Is IPL hurting Indian cricket?

[yoda]

^^You mentioned all the tourney's/series we lost, but did not talk about WC 2011. Can you also explain how IPL affected our performance there? :winky:

[Shanal]

@yoda, There is a stark contrast between the tournaments I mentioned and the WC 2011. The WC 2011 was held BEFORE IPL, while the tournaments I mentioned took place immediately/very close to the IPL. So players did not have to go through two months of strenuous cricket, and were relatively fresh and fit.

[Roshanrocks]

after this kinda batting carnage.... No indians will want to be bowlers

[Zap_Brannigan]

If we can say that we lost against eng and Aus because of IPL, then we won the world cup and became #1 in test and #1 in ODis(for whatever it is worth) because of IPL. All hail the mighty IPL. Apple stocks shot up because of IPL. True story!!

[panther]

Some of the reasons I feel that it is pretty unhealthy for Indian cricket are.... 1) India has consistently played utmost pathetic cricket in important tournaments held within a few months after the IPL. a) ICC World Twenty20, 2009 - Won both their games in the First Round against the smaller teams of Ireland and Bangladesh. But when they were pitted against the better teams in their Second Round, lost ALL their games against RSA, WI & Eng. b) ICC Champions Trophy, 2009 - Knocked out after the First Stage. c) ICC World Twenty20, 2010 - Won both their games in the First Round against the Afghanistan & RSA. But in their Second Round, lost ALL their games against Aus, SL & WI. d) Indian Tour of England, 2011 - Don't want to expand on it, as everyone must be very well aware of how we were demolished, and the coveted World Number 1 was ripped away from us. Note:- I'm not blaming IPL for all those losses, just have a feeling that IPL had played a major role along with several other factors. I just hope this doesn't happen in the T20 WC 2012. :nervous: 2) Top Indian Cricketers attitude towards IPL. In this day of Indian Cricket, International Cricket has taken a back seat, and IPL is the most important tournament for any Indian cricketer. The prime example of this is Sehwag (my favourite Indian player). In the year 2011, Sehwag showed how much important it was for him to represent Delhi in IPL, than India in International cricket. He had some problems with his shoulders, and the doctor whom he consulted advised him to not take part in the IPL, and undergo the surgery instead. But how could Sehwag miss the most important tournament in World Cricket? He chose to not undergo the surgery, and planned to undergo it after the IPL, when he must have known that India had full tours to WI & Eng just after the IPL. The consequence of not undergoing the shoulder surgery on time, was he was unfit for the WI series, and just managed to play two tests in the England tour. Had he placed India ahead of Delhi, he might have taken part in the entire England tour, and may be in the WI tour as well. Apart from this disappointing act, Sehwag has consistently given tournaments held after the IPL a miss due to injuries. Tournaments deserving mention are: ICC World Twenty20, 2009, ICC Champions Trophy, 2009 & ICC World Twenty20, 2010. Next up, Sachin Tendulkar (my second favourite Indian player). The level of respect he commands from me and the rest of the Indians is just unexplainable in words. But I'm always left a l'il disappointed after seeing him participating in the IPL. Sachin has not been a major part of the Indian ODI team, as he continuously chooses to take rest from several ODI series on account of his age. I don't blame him for that, as at his age, and the effort which he has already put in, he deserves some good amount of rest. But when his body needs rest, why is he wasting his super-precious stamina on some tournament which runs for two months at a stretch with about 18 games being played during this period of time. He is only harming his stamina and body with it. I would have loved to see him taking rest from IPL, as he does in several ODI tournaments, and then continue to perform at the top-level as he has been doing in the past 22 years. I do accept that Sachin has every right to do what he thinks best, and he certainly knows better than all of us, but anyways its MY opinion. 3) The shocking amount of injuries. IPL to me is THE best place to get yourself injured. On second thoughts, it might be second best after the Spanish Bullfighting events. The tournaments which I have already mentioned above did not have the best Indian XI in most cases in the team. In almost all of them, top 4-5 Indian players were missing. Regular missers were Sehwag, Gambhir, Zaheer, Ishant, Nehra and other big Indian names. 4) The months of April and May which were earlier used by the team to rest and recuperate, is now being used to play 18 matches of super-fast cricket. I just don't know what will happen to these cricketers in the long-run, if they keep exploiting their bodies like this. When is the time to rest??? Is this the reason what has made 'young' Dhoni to start thinking about his retirement already? I think all these problems could be solved if BCCI decides to be a little less money-minded and makes IPL a one-month tournament. A one-month IPL with about 8-10 matches per team would be perfect for cricketer's health and for spectator's entertainment. But I fear it might not be as healthy for BCCI pockets, which is why I believe they will continue to ignore the above problems and continue minting money with its money-minting machine, The IPL. PS: I'm not an IPL hater, rather I'm an avid :kkr: supporter.

excellent post i also think ipl is too long and should be 1 month max.

