Over the centuries, India has not only exported but also absorbed the cultures, religions and languages of the invaders and made it part of the Indian culture. The latest such transformation is the English game of cricket.
The once gentlemanly game played on the fields of the English public schools and village greens was brought to India by the British. Spread over three to five days, it was played at a leisurely pace with breaks for lunch, tea and lemonade.
Watching the Indian Premier League's version of cricket with American cheerleaders ( the original from the U S of A probably with blonde's from Eastern Europe thrown in),the frequent blare of trumpets and steel drums ,flag waving by Bollywood stars and starlets, performance's by Lionel Riche and imitation ABBA rock group , you might be forgiven if you feel that you are on LSD and watching cricket on fast forward.
To show that it is not just a game but has big money behind it, the camera's keep focusing on the owners - who are among the biggest business tycoons in India including, the Ambani's, the Malya's, the Wadia's the Burmans and so on.
The stadiums generally with a seating capacity of up to 50,000 packed to the rafters and live broadcast with the highest viewership, overtaking the soap operas and reality shows, it has become the biggest form of entertainment in the space of three short years. Like the ancient Roman's giving a thumbs up, a huge roar goes up every time the home team scores a boundary (four runs) or a six or gets a opposing team member out.
While the Commissioner of IPL Mr. Lalit Modi gets all the credit for making it such a success, the original idea for the Indian Cricket League was that of Subash Chandra of Zee TV . He thought he would do in India what Kerry Packer did in Australia by shortening the matches to one day including night cricket, but he was outfoxed by the willy old members of BCCI, who forbade any cricketer from joining ICL.Also instead of trying to have it all to themselves, they brought in the big bucks.Zee didn't stand a chance and ICL is now history.
While IPL enables the cricketers from all over the world to make a lot of money within the short space of six weeks or so during which it is played, it has also democratized cricket. While this started a bit earlier, it has accelerated. No longer confined to the upper middle class from the larger metropolitan cities, you have cricketing stars from small towns all over India. Playing as team members with some of the best cricketing talent in the world, it has improved their game as well. Unfortunately with all the attention and the money you have to keep performing or you will get your fifteen minutes of fame and disappear.This will also shorten the life span of the senior cricketers of ten to fifteen years.
With cricket in India now being the largest revenue generator for the International Cricket Council, what will follow next ? Attention is now being paid to soccer, hockey and even basketball, but it is going to require a lot of effort to unseat IPL in the short run.While some say cricket is next to religion in India, in my view
cricket is religion with the reigning deity being Sachin Tendulkar . It unifies all races and religions in India like no other game or event. Jai Ho!!
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