Is IPL hurting Indian cricket?

[Sachinism]

India were mediocre in test matches till turn of the millenium, for almost 60 years that is. All this while they never ever came even closer to being in the top 3 in the world. But I don't remember anyone clamouring for dismantling the ranji trophy or the duleep trophy.

Yeh but there is a massive difference between Tests and T20's. When we started out in Test's we were absolute n00bs. Now we have a decent set up with a large pool of talent and we've shown that by being quite dominant in the other formats over the last few years. This talent should be able to perform in T20's as well. What you're saying is pretty much suggesting they're having to start from scratch again

[The Outsider]

India were mediocre in test matches till turn of the millenium, for almost 60 years that is. All this while they never ever came even closer to being in the top 3 in the world. But I don't remember anyone clamouring for dismantling the ranji trophy or the duleep trophy.

What a stupid analogy! India were starting out from scratch at the time, the workload on players was negligible compared to today. How many international core players play for their Ranji and Duleep sides even when there are no international engagements? How many Ranji matches have the likes of Tendulkar, Dhoni, or Yuvraj played in the last few years?

Australia plummetted from world number one in test cricket to no.4 in a matter of about 1 year or so. Yet I don't recollect seeing anybody calling for restructuring the shield. This is not to suggest All is well with IPL. But as a domestic t20 competition it is offering good value to the domestic players.

How many of the Australian core international players play in the Shield or the Big Bash? You are completely on the wrong track if you think anyone is questioning IPL as a domestic tournament for upcoming players or those who don't regularly play for India. Of course domestic tournaments are important, but to have your core international players who feature in all international matches play in domestic competitions just adds to their already full workload. Why is such a simple thing proving too much to grasp for you?

[Precambrian]

I don't have to dream. You can look up the Indian team's workload pre and post IPL to confirm for yourself. As I said to another poster, no need to throw around rhetoric, when you have actual data to look up to. Good that you agree that the majority of the players need rest. We can discuss the Yuvraj issue separately. He is overweight and unfit. His knee is wobbly and has been putting off surgery. Now, I am no doctor and it might turn out that the knee does not need surgery, but at the very least it needs a long term fix. Till 1-2 years back, with Yuvraj and Dhoni in the middle order any ODI/T20 target was achievable by this side. Yuvraj is a huge blow to the team. I am not sure how constantly playing T20s day in and out helps him. Why has the BCCI not selected a full squad for our international commitments next month in Zimbabwe? Why has the BCCI stopped players from featuring in county cricket which can benefit their game? If you can answer these two questions without naming the three lettered acronym, I'll hand it to you.

What's the benefit that our seniors are going to get by playing in a series against Zim? I agree with you that not letting our fringe players like Chawla play in county cricket is rubbish. I don't get what's this rhetoric am throwing around. Show me when we have played tests in June to Sep unless in Sri Lanka or the odd Eng tours? What has Yuvraj's knee got to do with his tummy growing bigger with every match?

[Precambrian]

If there is no fatigue and the players are not overworked why are we sending an A team to Zimbabwe and a B team to England A? Can county cricket correct Raina's deficiencies? Can county cricket help in getting Sreesanth and Ishant back into rhythm? Can county cricket provide exposure to Mishra about bowling on different tracks? Yes it can, but the BCCI won't allow them to go there because the players are overworked and because of IPL politics.

I've said this before. The only guy who can really claim fatigue is Dhoni. Because he's playing non stop cricket over the year, has captained and kept wicket all the while. The rest don't have a chance to book fatigue leave in my books. The main reason why the big players haven't been selected for such matches is because they're largely inconsequential in the larger scheme of things. The established players like Zaheer, Bhajji, Dhoni, Sachin, etc have nothing to achieve by turning out for some odis against Zim. It's also good risk management as the risk of injursy is same as in any other tournament. But I completly disagree with Yuvraj's nonselection, or Gambir's. These guys have done nothing to prove they are in form, nor are old to be judiciously managed. Unless they've been dropped for non performance, which I suspect is not the case. Where have you got this silly thought that it's fatigue that is behind Bcci not allowing Sree, Ish, Mish, etc not sent to England? Certainly it can't be fatigue or else how they have selected guys like Pathan, Raina. Kohli for the Zim series, who have all claim to have played more cricket than the names you mentione in recent times?