[Marut]

If we can say that we lost against eng and Aus because of IPL, then we won the world cup and became #1 in test and #1 in ODis(for whatever it is worth) because of IPL. All hail the mighty IPL. Apple stocks shot up because of IPL. True story!!

Our becoming no:1 was not acheived in a day. It was a slow drawn process starting from 2002-2003. It just happened that when IPL started India was well and truly heading upwards in test cricket thanks to its best ever overseas performances throughout the decade, plenty of home wins and so on. It also coincided with Australia's fall without which India were never going to be no:1 in test cricket with their mediocre bowling. IPL had just made its appearance and its effect was not noticeable immediately. The effects of IPL are coming out slowly now and I beleive we are yet to see the worst. More evidence would be available when India tours abroad again. IPL may have actually helped India a bit in winning the WC - though its contribution to test standards in India would certainly be negative.

[saneindian]

Our becoming no:1 was not acheived in a day. It was a slow drawn process starting from 2002-2003. It just happened that when IPL started India was well and truly heading upwards in test cricket thanks to its best ever overseas performances throughout the decade' date= plenty of home wins and so on. It also coincided with Australia's fall without which India were never going to be no:1 in test cricket with their mediocre bowling. IPL had just made its appearance and its effect was not noticeable immediately. The effects of IPL are coming out slowly now and I beleive we are yet to see the worst. More evidence would be available when India tours abroad again. IPL may have actually helped India a bit in winning the WC - though its contribution to test standards in India would certainly be negative.

With series loss in Australia in 2008, a nearly home series loss to SA, a humiliating series defeat in SL and a near disastrous start to the Aus series in Oct 2008?

[Marut]

With series loss in Australia in 2008' date=' a nearly home series loss to SA, a humiliating series defeat in SL and a near disastrous start to the Aus series in Oct 2008?[/quote'] They also won many series ( more than they lost ) - that is how they became no:1. But you are right that India never won overseas series against top teams like Oz and SA ( though they did manage some test wins), the sole exception being the English series in 2007.

[jairamesh]

Poor and conservative selection is what is hurting Indian cricket. And don't get me started on the fat feck zimbo and team management's lack of any inclination to change anything unless enforced by injuries.

[sivadarsh2]

IPL have opened up a door for lots of young players to come up and show their talent.The players like Rahane, Manish pandey, R ashwin are gifts of IPL. In cricket the more you play the more you learn. I think IPL have helped the Indian players to learn more about cricket IPL Teams

[vvvslaxman]

IPL have opened up a door for lots of young players to come up and show their talent.The players like Rahane' date=' Manish pandey, R ashwin are gifts of IPL. In cricket the more you play the more you learn. [b']I think IPL have helped the Indian players to learn more about cricket IPL Teams

Where did Dravid, Sachin, Gavaskar, Laxman, learn cricket then? :cantstop:

[jairamesh]

Where did Dravid' date=' Sachin, Gavaskar, Laxman, learn cricket then? :cantstop:[/quote'] Sharjah, Toronto and Tangiers.

[yoda]

IPL IS part of Indian Cricket.

[Marut]

IPL have opened up a door for lots of young players to come up and show their talent.The players like Rahane, Manish pandey, R ashwin are gifts of IPL. In cricket the more you play the more you learn. I think IPL have helped the Indian players to learn more about cricket IPL Teams

The more junk you play the more junk you learn too.:haha: IPL has helped improve club loyalty over nation loyalty.

[Precambrian]

The more junk you play the more junk you learn too.:haha: IPL has helped improve club loyalty over nation loyalty.

Wrong. IPL has certainly improved club loyalties. But to say it is the first of its kind to test "nation vs club" loyalty (blah blah - whatever that means) you're wrong. County cricket, Packers cricket all these have been there, done that and still continuing to. BTW not to prioritise national cricket over an opportunity to make millions in an away league is not a cardinal sin. If that was, every Indian who migrated abroad for greener pastures and greenbacks are guilty of that "sin".

