IPL Question

[Skater]

I wouldn't bet against it! It's just, my dislike for the IPL has reached new heights.

 

[SciD]

If there was an English Premier League, I think it would be a better spectacle than the Indian one.

The home players would have the experience of 6 years in the Twenty20 Cup, so the quality of play would be higher than in the IPL. Similarly, the international players would have the experience of 2 years in the IPL.

Having games finish on last ball consistently for last 2 weeks and you still stuck on same English quality, English ground, English Daylight, English Nightlight. TV coverage does not make event, what about guys in stadium. They watch TV there.

Hell you dont even have history of night matches. We have more night games here in 1 year than you have had in history.

 

[Skater]

People don't like night matches. I see no reason to play cricket in the dead of night, it won't gain more interest than a day match.

 

[SciD]

Its opposite in India and Australia. I think also in RSA.

 

[Will_NA]

There's also the fact that these teams include players that would never normally play for them. What I mean by that is if there was an EPL, players like Shane Bond/ Warne would play for Hampshire, Justin Langer for Somerset because they were already contracted to these Counties for the CC Season rather than be selected at a pick and mix auction for a month-long tournament. I feel this takes away a little from genuine team rivalries but I'm not Indian.

I cant remeber who said this but they were right in saying that an EPL would be based on tradition without merges of Counties whereas the IPL is all about glamour.

 

[sohum]

If there was an English Premier League, I think it would be a better spectacle than the Indian one.

The home players would have the experience of 6 years in the Twenty20 Cup, so the quality of play would be higher than in the IPL. Similarly, the international players would have the experience of 2 years in the IPL.

There would be no cheerleaders because the spectators will be there to watch some exciting cricket, something learned over the years of the Twenty20 Cup.

Most matches will be played in daylight, since for most of the summer it doesn't get completely dark until around 9:00pm in England. If some matches did finish in the dark, the floodlights would be of better quality than the ones at the Indian grounds.

It would get the media coverage it deserves. The world class television coverage of Sky Sports would show it to the world, with all matches in high definition.

So, all in all, if there was to be an EPL, it could thank the IPL for the quality of cricket, and learn from its mistakes.

I suppose the only problem would be that all the good players would be playing in the IPL.

sohummisra added 0 Minutes and 47 Seconds later...

People don't like night matches. I see no reason to play cricket in the dead of night, it won't gain more interest than a day match.

I didn't realize you were spokesperson for the billion or so cricket fans now.

sohummisra added 3 Minutes and 20 Seconds later...

I cant remeber who said this but they were right in saying that an EPL would be based on tradition without merges of Counties whereas the IPL is all about glamour.

Surely you missed all the news about the catchment players? Almost all the teams are made up strongly of players from the same area, when you get rid of international players. There are a few players here and there that are misplaced but that's about it.

Also, you are surely not suggesting that the EPL would consist of the 20 or so teams that the English county cricket consists of? There would definitely be merges in the teams which would get rid of the tradition aspect.

 

[Will_NA]

Also, you are surely not suggesting that the EPL would consist of the 20 or so teams that the English county cricket consists of? There would definitely be merges in the teams which would get rid of the tradition aspect.

That idea was put down for the reason which I quoted.

 

[sohum]

That idea was put down for the reason which I quoted.

I don't get it. They'd have to merge the teams unless they wanted to keep it as the Twenty20 cup and by doing that the tradition would be lost. Besides, given that England already has a Twenty20 competition, an EPL would be started primarily for glamour...

 

[Will_NA]

It would be for money. The point is, the know an IPL-style tournament wouldn't appeal to English fans because it's all glitz, glamour and big names while the English County System is based on tradition. Can you imagine Lancashire and Yorkshire merging? I can't. Plus, the Twenty20 Cup has shown it wouldn't be too difficult to include 20 teams as long as you cut down on games.

 

[harishankar]

Yeah yeah, I know how much you Englishmen are always stuck up on some dubious "tradition".

