IPL 2021: The show will go on

At a time when the staying power of the human race is under scrutiny, we are on the cusp of another edition of the Indian Premier League. Not bad for a league that has, despite 13 prior editions, had often raised questions of relevance and timing.

Its rushed conduct in the aftermath of big ICC tournaments, its apparent influence in the supposed downfall of Test cricket, its impact on the shortened careers of international cricketers, its effect on the overall quality of the sport, its proclivity for the lavish, it as a gateway to match/spot-fixing... the critique would read on.

This year is no different, more so in the wake of a burgeoning of Covid-19 positive cases in the country, but cricket’s version of ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ will go on, and we will lap it up.

See, Lalit Modi’s brainchild has given millionaire-status to many a being since its inception in 2008, and while a black-or-white rationale might force one to take a purists’ stance, the league must be consumed in its entirety, not with a convenient narrative.

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Riches aside, IPL, seemingly, has a monopoly in the process of thrusting cricketers into the Indian team. Better yet, it has achieved the same simplified-scouting status for other International teams too. But that’s to cricketers and those who run the well-oiled show. What of those in the stands (if given the chance) and of all who remain transfixed by everything associated with the IPL?

This is where the robustness of the IPL is remarkable. Though inconsiderately advertised and marketed without a textbook understanding of sustenance, audiences can’t seem to get enough. General Elections and trifling politics have often forced the Governing Council to take remedial measures, but the TRPs didn't drop, barring once in 2011.

And that glitch in the matrix was because India had won the World Cup for the first time since 1983. This was April 2, 2011. Five days later, the same players were padding up for their franchises in different cities. Neither fan nor cricketer had time to savour this epochal moment. It took at least 1/3rd of the fourth edition for the patrons to return with a voice.

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Since then, rarely has the IPL looked back. In fact, the only real threat to its existence, and resultant viewership, came on the wings of a pandemic. In the wake of the nation-wide lockdown imposed in March of 2020, there was no reason to believe that the 13th edition would live to add another year of stories and statistics. It did, and how.

They moved the circus to the United Arab Emirates and held 60 matches in three venues between September 19 and November 10. This at a time when every other cricket ‘organisers’ in the world, including the International Cricket Council, were apprehensive enough to postpone many a series.

In the interim, the IPL managed to bring in more viewers than ever - home-bound enthusiasts were now addicts and the seasonal fan was now more entrenched. Of course, the genesis of gaming platforms only contributed.

Keeping this in mind, should the current trend of rising cases and the inevitability of another IPL be accounted for, the 14th edition, as has been the trend, will draw as many eyeballs as it did before, if not as much as the previous iteration. It won’t matter that India played two high-voltage full-fledged series against Australia and England in between. Exactly five months apart, yet another edition will be upon us, at home this time, and it will inarguably remain the most sought after event in India, perhaps beyond.

Logistical challenges

Six venues - Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad - have earmarked to get the job done, a logistical nightmare even for BCCI with six bio-bubbles to maintain. With a number of groundsmen at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai testing positive - Hyderabad and Indore have been kept as stand-by - it only highlights the challenges of conducting an event of this magnitude amidst a fast-spreading pandemic.

Unlike in the UAE where a team got back to a fixed bio-secure zone from three venues through the tournament, each team will enter four different bubbles during this edition. While BCCI has the experience and the resources to pull it off, incidents like Mumbai show no amount of precaution is sufficient in these times.

Again, irrespective of a calamity of far-reaching proportions, the show will go on. Behind closed doors, of course. Objectively speaking, it’s a lot of pressure on participating athletes. Sure, they want to play the sport they love and love the cheques which come in too, but being locked up in a bio-secure environment for two months can’t be good for their well-being, especially for those who have already endured these claustrophobic confines in the not-so-distant past.

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Also, the fear of contracting the virus is a very real one. Delhi Capitals’ Axar Patel tested positive on Saturday, a few days after Kolkata Knight Riders’ Nitish Rana. Consider the mental health of those who have been in close proximity to the left-arm spinner and also have families to care for. Families which, by the way, are allowed to be part of the bubble under the latest SOP.

With all this in mind, the said athletes will also have to focus on their performances because the audience doesn’t sincerely care for what those on the field have to put up with in the backroom as long they get what they pay to get: entertainment.

In that vein, the IPL will be about as entertaining as ever with the teams stacked to the hilt with inarguably the finest talents the cricketing world has to offer. Some outstation players have opted against travelling due to the pandemic (expect more such announcements to come in the days leading up to the opening day) and a select few are caught up with international duty, but that still doesn’t shave the sheen. Even if it did, the habit of tuning in at the prime time (7.30 pm) for a dose of one of India’s important contributions to world cricket will remain undeterred.

So, come April 9, when five-time defending champions Mumbai Indians take on eternal also-rans Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai in the season opener, think of all the times the IPL was written off. Remember of the times it was said to be detrimental to the very essence of cricket, of all the controversies it came with, of how it instigated ‘never-before-seen’ monetary greed…Frankly, a sizeable population still reckons so. Understandably. But credit should be given where credit is due, and the IPL deserves every bit of it. In case you aren’t inclined to align, this is the second edition of the IPL during a global pandemic. Clearly, it’s doing something right.