The Great Indian Cricket Tamasha!!!

have been wanting to start a blog for ages now, even created blogs - twice - but never could get myself to write anything. There are other reasons also, lemme see if i can put them down some other time. But here i am now, my first ever ramblings. And IPL probably isnt too bad a place to start with.

I had been to the opening ceremony-cum-inaugural match. First things first, the opening ceremony was brilliant. Laser show was good, fire crackers awsome!! The Washington Redskins Cheerleaders were there too for good measure. Although i must add, i am sure this wouldnt have been anywhere close to being as spectacular as some of the other opening ceremonies, say Olympics for example. All the captains were paraded before the crowd and no prizes for guessing who got the loudest cheers!! Sachin-God-Tendulkar! Now this is the reason I am sceptical about the concept of city based teams working in India just yet. Dada also got huge cheers when he stepped out for a round of practice. Here cricketers are demi-gods transcending the boundaries of team, city and pretty much everything else. Compare that with fierce home support that city based teams in the English Premier League draw. Leeds United are among the most supported teams by attendances in the stadium and they currently play their football only in League One, which is two levels below the premier league. So how well IPL does in that respect? Lets wait and watch.

And the cricket itself on the opening day was a disappointment. I have not committed my 100% loyalties to any team yet, but for the obvious reason that I live here in Bangalore, I am rooting for the Bangalore Royal Challengers. They had a disaster of a match first up. First conceding a mammoth 220 odd runs and then being bundled out for 82!! I for sure dint enjoy it one bit, although Brendom Macullum displayed some breathtaking display of attacking batting. And it was almost hilarious to see Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer walk out for the royal challenegers' pursuit of 220 runs in 20 overs!!! I like Dravid, he is in fact one of my favourite cricketers, but then it was visibly so out of place that situation.

All in all the whole first day of IPL left me with mixed feelings. It has only just started and great things are being said about its own future and also how it might end up harming the future of the other forms of cricket. Should be interesting, these 44 days of IPL. Lets see how it all develops from here.

I will try to keep writing about various things...again lets see how it goes :)

thanks for stopping by...

cheers,
Chandru