I am giving up pretending to like the IPL...

A few years back; 2 to be exact; I gave up trying to convince myself that Sachin adds any real value to India's future plans and right about now I am giving up pretending to like and get excited about the IPL. 

Enough is enough...

I get what its all about but I am incapable of feeling any excitement towards it.

I get it...its a boon to the players, it has brought new fans and new money to cricket, you get to see international stars playing along side Indian ones...more often than not the games are very close and the standard of cricket; especially when 'The Warriors' are not playing, Ponting decides to drop himself and Sachin is in the dressing room; is....lets say decent...

I get it...

and yet, the entire package fails to connect.

Each IPL game, looks and feels the same to me. 

For someone who grew up hunting down discarded "World Cricket Digests" and old cricket books at "raddi" shops near Shivaji Park to catch up on cricket stories, about the Ashes, about great Pakistani teams, about Test Matches in South Africa, the series where Terry Alderman took 40 Ashes wickets, stories about Pataudi's captaincy, Gavaskar's WI debut; I still haven't felt the urge to catch up on Chris Gayle's heinous 175* the other day. 

Just to read the accounts was like reliving the games. It connected...The IPL doesn't

Its not the IPL's fault. We grow up or grown apart :-) ...I think I have...

To a point where the IPL looks staged...

Everything looks set up. Everything is setup...

The other day, they set up an entire episode of Sir Vivian Richards "inspiring" the Delhi 'dare-i-say' Daredevils. A part of me felt humiliated that the great Richards was willing to reduce himself to a cheer leader and a part of me was livid with the entire Indian cricket setup who don't think twice before using their money to reduce ex greats to bit roles in what is essentially a big ass saas-bahu serial packaged as cricket. 

Then again, we made Kapil Dev, our very own literally rub his nose to the ground and apologize before we released his funds. So who is Sir Vivian Richards...

There is no doubt, Sir Vivian Richards can inspire. But this was not that...this was setup, staged, the way Americans do with their sport. Nothing happens on and off the field without a meticulous plan; almost a screen play. I am not suggesting that there is one, but that's the feeling I am left with...

So a few years back, I gave up pretending to like Amercian Sports and now its the turn of the IPL. 

Its not that I don't respect the Indian cricket setup for pulling of something like the IPL. I do.N Srinivasan is yet to come out with a rule that says that the Chennai Super Kings will be deemed winners even when they lose. That's restraint. 

Its rare these days in Indian cricket.

So yes, I have immense respect for N. Srinivasan and his cronies for showing remarkable, statesman-like constraint and honor for the basic rules of the game.

When Harsha Bholgle, while delivering a running commentary, tries to explain that "even though the TRP is dipping the number of  viewers that are watching the IPL has increased".... its not cricket. Its shameless marketing. How is the TRP rating in any way a matter of discussion in a game? Its not about sport any more. Its just business. I don't watch cricket to applaud its business model. 

When people (foreign players) say profuse things (and mind you, there is no other way one should talk about Sachin) I don't feel its genuine. Its all staged. The love for Sachin, the boasting of his humility, is sickening.... 

Then there was the Sachin "Happy Birthday"... 

Happy birthday Sachin....

If the IPL is obscene enough for my senses, the 40 lb cake cutting ceremony was something for which a word has not been invented yet...let's say "Sachscene"...