IPL: It's Just Not Cricket (Thank God!)

To anyone who is not normally interested in cricket, the hysteria coming from those opposed to the IPL must be as confusing as it is amusing.

Claims from IPL opponents have ranged from benign to insane. But what is the cause of all this outrage?  Apparently the fear that the new cricket format will somehow be detrimental to "traditional" cricket formats.

Meanwhile the rest of the world has to wonder: who cares?

Test matches are literally the most boring sport ever invented.  Why should anyone care if they fade away?  The recent Frank Worrell Trophy series in the West Indies is proof enough that Test cricket has outlived its era. 

Australia, needing only a draw result in order to clinch the series, scored 479 in their first innings before declaring, virtually ensuring there was no way for a winning result to be recorded by either team.

The West Indies team, having an opportunity to treat the final day as a slog-fest and at least show some sort of competitiveness, instead opted for a stale defensive approach that was absolutely pointless. 

Seriously, somebody should explain to them that the aim of the game is to win, not simply to try to avoid losing.

Now, nobody could claim that the IPL series was perfect, but that is mainly because the format is so new and players still have to learn the tactical side of the game.  It was similar when 50 over cricket was first introduced, but after a few years the average score was dramatically higher than in the early days of the format.

To the fundamentalists, the IPL was a tragedy. To everyone else, it was a shot in the arm for a sport that had been languishing on its death bed for years.  With shorter games, higher pressure, and teams featuring some of the world's best players (past, present and future!), there was never a dull moment. 

When was the last time you heard that said about a cricket series?

Every match provided some drama. The first over bowled in the IPL tournament produced no runs off the bat.  In the second over, Brendon McCullum hit three 4's and a six, for a score of 18.  From there, the pace and excitement never slowed until the final over of the IPL 58 matches later, when Rajasthan needed 3 runs to win from the last 2 balls in what proved to be a nail-biting finish.

Ultimately the success or failure of the IPL and T20 cricket in general will depend on the crowds. Based on what we saw this year, it seems quite logical to conclude that the new format is here to stay.

Those who are not happy about this will at least more deeply appreciate the invention of the television remote control.