Is anything more Indian - and foreign - than the IPL?
Is anything more Indian than the IPL? To some Indians that
would be a provocation: Yoga, Bollywood and richly varied cuisine, for a start.
But, just as it would be arrogant to expect the world to know who or what 'Adho
Mukha Svanasana, Shah Rukh Khan or Roti are, it would be naive to assume everyone
knows cricket existed in India before April 18, 2008.
Since that day, when Royal Challengers
Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders took to the Chinnaswamy to play the first
IPL match, the tournament has done for cricket what slicers have done for bread.
Bread that comes in loaves, that is. So not roti. Nor indeed chapati, naan or
paratha.
Just as true is that Bollywood blares
with blingy bombast on screens far from India in the thrall of people who are
anything but Indian, and that yoga has, in Westernised countries, been
bastardised into exercise muddled with pseudo-spiritual mumbo jumbo,
aromatherapy candles and incense and incongruous statues of Buddha.
But while you can take the IPL out of
India - as was done completely in 2009 and 2020 and partly in 2014 and 2021 -
there is no taking India out of the IPL. Even its satellite tournament, South
Africa's SA20, is more Indian than South African. Indeed, the fact that all six
of the SA20's franchises are IPL-owned is an important part of its ability to attract
sponsors, broadcasters and spectators.
The IPL has changed cricket in vast and
irrevocable ways. So much so that it can be difficult to remember a time when
these few weeks weren't central to the global game's annual calendar. Whether
watching in person or from afar, it's barely possible for cricket-minded
non-Indians to imagine anything more utterly and entirely Indian than the IPL.
Except that that has never been true.
Foreigners have been intrinsic to the tournament since its inception. Its first
winning captain was Shane Warne, its first player of the series Shane Watson,
its first leading run-scorer Shaun Marsh and its first leading wicket-taker
Sohail Tanvir.
Admittedly, 2008 is the only year
outsiders have swept those boards. But Indians have dominated only twice: MS
Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar - both as player of the series and top batter - and
Pragyan Ojha in 2010, and Dhoni, Harshal Patel - as player of the series and
top bowler - and Ruturaj Gaikwad in 2021.
A foreigner has been named the IPL's best
player in a dozen editions of the tournament, or four times as often as an
Indian. An outsider has scored more runs than any local 10 times compared to
five by homegrown batters. The balance is closer in bowling, where foreigners
have claimed the prize eight times and Indians seven.
Of the 405 players who were up for
auction for this year's IPL, 132 were not Indian. That's just less than a
third. The same was true of 42.15%, or 51 of 121, of the support staff -
everyone from chief executives to lead and assistant masseurs to Gujarat
Titans' "throwdown specialist", Ashok Sadh - named at the time of the
auction.
But playing is at its core an
individual pursuit, and the spotlight doesn't linger on coaches when things go
well or badly. Captaincy asks different questions of those blessed or cursed to
be handed its chalice. Not only do they have to play well - better than their
peers to escape being seen as keeping their places only because they are
captains - they are expected to inspire others to play as well, if not better.
They are also, at some level, coaches.
What might captaining a team on
cricket's biggest modern stage mean for those who have this potential greatness
thrust on them - particularly if they are not Indian? It's a question Shaun
Pollock never should have been asked. He led South Africa in 119 matches across
the formats, an ICC World XI in three ODIs and an Africa XI in two more, but he
was an accidental IPL captain.
"It was in the first year, so I
didn't have a clue about any of the players and because of that I was a bit
skeptical about captaining," Pollock told Cricbuzz. "But Sachin was
injured, Harbhajan got banned and Sanath didn't want to do it. That was why I
did it."
Sachin Tendulkar, Mumbai Indians'
appointed captain, missed the first half of the inaugural IPL with a groin
problem. Harbhajan Singh was given the job in Tendulkar's absence, but
suspended for the rest of the tournament for slapping Sreesanth after the third
match. Mumbai lost all three games. Whether Sanath Jayasuriya really was
unwilling to step into the breach is not known, but it seems clear Pollock made
a positive difference: his team were beaten by 10 wickets by Deccan Chargers in
his first game at the wheel, but they reeled off a hat-trick of wins under him
before Tendulkar arrived to preside over another three consecutive victories.
"The challenge is understanding
the locals; knowing their skills and their strengths, and trying to understand
how you can get the best out of them," Pollock said of his IPL captaincy experience.
"Communication can be difficult, but I think that's changed a lot.
International players who captain now really do understand their squad. They've
probably been with them for a couple of years, so I don't think that's as big a
challenge.
"Conditions were difficult to
read. I relied on what the locals would say about pitches and how they might or
might not play. Also, in those days there wasn't much analysis. So I used to
rely on what they knew about the other local guys we were playing against. These
days, with all the coaches and advisory staff that teams have, the analysts
give you a pretty good idea about where to bowl and what fields to set."
JP Duminy led the then Delhi Daredevils
in all 14 of their matches in 2015 and in two the next year. He piloted Delhi
to only six wins, but for him leadership was about more than results. "One
of the keys for me was investing in the culture of whichever country I was
in," Duminy, who also played in the PSL and the CPL, told Cricbuzz.
"In India it was about trying to
communicate with the local players as best I could, and trying to find a common
cause in what we were playing for. Ultimately it's to try and win the
competition, but it's also about investing in something deeper - understanding
what makes local flavour tick, and forming and developing sound and sincere
relationships. Leadership is about not necessarily needing to be in charge, but
getting the best out of the people who are in your charge. That's a significant
quote I saw from [American author and inspirational speaker] Simon Sinek, which
I think applies."
Duminy saved some of his attention for
the energy he could feel from the stands: "There are rituals that happen
in India outside of playing that we need to understand; how passionate the fans
are, and the importance of trying to find some way to connect with them. It can
be overwhelming, but having the patience to do that is a big part in earning
support for the team you're playing for."
No IPL has been without at least one
foreign appointed captain. In 2011 half of the 10 teams were led by
non-Indians. Two years later the foreigners were in the majority: they were in
control of five of the nine sides.
But Indians have piloted teams to
triumph 12 times, which is as it should be considering they had captained 87 of
the 126 editions of the teams before this year. Of the internationals only
Warne in 2008, Adam Gilchrist a year later and David Warner in 2016 know what
winning the IPL as a captain feels like. Rohit Sharma has been there five
times, Dhoni four times, Gautam Gambhir twice and Hardik Pandya once.
This year Warner, who is in charge of
Delhi Capitals, has the chance to become the first foreigner to lead a team to
the title twice. RCB have Faf du Plessis at the helm and the buck stops with
Aiden Markram at Sunrisers Hyderabad. But Sharma and Dhoni are around and in
search of yet more glory, and Pandya is back to try and repeat last year's feat
with Gujarat.
Is anything more Indian than the IPL?
Maybe. But nothing anywhere in cricket is as magnificent.
Source of info- https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/126254/is-anything-more-indian-and-foreign-than-the-ipl
https://www.builtinseattle.
https://www.builtinsf.com/
https://www.bonfire.com/store/
https://www.builtinchicago.
https://www.builtincolorado.
https://www.builtinnyc.com/
https://www.builtinaustin.com/
https://www.builtinboston.com/
https://www.builtinla.com/
https://www.plurk.com/p/p82l2o
https://sco.lt/6VcxWK
https://www.tumblr.com/
https://diigo.com/0saew0
https://www.pearltrees.com/
https://www.instapaper.com/
Comments
Post a Comment