Will fans really stop watching the IPL?
With the limited time, need for ten wickets, and bowlers open to experimentation, cricket, in its shortest form, is open up to mistakes. Therefore how can one adjudge between legal or illegal? Conundrums such as these makes it difficult for fans to really
20-May-2013
With the plethora of images of fans burning effigies and protesting against the actions of the tainted Rajasthan trio, one can wonder if this really spells the end for the IPL, who seemingly has lost more credibility with each passing season. S. Ram Mahesh, in his column for the The Hindu believes that with the limited overs played, the risks batsmen are willing to take, and the need to take wickets at a greater rate than before; it is almost impossible to decipher which are legitimate or illegitimate actions on the field as the game opens itself up to error in its shortest format.
The most unsettling aspect of all that has happened these last few days is the reminder that cricket's very structure, which affords its fans such joy, is so vulnerable to manipulation. Cricket is a series of discrete events, each initiated by the bowler. This gives cricket its unique rhythm; its space for the pause allows reflection. But, cruelly, it also allows these events to be remote-controlled.
In Wisden India, Saurabh Somani writes that in a shortened format where one wide down the legside, one top-edged six etc are the differentiators between victory and defeat, the fixing of one period of play - however brief - must surely count as match-fixing, rather than spot-fixing. Regarding the investigation, it should not just examine the wrongdoings of the three players, but check how far the rot spreads.
For all I know, that may well be the case, and there could have been several good reasons to keep the scope of the enquiry away from public consumption. When the controversy broke, there seemed to be genuine hurt in Srinivasan's voice while answering questions from across television channels. And he's right too, when he says that the BCCI does not have the power to police all bookies across the country, but can only focus on educating its players. But given that the board is composed of several powerful politicians across most state associations, it is surely not beyond its power to institute a more comprehensive enquiry.
B Baskar ponders in his column for The Hindu Business Line whether this recent scandal will really prevent fans from coming on board for the next edition? There seems to be a complete separation in how the scandal has broken out, and what has transpired in the tournament thus far. The fact that the BCCI has continued operating on the same schedule as before only goes to show how such a scandal has added fuel to the fire when it comes to categorising IPL as 'crictainment.'
The day after the scandal broke, Hyderabad Sunrisers took on Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad. The ESPN Cricinfo correspondent was in the stadium to report on the fans' reaction to the scandal. Unsurprisingly, the fans couldn't give a damn about the scandal and turned out in huge numbers to support their team. They were there to have a blast. The spot fixing scandal could well be happening in Mars. There seemed to be a complete dissonance between the self-righteous fulminations of our TV anchors and the frenzy of the fans at the stadium.