IPL as a brand can survive on its own: Dhoni, Atherton

[mister]

Victorious at last in the Indian Premier League and headed to the West Indies to captain India in the T20 World Cup, Skipper MS Dhoni spoke exclusively to NDTV in his first television interview since IPL boss Lalit Modi's suspension. Talking about the controversies that the IPL has been mired in, Dhoni hoped that things would be sorted out in time for Season 4: "Lalit was part of it for three seasons...quite a few allegations...up to the authorities to see what has happened. They will come up with something that's good for everyone...before IPL we have one year, let's hope for the best," he said. But would IPL survive the controversy? Yes, said the Indian Skipper, "IPL as a brand can survive on its own. But you have to come up with some innovative ideas every time to make it better. No individual but few brains will work together to pull off sensational ideas." "Match fixing," Dhoni said, " is worse (sic) allegation against a cricketer...anyone involved should be punished cricket should be clean." When on all things controversial, what about the role vastu has played in CSK matches at the instance of owner N Srinivasan? Dhoni, who has reportedly been a little piqued about having to bow to stellar configurations when making cricketing decisions played defensive: "Srinivasan's vastu has been good...nothing bad. Every franchise is doing little things. It is subtle...most cricketers are superstitious. No wild predictions like was made in 2007." From IPL season 3, Dhoni counted meeting the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala as a "very special' moment. "May be because of Dalai Lama's blessings we won the finals. Of course, because of the way the team played ," he said The Chennai Super Kings had "played to 70 per cent of our potential", he said, modestly giving complete credit to his team: "I am not the king of T20 yet but Chennai Super Kings" IPL over and now looking ahead at the World Cup, Dhoni refused to participate in the "Will playing IPL have tired the team" debate, saying: " If we go and do well we would say IPL helped or would say IPL was tiring for us." The Indian Skipper believes that in the West Indies, "If we don't look at the sun, we will be fine." No, that is not from an astrologer's list of dos and don'ts but more about adjusting the body clock to a different time zone many miles away from home. On his squad, Dhoni is confident that the injured, out-of-form Yuvraj Singh will regain confidence in time for the tournament: "Cricket is a game. You will be low on confidence more than two times a season A little nervousness is good. Yuvraj loves challenges, he is a player for the big stage." And he is counting on CSK teammate Murali Vijay to come good in West Indies. Murli, who has been in spectacular form in the IPL and came into the World Cup squad as a last-minute replacement for opener Virendra Sehwag. "Will miss Sehwag...hoping Murali Vijay does not let us miss Sehwag", said Dhoni, who believes that Murali's 100 was the best IPL innings. And if there is anything at all that you didn't know about the Indian Skipper, here are some extra nuggets: He has 22 bikes. He says he has never been to an IPL party He is not convinced that everyone can play with a Mongoose bat He says the T20 trophy was heavier than the IPL trophy, but the latter is special

[Sachinism]

Don't know how winning IPL can be more special than winning the WC for the country

[Zelig]

CSK > India :burnout:

[IKnowU]

GAME SET MATCH India's WC hopes have been confirmed none other then the heroic idli and sambar boy. :banghead:

[achilles]

GAME SET MATCH India's WC hopes have been confirmed none other then the heroic idle and sambar boy. :banghead:

idle sambar? :hysterical: The Axe "Azr" effect (aka Azarimanka effect). You see me Engleess now? How I is improves? :hehe:

[IKnowU]

idle sambar? :hysterical: The Axe "Azr" effect (aka Azarimanka effect). You see me Engleess now? How I is improves? :hehe:

:((

[Karan114]

Don't know how winning IPL can be more special than winning the WC for the country

:dito:

[hari504504]

Don't know how winning IPL can be more special than winning the WC for the country

It is a warm-up before hoisting up the real thing :winky:

[thevortex]

IPL as a brand can survive on its own: Dhoni, Artherton Considering that the IPL trophy is a monstrosity with no meaning (literally) I am really surprised these cricketers dont cringe from holding it. I am talking about the actual trophy itself.

