ICC World Cup 2011:Musings

Last one month kept me away from my favorite work of reaching to the readers of my blog. It has been quiet a hectic schedule but I am happy to manage my time and be back on track. With the world cup fun all around and people glued to the idiot box, we Indians prefer to catch the glimpse of each match through any form of media available to us these days. Of course, new channels of information like twitter, Facebook has overrun traditional forms, and people in urban centers prefer to belong to the so-called trends of new age media catching glimpse of news on twitter, Facebook etc. It is mindful that off late traditional media have been keen on analyzing cricket frenzied reactions over these channels.

As the schedule of World cup unfolds, teams from around the world are once again ready to battle out the odds and prove their mettle. Australian team, as always seems to be the invincible, the English team seems to have lost its luster having lost couple of matches to the minnows of the cricketing world (viz. Ireland & Bangladesh). The minnows seems to have gone berserk to prove to their fans, don’t underestimate my capability anymore, you call me minnow…………….Minnows who? You got me wrong again sweetheart. Team Pakistan seemed to be going well until they loss against New Zealand. Rameez Raja goes frantic for this but couldn’t help the situation. The Lankans have gone lackluster and the energy always seems to be missing with the team minus Jayasurya. The Caribbean’s are heavily dependent on Pollard (the disaster, of course for opponents) and Kiwis have gained from Allan Donald’s experience in the bowling department. None the less, the host and home favorites are Indian team, trying to re-store its lost glory in the last two world cup encounters. Team India had a brilliant one-sided start against Bangladesh, but the tempo seems to be subsiding with each battle in progress. South Africa, appears to have joined the typical herd mentality of “Chalta hai” (Let it be) and seems unprepared for the world cup.

Amid the entire hullabaloo, we cricket frenzied people are glued to the idiot box in the comfort of our homes and plush offices. I poured in one of the leading business newspapers in India that some of the leading brands have preferred to advertise during IPL over ICC World cup, the logic majorly refers to preferences of the women folks to IPL. As the cricket drama unfolds once again in the country, many players surreptitiously have started dreaming for the IPL matches which usher in more fun, money and are cool with their young and trendy attitude.

As the cricketing drama unfolds, I wish let the best team win, but being an Indian, I would always put my vote for Dhoni and boys. The theme to cheer India for every match as it displays on TV, I am pushed to think over the punch line “Teams only win matches, when you cheer for them”.  Let the cricketing drama unfold and make it ever exciting experience for all the cricketing fans around the world.

Cheers to favorites this world cup. Team India go…go…go….

 

IPL Auctions 2011

In a typical vegetables auction market, the scene is

Potatoes – Rs 40/ Kg (Base price)

Bidder 1- Rs 45/Kg, Bidder 2- Rs 50/Kg, Bidder 3- Rs 60/Kg, Bidder 1(again)- Rs 70/Kg

Bidder 1 bids at Rs 70/Kg against Bidder 3 and the bid is sold to Bidder 1.

Sophisticated IPL Auction: Cricketers on Sale

Bid for Player 1 from India (base price – $100,000)

Anyone for base price, yeah we have team Kochi go for it, the bid opens at $100,000.

Another bid from RCB $110,000, Kochi again $120,000,

Oh yeah, we have a new bid from entirely new team Daredevils at $130,000

Anyone against Daredevils price, no…. no…… and player 1 is sold at $130,000 to Daredevils

And there are claps all around for the purchase.

I was just watching the ongoing IPL Auction since yesterday and thinking, our players have just become analogous to vegetables or other commodities that are bid on online sites for purchase(Thanks to IPL and numerous other such events where franchisee purchase players in an auction). I understand the hoopla around the brand IPL and the success is noteworthy, but the selection process made me wary of the event altogether.

Some of the great players from all around the world went unsold like thing of the passé, while newbie’s were raked into the teams for heavy sum of money. There were instances where some of the players with less experience ran away with million dollars in their accounts leaving other experienced players with half of what they took from respective franchisees. I could not stop jumping off my bed watching the huge amount of money close to $ 9 million from each franchisee to empty their wallets for the ornate players of world cricket.

Well, in the words of cricketing professionals, “Cricket is a Game of Uncertainties” and so is IPL auctions.

I am a great admirer of the game, but this episode of auction was funny to me besides being baffling, with some of the great players remaining unsold. Well, that’s the game of cricket sweetheart, full of uncertainties. Sit back, relax and enjoy the game

Cheers to IPL