi'fied the whole sport. RSA venues are all full for IPL matches, and first time we saw Indians celebrating when Sachin Tendulkar got out to Shane Warne. Ishant Sharma was starring at Yuvraj for which he was congratulated by McCullam..! Australians are supporting teams which they find difficult to enunciate..!! You have proved that you can sell anything anywhere … Be it Ice in Antarctica or IPL in Durban..!! You should try to sell Indian Politics as well … who knows when Lalu will be controlling the tubes in UK or Chidambaram as the head of FBI..!!
Cricket few years back was never a product. It was a game of passion. A game which retained the pedigree of Wimbledon for its compulsory white attire. Where celebration of success by the teams were limited to a pat on the hands. Removing shirts and pointing the pavilion added aggression for sure … but at times it was considered as rude…. Somewhere it was losing the flair of a sport. Umpires who had their clothes of dignity (and not to fly emirates or pen Mont Blanc) were the ultimate deciders of the game.
’83 world cup changed the game in India and ’85 Benson & Hedges added color to the game. Audi car was known to the Indian public more than Ambassador, though only Ravi Shastri owned one. The conventional game was on the move … giving place to the limited 50-50 thrillers. Batsman who can loft over the circle were more recognized than who strictly struck in the “v”. The inevitable principle of change together with the socialistic approach of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh entering the big stage was appreciated, but then again it was rule of money that had the ultimate say.
Enter T20 (which even forced parle to change their tag line from 50 – 50 to 20 – 20) which meant “to whack”. And it really whacked..!! With the cheer girls on the steps, 4’s and 6’s yield more runs for the money. Conventionalist even approached the judiciary to rule the size and extend of the cheer dress..!! Each cheer was dropping the entire India's morality was their reason of scare. Apex court, quite rightly, abstained from interfering.
IPL added tremendous commercial flair to T20. Pump money, and Symonds started Hugging Bhaji..!! Hayden was proud of Chennai Cements on his chest..!! Ganguly became Ricky Ponting’s HMV …!! Teams started to change their tour itineraries according to IPL schedules. Any cricket in India attracts public, and with the added glamour and pomp, IPL became a grand success.
In came IPL 2, and India looked only as a third choice for Modi. The two options were England or RSA. They chose RSA finally. Elections in India were only a “reason” to shift the venue. Even Indian government gave it a low profile since Chidambaram knew that his intelligence were not intelligent enough to block even a “AK’s (Ajmal Khasab’s) AK47 within a small area ... forget Chidambaram stadium..!! due to elections in India, the government may not be able to provide “adequate security” to IPL was the home ministry version, which was accepted by 1.1 billion happily to avoid India to have Pakki fate of isolation in cricketing world..!!
Congrats Modi … you have 'Modi'fied the whole sport. RSA venues are all full for IPL matches, and first time we saw Indians celebrating when Sachin Tendulkar got out to Shane Warne. Ishant Sharma was starring at Yuvraj for which he was congratulated by McCullam..! Australians are supporting teams which they find difficult to enunciate..!! You have proved that you can sell anything anywhere … Be it Ice in Antarctica or IPL in Durban..!! You should try to sell Indian Politics as well … who knows when Lalu will be controlling the tubes in UK or Chidambaram as the head of FBI..!!
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