[Gunner_Mania]

Without Lalit Modi, the IPL will scale back its excesses - Mike Atherton

Say what you like about the Indian Premier League (IPL), but the three seasons so far have produced compulsive viewing. The first brought novelty value and rubbernecking over sums previously thought unimaginable in cricket; the second, admiration at how an entire tournament could be transported at a moment’s notice, and the third, the kind of off-field shenanigans to make a soap opera weep with jealousy. Cricket politics have always been central to the inception, functioning and direction of the IPL, as Lalit Modi developed, shored up and then lost his support base within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). What changed in IPL III was the impact on regional politics, then national politics once Modi’s Twitter indiscretions — and how beautiful is the irony that a single tweet may bring down an emperor? — led to the removal of a junior minister. How far the tentacles of the IPL have spread could be judged by the time spent dealing with it when Manmohan Singh, the India Prime Minister, ought to have been concentrating his energies on talks with Barack Obama. But cricket in India has always been a serious business. The greater transparency that is promised is sure to embarrass more Indian politicians, businessmen and if the reports about spot-fixing, in which small events within a match are manipulated for the purposes of betting, are accurate, a few cricketers, too. But those who think that the latest damaging rumours, and the suspension of Modi, the self-styled IPL commissioner, will bring a shuddering halt to the organisation fail to understand the impact it has had in its short time. It has come too far — and too fast, admittedly — to be derailed. The 1990s showed international cricket to be institutionally corrupt but it survived — as will the IPL, albeit in a different form. Modi’s creation will survive him. What is likely to change? Regardless of whether or not Modi convinces the BCCI of his innocence — and at the moment he is long odds against — it is clear that India’s governing body will take a much more hands-on role. Shashank Manohar’s irritation at the lax nature of the regulation was clear when the BCCI president complained about bundles of missing documents demanded by the Delhi police. A domestic tournament it may have been, but Modi controlled it like a private fiefdom. Whoever runs it from now on will do so at the say-so and the direction of the BCCI. Clearly, there will be less money sloshing around and the franchises that are already losing money will have to cut their cloth accordingly. If rumours of laundering and spot-fixing are correct — and one leading former international player told me categorically, albeit off the record because of his fear of reprisals, that fixing was a regular occurrence — not only will there be a clear-up, but new and foreign investors are likely to fight shy of becoming involved for a while. With the initial three-year deals up for renegotiation, players can expect smaller windfalls from now on. If the tax-avoidance schemes are challenged by the Indian Government (Rajasthan Royals have their holding company in Mauritius), the franchises, already set to get a smaller slice of the television and sponsorship pie because of the increase in the number of teams, will be forced to cut back even farther. Modi’s marketing genius — and it was just that — will be missed, further straining revenues. It will begin to feel more like a cricket tournament than a giant commercial advert with cricket attached. The Champions League could suffer some knock-on effects. It is widely understood that by paying the most dollars per game for any cricketing venture, ESPN Star Sports blundered massively. Will it use the bad news surrounding the IPL to pull the plug on a tournament that has been a significant headache and a massive loss-maker? This, in turn, would ease the pressure on Giles Clarke and the ECB to reorganise the English season to accommodate the wishes of the counties not to miss out on the Champions League. Whatever the case, Clarke, the ECB chairman, will shed no tears about Modi’s troubles and a Modi-less BCCI will mean improved cricketing relations between England and India. I have always been deeply ambivalent about the IPL: the gross commercialisation, the greed, the pandering to celebrities and the salesmanship of some older players who should know better have done little to enrich the game. Against that, it is important to recognise the good things: the competitive, sometimes compelling, nature of the cricket, the new audience brought to the game, the promotion of younger Indian players and the wealth created for them. The hope, as Modi prepares his defence and the IPL takes stock after its third season, is that somehow it survives in a more mature form: that the owners retreat from view, that the commentators tone down their promotion of the product, that the players realise that the cricket can speak for itself and that it doesn’t need crass salesmanship to prosper, and that there is greater transparency of where the money comes from and where it goes. An altogether quieter IPL IV would be a blessing.

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