IPL T20 vs ICC Twenty20

Watching India loose another match (this time against West Indies) yesterday, I couldn’t help but feel overcome with sadness. This had nothing to do with the fact that India had lost: I’ve become immune to that bad feeling one gets after a lost match, because it seems to happen so often. This took place because I was actually not being able to enjoy watching these matches. And I had to ask myself - WHY? Why is this happening to you, to the person who loves cricket so much? So, I talked to fellow enthusiasts of the game to get some answers and got the same reply from each one of them- that these matches are not as enjoyable as those of the IPL.

That does not make sense. The cup is being played in the land of the people who enjoy their cricket the most, the land that has given us some of the best cricketers to have played the game. It is being played in the grounds where the crowd creates an amazing environment: brass bands, home-made musical instruments that you see nowhere else, happy, smiling faces, and people having lots of fun. Also, being an international tournament, one expects that the level of cricket to be better and more enjoyable than the IPL. Yet this is not so. The obvious question is why. And here I am trying to get to the answer:


1. The quality of cricket- The quality of cricket that we are getting to see in the
world cup is nowhere close to what we got to see in the IPL. This is due to 3
reasons:
-The inclusion of teams like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Ireland has
ensured that 8 of the first 12 matches were one-sided.
-Hard hitting, in-form batsmen like Uthuppa, Sehwag, Hayden, Symonds, Virat Kohli,
who set the IPL on fire, are missing from the world cup.
-The pitches in the West Indies do not support the slam-bang version of cricket
that we witnessed in the IPL. Batsmen are concentrating on not loosing any
wickets for the first half and going for broke in the last few overs. This was
not the case in India (with the obvious exception of Feroze Shah Kotla) where we
got to see lots of big shots and high scores.


2. Playing conditions- The playing conditions are not nearly as good as they were
during the IPL:
-The matches of the world cup are being held in the day time, which are not as
entertaining as the all-night affairs of the IPL. This does not allow for a party
like atmosphere that one got to see in the stands in India.
-The grounds are not big enough to pack in the sort of crowd that could blow off
the roof, as we got to see in India. Also, the organisers have been unable to
ensure that the stands are filled to capacity.


3. Poor Promotion- The promos of IPL were on air a month before the tournament was
to start. They were designed smartly to create hype about the tournament and had
people talking about it much before any action started on the field. And even
while the tournament was going on, we got to read about it every day in the
newspapers. Every day, something or the other was happening which could become
the headline for the next day’s paper (and I refer to the brilliant cricket,
glamorous personalities in the stands, and the glitzy parties, not to the
Modi-Tharoor controversy).

4. Timing of the tournament- Coming right after the IPL, the world cup had big shoes
to fill. There were great expectations and the world cup has failed to live up to
them. If the cup would have happened 6 months later, maybe the result would have
been different. There was probably an overdose of this format that has proved to
be detrimental to the popularity of the supposedly biannual event.


5. Cheerleaders- For the fair skin obsessed Indian male, this is one aspect of the
20-20 version that just cannot be compromised upon. Not only do the West Indian
cheerleaders loose out on the complexion factor, but they are also found wanting
on the cheerleading front.