IPL 3 is in its final stages. Delhi Daredevils is already knocked out of the tournament. Just when Delhi supporters were coming out of this trauma, another bad news struck in their destiny. And this time the news is pathetic for all the Indian cricket lovers out there. Virender Sehwag, India’s hard hitter batsman had been removed from the current World Cup T20 Squad, following his shoulder injury. Huuuuuuuuuge Blow!

And what about his replacement? Do you guys think there is any other RUTHLESS batsman in India who can replace this smasher? I don’t think so! But as per the rule, a team cant play with ten players, hence we have to go with a replacement… So who would he be? It’s none other than Murali Vijay, who has come into existence, courtesy his excellent century in the IPL3 season. But is this selection genuine? Can we select a batsman on the basis of one century, where, on the other hand, we have players performing consistently well, match after match? You have Robin Uthappa, who has time and again provided some of the brilliant knocks for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. And tell me, has Rahul Dravid not proved himself time and again in all formats of the game. When he can play in the IPL tournament and score at smashing average, why can’t he be picked in the World Cup Squad? No doubt we have seen some of the out-blasting aggressiveness from this hero time and again in the IPL season. But of course, we can’t take the
credit away from Murali Vijay, now that he has been picked in the team. Also, his ability to handle the short-pitched deliveries has been proved remarkable till now.

According to one of the media releases, Murali has expressed his happiness and elaborated that it feels great to be playing for the country in the World Cup T20 squad. It’s the matter of how well a player is prepared and it’s good to carry the confidence of IPL3 into the world class tournament.

Coming back to Virender Sehwag, the BCCI has confirmed that the batsman has been advised a bed rest of three to four weeks, courtesy which he would fail to mark his presence in the upcoming World Cup T20 Tournament. In place of him, Gautam Gambhir is appointed as the vice captain of the squad.

Also, Sehwag was the leading run scorer in the IPL season as far as the Delhi Daredevils team is concerned and his unavailability would surely harm India’s performance in the upcoming tournament in a major way.

Let us cross our fingers and hope that India performs its level best, in the absence of Viru, the dashing cricketer from Delhi! Go India Go!

Sometimes I doubt the intentions of cricketers!

I mean after earning millions through match fee, advertising, modeling, bidding, auctions, I doubt whether cricketers now play with their honest intentions and provide their 100% while playing against the opponents! Here I am NOT involving all the cricketers, nor will I name any one of them, but is it not that a majority of the cricketing audience have already started feeling that Cricketers do run after money, apart from what their actual priority which should be Cricket?

Okay, let us talk about the recent buzz: IPL3: which is around the corner! Money, Money and more Money! Which cricketer is sold for how much? What is the current value of each team? Who are the sponsors? How much the owners are earning out of it? What is the TRP? How much the channel is getting for broadcasting the matches? I mean, are we guys really giving any emphasis on the short selection, the choice of bowlers, the harmony amongst a team, class of a batsman, and the technicality of a bowler? No!!! Even the captains of the teams are too busy in grabbing all the money at one go rather than concentrating on what should be the actual composition of their team! They can only make a team of those players who have been allotted to them by their franchise owners! I mean, is this what we call a real CRICKET?

Forget about IPL, in general also, tell me, why there are not ample test matches played in a year, as compared to ODIs and T20s. While on one side, a test match fails to gather a crowd of 1000, the strength multiplies to almost 40 times during an ODI and T20? It is obvious that cricket boards (like BCCI, which is the richest board) get plenty of audiences, TRPs and revenues out of ODIs, so they don’t find any need to fit test matches in their yearly cricketing schedules. It is all about the “MONEY GAME.”

Now let us talk something about the Sponsors! The huge following of tabloid cricket creates little surprise that multinational companies want to spend millions on advertising, be it online or offline. With so much money pouring in their pockets, one can imagine the effect which it can create on the mindset of cricketers. After all, they are HUMANS too!

Comparing the money factor, the money in cricket is nowhere near comparable to the money involved in other sports. Hockey, the national game of India is struggling to get ample sponsors, while Indian cricket team is finding it difficult to choose from the big multinational corporate companies who are lying in queues to sponsor them!

Now allow me to give you a glimpse of the players’ intentions! I remember watching a post match presentation, where MS Dhoni was seen in one of his best moods, despite the fact that his team lost to a low level test team and that too by a huge margin! But that didn’t bother the captain at all. He got his match fee, plenty of sponsors and the required audience for the game! What else can he ask for? People will gradually forget the result and move on with their lives! There are plenty of matches ahead, come on, who will remember the losses!!! Right Folks

Let us face it guys! The crowd is lacking the buzz, the rush for IPL tickets is low and people are not even discussing about IPL3, the way it was being discussed in the first two IPLs!

Okay, let us discuss some of the facets that may come into play in making IPL, a NOT MUCH talked show of the town! Have a look:

• The first factor would be the threat of terrorism revolving around one of the biggest sporting events. With the plus point that it is happening in India, the negative point can be that India never lags behind when it comes to unexpected terrorist activities, which may happen anytime, anywhere!
• It is happening in March: The most unwanted phase of a year for students! Guys, they face their exams. Will their parents allow them to stick to their TV screens from 4pm to 12am regularly? No!
• The ticket prices are hiking every single moment. While the price of one ticket for the Hockey World Cup held in Delhi was as low as 50 bucks, the same may go as high in thousands, especially when you have some of the craziest fans in India, who can kill anyone just to get a glimpse of their favorite cricketers.
• We all know that Pakistani players are not participating in the IPL3, but don’t you think that their presence would be missed in the matches? The stupendous batting of Shahid Afridi, the killing bowling of Umar Gul, to name a few, would surely be missed this time!
• What next? The marriage between the IPL3 and YouTube may not be seen in a favorable light as not many audiences would show patience while the video is buffering and your favorite player is on the crease! At least, I won’t!

These are some of the factors! Let us see what the future has in store for the fate of IPL3!

Hey Cricket Crazy people! Do you have some more similar instances to share? Feel free to share with us!