[Precambrian]

@outsider. Lol @ your justifications for domestic tournaments. The core group doesn't play in them, agreed, but did they come through without playing in the same? Have you ever followed indian cricket? Indian core players used to regularly turn out for their domestic teams well into 90s till when their load started increasing. Today Core players aren't playing in domestic cricket because they've international games at the same time. The similar would be the case had there been international games during IPL as well. But obviously that won't happen. So you've senior players taking part in that as well. You haven't yet answered how banning IPL will produce a great t20 team for us? And automatically make us win world cups?

[The Outsider]

What's the benefit that our seniors are going to get by playing in a series against Zim? I agree with you that not letting our fringe players like Chawla play in county cricket is rubbish. I don't get what's this rhetoric am throwing around. Show me when we have played tests in June to Sep unless in Sri Lanka or the odd Eng tours? What has Yuvraj's knee got to do with his tummy growing bigger with every match?

It's not just Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka is also featuring in the tournament. Now tell me why our main players are not going to play? Did I hear you say fatigue and IPL? Agreeing is not good enough. Can you tell me the reason why Indian players are not being allowed to play county cricket? Did I hear you say fatigue, politics, and IPL again? We play in June to September whenever we tour West Indies, England, or Sri Lanka - the only places where cricket is played during that season. So let's see in 2006 we played in West Indies, 2007 we played in England and Bangladesh, and 2008 we played in Sri Lanka, and are again playing in Sri Lanka in 2010. We are again touring West Indies and England in 2011 during that period. In 2009, that was the only period of protracted rest our players got. But that's the ancillary point. The main point is whether IPL has added on to the already clustered schedule of our players. Knee injuries don't have anything to do with agility and fitness which can result in weight gain?

Quite forgetful of the fact that these 5 years are spread across more than 2 years which has also coincide with his peak in tests and Odis. Don't mix his test match brilliance with his t20 stuff. Nobody in their sane wits have anything against him in tests. But his t20 stuff is totally diff. If he can't do it in 3 years including IPL and international t20s at his peak' date=' there is no reason why he should suddenly become a t20 master in the future. I could go deeper into why I think Sehwag cannot be a great t20 player ever, but don't want to here.[/quote'] From such a small sample you've been able to deduce that Sehwag will never be successful in T20s? IPL is rubbish. I don't care who succeeds there and who does not - it has no bearing on being successful at the international level. I would really like to see you go deeper into why Sehwag cannot be a great T20 player. If you trust the likes of Vijay and Pathan to win you international T20 matches over Sehwag, the notion is just laughable. Just the last T20 match he played, he won the match for us. Not to mention the blistering starts he provides even of 20-25 runs at 175 SR as opposed to Karthik and Vijay pottering around at run a ball or less.

Don't try to make up things. Where has Kumble stated IPL tires people more as compared to international cricket? And don't give me this lecture about travels. If they're travelling 6 hours, they are doing so in the most comfortable fashion as possible. Air conditioned buses, planes. The only 'effort' they've is walking in and out of the buses, and inside airports. If that fatigues them, they are not fit to ball themselves sportsmen.

You appear to be the one making up things. Care to show me where I said that Kumble stated IPL is more tiring than international cricket? Your knowledge of traveling and the associated fatigue is quite frankly poor. There is an article above in this thread where an IPL player has said it caused fatigue because door to door it turned out to be 6-12 hours. Try traveling 6-12 hours every third day without doing anything else for 6 weeks and let me know how it goes. Do you think companies like McKinsey and BCG are fools to spend so much money and resources on priming their management consultants for constant travel and it's associated stress and fatigue? These guys are not even playing international cricket. Read up on how constant travel induces fatigue.

