ganguly's so called 'unceremonious' exclusion from ipl-4 has once again initiated an age old debate...
when a player should hang his boots...?
the stakes in cricket has increased to such a level that of late, and not even at ipl only, there has been growing tendency to overstay the welcome... to stretch the sell-by date as much as possible... to squeeze every ounce of past laurels before being forced to say good bye and some don't even get that... they get 'rested' instead...
now i am of the opinion that a champion player should get the deserving send off respecting and befitting the services he rendered to his respective country...
but what if that champion player refuses to see the light...?
ideal situation is that selectors should keep the team's interest in mind more than anything else... that a player can never be bigger than team's cause or the game itself... but we don't live in perfect world...
so despite knowing the writing on wall... selector do hesitate to take that hard call... they don't want to be seen as villains... specially if that players in question has the potential to polarize fans and cricketing fraternity alike a la ganguly...
why not 'cap' the age then...?
lets say if 36 years is fixed for the retirement of a cricketer... everybody will know and reconcile to the fact that given date will be the last he will see his favorite player play... no over the top drama... no fuss...
selectors knowing the fateful date in advance cannot shrug their shoulders that they have been caught off guard by the mass exodus...
selectors knowing that the end-date is nearing can plan and groom players in advance without much bothering about the backlash of untimely 'rest' they will be forced to give some of the 'champion' players...
no deserving player will see his youth and prime form getting killed coz one 'great' player thought that he can still continue to milk his 'services'...
why not...?
can we 'cap' the age instead...?
shared by straight point on Sunday, January 16, 2011
will ipl4 affect the polarization of fans...?
shared by straight point on Monday, April 05, 2010
to make the base of this post... i would like to draw your attention to this comment of mine (with minor corrections) on the last post by A Bisht... it is their cities fans cheer for... which started a good debate...
when ipl started people doubted whether club culture can be replicated to cricket and more importantly how fans supporting their 'local' team respond to the sachin getting out to say nannes... or dilshan hitting ishant out of park...
but by and large it will not be an exaggeration to say that by ipl3 polarization of fans to the concept of teams rather than individuals has taken place... they root for their local teams more... they follow their local teams more...
having said that... i also believe the biggest challenge will come after the auction will take place at ipl4... coz it will kind of break this polarization as presumably a lot is going to change...
the franchise will have to work a fresh to create the team fans following... and its going to be even harder than the earlier IPLs...
although there is no official announcement on the modalities about how players will be retained / traded in next ipl auction... but the unconfirmed bits filtering out (thanks to mahek) are...
franchisees will be able to retain four indian and three overseas players provided the franchise and the player agrees to a contract, and that the salary would count towards the seven million cap...
will the franchisee be able to retain 'icons' who have become the face of their teams... like dhoni for csk to give you an example... and if not... how will fans react to csk being lead by someone else they were looking as a rival till now...?will it not affect the base of fans following and their loyalty... franchisees have managed to create in three seasons of ipl...?
though one thing which is certain about these uncertain prospects is that ipl will make lot of news either way...
ipl auction: shahrukh khan manages to create 'news'...
shared by straight point on Tuesday, January 26, 2010
even if you do not follow shahrukh khan... you know he will not let this, alleged 'snub' of pakistani players by ipl, opportunity to pass... and he did not...
at one stroke shahrukh said that it was humiliating to see none of the pakistani players being picked up and at another he said franchisees had some 'issues' which cannot be ignored...
if he sincerely felt so humiliated at the auction... i wonder what stopped him from bidding for abdul razzaq he and his captain wanted so dearly...? he could have led by example and shown to others that despite some 'issues' pakistani players could still be picked...
and if he sincerely feel there are some 'issues' which cannot be ignored... then his decision was purely a reflection of that... as was of other franchisees... so where this 'humiliation' angle comes from...?
his attempt in appeasing both sides of world is highly condemnable coz it's nothing but an attempt to get some cheap mileage at the cost of ipl, its organisers and pakistani players...
shahrukh khan hails from the school which works on the mantra... any publicity is good publicity... and they can stoop to any level to remain in news... to get the publicity...
no wonder one can clearly see his imprints on kolkata knight riders (kkr)... though they have failed to achieve anything of note as a team in both seasons of ipl but still the brand 'kkr' is as strong as any other successful ipl team coz they, like his owner, know how to remain in news...
ipl auction: pakistani players and country men are right...
shared by straight point on Wednesday, January 20, 2010
kieron pollard never won a t20 world cup... did not even win Trinidad and Tobago the inaugural t20 champions league... but still got auctioned for staggering 8 crore plus ($750k plus) figure... the highest by far by a long distance in short ipl history...
what pollard promised to the ipl franchisees that eleven t20 world champion pakistan players could not...?
the answer lies in probing this simple question... but instead of searching for the simple and honest answer... we hear bullshit like...
"The way I see it, the IPL and India have made fun of us and our country by treating us this way," Afridi said.
must say shahid afridi is far more media savvy than he allows us to believe... he comes across as the one who really knows the 'pulse'... no wonder many seems to buy his theory...
so if you believe powerful franchisees like ambanis, mallayas can be forced to act like puppets by lalit modi... compelled to buy a player, nobody knew before recently concluded champions league, for an astonishing sum but not a single pakistani player even for a base price...
if you sincerely believe that an organisation running merely into its third year of existence... has the power and capacity to 'insult' whole pakistan then i must say you are rightly feeling insulted...
...and i dare say inshallah when afridi gets auctioned for 8 crore plus figure in next ipl auction... he should then walk away protesting the insult he and his country received in this year ipl auction...
