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The biggest cricketing league is back again this summer after lots of setbacks and controversies. Not to mention the recent sensation created by the Fake IPL Player. Within just a few days into the league, it has raised questions of common sense asscoiated with the league.

1. When IPL was launched last summer, it was intended to polarize the country into different teams localized to a city/state, a model which is not new for sporting leagues and events across the globe. The franchise owners of the IPL teams, self proclaiming to be lovers of the game, have lost a touch of common sense in equating business with the love for the game among the Indian crowd. Take for instance, Chennai fans, known to be the best behaved and a passionate cricket loving crowd is yet to see any honest attachment of their Super-kings team with their home city “Chennai”. CSK fans are made to witness a promo of their own team in Hindi- “Enna Koduma Saravanan ithu!” (Chennai lingo,DON’T MIND IT).

Most IPL teams have failed to capture the essence of their own backyard. Sorry, but does that make any sense considering the theme of the league?

2. Sony Max back in 2003 World Cup introduced a female host on screen, for a cricket analysis show with absolutely no knowledge of the game, as a ploy to attract more women towards the game (or was it meant otherwise?). Needless to say the kind of reaction and attention that female anchor generated, irrespective of all ages. The channel is back again this IPL season, with cricket analysts who analyze the matches most of the time in HINDI. If this was again their ploy to increase their viewer base, then I won’t be surprised to see their analysts speaking in Tamil or Kannada or Telugu or Bengali during CSK, RCB or KKR matches in the future. And why is Arun Lal, a distinguished unlucky commentator for Indian matches, known for his English fluency while commentating, analyzing the game in Hindi? Sorry but did I hear an echo prompting “NO COMMON SENSE”.

3. Lalit Modi, the proud chairman and the brain behind the successful league may have caught attention for his dramatic management skills in making IPL possible in a short interval in South Africa. If an event of this magnitude can be set in a different country in just a few weeks, what prevented him from letting Pakistan players to play in the league? Preventing the players to play on grounds of time surpassed in announcing the final list of team players sounds absurd and is a mockery to the professional standards set by Modi himself in conducting the league.

4. The PAGE 3 IPL owners, are making more news than the Wisden listed top cricketers for reasons which makes lesser sense than saying Mr.Lalu Prasad will be the next Prime Minister of India .

•  KKR has a owner who doesnt mind a foreign coach bossing his team and eventually ousting his captain,a man who is a demigod to their home city;Sacked from captaincy not on the grounds of performance or ability to lead the team but because of some extra terrestrial theories of their so called successful coach. 

• RCB owner Mallya has no doubt raised eyebrows with his highest bid for Pietersen in the recent IPL auction. What went unnoticed was the exchange of Zaheer khan to Mumbai for the Bangalore lad Uthappa. And does this decision make any cricketing sense? Why would anybody trade one among the best contemporary bowlers of a “Batsman’s game” to a mediocre batsman. If it was because, he is a home lad, then I doubt whether even cricket fans from Banglore would agree to that.

• A celebrity team owner (Big sister :P) on conversation with their team pace bowler commented- “I hope you spin the ball better this time around!”. Sorry, but it hurts now to be a purist of the game after hearing such comments from people who talk absolutely no sense on the game of Cricket. Thanks to IPL for giving them this platform.

IPL may have succeeded in stealing the show biz from Political parties this election season, but I doubt it has displayed any better sense than election manifestos or promises of Indian political parties.

                   "Have you ever stopped by a “Wall” and admired its beauty?"

                   "Ever strained your brain cells to think what a “Wall” is capable of?"

                   "Ever knocked a “Wall” to test its strength?"   

If not, then read on. This article provides more insight on the life of the Wall; not just about the “Wall” made of bricks and cement but about the “Great wall of Indian cricket”, made of strength, patience, perseverance and determination.

The Wall – A test of time!

 “It is unnoticed”- People walk by it and never care to acknowledge what it has given them. “It is uncared” – A wall if damaged, is uncared for, and no effort is made to repair it; smiling back with its broken limbs, it never fails in its duty. Its services are ignored and forgotten all the time. As its counterparts evolve and age, the “Wall” still young, renders its services without any compromise. It stands by time and keeps testing whatever tries to knock it down.

 The Wall – Not just Bricks and Cement!

The Wall is made not just with bricks and cement but is composed of strength and determination, that it can stand ground against any forces and never falters without a fight. It is patient and never bored by its “One of a kind” nature. Unrelenting, still patiently delivers without any companion to rely on.

 The Wall – Happy to be in the Shadow!

People stumble upon the Wall, not to admire it but to see the “Posters” glued to it. The posters keep changing with time, but the Wall stays fixed without inching a step forward. The Wall uncaring about shadowing its own self assists in bonding the “Posters” to it; never tears open the posters, to publicize it.

 The Wall – Throw even tomatoes!

The Wall has to face hard stones and harsh treatment time and again. Whether it’s raining or snowing the Wall keeps silencing people who question its ability to stand against the nature. In fact, the Wall strengthens more with time and evolves with crisis.

 The Wall – Not deceived!

 The Wall is not deceived by its upgrading surroundings. The fancy looking, fragile structures in its neighborhood, grabbing the attention of people, doesn’t bother it and it keeps strengthening itself. As time unfolds, the remains of the fancy structures are nowhere to be seen, but the Great Wall stands high and unshaken even then.  

 The Wall- Never dies! 

