Sab Phictional hain

I was talking to a friend the other day and she was raving about IPL and on how she loves the newly branded Cricket miniaturized. The friend I was talking to was a long distance runner. So I compared test cricket to a marathon and the 100 meter race to the IPL. What struck me later about the comparison was the fact that a 100 meter race is not less noble than a marathon, it just is a different sport. I hear the old fans of cricket go on and on about how the commercialization of cricket affects the mindsets of young cricketers. I agree with them largely. So what troubles these fans of the older game, or as they would like to be addressed- the real fans, is the fact that because of the amount of cash inflows in to the game the established route to donning the national cap becomes questionable. I will elaborate on the journey of a cricketer, say 10 years back -

- Play under 14 cricket
- Play under 16 cricket
- Play under 19 cricket, Play for some company/college
- Play for your state at the Ranji
- Play for the country
(Most cricketers take this path. Leave a few exceptions like Tendulkar out.)

So before one wears the Indian Cap, one has already around 7-8 years of competitive experience at various levels of the game and is well prepared for the international level. And this is the positive point of the the old system.

It is also very socialist in nature in the sense that one needs the patience to wait and go through the learning curve before he sees any returns. So the average cricketer in the old days never saw money and did not have to deal with the press, advertisers etc before he was 22-24 years old, which means a solid decade of time spent in forging the cricketing-talent that one has.

Fair enough, It has some positives. But what are the negatives? Not enough money, not enough viewer-ship at the lower levels. Both of the above imply that no funding to budding cricketers.

Now coming back to the capitalistic neo version of cricket, with music, the khans and ambanis, and the Cheer Leaders- the change is obvious. More money generated, more viewer-ship, more money for the players. Everything is cool so far. But the problem is the game is not cricket anymore! Its good for the players(The ones who are more probable to fade away in the more authentic version) and the new viewers(who prefer 3 hrs of action over the 5 day test match) but its not Cricket for the old-lovers of the game. Its a new game and 'real-fans' cant seem to comprehend it. They are scared that the old game will be reduced to nothing.

The problems with IPL for the younger cricketers is that now they have this lucrative option of playing with international cricketers at a young age and make it to the big stage very quickly. The question that needs to be addressed is this -

"Are they really ready? And as a system you should not give them hopes of being ready before they actually are. If you flood a 19 year old with advertising contracts / parties/fame , can you really be sure he will go back everyday to the ground at 4 am in the morning and practice for 5 hrs in the sun. Or will he be worried about how he is going to look at the product launch party in the night? "

I prefer a capitalistic cricket with a socialistic framework(neither the IPL, nor the other options that budding cricketers had in the past). How that can be achieved is something worth pondering about. Maybe another post on another day will answer that.