I've said this before. The only guy who can really claim fatigue is Dhoni. Because he's playing non stop cricket over the year, has captained and kept wicket all the while. The rest don't have a chance to book fatigue leave in my books. The main reason why the big players haven't been selected for such matches is because they're largely inconsequential in the larger scheme of things. The established players like Zaheer, Bhajji, Dhoni, Sachin, etc have nothing to achieve by turning out for some odis against Zim. It's also good risk management as the risk of injursy is same as in any other tournament. But I completly disagree with Yuvraj's nonselection, or Gambir's. These guys have done nothing to prove they are in form, nor are old to be judiciously managed. Unless they've been dropped for non performance, which I suspect is not the case. Where have you got this silly thought that it's fatigue that is behind Bcci not allowing Sree, Ish, Mish, etc not sent to England? Certainly it can't be fatigue or else how they have selected guys like Pathan, Raina. Kohli for the Zim series, who have all claim to have played more cricket than the names you mentione in recent times?

Who cares about Precambrian's book anyways? The players and BCCI feel they are fatigued. Aaah....the tri series with Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka is inconsequential, but matches against Deccan Chargers and Knight Riders are going to have such a huge bearing in the larger scheme of things? I've already told you that the series involves Sri Lanka as well. Where was this risk management when playing against Chennai Super Kings? Are international ODIs against Sri Lanka at a lower rung than playing against Mumbai Indians? Silly thought? The BCCI said so. They clearly said they are not allowing players to appear in county cricket because of a packed international schedule and to keep them fresh.

@outsider. Lol @ your justifications for domestic tournaments. The core group doesn't play in them, agreed, but did they come through without playing in the same? Have you ever followed indian cricket? Indian core players used to regularly turn out for their domestic teams well into 90s till when their load started increasing. Today Core players aren't playing in domestic cricket because they've international games at the same time. The similar would be the case had there been international games during IPL as well. But obviously that won't happen. So you've senior players taking part in that as well. You haven't yet answered how banning IPL will produce a great t20 team for us? And automatically make us win world cups?

Yeah, they came through playing the domestic tournaments but they don't play them now, as they should not be playing the IPL with an already packed international calendar. Have I ever followed Indian cricket? From the looks of it a lot more than you have given your ill formed views and opinions. The core players don't play domestic cricket a lot of time even if there is no international commitment which clashes. And they rightly choose not to play, because those are the only windows of rest available in a packed schedule. Are you saying that the likes of Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Harbhajan have played all domestic matches over the last few years when there was no international commitment? Banning the IPL? IPL should not be banned, but the top Indian internationals should not play in it, as they don't in other domestic cricket. But the problem is once the Indian internationals drop out of the IPL, it will become just another domestic T20 tournament with a few international stars. Face it, IPL is what it is because of the top 15 or so Indian players. And by our bullheadedness in playing them throughout the IPL season sandwiched between important international cricket, we are harming Indian cricket.

[The Outsider]

Rahul Bhattacharya had a very good article along the lines of how the IPL concept could have been used to actually improve Indian cricket at the grassroots. A lot of us on this board had expressed similar thoughts when the notion of IPL was first floated. Don't know if it was posted earlier : http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/457305.html Some excerpts I liked :

Who would be the loser? Not the Indian team. England's examples in both football and cricket have shown, as have India's own Twenty20 performances in the past year, that a league only exists for the sake of the league. The effect on the national team, many argue, is deleterious if anything. Nor, in the long run, would young Indian cricketers lose, because the Twenty20 fixation that the IPL encourages, and the "IPL Nights" culture that it advances, will not make them superior cricketers. The spectator, perhaps - but not if he can be given something entertaining in place.

In IPL bubbleland this may be lovely and exciting but on the ground there are problems with the structure. It leaves the sport more susceptible to the kind of indiscriminate commercialism that has appalled many genuine cricket lovers. It allows more dubious wheeler dealers a stake in the easily manipulable property that goes by the name of cricketainment. And it provides no incentive for these stakeholders to plough anything back into the sport.

