Times Media
TELFORD VICE, Cape Town
SOME of cricket’s suits won’t want this getting out, but exponentially more fans are interested in the Indian Premier League (IPL) than the World Cup.
India’s match against Pakistan in Adelaide on February 15 attracted a worldwide audience of around 1-billion - 288-million of them glued to television sets in India. That’s bigger than anything that has yet been on television in the US, for instance, where this year’s Superbowl set a new record there of a mere 114.8-million.
All good, not to mention impressive. Except that the IPL player auction was held the day after the India-Pakistan superclash - and on some media the audience who followed that story was almost three times as big as that earned by anything that happened at the World Cup, the final included.
Which could mean that rumours of T20 cricket having shot itself in the stumps by showing those one-day fuddy duddys how to revitalise their boring format have been greatly exaggerated.
T20 has indeed helped ODIs take a great leap forward by proving the value of playing more attacking cricket, but the fuddy duddys will not be best pleased that the game’s enfant terrible remains in rude health. It is no dying fad.
How many people will tune in for the IPL opener between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens on Wednesday is as yet unknown, but the number will be big.
Big enough, in fact, for Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma to understand that he was not big enough for the moment. Instead, he channeled the one, the only, the star that glitters brightest in the Indian cricket firmament.
“We were discussing the strategy for the game and Sachin was sharing his thoughts on the same,” Sharma said. “He has been an integral part of the Mumbai Indians family ever since he started playing for MI and he continues to be. Whenever we need him he is always there for us.”
The angry old man of Indian cricket, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir, who has been known to glare holes in reporters who do not genuflect to his satisfaction, was ready to fight Mumbai on the pitch, the beaches, landing grounds, fields, streets and hills, and never surrender.
“We have got enough confidence and firepower in our ranks to play good cricket,” Gambhir growled. “If we play our best it is going to be very difficult for the opposition to beat us - not only Mumbai Indians but other opponents as well. We are pretty confident but we are not over confident. We fear no one.”
The might scare a foot or so off the forever callow Marchant de Lange if he gets the chance to mark out a run-up for Mumbai on Wednesday.
But Morne Morkel will like the sound of his skipper’s war talk. Morkel’s teammate, Johan Botha, might wonder when Gambhir became an Australian. That’s if Botha gets a game in a squad that also boasts the peerless Sunil Narine.
However, Mumbai, their dressingroom bristling with Corey Anderson, Aaron Finch and Mitchell McClenaghan, will fancy themselves as favourites.
Whatever. For millions - probably billions - the most important truth is that the cricket tournament that matters most starts on Wednesday.
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