IPL 8: Why this year was not just about Dhoni, Kohli, Gambhir
It has turned out to be a bigger, better and more competitive Indian Premier League (IPL), with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) once again showing on Saturday how tough they are by sealing the top spot in the points table.
After five weeks of intense matches where the quality of cricket on display was riveting, it is remarkable that the fight for the second, third and fourth spots is still alive.
In previous editions of the IPL, one saw how the penultimate weekend became more or less redundant as the top four spots had been more or less decided by then. What the 2015 edition of the event has done is throw up intriguing battles, wherein no team has been able to maintain the same tempo right through.
At the start of the tournament, it was clear Chennai, Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had slipped into fifth gear right away. But given the long format where each team has to play 14 league matches, revival in fortunes was possible for all teams, barring Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab.
Mumbai Indians looked in the doldrums for the first four matches and then turned it around, but the way CSK continued to fire week after week made for fascinating viewing with skipper MS Dhoni at the helm.
There has been a general trend in the IPL over the years that while some big stars continue to perform, new talent is also thrown up. This year has been no different. If Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir have done well as leaders, the fresh faces to catch attention include Shreyas Iyer from Delhi Daredevils, Sarfaraz Khan from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Hardik Pandya from Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals’ Deepak Hooda. While Delhi did badly as a team, it was refreshing to see Shreyas score over 400 runs this season. This young man will be viewed closely in the coming months and it would be nice if he could prove himself once again in the first-class season that lies ahead.
If one talks of surprises this time, it has to be with the minnows’ ability to deliver shock results. Delhi defeating CSK in Raipur and good old Zaheer Khan striking it rich took fans down memory lane and Punjab defeating RCB was also unexpected.
From the organisational point of view, the men at the helm of affairs did their bit to take the sport to smaller cities via fan parks. The IPL matches can be played only in a certain number of venues, so for smaller cities to get an arena to enjoy live matches was a good concept.
Perhaps, next year, the IPL can extend the fan parks concept to a few more towns so that a bigger fan base can be created.
To be sure, there was a lot of pessimism before the IPL began this year. The previous years’ scandals had made one wary if the public would lap up instant cricket in the same manner.
But then, the biggest lesson to be learnt from IPL 8 is the brand has become bigger, TV viewership figures are higher and the response from the corporate sector has been encouraging.
While all this is exciting for the event, one also has to be prepared for what lies in store for two teams – Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals - as retired chief justice RM Lodha has to submit his report to the Supreme Court in the next few months. There is a strong possibility these two teams could be scrapped for their acts of misdemeanour during IPL-6. Between CSK and RR, these two teams have created a fan base with strong loyalties. There are some who say that an IPL without these two teams would be hard to imagine.
In sport, as in life, nothing stops. Should these two teams cease to exist in a worst-case scenario, there will be a chance for two new franchises to emerge. Several global sports have seen the rise of new teams with the player mix becoming interesting, so the same can happen in the IPL.
What happens to these two teams (CSK and RR) will be followed with interest. Will they get a reprieve from Justice Lodha? After all, in recent weeks, the judiciary has set a new trend of famous personalities in Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad getting bail and reprieves when least expected.