There might have been a more meaningful way for Indian cricket to use corporate imagination and energy. Tenders could have been floated for partnerships with state cricket associations, rather than for owning teams. This would have avoided creating the parallel team structure that now exists. More importantly, it would have avoided the murky ownership issues that the league is now being investigated for. As partners, the companies/consortiums could be mandated to invest in grassroots cricket, take the sport into disadvantaged communities, support first-class cricket, and help build spectator infrastructure. They could also be enlisted to try and tackle the most nefarious problem blighting domestic cricket: nepotism, especially in player selection. This could be done by establishing ombudsman panels comprising a nominee of the partner, one of the association, and a third independent member, each "of outstanding repute", to whom any matter of impropriety may be referred. The prize for the partners would have been a shot at a three-week-long Indian Premier League. This would feature eight teams, qualified through the domestic tournament, with each team allowed to contract three foreign players in the XI. From the IPL they would draw the invaluable brand exposure and a share of revenue, as they do now. The job of the partners would not then be so superficial and self-aggrandising as that of the owners now. At present they are super-selectors in a fantasy game, buying and selling and managing their playthings under rules set by Modi. In the alternative proposal, they would be compelled to help create the strongest possible cricket system in the states, without which their team would not be able qualify for the IPL. It would be a far more equitable arrangement too, as Ramachandra Guha argued the other day, because a city or state would be rewarded for its cricketing merit rather the money power of someone who has bought a franchise there.

[SJS50]

Rahul's article was good. I had read it and then as now I wonder what Rahul is going to do with his position on the KKR staff (he is a very prominent presence in their dug out in every match)

[The Outsider]

:-) My post was never meant to be aimed at any single individual so I refuse to get involved in answering you (or anyone else) in this manner. :-) I do understand what you are saying.

I did not take it personally, just felt compelled to answer given that I've written quite a lot on one side of the discussion above. :smiley:

My point remains however that when a wrong is pointed out to us, and when the wrong is serious enough, we need to think ten times before offering a counter point (even when right) for the impression that then pervades the debate (and certainly how it is perceived by the one you are debating) that what is being offered is a 'justification'. It happens in so many cases in even more serious matters than cricket and ends up completely counter productive. If you and I were discussing what ails Indian cricket and I made a couple of relevant points and you made another couple completely different ones, equally relevant - this should not push us to two opposing sides of the debate. That is ridiculous. Both of us are and should remain on the same side which is saying that "definitely things are wrong with Indian cricket and here are some examples of it". The fact that our discussion has led to the number of such examples to increase from two to four for each of us does not and should not drive up to opposing camps. The fact that it does seems to indicate that we perceive each other as being on the other side. I hope I am not as vague as i fear I sound :-)

I completely agree with that and I am not denying nor pretending to be oblivious to the fact that there are a lot of other factors which are wrong with Indian cricket besides the IPL and were responsible for our poor showing in the T20 WC, poor fielding, insipid bowling, dubious selections, poor batting against the short ball amongst them. Neither have I shied away from discussing them in other threads. I remember having a long discussion about our batsmen's inability to play the short ball in another thread recently. However, this thread was about the ill effects of IPL on Indian cricket in general and also how it might have effected the team's performance in the recent T20 WC. What I've noticed is any criticism of IPL draws a strong defense mechanism from a set of people who would not attribute anything bad to be associated with IPL. The above discussion is a classic example of it where despite batting, fielding, captaincy etc. not being directly related to the thread topic, I have acknowledged the role they played in our poor performance on multiple occasions. The posters defending IPL's position have not acknowledged the partial role it has played and that is the sole reason for this thread dragging on. In their eyes IPL can do no wrong to Indian cricket, or at least had nothing to do with India's recent poor show, and to defend that position they will make ridiculous statements like Malinga and Harris are test match regulars, that India does not play cricket between June and September, or that air conditioned flight travel every third day does not cause fatigue. But I've digressed enough when all I wanted to say was that I am pretty much in agreement with what you have said in your previous two posts.

