IPL Mania

For the last month of so, IPL 3 has been the best entertainment source for a lot of us, if not the only source! Its sad that even good hindi movies have dried up for this period. It helps though that any restaurant or club you go to would have the match playing, so at least we are all still going out!! Anyways, this year have managed to see multiple matches at the stadium too and they are real entertainers, a good evening out...

The 'Grand Indian Tamasha' is what IPL should be renamed as:). Increasingly I have come to realise that the IPL is less and less about cricket and more about entertainment. In the stadium, the atmosphere is electric. Loud music playing continuously. Cheerleaders, mascots, dhol wale. The entire gamut of entertainers only to please the crowd. And the cricket being played in between:). Thats what the IPL is all about and it works well too. The crowds absolutely love it and have a ball at the matches.

Watching IPL has become a good evening out, the organisation is good, and makes going out to the matches a pleasing experience. It doesn't take you more than five minutes to get into the stadium and all the attendants are also polite (it sures helps as have heard a lot of pushing around used to happen in matches earlier). The crowd is lively, cheering at anything and everything, as I said, you have to be there to know how much fun it is!

The cheerleaders are a big crowd puller and some of them are quite good too:). Most of them however don't even dance well and lack enthusiasm too, guess they don't really follow the cricket. But what the hell, the crowd still loves them!

You get a lot of freebies and props at the stadium which help in cheering. You can get the team's flag painted on your hand, wear the sky blue tendulkar wigs, cheer with the pom-poms etc etc. At every four/six/wicket or a boundary stopped, the whole crowd is up on its feet cheering, shouting and dancing wildly.

Mexican waves fail in Mumbai however, the waves are just not able to pass through the high-end expensive ticket areas.

The favourites of the crowds are Sachin (of course), Malinga and Bhajji at the Mumbai stadium. Sachin's fan base is at a different level completely. It does not matter whether he is batting or not, as long as it is a Mumbai match, his name would be chanted by the crowd anytime and everytime! You need to be in the field to know the iconic status he has earned among cricket fans in the country. The only player for whom I heard negative cheering was Yuvraj, everyone seemed to agree that 'Yuvi sucks'!! :)))))

Watching the games in the stadium gives you a better perspective of the match which is very different from watching it on TV. You know which balls are going for boundaries and which will be stopped, which shots would be caught and which not, and surprisingly, you can judge run-outs much better too on the field than on TV. Though many times you would be lost about who is actually playing on the field, since the scoreboards are not visible from all the seats.

One thing which does bug me a bit is the amount of commercialism everywhere in the field. Citi moment, karbonn moment and god only knows what all! Its a dampener actually. Also another point I noticed was that it helps to stay interested in the IPL if you have strong loyalties for at least one team. Otherwise you do lose interest soon, as it IS tough to see 50+ matches in two months!

Leaving that aside, IPL is a good two month of fun and frolic irrespective of whether you see it in the stadium or at home. Its a great event and I am a big fan. I sincerely hope it grows over the years, it really helps to pass the summer months and not get too bored!