On T20 & IPL

IPL is a nice diversion for me in the evening, a few minutes of unwinding after a few hours of not-too-taxing work at the office. No wonder, then, as my eyes take in the feast of cheer leaders waving pom poms , my mind works overtime on the format of T20 and conduct of IPL.

The following are some of my brief observations:

1.    In T20, there is no need to carry the full contingent of 11 players in each inning. The team should be split into, say, 7 players, all batsmen, on the batting side (six wickets make up an inning) and 8 (bowlers and fielders), for the fielding side. Each sub-team (as in American Football) can sport specialists, which may also include all-rounders. In the sub-bullets below, I point out the rationale for such a split.

a.    There will be no also-rans hitting boundaries towards the end of an inning, as each batsman is a genuine batsman and no bowler will be called into bat.

b.    Runs will be scored by batsman playing cricketing shots (and slogging if needed) and not by bowlers hitting “Hail Mary!” shots (in American football, desperate heaves by the QB are called “Hail Mary!” passes!).

c.    The value of defending one’s wicket will go up, each wicket to be defended for 20 balls on average instead of for 12.

d.    No need to have special provisions like Power Play overs or field restrictions. Risk assessment and risk taking will be negotiated solely by the batting team, indeed by the batsman facing the bowler – some demand on intelligence.

e.    There will be no less opportunities for scoring as there will be three less fielders.

f.     More players on the team will truly earn their salary, as the number of players on the field is likely to be more than 11.

2.    In IPL, the coin toss should be done away with. The home team will choose either to bat or field first. No matter how much the experts rate and evaluate the pitch, I do not believe they have actually predicted what the batsmen face.

3.    Stipulate against meaningless statistics. In a match the day after the Gayle blitz, a projected score of 245 was flashed on the TV screen with the score reading something like 30+ in about 15 or so balls. To the eternal shame of MS Excel adherents, the final tally in the innings was between 150 and 160. Now, what kind of a projection was that? Indeed, even in the later parts of an innings, the screen shows “XXX at x runs per over”, “YYY at y runs per over” etc. The information content is zero. If such projections are indeed deemed necessary, IPL should get some cricketing professionals / statisticians to assess the situation and throw up some meaningful, realizable number, not a tasteless smorgasbord.

4.    Delete the award ceremony after each match. Photo-ops for corporates and politicians – gag me with a fork!

5.    Let IPL show some form of social responsibility and institute one-year scholarship for students in schools (excluding the fancy ones) or spruce up the labs / library etc. in the name of the MVP of each match in the host city. After all, it is the city that supports the franchise, at the gates and beyond TV revenue. Abolish all the other awards.

6.    Let the players know that they are playing for the owners of the team. If they get booed, it comes with the territory. No national sentiment can be carried on to the IPL – this comment is directed at Virat Kohli.  

7.    Get the cheer leaders out. Even in the first edition, the novelty factor did not score much and now it is decidedly dragging. Oh, those ethnic dresses on cheer leaders – so disgusting.

Raghuram Ekambaram