Rivalling The ICC World Cup?

Well with the first edition of the Indian Premier as all of are much aware of, has attracted much crowds and sponsors that could be matched only by the once in a leap year appearing ICC cricket world. Rather than calling it as the Indian Premier League, it could rather be called as the the Indian world cup, for players from all over the world would be participating in the contest irrespective of the national teams they would have represented until then. One can find a top batsmen from a country like Mathew Hayden facing a world class in Glenn McGrath who play for the same country. Anyway thats not something new to our readers.

However, this time, more excitement is being expected from the players barring South Africans, who would be playing outside their home country. If our memories are well sharp enough, the last and the first edition of the Indian Premier League had featured lesser known names in the cricketing game like Swapnil Asnodkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Yousuf Pathan (until then) and much others who shined for their teams. Also, there were likes of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble who had spent their entire career playing test and one day games and suddenly popped into the crease to play the T20 format but still successful, few with the bat, few with the ball and one as a captain & coach.

The best part of this sort of leagues would no doubt be the fact that retired greats like Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Shaun Pollock and much others could be seen getting onto the field and bring back smiles on the fans who would be eager to watch their stars play for a much longer time though not for ever. Well, I wish even someone like Wasim Akram, Javagal srinath, Waqar Younis also played in the IPL. But, this is not the time to talk about something which is not bound to happen, with so much positives in hand at the moment.

But, whatever may be the positives, still the Indian flavour would be missed not only by fans over in India but also by players who play in the IPL but yet not represented their national side. Such players who have not even had an opportunity to tour other states within their country will have to cope up with the conditions and the atmosphere of some other country. Of course, it seems like a big problem for the moment. The much to lose would be the Rajasthan Royals, who won the inaugural edition of the IPL with a greater role being played by local players not to mention the brain behind this in Shane Warne- the captain and coach.

The ICC world cup would be consisted of teams like Ireland, Kenya, Bermuda, Namibia, who come there just to have a foreign trip rather than fight for what they have been there for. But, that is not the case in IPL. Every team and every player tries to give his best not only for the tournament but also for the crowds there. Oh! Yes..the money that the players would take home at the end of the game is far ahead compared to that even the world champions take. Wish you all a very happy IPL-2.