Excess replaces excitement

The first IPL had novelty and glitz on its side. The second had daring — for relocating to South Africa at a moment’s notice. The third, back in India, still had Lalit Modi to glamorise it. But excess is proving to be the keynote of IPL4 writes Scyld Berry in the Sunday Telegraph.

But while Pollard, and Chris Gayle, and Dwayne Bravo hit their ‘DLF maximums’ in front of vaguely interested crowds, West Indies play their Test series against Pakistan in bare, listless stadiums. Even if it is not what it was, at least the IPL can claim to be not half as desultory as much of Test cricket has been made by its administrators.