The Indian Premier League(IPL) has a huge fan following all over the world. The tournament has been going on successfully in terms of high viewership and a feverish following right from its inception in 2008. In terms of revenue, the league has surpassed the likes of English Premier League, indicating its incredible prosperity. The 2 month long IPL is watched religiously every year. All of these being said, the IPL unfortunately isn’t real cricket. It is entertainment in the guise of cricket. Sport must be distinct from entertainment retaining its uniqueness. But we are not seeing that in IPL, which has welcomed entertainment into it’s setup. The IPL’s foundation, which is the auction per se is rooted in a wrong thought process. Let me explain. Players like Robin Uthappa have already criticized this system of players going under the hammer. It promotes ‘cattle market’ culture that doesn’t give the value a sportsman deserves. The price tag on a particular player also creates immense pressure on the player.

Also, why should money be spent like water like this in a country where 20 crore people go to bed every night without food? Shouldn’t this fact make us all uncomfortable? Some players play well for the IPL more than for their respective nations because they will never get that money even in their wildest dreams when they play for their country.

Next, the presence of cheerleaders. Why do we need them in the first place? Cricket has always been a gentleman’s game, and will remain so. IPL is ruining it with such cheap entertainment. Thirdly, the brand of cricket being played. There are people who say that the batsmen in the IPL play fearless cricket. They praise such type of cricket. As MS Dhoni would say, batting is not about hitting every ball for a maximum, it is about playing tactically by pacing your innings, running one’s and two’s. But we are in the day and age of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi where there is no respect for the bowler. I’m not criticizing the boy, but I’m sorry this is not how cricket should be played. Yes, T20 cricket is designed in a way that it be advantageous for the batsmen, but not like this. It is a rarity these days to see teams not score 200 runs in their 20-over quota.

Lastly, why does not even half of the money being used here in this league, not used for the development of other sports in India? India shines only in a handful of sports like Cricket in the global stage. It’s pitiful showing in every Olympics is a testament to it. India’s performance would be boosted if money is spent on other sports too. But it is always the IPL that takes the center stage. And it is not even real cricket. And that’s a shame. Its high time the organizers do some soul searching.