The Hindu : Sport : IPL owes its success primarily to player commitment

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Wednesday, Jun 04, 2008
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IPL owes its success primarily to player commitment

Repeating the success should be IPL’s top-most priority, writes Javagal Srinath

The close encounter in the finals at Mumbai, yet again, proclaimed the roaring success of the Indian Premier League. Kudos to the organisers who stood up to the challenge and put up a great product.

That leads us to the next question. What were the factors that made this a big success?

The primary reason for IPL’s success was the players’ high intensity and sustained involvement through out the tournament. No matter how philosophical one is, the unprecedented flow of money is the strongest reasons for player’s unflinching commitment. At the same time, loyalty to the team cannot be discounted either.

Team owners seemed to take it pretty seriously too, going as far as sacking team officials and not mincing words even to the icon players and demanding results. The players must come to terms with owners’ reactions, which may not be very pleasant at times.

Plenty of gains

The gains for the Indians players are plenty. The lesser names with abundant talent found a great platform to exhibit their flair. The sense of self worth has hit the roof top in some of the players like Swapnil Asnodkar, Yusuf Pathan, Manpreet Gony and many others.

How could anyone have envisaged incidents like Asnodkar, an opening batsman from Goa, celebrating with the legendary Shane Warne? And Sohail Tanvir’s name being chanted in unison by the enthusiastic Mumbai crowd?

The game of cricket has taken fresh guard.

This new dynamic where the Indian business houses have entered cricketing space needs delicate understanding. No doubt the core of IPL is the participation of the Indian corporates. There are few more corporate-backed teams knocking at the IPL door for entry.

To repeat the success of the event in the following years should be the topmost of all priorities for the IPL.

All that remains to be seen is how can conventional cricket be saved and protected, in the face of emerging new trend.

Hawkeye Communications

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