High drama, action, entertainment, shocks - the just-concluded Indian Premier League had it all.
Has this glamourised form of cricket taken the attention away from the game itself? Has it helped make the peripherals of the game (the debate over cheerleaders for one) more important?
Has this instant format of cricket actually done more harm than good to the game?
IBNLive.com organised a chat with Sanjay Jha, Founding Editor of CricketNext.com in order to get answers to the above.
Arvind Singh Dotiyal: How will we be able to recognise the real classical cricketing talents who match the likes of Sachin or Kapil in the fast format of the game?
Sanjay Jha: Arvind, that will happen only in Tests and to some extent in ODIs.
Laxmikant: IPL is a good thing for cricket but here we saw more media hype than cricket. The involvement of film stars, industrialists can harm cricket. One good thing about IPL is that Indian players will become smarter and intelligent by playing this series. Making IPL a bi-yearly event is a bad idea. If we do that it will decrease the value of cricket. Finally I want to say that "excess of anything is Bad". So we need maintain cricket as a game, and not as business.
Sanjay Jha: Laxmi, I totally agree with you. In IPL, commerce dominated cricket, unfortunately.
Shiv: Don’t you think that Baroda deserves a team in IPL?
Sanjay Jha: Shiv, Baroda has a lot of talent. I am sure IPL will be forced to increase its franchisees by year 3.
Arvind Singh Dotiyal: Although we saw a lot of young talent coming out in T20 like Yousuf Pathan, Asnodkar, Goni etc, I doubt whether they will be able to perform equally well in ODIs and Test format?
Sanjay Jha: Arvind, I am equally sceptical.
Asad: Is Amit Mishra good enough to play for India in Tests and ODIs?
Sanjay Jha: A little more experience, and why not?
Krishna: Is this the end of the road for the seniors? Both Dravid and Ganguly have not even been considered for the Asia Cup irrespective of their decent show in IPL. Ganguly had 4 match-winning performances and displayed why he is still one of the most feared batsman. Do you think there is a motive behind this?
Sanjay Jha: I think there is this obsession that the shorter form needs players from the under 25-category, Krishna.
Anand: Sanjay, you seem to say you have been forthright on your blog on Sachin but you seem to have a very biased view on Sachin - you don't lose an opportunity to bring him down. Is it a question of sour grapes?
Sanjay Jha: Anand, that is not correct. I do so because no one else does. And Sachin is great, but he is human. He makes mistakes. I was the only one who defended him on the Ferrari car issue and several others in the past.
Krishna: It is great to have the youngsters, thanks to IPL. However, don’t you think we need a great mix of seniors and juniors? I am yet to see Robin Utthappa, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (once in a blue moon) and many so-called juniors stay put for 50 overs and finish a match; they just can’t work on an innings except for small cameos. They are good T20 players but that’s about it. Don’t you think we should still have a Tendulkar, Ganguly in the team?
Sanjay Jha: Frankly, I think the seniors played here because they were asked to and made icon players. Personally, they will not like to be in the T20 team.
Sharathchandra: No, it has done more good than harm. It just proved that like in any other games, cricketers, too, have to be completely fit and very energetic in order to perform. Why Bangalore did so badly is because of players who were not very fit and energetic, who were not able to bat very aggressively, not able to bend or dive to stop the balls, not capable of scoring more than 8 runs an over, etc. In 20/20, players who did well were those who were fit, young, energetic, and flexible. So there’s no place for players who are not fit, not young, not fast on his feet, not aggressive etc. No place for players of Rahul Dravid, and J. Kallis' calibre.
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Sanjay Jha: Sharat, but you need skills and techniques, primarily.
Kapil Manshani: Good and bad are always there, in every field, in every team, everywhere around us. The main thing is how to remove the bad ones from good ones. Combining the cricketers, businessmen and actors is good idea to make the game more powerful and refreshing. No doubt, some bad moments were there but as I said before, these things are everywhere. In my opinion, IPL has not harmed anyone so it must continue as it has given the chance to many young players. But, we must take action against those who are harming the environment as BCCI does with Harbhajan.
Sanjay Jha: The BCCI has now become even more powerful. In fact, I think they run world cricket, Kapil.
Sakshi: We have always wanted to have our own dream team with our favourite players! Has the IPL tried to make this wish come true?
Sanjay Jha: Somewhat. But now your dream team depends upon whether your franchise owner can afford them.
Abigail Kuwait: IPL has done more harm to the 'local' cricketers, IPL lacks basic ethics, it is absolutely absurd that players like Robin Uthappa are playing for Bombay instead of Bangalore, where he originally belongs, Too many outsiders in a team has made IPL a farce, the least IPL moderators could have done is pay more attention to the 'local' factor and then add 4 (on field) foreign players, that would have been something. Ishant Sharma, a Delhi local, playing for Kolkata? Ridiculous.
Sanjay Jha: Abigail, not every local player who deserved to be there, got a chance.
Rahul: Well I think that IPL has done more good to Indian cricket than harm. A lot of Indian cricketers are seen to be gelling well with international players of great repute and without any doubt must be learning a lot of unsaid and unheard tricks from them. I hope in the next 4-5 years Indian cricket rules the world. Kudos to IPL for providing a lot of entertainment and introducing unsung heroes!
Sanjay Jha: Rahul, there are positives, and I agree with what you said. There is definitely at least an opportunity for some to excel. But again that number is very limited.