[Bublu Bhuyan]

There are two sides to the story - 1. It's not hurting but rather destroying Indian cricket in the sense that it exhausts and injures players who have already made their mark, and who don't need anymore spotlight on them to showcase their talent. I blame IPL and IPL alone on our exit from the Champions Trophy last year. Sehwag and Zaheer both couldn't take part in it due to injuries they suffered in that year's IPL. 2. As much as it hurts me to say this, IPL also does give unestablished, raw talents to showcase their abilities. It's probably the best platform for them to come under the spotlight and boost their chances of playing International cricket. P.S. However in conclusion, I believe that the T20 format is a curse, an insult and a bloody joke to the beautiful game of cricket I grew up watching. I can't even express in words on how much I despise this format. What annoys me even more is when cricket personalities (commentators, ex-players, coaches, etc) give their views on how ODI cricket has lived it's lifespan, and T20 should take over it. I grew up loving the ODI format, and it's my second love after Test cricket. If T20 someday kills ODIs or Tests (highly unlikely in case of Test cricket though), I'll stop following cricket altogether.

[SRT195]

IPL is certainly affecting Indian cricket simply coz the volume of matches cramped within a short period of time gives no time to recover for the players ... it will only get worse next year when there will be 90 odd matches in just 2 months ... IPL is being compared to club football by Modi & his scrooges ... but what they forget is that in EPL & other football leagues the season is of almost a year .. & also the fact that international football matches are only a handful in a year ... certain changes need to be made so that IPL doesnt harm Indian cricket ... they should get rid of home/away matches or make 2/3 groups of teams to reduce the no. of matches ... but i know this wont happen as the amount of money riding on IPL is huge & Modi, BCCI & Franchises love only money ... Indian cricket can go to the dumps as far as they care :angry_smile:

[Precambrian]

Yeah 93 games imho is sheer overkill if they're cramping it in 2 months next time. Taking one step too many.

[someone]

There are two sides to the story - 1. It's not hurting but rather destroying Indian cricket in the sense that it exhausts and injures players who have already made their mark, and who don't need anymore spotlight on them to showcase their talent. I blame IPL and IPL alone on our exit from the Champions Trophy last year. Sehwag and Zaheer both couldn't take part in it due to injuries they suffered in that year's IPL. 2. As much as it hurts me to say this, IPL also does give unestablished, raw talents to showcase their abilities. It's probably the best platform for them to come under the spotlight and boost their chances of playing International cricket. P.S. However in conclusion, I believe that the T20 format is a curse, an insult and a bloody joke to the beautiful game of cricket I grew up watching. I can't even express in words on how much I despise this format. What annoys me even more is when cricket personalities (commentators, ex-players, coaches, etc) give their views on how ODI cricket has lived it's lifespan, and T20 should take over it. I grew up loving the ODI format, and it's my second love after Test cricket. If T20 someday kills ODIs or Tests (highly unlikely in case of Test cricket though), I'll stop following cricket altogether.

Absolutely Wrong. Your first point about tiredness. Ok fine, but does not this tell us something more, is it just because indians players have had bad training and lack of fitness practice when they started playing cricket as a teenager that accumulates and causes them to be unfit more often than other cricketers in current time. As the fact is cricket is not a demanding sport at least not very physically energy required. It is more about mentally, are the players determined to show effort all the time on the field or will they give up easily? Look at the cricket history, probably all players are not fitness freak but they were very good mentally and determined. So actually you should thank IPL for first time providing all cricketers some world class training and fitness regime. It will take time for our indian players to get used as we might not be used to that kind of intense training but in the long term it is only benefits. So essential, IPL is recovering and helping some of the faults in the players to make the better players eventually. Also a game is as beautiful if the people( the audience) enjoy it. I know for a fact that just around the pre t20 craze started, everyone was losing attention and excitement about cricket. It was getting way too long as people lives started to become more busy. So came T20, it not only rejuvenated interest in cricket but also helped to maintain or increase the popularity of other forms. Also just because our India has lost t20 world cup, t20 does not become a rubbish and useless tournament where no one cares what happen. It was only 3 years ago, when we all were saying t20 best format of cricket. So in the end, innovation is as necessary as it is to any business. If a business company who is successful, does nothing for future improvements by believing people will continue to like it as much as now, it is bound to fail with time as new competitors or people thinking changes

[vvvslaxman]

We just need conditions with a bit of swing.. we will show who is weak against what http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/australia-embarrassed-by-reverse-swing/story-e6frg7mo-1111117805308

[Chandan]