I think you guys should go back to whites and play just Test cricket. ODI is not so traditional for you guys. It existed for just around 30-40 years you know. :

 

[SciD]

Why d you guys love EPL the football one and then start hating IPL. When Chelsea and Real Madrid spend money its good but when IPL teams spend money its rubbish.

 

[Will_NA]

Actually, if you stepped into the Football forum, you'd see how much Chelsea and Madrid get slated for using their big bucks to buy the world's best talent. In fact, we were discussing it a couple days ago.

@ Harishankar, is there something wrong with tradition or are we in an age where loyalty to anything is seen as old-fashioned?

 

[manee]

Actually, if you stepped into the Football forum, you'd see how much Chelsea and Madrid get slated for using their big bucks to buy the world's best talent. In fact, we were discussing it a couple days ago.

This is only because of their relative wealth. The salary cap on the IPL prevents such financial superiority.

 

[Kev]

I noticed this thread a while ago, but didn't bother to read it as I have no real interest in following the IPL, but after reading it I thought I'd put down a few thoughts.

Firstly I will make a few things clear.

1: I have never watched an IPL match.
2: I have watched lots of T20Cup matches over a period of years (not on tv, at grounds)
3: While I like and follow all forms of the game, I would say I like T20 the least. Not so say I dislike it, I just prefer other games.
4: I neither dislike IPL or like it, I don't care about it. Its an Indian competition.

Ok. Onto comments.

Quite a few posts here about the quality of cricket. General observation being English members say the quality of the T20cup is better, Indians counter with better players in IPL. Now as I have said, I haven't watched any IPL, I also haven't checked any scorecards so I don't know how any of the matches ended, and I don't care. But I will agree that there are more top cricketers playing in India . But it doesnt really matter who is playing, you get a good game if the match is balanced. Perhaps the spread between the teams is greater at the moment, whereas the teams are more evenly matched in England. A game between 2 lesser talented teams is better to watch than a game between Australia and Zimbabwe for example.

With regards to tactics. There are certainly some players in the T20cup in England who play T20 very well, but have absolutely no chance of getting anywhere near the national side. They are too old, too young, their face just doesn't fit, or a whole number of reasons that aren't really going to get us anywhere. But I have seen a vast improvement in the tactics used in the T20cup over the past few years, probably IPL will find these out soon enough. The ability of bowlers to take pace off the ball in the middle of innings has become key for example. Spinners also play a much bigger role than they used to.

Day/Night matches. The majority of grounds used in England don't have permanent floodlights so yes there aren't all that many day/night matches. This probably will change as the ECB has given grants to all counties specifically for floodlights. I don't know about in India but in England the ground can get a bit dewy in the evenings so floodlight matches sometimes don't give the most entertaining of results anyway. Besides when T20cup is played it stays light till pretty late anyway. Floodlight cricket does tend to pull in more people in England, but I think thats as much down to the fact the at most clubs the floodlight game tends to be televised and more people turn up for televised games (I don't know why but they do!).

With regards to the length of IPL, I think it goes on for too long. Even if I did want to follow it I would lose interest. 6 weeks is too much, probably they need to compress it down to 4 weeks OR they need to spread it out a bit. 6 weeks isnt too long if there are breaks between games. Certainly a competition of that intensity and length wouldn't work outside India.

Lastly, I''m not a fan of all the ancillary stuff going on around the games. Cheerleaders and stuff. This sort of thing panders to people who actually don't like cricket rather than people who do. They tried this sort of thing in England (not to the extent that it happens in the IPL) and its just faded away, it didn't really add anything in the long run. People who like cricket will go to watch cricket regardless.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

I think its to long to stay with it.
Other matter is I have watched it until there was no internationals.
As soon as English test Match has started,I even forgot to watch the scores.
Personally I would love to watch KP and Strauss playing test matches more than IPL any day.

Hope My vote counts Sid as I am out of India for now. :P