[Chandan]

LINK JANUARY 30, 2013 BCCIÃÔ dozen MAHESH SETHURAMAN ItÃÔ impossible to pin down a specific cause for IndiaÃÔ downturn since the world cup victory. ItÃÔ a free for all. You think DhoniÃÔ captaincy sucks? Fine. You think the decades old system of Ranji Trophy needs to be turned upside down? Fair enough. Sachin should retire? Gambhir has no business walking out in whites again? Sehwag should declare himself unavailable for tours abroad? Well, to each his own. What about that two-month long marathon gig that should be completely insulated from the post mortem? Can I, if you donÃÕ mind, ponder over its impact on the performance of the Indian team? Like, for a few minutes? You can give the clean chit to IPL at the end of this post. IPL has been in existence since 2008 yes. India became the no.1 ranked test team subsequent to that yes. India has been inflicted whitewashes abroad in the pre-IPL days too yes. And it has even lost the odd home series comprehensively in the past. Therefore it has had no impact? What next? Despite the large scale corruption scandals in India, the markets havenÃÕ tanked. In fact, relatively they have outperformed many other economies in the global market. Are we to infer corruption has no relevance to IndiaÃÔ growth, or perhaps that it has a positive effect? India won the longest world cup ever on April 02, 2011. The longest ever IPL (at that time) started on April 08, 2011. Of course, being on the road for 4 months on the trot has no impact on the teamÃÔ performance for the rest of the year. A week after the IPL we embarked on a tour of West Indies. Naturally, a lot of cricketers withdrew from the tour some on account of injury, some chose to rest. The team trundled to a 1-0 victory in the test series, which followed the ODI series, with a farcical end to the last test at Dominica. The full strength team got together for the first time since January 2011 against England in their backyard with the no.1 ranking at stake. Oh wait, it wasnÃÕ exactly full strength. Sehwag wasnÃÕ available because he hadnÃÕ recovered fully from his shoulder surgery which was postponed due to his IPL commitments. Zaheer Khan, the spearhead of the Indian attack with a fragile fitness record, broke down on the first day of the tour. Obviously, we should completely separate playing nonstop cricket for 4 months and the subsequent injuries. The table below lists the number of matches India has played in each format since 2001: 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Tests 15 9 9 13 9 9 13 12 7 11 14 12 ODIs 22 44 25 31 27 41 35 28 33 36 31 5 T20 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 8 8 3 5 24 Average since 2001 since 2008 since 2010 Tests 11.08 11.20 12.33 ODIs 29.83 26.60 24.00 since 2007 T20 9.50 So, India has been playing more or less the same amount of international matches in the post-IPL world as it did pre-IPL. In effect, a giant sized tournament has been superimposed on Indian cricket (and cricket world at large) over and above what seems to have been an already packed calendar. But letÃÔ all pretend that cricket calendar is flexible enough to accommodate 14 months in a year. This is just the direct impact of adding IPL to the existing calendar. What about the indirect impact? DidnÃÕ the franchises seek permission to play associates and affiliates outside of IPL recently? The boardÃÔ working committee approved it too. What about that joke of a one-off T-20 in South Africa? Would BCCI do that with England? And the plethora of ODIs against Sri Lanka? If IPL and Champions League hijack two months and some from the calendar, the quid pro quo surrounding IPL may take away a few more weeks. There used to be this debate on international players playing Ranji Trophy to strengthen the competition, improve the quality of cricket, and thereby produce better cricketers, you remember? Take any of the Indian players who play both the formats and check how many Ranji Trophy matches they have played since 2008. ItÃÔ laughable (Not that it was particularly healthy earlier, but since IPL itÃÔ been far worse). Yet, ridiculing the first class system is perfectly acceptable, but IPL is kosher? IPL may or may not contribute to erosion of test cricket skills. Players may even work out a way to seamlessly shift between three formats in the future. But to think that the IPL workload will have no impact on the performance in international competitions is not just naý×e, but downright foolish. What can the players do? There is extraordinary pressure on superstars to play as many IPL matches as possible due to their commercial value. If the pressure isnÃÕ quite the same for the lesser players, the opportunity cost of missing out is huge. How is it fair to question the motives of cricketers to earn money in as legitimate a way as the ecosystem permits them to? In fact, cricketers have so far exhibited greater moral certitude than the prevailing system of incentives entails them to. Cricketers, largely, still understand that they earn their stripes from international cricket. No one has really tried to maximize the buck per bang by shortchanging international cricket for greater focus on IPL. They are merely caught in a situation spiraling out of their control, where they canÃÕ be at their best at all times of the year, and they can do very little about it. The franchises have poured in huge money into IPL and they canÃÕ be expected to put the interests of the national cricket team ahead of theirs either. That leaves us with BCCI. IsnÃÕ there a fundamental conflict of interest in letting the same board administer both the national cricket team and the IPL? If we had different administrative bodies for the two, would they have scheduled a 50-day IPL a week after a 42-day World Cup? Would the national board have given a no objection certificate to let Sehwag play for Delhi Daredevils risking a suspect shoulder? Would we be putting IPL as the center of our cricketing universe and find solutions around it for all our woes in test cricket? Would Rahul Sharma have been selected as part of the test squad ever? Oh, thereÃÔ also the more explicit conflict of interest. Blah blah blah. Indian cricketÃÔ bear run may have been contributed by a variety of factors, but the team wouldnÃÕ have cruised (to borrow the term Gideon Haigh used to described IndiaÃÔ performance in Australia) to such a low without IPL for sure. Where do we go from here? The current FTP running till 2020 seems to be a lot more sensible than the last one. So, BCCI can do worse than strictly adhering to the FTP and avoid the ad hoc friendship series and other quid pro quo fests. In an ideal world, cricketers need at least a month off from all forms of cricket. They need to participate in the good part of the Ranji Trophy too. There needs to be at least two practice matches in every away series. Even fully complying with the FTP wonÃÕ make for the ideal schedule. In 2014 alone India will be playing in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia. Add in the IPL and the Champions League. ThatÃÔ an explosive schedule. There has to be a way to compress the IPL to a more manageable timeframe. Two months is simply unsustainable. India may go on to lose despite these changes. But at least the board would have given the team its best chance to succeed.