Finally the time has come to evaluate IPL as to how it is benefiting or hurting Indian cricket. IPL: Cause, effect & afterthoughts While we can't lay the blame for the dismal performance in T20 WC only at the doorstep of the IPL, it also is perhaps time now to shatter a few myths. After 3 seasons it is now clear as day that the IPL's claim of being a 'nursery' to Indian cricket, where young talent will be discovered and allowed to prosper is a canard. IPL bosses rambled on about it being a means to an end, where the world's best cricketers played alongside emerging Indian talent. And showed them the route to becoming world beaters. The IPL does no such thing and is without a shadow of a doubt is really just an end in itself. The means to an end theory was just a smart marketing gimmick we all bought into, but after nearly 200 games over three years, we have to reconsider those positions. The great players become better at the skills of playing T20 cricket while playing the IPL, a la Kevin Pietersen and Mahela Jayawardene. The mediocre simply remained mediocre and under-prepared for the real Test of international cricket. It is also striking how little of this "nursery" of Indian cricket argument has been branded about by the franchises themselves. And we have barely paid attention. Private ownership of teams has meant there is no compulsion to consider or indeed regard any other goals besides the success of the franchise. Have you ever heard Shah Rukh Khan say, "I have hired Wasim Akram so we can use his expertise to find India's next swing bowling sensation". When Piyush Chawla won a surprise call up to the Indian team for the West Indies did Preity Zinta do a series of interviews exclaiming that indeed was the Kings' XI real goal for the season? Or did you read a press release from Rajasthan Royals congratulating Naman Ojha on his selection for the Indian team to Zimbabwe? For the sake of argument let's say Sachin Tendulkar was in India's T20 team for the World Cup. On the eve of the final, the medical advice said he can play but risks his participation in the T20 World cup as his injured hand can get worse. Would the Mumbai Indians say to Sachin, sit out of the final because we'd rather ensure you were fit to play for India? I doubt that very much. It is in the nature of private enterprise to only foster its own interests. So if India stars or up and coming players are 'owned' in the period of the IPL by the franchises, they have no larger ambition than to achieve the success of their team. It is how it should be and for not choosing to brandish these tame public relations exercises, the franchises need to be applauded. This of course puts the BCCI in a bind. Both India's international commitments and this billion dollar league fall under their watch. So how must they respond? After all, if two IPLs have been followed by two dismal World T20 performances, its hard not to make the connect. When your national coach sulks about how his players are unfit, unprepared and come too late to him after the IPL then you must pay heed. Because while profiting from the game is not unreasonable, your mandate as India's cricket board is to secure the health of Indian cricket. This is why I am convinced the BCCI needs to be pro-active and be seen to be searching for a way forward. One of those perhaps is the reformatting of the IPL: A reduction in both its playing period and in the number of matches. The 2011 season with 2 new teams is scheduled to go on for 7 weeks and feature 94 games. Even some governing council members, who have thankfully finally found a voice, have described the schedule absurd and unsustainable. So is there a way out? The new teams can't be asked to get out now that they have spent a neat 3000 crores and some loose change to earn the right to be part of the bandwagon. The answer lies in finding a sensible and less taxing schedule. I am daring to propose one. Divide the league into 2 groups of 2 regions each. North and South. North features Delhi, Punjab, Jaipur, Kolkata and Mumbai. South features Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi and Pune. Teams play the others in their group home and away. The top two make it to the semis from each group. While the number of games are reduced to 48 or so, it provides the opportunity to schedule more games to be fit into prime time TV schedules. It reduces the number of games each player has to play to 11 each. And it considerably reduces travel between venues. Otherwise imagine Kings XI Punjab playing Kochi in Chandigarh. A day to travel to the venue and another day to travel back. All this to play a 3 hour match. Doesn't add up. If all teams play each other home and away as the schedule for 2011 stands, then the India players will play 18 games each in the heat of April and May across the length and breadth of the country. Don't count then on too many injury free players to board the flight for a full Test and ODI series in England that follows immediately. And you can already predict the excuses if that series ends in defeat! Some have suggested the number of games a centrally contracted Indian player will be allowed is 14 but will franchise owners accept that? What is their incentive in allowing an Indian player, who they have paid an arm and a leg for, to have his feet up in the dressing room for even one of their matches? If Indian players are allowed only 14, will the Australian, South African, Sri Lankan and West Indies' board let their players to play 18 games each? In the construct of the IPL, I suspect the answers to all those questions is a resounding NO. Now is the time to put the thinking caps on. The marketing campaigns and the hype need to make way for bold and substantive changes. Because while the critics have relished badgering the IPL only the foolish fail to recognise its impact. Not all of it is negative. City loyalties has created a new culture of supporting sport in India. Stadiums have been filled by eager and enthusiastic fans. Surely being entertained by a sporting spectacle can't be ridiculed? The cricket is sometimes not of the highest standard but evenly matched teams do create an engaging spectacle. The IPL model is being embraced by Tennis and Boxing already and maybe Hockey and Football will also do so one day. But having been knocked off its galloping horse, the IPL will need to find ways to brush the dust off and bandage its wounds. And return to our drawing rooms with humility, not arrogance. I am willing to add that participation of Indian international players in IPL should be left at their choice. It will be quite clear then who wants to excel for the country and who wants to play just for money. And I don't think that should be a tough choice since international players take that decision for themselves. Any other suggestions?

