The Saga of IPL

Well, what’s up guys? I know it has been quite a time I wrote on this blog. Well, this post was due. If you are thinking about IPL version of cricket, then we will definitely talk about it but I am also going to talk about another version of IPL that swiped the country completely this month.
If you had already guessed, you are right; I am talking about Indian Elections – Indian Political League. We will talk about this version of the IPL first.
The largest democracy of the world, India, went into the Elections late last month. The results came out in May 2nd week with Unites Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Indian National Congress (INC) getting almost near majority. With thumping applause from the voters of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh became the 2nd Prime Minister after our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to become the prime minister of the country in consecutive terms. The extraordinary performance of the INC with 201 seats alone showed its growing influence and belief of the voters in INC. The another major part, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) was completely thrashed with Lal Krishna Advani’s hopes of becoming the prime minister of India being completely crashed. There was no doubt that the credit goes to Dr. Manmohan Singh for his exemplary leadership in his previous term as PM. But the efforts of the upcoming power of INC, Rahul Gandhi, cannot be ignored. If INC was able to compete at par with the Mayawati’s Bahujan Samajwadi Party and Mulayam’s Samajwadi Party, then the whole credit goes to only and only Rahul Gandhi. Additionally, this election brought the hopes of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Mayawati, Jayalalitha, Prakash Karat, and Sharad Pawar of becoming the PM completely crushed. Among all these names, one can easily identity the name of Ram Vilas Paswan. Paswanji was the cabinet minister since HD Deve Gowda’s government. No matter who formed the government since HD Deve Gowda, Paswanji used to join that government with his bunch of ministers’ support to become a cabinet minister. This time he lost the elections and could not even become a MP also. The same is the state of our ex Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav. He decided to go to the elections all of his own and did not accept the alliance of INC. Such was the pathetic state of Laluji, which he lost from one of the constituencies he contested. Remember, had he fought the elections from that constituency alone, he would have been in the same boat as Paswanji. Another major turnaround was the state of West Bengal. For the first time since more than 30 years, voters thrashed the dreams of Left and for the first time Didi, Mamta Banerjee, saw the hope of becoming the CM of the state in future, Her party, Trinamool Congress, did exceptionally well in the elections, due to which she earned her berth in the cabinet as the Railway Minister. Remember, when the current Lok Sabha has more than 300 crorepatis, Didi is one of the poorest MP. Hats off to her. With a thumping win over the NDA and the left, Dr. Manmohan Singh went on to form the government by taking oath on last Saturday. I do wish him all the best and I hope he would be able to take our country to new heights of prosperity and growth, especially when there is Left Support this time. I wished that Rahul Gandhi would have joined the cabinet but its okay. Let him take outside work to build a much stronger party that can lead the youth of this country in the right direction.
I am going to take a break here as I had almost a night out yesterday and will resume writing on the other version of IPL once I wake up.
So, it was an almost 3.5 hrs break now. I slept for 1.5 hrs and then did exercise for 1 hr or so. Don’t take me seriously. I am yet to join the gym but I can say I really miss it and I am just waiting for this phase of my life to get over so that I can start afresh everything.
Well, let’s come to the second version of the IPL, the cricket, Indian Premier League. Initially, it went into issue of security due to head-on collision of IPL dates with Elections. Thanks to the stubbornness of Lalit Modi, IPL got shifted to South Africa. I had few problems with shifting of IPL to South Africa. Firstly, what kind of message Mr. Lalit Modi wanted to set with taking almost at least 300 odd ((approx 15 players in each team*8) +celebrities+performers+…) citizens of the country outside the country with the Election round the corner. None of them voted. When it was time to make a joint statement about the future of the country, these people were busy making tons of money. Who should be idolized, Mr. Lalit Modi? Why these people deserve to be in India and representing the country when none of them are not even responsible citizens. I can definitely say that Mr. Lalit Modi set a very bad example in front of cricket fans. Secondly, anyone who has seen IPL season 1 would agree with me that the real craze is playing the matches in home and enemy’s den. Playing in from of the die-hard fans and shout, is a different thing and playing in a calm place where half of the people don’t understand Kolkata, Rajasthan, Mumbai … I hope that the next season will definitely be in India. The most amazing of this season is the Finals, where last year’s 2 bottom teams Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers, the worst performers of last season going on to win the finals under the captaincy of Adam Gilchrist. One find of this season of IP was FakeIPLPlayer blogger. The identity of the blogger was not revealed but he was a real entertainer gaining one of the biggest craze among the IPL fans. News channels covered the blog but no one was able to reveal the identity of the blogger. Each and every post of the blog was simply amazing, entertaining and fun reading. The articles definitely hinted of the possibility of betting in the games with Kolkata Knight Riders defeating last year’s champion Rajastahn Royals and preventing it from going to the semi finals. It was well predicted ahead in the blog that the worst performer of the current season will defeat a team and will nullify its chances of making it to the finals. ICC should look into this more seriously or the better way is to legalize the betting, which could bring huge revenue for the governments as in any form, betting does happen no matter what. One striking similarity between the IPL season 1 and season 2 was the performance of Australian players. Whether it is retired players like Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Shane Warne or current players like Adrew Symonds, Shane Watson, Hodge, they all showed why they form the best team with their killer attitude and leading the team from the front. This is one thing I feel Indians lack a lot, which is quite visible in the team of Mumbai Indians, who don’t have a single Australian. Next time, Mrs. Neeta Ambani should bet for an Australian in the team to get the team spirit back. Are you listening, Mrs. Ambani? We need a diehard killer Aussie in the Mumbai Indians. As for the profit of the individual teams, there is no doubt who is the winner. Obviously, SRK owned Kolkata Knight Riders. Despite finishing bottom of the table, SRK managed to get well over 100 crores from various source like the reality show, some Knight Angles or so. There is no doubt how many Ambanis or Mallayas jump into this IPL, SRK is a true businessman. Hats off to SRK and his acumen. I may not be your big fan of movies but I do adore you a lot on your business acumen.

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