From Jaipur to Johannesburg

On April 3, 2008, Ashish Kaul, Executive VP, Zee Network had said," The matches will not affect our soaps because firstly, Indians do not associate with domestic cricket. Secondly, IPL has become a big product only because Shah Rukh is endorsing it. Sans SRK, it is just a inter-corporate match between Anil Ambani, Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya’s teams. Thirdly even if there are cricket icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, how many of the 59 matches will they be actually playing? In a 20:20 format each player will be on field for about 10-15 minutes. Their fans will watch them play and come back to their favourite soaps,” is his firm belief. In fact, he contends that the impact of these matches on the soaps will be less than 1 per cent, “assuming there will be an impact”.

A few weeks down the lane, the IPL witnessed a whopping TRP rating of 7.3, way ahead the second placed Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (4.5) and the third placed Saat Phere (4.3). Milking the cash cow was official broadcaster SET Max, whose market share leapfrogged to 28.8% from a measly 5.7% just a few weeks ago. One of the dipstick poll respondent Lata B, whose favourite team is the Kings XI of Punjab, "Usually, when I surf in the evenings every channel has soaps running. But now with the IPL matches being telecast, I find it makes for a good break from my regular viewing." Sensing the threat posed by the IPL, some sought to admit the hard fact. Anirudh Pathak, Creative consultant for fiction with a channel, says IPL has affected their prime time slots. "And now, as teams get more popular, the audience is watching these matches with increased interest. But thankfully, the IPL is happening at this time of the year; this is the season for weddings and power shortages, so we were prepared for lower TRP ratings." he says.


The IPL certainly has its reverberations crossing the boundary lines. Having treated the viewers worldwide to intense moments of thril, agony, drama and excitement, the league now acts as an international stage for the widespread promotion of the game, which still is largely unpopular in several countries. Apart from the usual rollicking stuff displayed on the telly, IPL seeks a new dimension to the game to make it commercially more viable, morphing the format from a Test to a T20. Now that the IPL has stamped its authority on the sports market, the challenge ahead for the organizers is to press home the advantage of the popularity to introduce the game to virgin territory. Barring a couple of countries, the whole of Africa and large parts of America are unfamiliar with the game that has been worshipped in Asia. With the commercial clout backing the organizers, IPL and ICC have a distinct advantage which can be used wisely to mark cricket on the global platform. PC was spot-on to call it a shrewd combination of sport and business.



The shifting of IPL away from India is quite unfortunate, but there's every bit of wisdom involved in that decision. It is tacit to face tremendous difficulties for a parallel run of the two most rivetting events in India, with the threat of inadequate security looming large over the entire couple of months. Conducting IPL in India during such a period would only make the nation more vulnerable to ugly scars of terrorism, and the incidents like the one which happened in Lahore recently. It would be extremely foolhardy to politicize the decision, which naturally drew angst from millions across the country. What fails to be seen is the fact that IPL's sojourn to countries like South Africa or England will help our domestic players earn some valuable experience of playing abroad and expanding their cricketing sense to employ the best measures in dealing with the best international cricketers involved. And how often do our domestic cricketers have the opportunity to call around abroad shores?




Paying paramount importance to the interests of the spectators and the franchisees, IPL organizers now face immense pressure to alter the existing logistics to conduct the tournament in a successful way. They seem confident enough to call it forth in the same way as the last year's edition. And what better place than South Africa, the nation which has firm roots associated with India.


Johannesburg or Jaipur, India will always relish the flavour of IPL, the only one of its kind....