Ten days into IPL III and the feeling of deja vu is all-pervading. Yes, we have seen it all before – the big hitting, the close matches, the glitz and the glamour. And yet we want more of it all. The TRP ratings continue to be high, the tournament is arguably more popular than the movies screened in theatres or the soap operas on TV and the fact that the IPL is back in India is certainly the X factor.
Naturally the colourful and innovative ads – the marketing gurus certainly know their job – centered round two words. "IT’S BACK" the ads screamed and everyone succumbed – the sponsors, the administrators, the spectators and cricket fans all over the country.
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Yes, the IPL is first and foremost entertainment. A match lasts a little more than three hours and that is like seeing a movie. So the bond between cricket and Bollywood – the two most popular cultures in the country – is cemented.
The success of the IPL has coined the phrase cricketainment and the TV viewership and the packed houses at the stadium have underlined its popularity. Even in its third year it continues to hold sway over people’s emotions. Even those who are not normally interested in cricket have given in to its colour, gaiety and surefire, fast paced entertainment.
It has been one hell of a roller coaster ride these past ten days and one can safely predict that the next month will be an even faster ride filled with thrills and excitement - cricket that the spectators love to see as `time pass’ even if they are not matches that will stay in one’s mind for long. For many, this is entertainment pure and simple and they do not see beyond that or look for a cricketing art form of the highest order.
All the same, the IPL is also about cricket and one should never lose track of that. The leading players in the world are fighting it out in real earnest for a trophy and the big prize money. Indeed, there is plenty for even the more serious or traditional follower of the game. Certainly the IPL has succeeded in exploding some myths associated with Twenty20.
Sure, it has rained fours and sixes but that is to be expected when the duration is so limited. The point I want to emphasize is that the bowlers have not exactly been willing slaves just there at the batsman’s bidding. It may still be a batsman’s game – which version of cricket is not – but there is a place for the bowlers in Twenty20.
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Just take the ongoing tournament for example and a few facts and figures will underline this. A bowler has taken a hat trick while others have ended with figures of four for 19, three for nine, three for 12 and three for 16. Totals of 161, 164 and 168 have been defended while teams after posting modest totals of 135 and 142 have taken the match to the last over before going down.
All this might have been believable on the more sporting tracks in South Africa but not on the batting beauties of the sub-continent. One has only to compare the totals compiled in the inaugural edition of the IPL with those in the ongoing tournament to get a true picture of the changing scenario.
One must realize that in this abridged version it is not just the bowlers who face the pressure of being hit for fours and sixes every time. The batsman too is under the intense weight of expectations. There is just no time to get your eye in, with the result that the slog starts virtually with the first ball. Under the circumstances, a miscued or rash stroke is always on the cards and this is where the bowler scores a point.
A couple of dot balls and again the batsman is under tremendous pressure to get a move along and this has led to a dismissal as we have seen so often in Twenty20. As the former England batsman Mark Ramprakash put it succinctly "the nature of the game is risk and you have to accept that there is risk involved when you are looking to score so quickly."
Cricket’s newest `avatar’ may not be the highest art form. All the same, watching the bowlers frustrate the batsmen by bowling yorkers, by pitching the ball at the pads and giving them no room to get away with the big hits for which they are all too eager is quite a revelation. The batsman for his part has to be extra innovative and enterprising even more than in ODIs and this frequently leads to an engrossing contest.
In IPL III, for example, I have seen less of slogging and more cricketing shots. Batsmen are aware that an ill advised slog could lead to their dismissal and they could be better off playing strokes that are based on timing and placement. Jacques Kallis has been a revelation in this aspect.
Certainly there is a place in the game’s shortest format for strategy and tactics and it’s not all just slam bang. Oh yes, there are aspects associated with Twenty20 that are heartening even for the serious cricket follower. Sometime back Stephen Fleming in an interview said he is convinced that Twenty20 is a thinking man’s game.
One of the most astute leaders in the game, the former New Zealand captain, who is on the payroll of the Chennai Super Kings, is of the view that captaincy in this format is more difficult than in Test cricket or ODIs since the skipper has to make all the decisions like in the other formats but here the thinking has to be swifter.
One false step and the team could well be out of the game. This is where intuitive captains have succeeded while making rapid fire bowling changes or opening the attack with spinners. Here you can't wait for things to happen; you have to make things happen.
