Whats more important for majority in India, right now, than the lok sabha Elections is IPL. Not a fresh news since we all basked in the entertainment it has delivered in its first edition in 2008 in our own soil, either in our nearby Stadium or in TV, and with no doubt we will look forward to its next edition regardless of the venue.Entertainment in our country besides film and music has always been Cricket.Thats what Preeti Zinda, co-owner of one of the eight clubs, said in an interview that, "In India cricket and film are like religion and when they blend together, it is quite exciting".
On the arrival of 20th century, the so called cricket fanatics in India started diverting towars other sports as it lost credibility in the hearts of die-hard fans due to matchfixing, lackluster performance, dependency on individual, inferior attitude...etc.The other major reason for the diversion is lacking crispness as well as magic. We accept that sports are there for entertaining, but nobody wants to be entertained at the cost of being axed by one’s boss for lacking attendance. I’m talking about the test-cricket here.People love surprises in sports which is clearly missing in this version of the game.A stunner in the last minute, a swift turn in the final lap are perfect examples.
This version is becoming more predictable with hardly any surprises that even a tyro could term the result on the third day itself. Eventhough we have a shoter version of the game i.e. one dayers, still the duration is again a matter of concern for many including myself. Then came the even-lighter version with an fetching name, "20-20".It gained popularity as it voids the drawbacks of its previous versions.The first 20-20 world cup was held in South Africa in a grand style with all glitz and glamour to gravitate audience.The quality of entertainment served to it viewers, aided to bring down the barriers and expand its very narrow audience.A game which is almost considered as "Parochial" has drawn attention of many countries and started hogging limelight of their media too.The historic, maiden 20-20 world cup was won by India against it’s all-time rival pakistan, in a way which will never get off from one’s memory if watched live.The reception it got from its audience was quite remarkable which intrigued Lalit Modi, the present Chairman of IPL and the Mastermind behind this sensational event, to introduce an Indian version of it, so as to give opportunity to the innumerous budding cricketers.Thus the the idea of Indian Premier League had been fabricated. An unexpected but wonderful things started to happen as soon as the search for club owners began.Bollywood’s greatest actors and opulent industrialists are willing to take part in it without any hesitation.But they desired to make it as big as possible to cater the international audience too.As we all know that BCCI is the richest cricket organization, there wont be any fiscal problems to take IPL to international level.Bidding for international as well as domestic players started with M.S.Dhoni fetching the highest of 6C for the contract with Chennai based franchise followed by Aussies.Everything started to fall in place and the grand even kicked off with flying colors.