Just like the “The Great Wall of China”, which is the only structure seen from above the Earth, this “Great Wall of Indian Cricket” will occupy a unique place in history; The Wall uncaring about its own achievements, keeps guarding the house, unknowing that history has etched its name among the greatest Guardians ever. As they say “Old soldiers never die, they fade away”, "The Wall", never breaks but will fade into the horizon of time.

Related story | Digg story 

A Sunday afternoon, with the sun overhead radiating scorching heat, beads of perspiration trickling down like a river from the face, focusing sharply, the kid without battling his eyelid, watches the bowler charging towards the other end and without the slightest hesitation, re-shifts his position slightly and moves his back foot and blocks the ball, a demonstration of a perfect defensive shot.This sight is a very common phenomenon in every street in India, a nation so obsessed and crazy about the sport “Cricket”.

 The game didn’t have its roots in India, nor it’s the national sport of India. Yet the word “Cricket” rings a bell in all the minds of this country; There’s never a primetime news in Tv channels without Cricket being a part of it; Not a single playground in the evening without a share of bat and ball in the field;

 The sport is simple to start off. All it requires is a bat and a ball, few people and less space. Cricket is not physically demanding either. One can afford to rest whenever he feels like, just by walking into the territory of the field where the batsman rarely hits. The game is stylish, even a kid can prove a point to a grown up by hitting a perfect cover drive, without spending an ounce of energy.

The game offers different kinds of tasks at a time, i.e. it requires a guy to bowl, one to field, one to keep behind the wickets and one to bat. It’s the mixture of these activities all at a same time which makes this game appealing and suitable for everyone to fit into the task they are good at.

 Another major phenomenon responsible for the madness about the game is- “The Sachin phenomenon”.  The man has solely occupied sporting columns in newspapers for almost two decades now and the frenzy hasn’t died out yet. Breaking every barrier possible, treading a path triggering a new record with every run he makes, the man has not just been a legendary cricketer but also a great youth icon inspiring millions. He is one big factor responsible for a lot of kids taking to cricket. Youngsters have begun to tag them as a part of the brand- “Sachin fan” and this feeling drives and keeps them holding to the game. No wonder, it’s the dream of any youngster aspiring to achieve the fame and success that he has been gifted with. Lack of any other sporting greats emerging from other sports was another factor which couldn’t drive people away from Cricket.

 The rise of Indian cricket came at a time of the emergence of popularity of the media in the country. This confluence proved vital in radiating the madness that the game produced. Recycling even a worthless story on Cricket is a common feature among Indian media. Dhoni’s hair-style means more to the media, than a lone warrior cycling around the country to spread the message of planting more trees to save “Mother Earth. Like it or not, the country is informed of every off-the-field detail about the game.

This article is not an attempt to analyze how to drive people away from this game, but a wild analysis of the reason for the madness generated by this sport, by a mad and crazy Cricket fan !!

I welcome your comments !

Related article | Digg story   

~This article was written by Ajith Kumar (Moderator of Sachin Tendulkar fans community,Orkut). This is one of my favourite articles on Sachin.  ~

"Mirror Mirror answer me. Is Sachin the greatest ?"

Comments by ex cricketers; media furious over sachin; doubts among his loyal supporters; what is his future? and what is the future of indian cricket without sachin ?

Ya, I stood before a honest Mirror and asked the mirror, "Is there still some magic left in his bat" ?

The mirror told me..
A 15 year kid was booed and asked to go and drink milk by 1000s of paki supporters, but the kid replied by hitting 4 sixes of, the all time best spin wizard abdul quadir..

The mirror immediately added that, it is not just history even two months back when every one was criticising him for not hitting a match winning hundred he hit a 100 of 76 balls, which proves that he has lot of fuel in him..

I asked the MIRROR is Sachin blocking the entry of some youngsters ?
The mirror told me, well even in the recently concluded ranji trophy, sachin was the only composed batsman in both the teams to destroy the best bowling attack of that season, who else can replace him? who has played better than him in the domestic circuit?

I then asked the MIRROR is Lara better than Sachin today ?

The mirror told me, " noway".. Sachin still want to open and control the proceedings unlike lara who comes in at 3rd, 4th or 5th down to escape the new ball and to play out the 5th and 6th bowler of the opposition.. and there is not a single match winning innings of lara for the past two years, and the MIRROR asked me if i can name a odi match winning

 innings or lara.

I then asked the MIRROR who is the greatest Indian cricketer ?
The mirror answered me.. "I dont know about the greatest indian cricketer", but I can tell you about the greatest player to play this game ever and his name is Sachin Tendulkar..

I asked the MIRROR why?

The mirror replied, when a country was completely deprived of economic, intellectual, natural and sporting wealth. And when half the gold of our country was given to the world bank for loan and when india was considered as a third world nation and when we indians lacked confidence even to keep our heads high.. when the whole nation was craving for a reason to be proud of.. and when even a fourth position in olympics (PT usha) was considered as a great achievement and a thing to cherish.. a star arose.. sorry a SUN arose.. a 15 year old kid made the indians proud...

Proved that world records can be created even by indians.. he not only changed the indian cricket single handedly.. he changed the outlook of indians single handedly..
Indians were no more losers.. they too can achieve.. he inspired a generation and many more generations to come..
The cricketers of the same team who are elder to him now (Rahul dravid) got inspired form that kid..

And that kid carried the burdens in his shoulders to make a millions to smile. So, He is the greatest sporting personality ever.