Turning the clock back: IPL - A Phenomenon

• I always thought there was a huge market for a product like the IPL in a cricket-mad country like India.
• I was also confident that the format would unearth and engage a new set of people including women and family audiences.
• I all foresaw how it would make us a superpower in the cricketing world stage and how the money would bring every star from across the cricket playing fraternity down on his knees wanting to be a part of the annual circus.
• What I was a little apprehensive about was the reaction & response from the purists and the followers of old school cricket (read: Tests) but even this has surprised me.
• What I completely did not expect to happen was for the frenzy to last 6 full seasons and even relegate our other national obsession, movies, completely to the background for these 6-8 weeks.

Wowwwwwwwww.....Really.... Wowwwwwwwwwwwwww

Today, my 9 year old cousin has her favorite franchise and she looks at me perplexed when I tell her I couldn't care less. Of course, I am expected to root for Chennai Super Kings (and heck, I even have a cheap but original Dhoni jersey) but then I have no choice. If there was a TPL (TamilNadu Premier League), I'd rather die than support Chennai but then....

I have been so on-and-off IPL that I realised only last week that Shadab Jakati was not even figuring for "my" CSK. Whatever happened to him? Looks like our new unsung hero / season's flavour is Mohit Sharma.

The other big news is that my junior & buddy from school days Rajagopalan Sathish is (again) struggling to make a mark for himself. Except for the 27 runs he scored during that memorable 130 run partnership with Miller, he's hardly set the stage on fire. Tsk Tsk.

Virat Kohli has to be the most outrageously talented but utterly obnoxious cricketer I have seen in my life. The less said about his on-field nautanki the better.

Rajasthan Royals, everyone's 2nd favourite team (unless you are from Rajasthan itself), have again been a pleasant surprise. It's magical to see a couple of old senior pros like Dravid, Hodge mix with the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Sid Trivedi, Sanju Samson/Vishwanadh, Dishant Yagnik and conjure up one amazing truimph after another. Way to go RR !!!

The cheerleaders continue to suck, Sidhu and Jadeja are still boring and listening to Gavasakar spout gyaan on T20 still drives me mad.

Btw, I think Preity looks cuter than Shilpa Shetty. Come sue me.