Binoy

I joke to my friends that we need to return to the "traditional" version of the one day game - fifty overs.

The world is speeding up. People are working longer and harder and so have less time for family, food preparation and playing and watching sport.

So sports that used to take days (like test cricket) invented a one day version of fifty overs per side. but still the world speeds n. So now we have a twenty twenty version. And while ti reduces the skill level it increases the excitement to see sixes and fours smashed regularly.

One problem though is that the massive investments in each team - somewhere in the order of $100m each - may not be that profitable.

The business model seemed to be that television rights in Asia, in particular India, would recoup the outlays and provide a good return on investment. That does not appear to have been the case. My understanding is that the audience has not been as great as predicted.

maybe we are getting tired of unhealthy fast food and fast cricket and want a return (even if it is nostalgia) to the days when life was more relaxed and comfortable. Test cricket gives us that reminder.

Anybody who can write this sentence has no idea what cricket is about.

>>this provincial, rather stuffy sport, long given over to social hierarchies in both Britain and her former colonies. A sport dedicated to the long afternoon, the gin and tonic, and the imperial self-satisfaction<<

This is the laziest form of stereotyping, which may possibly have had some validity in the Raj of the nineteenth century.

But I doubt even that.

does anyone seriously care?

I have seen Indians, brunettes, blondes, and males make up some of the cheerleading teams. I think the IPL is not purely a copy of an American Baseball superleague. It is a healthy hybrid, and an improvement on both Baseball and on 50 over cricket. The best part is you get to see the best players in the world playing with and against each other, instead of one sided matches which slowly dull the appetites of the players.

Well said, Pericles. The author does not know his subject matter.

What is cricket? It’s a sport to be enjoyed. It is a contest between bat and ball. It is loved by millions (or should I say billions?)

It appears to me the IPL creators have found a winning recipe. They’re even emphasising the sportsmanship element of the game, which was sadly lacking in the last Australian summer.

I’ve only watched a few hours of IPL 20-20, but I’ve seen some good bowling, good batting, no bowlers’ fingers pointing to the dressing room on dismissals, and one batsman refusing to run despite the ball coming loose after the batsman collided with a fieldsman.

I must have watched more of it than the author has, for as Alex73 pointed out, the cheerleaders have danced in varieties of shapes, colours, and manner of dress.