[bhajji]

I do not think that IPL is hurting cricket.And a game never hurts or harms any land Why we all are discussing on this silly topics just because India;s Defeat In world cup and we started blaming IPL and Dhoni. There was no chance to blame the cool captain as the whole team is responsible for the defeat so if BCCI wants to replace dhoni it should replace the whole;e cricket team!!!

[thevortex]

Did you write that article, Chandan? If so, that is well written. I will come back with my thoughts sometime later.

[Karan114]

First slip, then cover-up First slip, then cover-up http://www.indianexpress.com/news/first-slip-then-coverup/622200/0 Shekhar Gupta Posted: Sat May 22 2010, 02:08 hrs In the continuing season of cover-ups in Indian cricket, its establishment has worked single-mindedly over the past fortnight to suggest that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the game and its management in India. It is being done with a degree of success, employing a combination of rented commentators, selected leaks and cynically tactical actions to create a smokescreen of confusion and disinformation. But isn’t that exactly what you would expect from an establishment where the same individuals can run the board, own IPL teams, employ selectors as their brand ambassadors and yet launch investigations into irregularities that allegedly happened under their own noses, on a scale unprecedented even in the scandal-ridden history of our public life? Just two weeks ago you saw armies of tax officials raiding Lalit Modi’s and most IPL franchisees’ offices, some of them even smiling at the cameras and claiming “incriminating†evidence. What happens with such stories, we well know. If there were actually scandals involved in the conduct of the IPL, you can be almost sure they would involve so many people on all sides that this story would die a natural death — or, like so many of our other scandals, go into a state of some kind of suspended animation: the scam can lie dormant, only to be brought alive when you want to run down an adversary. Meanwhile, the establishment has closed ranks to cover their tracks over what looks like a systematic destruction of Indian cricket over the past 18 months. The latest is the shambolic “notice†issued to the seven poor fellows allegedly caught in a scrap in a pub. This, a watering-hole brawl after the team had played its last match in the tournament, cannot even be a cricketing sin. The tournament was over; so was the players’ job. They had every right to “chill out†as much as they would have to celebrate if they had won the tournament. They are adults. The notice was issued not so much to bring some discipline and old-fashioned puritanism back to our cricketers’ lives, as to confuse public opinion, so the blame could be shifted, through sheer innuendo, on these “out-of-control†cricketers. Even if they were in a pub and looking for a drink rather than a Mexican meal as they claim, the players were well within their rights to do so, though they could have always avoided getting into a brawl. They had no more cricket to play for several weeks. But how come the same cricketing establishment had no problems when the same cricketers were not just encouraged or welcomed, but even compelled to attend wilder social evenings throughout the IPL when another match was to be played within 48 hours? I am not trying to take a view for or against partying in the middle of cricket. All I am trying to underline is the criminal hypocrisy and subterfuge of the cricketing establishment: if you attend my parties in the middle of my tournament, it is fine. If you are seen in a pub even after another tournament is concluded, I will send you a notice. More importantly, I will then blame you for all that went wrong in that tournament. Once again, through leaks and innuendo. The principle is the old one: Indian fans want somebody’s neck. Better yours than mine. That is why we, the fans, should be smart enough to get over the second successive T20 World Cup defeat and look, instead, at the state of our cricket overall, how it has declined over the past 18 months, and figure out who is to be held responsible for it. Then we might indeed conclude that it cannot be just a bunch of thirsty players in a Caribbean pub, howsoever boisterous. These 18 