In 2007,the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) announced the beginning of the most glamorous and awaited cricket league in India РThe IPL.It began amidst the controversies but soon caught the Indians by storm.The players of different countries playing in a single team was what fascinated the people.
But was IPL all about ‘the gentleman’s game’ ? The Indian Premier League soon became the 6th best among all the sports leagues in the world.In 2010,it was the first sporting event to be broadcasted live on YouTube.In 2015,its brand value was US$4.5 Billion (American Appraisal,a division of Duff and Phelps). According to BCCI ,the 2015 IPL Season contributed ‚Çπ11.5 billion to the GDP of the Indian economy.
Though this cricket league started as an interesting event and a source of extra income for the players who retired from international cricket and to promote harmony,it isn’t the same now. IPL has associated itself with a lot of dirty controversies ranging from harassment of models and cheerleaders to spot fixing and corruption.Recently ‘The Reddit’ interviewed a cheerleader who reported about the bad living conditions they are supposed to live in.
The 2012 and 2013 spot fixing and betting cases are infamously famous.The then ICC Chairman and the BCCI President N. Srinivasan’s family member too were involved in it,which resulted in the expulsion on the two past winners of the IPL title .
The Lalit Modi controversy also degraded the league when he was charged with ‘misappropriation of funds’ and then fled from the controversy. Then there is the tax exemption case of 2011 and the disagreements with the ICC and then the DLF to VIVO sponsorship swap and numerous controversies like this.
Maybe the IPL is in news but it is in news for all the wrong reasons.Maybe it is earning a lot but is slowly losing the trust of the people of India who are the biggest cricket viewing population in the world.
I,like many others have stopped watching it and slowly many others will because it’s not cricket anymore,it is just a movie of 2 and a half hour for entertainment where you get to watch cricket as bonus.
Can nothing in India be free of corruption? Even the gentleman’s game packaged in the form of IPL has been linked to numerous corruption cases and who know’s maybe the whole league only is FIXED!
