By Greg Russell
April 25th 2009 @ 2:43am
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Is the IPL in South Africa a dog?
Big Jake Oram sharing the field with a dog. That was the photo accompanying my local rag’s report on the opening match of the IPL, Chennai Super Kings losing to Mumbai Indians.
It so happens that I stumbled upon this match as I channel surfed after the Waratahs versus Western Force rugby match. I thought I might be delivered a pick-me-up, but instead I just got a continuation of the tedium and disappointment.
It wasn’t for lack of trying.
On the field, Big Jake was bending his fragile frame, as the ball alternately flew off the pitch or died without bouncing. Sachin Tendulkar was playing studied forward defensives as if it was the opening morning of a test match.
No, the problem was not the players but the pitch, which was inconsistent in its bounce and generally difficult for batting. In other words, it was a bit of a dog.
Beyond the boundary it was a similar story. The camera panned to reveal an embankment full of attentive, willing people. But somehow a grass bank of picnickers did not result in an exciting atmosphere.
This made me realise that, whereas South Africa is renowned for rugby amphitheaters of electric atmosphere, it rarely delivers the same in cricket.
Put this down to the embankments: one needs three-sixty degrees of close-packed humanity to get the sparks flying.
To be honest I have watched very little of this new and transplanted instalment of the IPL, but I gather that, for the most part, it has been a similar story to that described above.
Most matches have been alarmingly one-sided, scores have been low, and sixes have been a collector’s item (notwithstanding two excellent contests – Delhi vs Chennai and Warnie’s lads vs Kolkata – just after I drafted this piece).
Yes, I know that Peter Roebuck, ever the contrarian, has been positively excited about the match-winning performances of some oldies. But is 5 for 5 from Anil Kumble really what Lalit Modi was looking for?
Make no mistake, Modi is a brilliant administrator, cricket’s equivalent of John O’Neill, perhaps even better.
He decided on South Africa over England as IPL venue for all the right reasons: superior weather, more enthusiasm from government and cricketing officials, no clashes with domestic cricket schedules, lower costs, and resolved TV rights.
But sometimes all the right reasons do not lead to the right decision, which instead can only be found via one’s instincts.
It’s still early days with this tournament, and it may yet prove me wrong. But this is what my gut tells me:
Twenty20 cricket is a form of the game that requires good cricket pitches and prospers on crowd atmosphere.
There are only two places in the world where most of the major cricket grounds on most days provide good cricket pitches, ones where the ball bounces regularly, there is encouragement for both batsmen and bowlers, and conditions stay much the same for the duration.
One of these places is Australia, the other is England.
And there is only one place in the world where grounds always have atmosphere, because they are full, the people are held close together, and crowds are diverse, colourful, well enough behaved and entertaining. That is England.
I am sure South Africa cannot be faulted for its effort, and I mean no disrespect, but I really wonder if the current IPL should have been played in England, wet weather and all.
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(5)
Kersi Meher-Homji said | April 25th 2009 @ 7:45am | Report comment
Well put, Greg,
To me IPL in South Africa resembles Alice in Wonderland. Imagine, a domestic Indian tournament (enriched with overseas greats) played in South Africa. Why? Because there are general elections in India. But wait a mo, there are general elections currently going on in South Africa also. Things are getting “curiouser and curiouser”.
Kersi
challa said | April 25th 2009 @ 1:35pm | Report comment
Last years IPL started out ok but became tedious and repetitive.
This years has started out tedious and is now repetitve.
Remember IPL stands for Indian PL. The IPL was moved to SA because it has the second greatest number of resident Indians outside of India and behind Dubai. (FYI some 25 million Indians live overseas)
SA also has the added benefit of being in the prime time tv time slot for India. India is of couse the primary source of revenue. And in India TV revenue generates over 90% of the revenue.
So unfortunately (or fortunately in my humble opinion) the IPL is unlikely to be played in England or Australia.
Personally I think 2020 is a sloggers game and needs batting pitches enabling unrestrained slogging without any inhibitions.
Batting pitches need little thought and even less strategy.
Long live the TEST.
Dave said | April 25th 2009 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
TV ratings are up in India and that’s what matters. Not many other sports would be able to take their domestic comp to another country and expect to get a crowd. What’s happening is amazing and shows how cricket continues to get bigger and bigger, which in the end is what we all want.
tifosi said | April 25th 2009 @ 6:53pm | Report comment
Dave cricket getting bigger?
All they have done is move it from one cricket nation to another. Move it to say to the USA and get a crowd then you are talking.
Remember most teams have plenty of foreigners so it makes it worthwhile to watch. If they were all indians i’d doubt any people would turn up.
Lisa said | April 25th 2009 @ 8:18pm | Report comment
Please remember that South Africa has one of the biggest Indian communities outside of India and the choice to move it here was not such a bad one.
Is there some security risk in India because of SL cricket players attacked in Pakistan a while back?
I feel it is unfair to claim Aus and Eng have the best cricket grounds as SA has beautiful and comparable cricket grounds to anywhere in the world.
I, as a South African, am very excited about the IPL in SA. It has been great for tourism. I can only imagine cricket grounds are empty due to games being played on week days. Tickets for games for weekends are sold out long in advance.
I pity the Indian supporters for not being able to attend these games, I know how fiery the support is in India.
Demographics in SA will show that cricket is not the most popular game here, but I believe that cricket lovers support this league 100% and are attending the games if possible.