months mark the systematic decline, if not destruction, of much of the new talent discovered by the same establishment over the previous eight years when Indian cricket hit the proverbial sweet spot to climb a virtuous curve that took it to the very top in Tests, to number two in ODIs and brought it the first T20 World Cup. Count those that represented this new surge of talent: R P Singh, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth and Balaji represented the new surge in fast-bowling talent. Today, each one has lost several yards of pace, much of his bite or is simply carrying chronic injuries. Wasn’t it the board’s responsibility to nurse, and build this talent? The decline of Ishant, once hailed as a phenomenal talent, and with good reason, is an act of criminal negligence by a greedy, cynical board whose members got too busy feathering their own nests to bother about what was happening to the talent that brought them the riches and the fame to begin with. Today all these younger people who led Indian cricket into its golden age are no longer even in the reckoning, while two tired, slowed-down, injury-prone men in their thirties lead your “pace attackâ€. The batting talent has not done much better. The struggles of Rohit Sharma, arguably the most talented batsman since the arrival of Yuvraj Singh, are a good example. You can hold forth on how he, Irfan, Munaf and many others who hailed from such humble backgrounds have not been able to handle the new fame and money. But if you run the cricketing establishment, you cannot escape your own culpability by giving patronising sermons. It was your responsibility to nurse and protect this talent. That responsibility was junked in the dazzle of the IPL cash and fame. Lalit Modi showed the board’s administrators that there was so much to be made so easily through the golden goose he had just cloned in his cricketing equivalent of a DNA lab, that they no longer had to worry about performance and accountability. And once you have a mint in your backyard, you can buy — or rent — everything, lawyers, commentators, politicians and certainly even the media. That is why the right issue to debate is not whether or not IPL is responsible for the decline of Indian cricketers’ performance. Cricketers are simple, young, instinctive performers with stars in their eyes. The real question should be: did the IPL and its riches so dazzle our cricket administrators and sundry politicians and power brokers who control that establishment, that it so totally devastated the management of our own cricketing talent? Concluding the first part of this argument last Saturday, I had promised to highlight this week the price our cricket is paying for the loss of some core values and maybe some core talent. Over the past decade, a world-beating Indian team emerged out of the betting and match-fixing scandal-burnt ashes of the game worldwide. The fire had burnt some of the more talented Indian cricketers too. But India were able to emerge stronger because we had a titanium-strong core of five hugely talented, committed stars whose integrity, national commitment and personal maturity could not be questioned, even if one of them made his Test debut at 16. It is Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman and Kumble who kept Indian cricket together, and nurtured the new talent around them, with firmness, and generosity. They could not have gone on for ever, definitely not in the shorter forms of the game. The expectation that the next crop of seniors, Dhoni, Sehwag, Harbhajan, Zaheer and Yuvraj will fill that gap has been belied; and the cricket administration has not only failed to bridge the gap, it has only further indulged the weaknesses of many for short-term, selfish gain. The solution now may lie not so much in inquiries and skulduggery as in bringing this brilliant and unimpeachable core group into the management of our cricket, so they can help rebuild Indian cricket once again from a state that looks almost as bad as in the match-fixing ’90s.

[Sid]

somebody must tell mr. shekhar gupta we have lost t20 matches and we are not no8 in tests and no 9 in odis ,the main problem with our side is only poor bowling ,if we get two world class bowlers,then we will be hard to beat

[achilles]

Mr.Shekhar Gupta is a GENIUS :praise: