Welcome to IPL Season 14. Just realized they are running hand in hand with Big Boss. Season 14 is also run in a similar way. Players are in a Bio Bubble. Every optimist’s hope of 2021 changing everything hasn’t even lasted 3 months.
India is back to lockdown, their favorite number Pakistan canceled their own version of IPL. Surprisingly, Dale Steyn who was raving about how good PSL is, now come back to the more famous cousin’s commentary team and everything was forgotten and forgiven while misquoting interview.
IPL has now done something even different this year. Instead of making some other country’s cricket board rich, they decided to play at home and came up with a brilliant twist of their own. Play the games at neutral venues. Mumbai Indians have a formula of 3 pacers in addition to the most iconic pair of brothers since Ram-Lakhan, Karan-Arjun that has ever been in spotlight, great Pandya brothers adding their bits and pieces value and one of them deciding when to bowl and when to rest. Mumbai Indian’s weak link if any is having a top tweaker in their ranks when compared to every other team. Sorry Krunal Pandya, you don’t qualify as conventional spinner in the prescribed book. Neutral venues have forced the hand and MI goes South and North and plays 9 out of 14 games on rather slower tracks. They don’t get to play in Wankhede the arena for which they built their army. Talking about not having horses for courses.
As I am writing this, first innings in Wankhede ended without a ball being sent over the ropes. Maybe that has not happened in the school level cricket either. Wankhede is the ground which offers the best bounce and carry and am sure Mumbai’s army would have relished the opportunity to have a go again. IPL season 14 has been off to slow starts and number of big names have either succumbed to injuries or bubble scares and have decided to cool their heels. Makes you wonder why IPL was rushed.
There are few storylines as every season of IPL. Rags to riches story of Chetan Sakariya, elevation of Rishabh Pant to the skipper’s chair when six months back he was one of the cricketers with great potential but soft pair of hands behind the wicket. Things have improved for the better. This is an IPL where 4 teams are led by wicket keepers which is hopping 50%. This is also an IPL which marked the return of current team India’s only hat trick bowler in IPL – Rohit Sharma to return to the bowling crease. Another first was the first time ever new ball left arm pair of Kathiawadi fast bowlers who opened the bowling for RR.
This is also an IPL where few things are still the same, KKR will continue to implode. RCB has a new savior not named Virat or ABD and it is the return of Glenn Maxwell who seems to be relishing playing in his fiancée’s hometown of Chennai and maybe Vini Raman, the pharmacist he is engaged to has him eating some home food to keep him grounded. So is SRH’s obsession with Vijay Shankar, people are starting to wonder whose son in law is he. It is almost like a bomb blast where no one comes forward to claim, no celebrity “godfather” wants to claim him. Let’s also hope some storylines do change for the sport – Sanju Samson and RCB both don’t show up for the first half and then relegate to their shells. Last year’s bridesmaid Delhi who was widely touted to be the bride this year have been hurt by some COVID and other injuries. Fortunately, they have rejuvenated Prithvi Shaw who is ready to show the world that his form in Vijay Hazare trophy was no fluke.
Early indicators are matches barring the annual 223 classic between Punjab and Rajasthan, have been low scoring. Wankhede will continue to have occasional high scoring beauties but if anything comes out of first week of IPL, it is the return of low scoring games. Teams will have to adjust to their combinations as the teams they selected for home grounds won’t be the right balance.
I call this year as the year of Blackjack, the famous number Twenty-One game which is the year. Twenty-one holds significance in lot of countries. This is the year when a child seems to attain full maturity. This is the year when Indian male can graduate over to be the husband and attain more responsibilities in life. USA allows kids to start drinking officially at that age. Twenty-One which was supposed to do everything bad Twenty had done to the world, is not a savior that it was made out to be. As the game of Blackjack, lot of it is now down to the odds as it would be in a Casino. Let’s hope this IPL goes off smoothly and fortunately, common sense has prevailed somewhat that spectators have been kept at bay looking at the Road Safety Series debacle. It’s ironic that series which was labeled with the word safety compromised that very essence of the word and landed few of the players and many more watchers in the hospitals.
I would sign off by stating let’s hope IPL goes off smoothly and gives people a reason to cheer as they deal with lockdown x.x. Movies and cricket have been the unifiers in India, let’s hope they do it one more time and keep people safe which continuing to raise the entertainment quotient.