Aruna Vij: IPL will benefit the game. It will make the game more popular because cricket as a game was stagnating. As far as its popularity is concerned, it has ceased to grow. Such competitions based on clubs brings the best talent on one stage. It was amazing. We loved it for the 20-20 format requires great skill and fitness. It is also entertaining. Let's be practical. We need such formats to popularize the game. Otherwise it will always be a few playing countries and will never be a global sport.
Sanjay Jha: Aruna, I don’t think abbreviating the game increases its popularity. IPL has succeeded this year because of hype and novelty. Next year, may not be that rosy.
Mudasir Ahmad: IPL is a big threat for international cricket, but good for players. Is international cricket damaged by IPL?
Sanjay Jha: Mudasir, international cricket will survive, because at least so far T20 has not been made mandatory between teams.
Oliver: IPL was understood to be beneficial for the expansion of cricket geographically. Do you see it happening in the near future?
Sanjay Jha: Not at all. On the contrary, they are holding IPL where it is already a rage – in India. And which foreign player played here from non-Test playing countries?
Asad: What future does Sourav Ganguly have with the Indian team?
Sanjay Jha: Asad, Sourav will play Tests for a while, but unless something miraculous happens, I think Rahul and he will be pushed out of ODIs permanently.
Anand: What is your view on Sachin’s groin injury which has made him unavailable for the Bangla tour and Asia Cup?
Sanjay Jha: Anand, please read my blog. I have been forthright. Why did Sachin play despite an injury?
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Gururaj: Don’t you think that these IPL teams should play 4-day games in addition to 20-20 also?
Sanjay Jha: Gururaj, it’s possible that if ODIs flop because of T20, they will make them play 50-50 cricket at least.
Syed Saad Feroze: I suppose IPL T20 has transformed cricket from sports industry to entertainment industry. It has provided the opportunity to the young players and those who always aspire to be a part of wonderful sport. Amazing concept, full entertainment, no wastage of time, lot of money pouring in and great mix of culture.
Sanjay Jha: Syed, its novel and different, yes. My concern is that we may end up killing the goose that laid the golden egg very soon.
Mradul: With the advent of IPL, do you think that it will able to produce technicians like Rahul Dravid because 20-20 is all about stroke making?
Sanjay Jha: Mradul, that will be tough. Dravids of the world will soon be a forgotten species.
Arvind: Will the 20-20 format degenerate the quality of upcoming cricketers as now this format will be in fashion?
Sanjay Jha: Arvind, that is possible as a lot of youngsters will see both instant fame and quick and big money here. And the BCCI is likely to encourage this much more in the future.
Suresh: Who is Lalit Modi? The Times Of India dated 1/6/08 has published that Lalit Modi was guilty for drug possession & kidnapping & spent 2 years in prison in the USA. If a person who has spent 2 years in prison & made a minister, the media would have made it a big issue until his/her a** is kicked. Then why is the media mum on this?
Sanjay Jha: Suresh, please read my latest blog on CricketNext.com. I have openly castigated my own media fraternity for being two-faced on this issue.
Krishna: Asnodkar, Yousuf , Ravindra Jadeja, Niraj Patel, Suresh Raina, Vidyut, Gony, Shikar Dhawan, Laxmi Ratan, Wriddhiman Saha, Pragyan Ojha, A Nayar, S Trivedi, A Mishra, Debabrata Das, Virat Kohli, T Srivastava etc…with so many talented players don’t you think IPL has been a great platform to unearth such talent? Could our selection panel ever been able to do this?
Sanjay Jha: Krishna, I agree that at least some unknown names have now become national heroes, thanks to exposure and media. But note that this was not yet the real test.
Krishna: Why did Knight Riders lose out? Why did they not plan well? Did they not know that Gayle, Ponting, Brendon, Shoaib will not be there for the games? Was it due to bad planning?
Sanjay Jha: The Knight Riders were handicapped by an absence of topline big hitters (injured and absent players) and their home pitch at Eden Gardens was not good enough.
Sampath Kumar: When the performance is not taken into consideration, what is the point of running such tournaments? Whoever selected for the twin tour has already toured Australia. In the tour few are supposed to be dropped but they are retained.
Sanjay Jha: Sampath, the problem is that in Twenty20 it is very difficult to judge talent within a few overs with the bat or ball.
Cookofchennai: Is Dhoni the best captain India has ever had?
Sanjay Jha: Cook of Chennai, Dhoni has a mature head, and leads by instincts. He surprises his opponents. He is unorthodox.
Mradul: Do you think that IPL will benefit the Indian cricket? My concern is that English football is one of the top teams in the world but after the English premier league it has suffered.
Sanjay Jha: Mradul, you have hit the bull’s eye. Frankly, even English supporters are so involved in the EPL that they may be okay with the fact that England has not even qualified for the Euro.
Arvind: What, according to you, is the true form of cricket? Is it the Test, ODIs or 20-20?
Sanjay Jha: Arvind, Test cricket will always remain the real stuff, although you will find BCCI rooting big time for more T20 down the line.
Ha ha ha: Do you agree to the observation that franchise model is the future of the game?
Sanjay Jha: Ha ha ha! I like the title----- that is also the answer, really. The franchise model will only have limited application. Which franchise will buy a Ranji Trophy game that will have no TRPs and public watching?
Raj: In what way will the IPL benefit Indian domestic cricket? Ness Wadia and Preity Zinta said that they bought a franchise because they wanted to help domestic cricket. Can there be any truth in what they say?
Sanjay Jha: I honestly believe that domestic cricket as in Ranji Trophy, Duleep, Deodhar, etc will all suffer, Raj. IPL is about profiteering---period.
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