I have been a big Cricket fan for many years now and normally I can't get enough of it, but at the moment the Big Show in cricket is the Indian Premier League. The IPL has managed to suck up most of the International talent for it's 2 month tournament in India. I have no real interest in this tournament because it's just too over the top with some ridiculous scores being posted. It's what happens when money is the driver of sport and I think overall the sport is poorer for the emergence of IPL and similar franchise T20 cricket leagues like the Big Bash in Australia.
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Call me an old Fuddy Duddy if you like but I know what cricket is and this annual slog-fest that dominates the International Cricket calendar for 2 months every year is not IT. I think the great Michael Holding got it spot on when he explained "I only commentate on Cricket" as the reason why he wouldn't work the IPL. Meanwhile the rest of the world outside India seem to be just waiting for the damn thing to be over.
The IPL has been going for a month and has clocked up 47 matches already, but it's only half way so there is still a month to go. Meanwhile around the world the only other International Mens matches have been the New Zealand vs Pakistan Bilateral Series. That's because Pakistani players are excluded from the IPL and most of the New Zealanders aren't good enough to pick up IPL contracts. Oops, that was a bit mean. Sorry, not sorry - It's true.
I had wondered if this recent glut of T20 franchise cricket might have been playing itself to death. Could it be just a fad that might have already peaked? I went looking for crowd numbers and could only find an article reporting the record of 104,859 being set at the IPL 2022 Final between Gujarat and Rajastjan. Nothing more recent than that so could it be that the high water mark for the IPL has been set already?
I don't really like to death ride anything or anyone, but I am looking forward to this tournament being over so that International Cricket can resume. The T20 World Cup is being held in June and while the format chosen is regrettable at least the cricketing nations of the world can come together and compete properly.
As far as fan interest is concerned then I wouldn’t expect the IPL to be going anywhere soon I’m afraid. Viewing figures both in terms of number of people watching and the length of time they watch for are higher again this season.
What will be interesting is what happens when a few of the really big Indian stars retire, particularly MS Dhoni.
I recently watched the Lucknow Super Giants v Chennai Super Kings game played in Lucknow and most of the support was for Chennai. Most of the Indians I meet support CSK not because they’re from Chennai but because of Dhoni. The BCCI is going to have to find a way to cryogenically freeze him for 10 months of the year so he can keep playing indefinitely!
Yes I will concede that the IPL is here to stay. Is it getting the viewers outside of India though? I would have thought there would be a lot of English cricket fans just as dismayed about the state of the game.
There are certainly people who don't enjoy short form cricket, lots of noise about The Hundred and a general concern about the future of red ball cricket.
That being said, as far as crowds are concerned this seems to be the only country that can consistently sell out Test Matches almost regardless of the opposition and how well we are playing. We've got Tests against WI and Sri Lanka this season, hardly great teams but 4 of them are sold out for at least the first 3 days and I'd imagine the rest of the tickets will be gone by the time the matches start.
I prefer red ball cricket (I'm off to the Oval this morning to see if Surrey can finish off Hampshire in the County Championship) but I don't mind short form cricket. Some of the scoring in the IPL at the moment is silly but that's as much to do with the length of the boundaries. One of the games I watched had a 56m boundary! I was playing on bigger grounds than that when I was 8-years-old. It makes for uncompetitive battles between batsmen and bowlers which is really what you want for any match in any format. No different though to some of the absolute roads you see produced in Tests around the world where you could play 10 days and still not see 40 wickets fall.
Most sports around the world would kill to have the amount of money that cricket has flowing into it at the moment. The reality is that without T20 franchise cricket, the game would most likely be bankrupt.
!pimp !bbh
You must be killin' it out here!
@trumpman just slapped you with 1.000 PIMP, @buggedout.
You earned 1.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 1/3 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
It is exactly like that today we are seeing that people are very interested in cricket and now the way it was going on in India before it has continued to go on in our country too, so watch such matches. It's a lot of fun because it's so exciting, every team is working so hard to win.
Hehe😅
I’m never gonna call you an old foggy but cricket isn’t my thing. Nigerians don’t play cricket
It isn’t forbidden but it isnt just our thing
A slog fest on small grounds is what we are seeing with the IPL currently and it is definitely losing popularity outside of India. I watch the occasional game, but not like I used too because there is too much. The same thig happened with the Super 16 Rugby as it was over kill and people lose interest after a few years. More is not always better and this is only driven by finances and not for the love of the sport.