Premier League - A Cricketing Extravaganza or something

 

Cricket has undergone a strong metamorphosis that has gone from a 5-day test match pattern to a one-day international that gives 50 overs a team, and now we are in an even more compact cricket format called T20 or Twenty-Twenty. The twenty-twenty format further reduces the game to only 20 overs per game. Team. The current world championship in T20 is supposed to be held from April 30 to May 16, 2010. In addition, we also have various competitive events like Sharjah Cup, Champion's Trophy and so on. Given the many cricket events and the massive fan they follow, it was only a matter of time before a sports entrepreneur decided to take advantage of this phenomenon and build one of India's greatest sporting extravaganzas ever. And India is a cricket-crazy nation, the Indian Premier League, closely modeled by the hugely successful English Premier League, found an almost immediate fan following.

So the first part of the IPL started in 2008 with 8 teams - Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers, Kings XI Punjab, Royal Challengers Bangalore. The teams are essentially named after specific Indian states and they are owned by various entities starting with movie stars, media conglomerates and industrialists etc. There was massive media เลื่อนแข่งพรีเมียร์ the whole event when it started in early 2008, with international players, Indian players all ready to grab and a giant auction after it. The teams were formed and the fighting began. The model was interesting in more ways than one. First, players from the same country were pitted against each other many times. As far as the sport went, we could see the magic of Muralidharan along with keeping Dhoni in a team. Like watching Tendulkar and Jayasurya bat on the same page! Second, the teams were all tied to different states or cities. So a Mumbai Indian fight against saying that the Kings XI Punjab was played in Mumbai or in Punjab, and somehow the scintillation of seeing a Mumbai team in Mumbai or a Deccan team in AP was brought out, just like how fans find Man U playing at Old Trafford more fun than any other Man U match! It even served to unite a state with the underlying theme of cricket. So while different teams won and lost at different times, the winner was clearly cricket. At the same time, the entire franchise is valued at more than DKK 4 billion. $!

And so, as is the case with any event that gathers instant star status and is worth billions of dollars, this one also found its controversies. Even the Beijing Olympics, which were executed to perfect perfection, were not spared the controversy, from artists to lip-syncing to the immediate closure of polluting factories. So how can this sports business be spared?

So IPL2 - the second installment was riddled with security controversies. The event collided with the general elections in India and therefore security was of utmost concern. The government asked the organizers to postpone the tournament until after the election, but this was refused as TV rights and slots were apparently reserved. So in the midst of a lot of controversy and nuance and crying, the tournament shifted to South Africa, leaving a disgruntled Indian government and disappointing Indian fans in the wake.

IPL3 was not spared either. When peace talks with Pakistan hit a dead end, some political parties were in arms against allowing Pakistani players to join the IPL. Once again, the papers screamed out of how some politicians mingled in sports and how the unifying spirit of the sport was wasted and so on. Finally, newer players got a chance and the Pakistani players actually did not get a chance to play in IPL3.

Now, however, IPL4 attracted controversy before it could even begin, and this controversy has threatened the entire company's existence - the biggest controversy to date.