[Chandan]

LINK JANUARY 30, 2013 BCCIÃÔ dozen MAHESH SETHURAMAN ItÃÔ impossible to pin down a specific cause for IndiaÃÔ downturn since the world cup victory. ItÃÔ a free for all. You think DhoniÃÔ captaincy sucks? Fine. You think the decades old system of Ranji Trophy needs to be turned upside down? Fair enough. Sachin should retire? Gambhir has no business walking out in whites again? Sehwag should declare himself unavailable for tours abroad? Well, to each his own. What about that two-month long marathon gig that should be completely insulated from the post mortem? Can I, if you donÃÕ mind, ponder over its impact on the performance of the Indian team? Like, for a few minutes? You can give the clean chit to IPL at the end of this post. IPL has been in existence since 2008 yes. India became the no.1 ranked test team subsequent to that yes. India has been inflicted whitewashes abroad in the pre-IPL days too yes. And it has even lost the odd home series comprehensively in the past. Therefore it has had no impact? What next? Despite the large scale corruption scandals in India, the markets havenÃÕ tanked. In fact, relatively they have outperformed many other economies in the global market. Are we to infer corruption has no relevance to IndiaÃÔ growth, or perhaps that it has a positive effect? India won the longest world cup ever on April 02, 2011. The longest ever IPL (at that time) started on April 08, 2011. Of course, being on the road for 4 months on the trot has no impact on the teamÃÔ performance for the rest of the year. A week after the IPL we embarked on a tour of West Indies. Naturally, a lot of cricketers withdrew from the tour some on account of injury, some chose to rest. The team trundled to a 1-0 victory in the test series, which followed the ODI series, with a farcical end to the last test at Dominica. The full strength team got together for the first time since January 2011 against England in their backyard with the no.1 ranking at stake. Oh wait, it wasnÃÕ exactly full strength. Sehwag wasnÃÕ available because he hadnÃÕ recovered fully from his shoulder surgery which was postponed due to his IPL commitments. Zaheer Khan, the spearhead of the Indian attack with a fragile fitness record, broke down on the first day of the tour. Obviously, we should completely separate playing nonstop cricket for 4 months and the subsequent injuries. The table below lists the number of matches India has played in each format since 2001: 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Tests 15 9 9 13 9 9 13 12 7 11 14 12 ODIs 22 44 25 31 27 41 35 28 33 36 31 5 T20 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 8 8 3 5 24 Average since 2001 since 2008 since 2010 Tests 11.08 11.20 12.33 ODIs 29.83 26.60 24.00 since 2007 T20 9.50 So, India has been playing more or less the same amount of international matches in the post-IPL world as it did pre-IPL. In effect, a giant sized tournament has been superimposed on Indian cricket (and cricket world at large) over and above what seems to have been an already packed calendar. But letÃÔ all pretend that cricket calendar is flexible enough to accommodate 14 months in a year. This is just the direct impact of adding IPL to the existing calendar. What about the indirect impact? DidnÃÕ the franchises seek permission to play associates and affiliates outside of IPL recently? The boardÃÔ working committee approved it too. What about that joke of a one-off T-20 in South Africa? Would BCCI do that with England? And the plethora of ODIs against Sri Lanka? If IPL and Champions League hijack two months and some from the calendar, the quid pro quo surrounding IPL may take away a few more weeks. There used to be this debate on international players playing Ranji Trophy to strengthen the competition, improve the quality of cricket, and thereby produce better cricketers, you remember? Take any of the Indian players who play both the formats and check how many Ranji Trophy matches they have played since 2008. ItÃÔ laughable (Not that it was particularly healthy earlier, but since IPL itÃÔ been far worse). Yet, ridiculing the first class system is perfectly acceptable, but IPL is kosher? IPL may or may not contribute to erosion of test cricket skills. Players may even work out a way to seamlessly shift between three formats in the future. But to think that the IPL workload will have no impact on the performance in international competitions is not just naý×e, but downright foolish. What can the players do? There is extraordinary pressure on superstars to play as many IPL matches as possible due to their commercial value. If the pressure isnÃÕ quite the same for the lesser players, the opportunity cost of missing out is huge. How is it fair to question the motives of cricketers to earn money in as legitimate a way as the ecosystem permits them to? In fact, cricketers have so far exhibited greater moral certitude than the prevailing system of incentives entails them to. Cricketers, largely, still understand that they earn their stripes from international cricket. No one has really tried to maximize the buck per bang by shortchanging international cricket for greater focus on IPL. They are merely caught in a situation spiraling out of their control, where they canÃÕ be at their best at all times of the year, and they can do very little about it. The franchises have poured in huge money into IPL and they canÃÕ be expected to put the interests of the national cricket team ahead of theirs either. That leaves us with BCCI. IsnÃÕ there a fundamental conflict of interest in letting the same board administer both the national cricket team and the IPL? If we had different administrative bodies for the two, would they have scheduled a 50-day IPL a week after a 42-day World Cup? Would the national board have given a no objection certificate to let Sehwag play for Delhi Daredevils risking a suspect shoulder? Would we be putting IPL as the center of our cricketing universe and find solutions around it for all our woes in test cricket? Would Rahul Sharma have been selected as part of the test squad ever? Oh, thereÃÔ also the more explicit conflict of interest. Blah blah blah. Indian cricketÃÔ bear run may have been contributed by a variety of factors, but the team wouldnÃÕ have cruised (to borrow the term Gideon Haigh used to described IndiaÃÔ performance in Australia) to such a low without IPL for sure. Where do we go from here? The current FTP running till 2020 seems to be a lot more sensible than the last one. So, BCCI can do worse than strictly adhering to the FTP and avoid the ad hoc friendship series and other quid pro quo fests. In an ideal world, cricketers need at least a month off from all forms of cricket. They need to participate in the good part of the Ranji Trophy too. There needs to be at least two practice matches in every away series. Even fully complying with the FTP wonÃÕ make for the ideal schedule. In 2014 alone India will be playing in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia. Add in the IPL and the Champions League. ThatÃÔ an explosive schedule. There has to be a way to compress the IPL to a more manageable timeframe. Two months is simply unsustainable. India may go on to lose despite these changes. But at least the board would have given the team its best chance to succeed.

[Vivek.S.123]

IPL has given us a dangerous opening pair of Sehwag-Gambhir and also transformed Raina into a power hitter. Gambhir & Raina were nobodies before IPL

[NareshK]

IPL has given us a dangerous opening pair of Sehwag-Gambhir and also transformed Raina into a power hitter. Gambhir & Raina were nobodies before IPL

Not sure if serious. Gambhir made his debut in 2003, Raina in 2005, long before IPL started.

[Vivek.S.123]

Not sure if serious. Gambhir made his debut in 2003' date=' Raina in 2005, long before IPL started.[/quote'] Check their stats before IPL season 1. Then check tehir stats from IPL Season 1 to World Cup Final You will see how much they have evolved