The defending champions will be looking to reinforce once more that a T20 competition can be won by stockpiling crafty bowling options © BCCI
It's coming. But you sensed its presence already when the calendar ticked past March into April. Even before that, there was the changing of the seasons when Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith walked off the Dharamsala pitch sporting smiles, when the more accepted behavioural response to any attempted conversation was the snarl or the scorn.
Two days later, with the ghosts of one of the most fascinating Test series barely buried, Rahane and Smith, now flanked by Englishman Ben Stokes, flashed some of their biggest smiles at a jersey unveiling session at a plush hotel in New Delhi. All animosity forgotten.
Welcome to the Indian Premier League, now in its tenth incarnation, which asks for a 47-day investment as it attempts once again to challenge our conventional wisdom of the sport.
Turning 10 is a significant milestone for a tournament that has captured eyeballs yet seldom escaped the cynical eye. For every pick-your-dropped-jaw moment on the field, the IPL has also seen a controversy, a diatribe brewing off it. However, the tournament itself has evolved as a prototypical, post-industrial commodity that, notwithstanding its ethically problematic practices, is viewed by many as the benchmark for how to operate in a global context. And it isn't afraid to flex its muscles every once in a while - like jetting in Apple CEO Tim Cook to the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. Because hey, why not?
The players love it and not just because it pays a lot of bills - which, make no mistake, is a huge draw. Careers have been made (Yusuf Pathan, Shaun Marsh) and revived (Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis) in a month and a half. The tournament, one that turned MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid into a hitherto seen helmet-punching, cap-flinging versions of themselves, has become a representation of the changing ambitions of Indian cricket.
An IPL contract is a symbol of achievement, a significant landmark in a career. The tournament itself has, fairly or otherwise, leapfrogged other longstanding domestic tournaments to become a supply line for the national team. A coach in the youth system of a state side was overheard exclaiming about a player to his assistants - "I hope he can make it to an IPL team this year." The youngster in question, was yet to break into the first class level.
So for its tenth party, you'd expect the IPL to turn the timer clock on, crank up the volume, glossily restyle the stadium interiors, beat its chest and scream in relentless excitement. Yet the build up to the 2017 edition has been slightly muted, if that's even possible. For starters, the tournament website is inconspicuous by the absence of the famous countdown clock.
The 13-Test Indian home season has claimed as many as six injury casualties from the Indian side, not least the sport's current unique selling proposition - Virat Kohli. Behind the scenes, the BCCI has bigger fish to fry than milk its cash cow. As a cascading consequence of the IPL 2013 spot-fixing scandal, the board now finds itself without several big-named administrators who helped put the tournament on that rocking pedestal. These are fragile times in the board. The ongoing impasse with the Lodha committee and now with the court-appointed Committee of Administrators has meant putting on hold any lucrative bidding process for media and digital rights for the next 10 years. Factor that, putting off what the board could have earned in the range of USD 2.5 billion just by selling of domestic telecast rights.
Even Rajeev Shukla, retained as tournament chairman merely days before the tournament's start, will not be allowed to wield his might as he may have done previously when making blink-and-miss logistical changes. He may, like the other BCCI officials currently working in "figure-head" positions, be forced to turn to the CoA at every decision-making juncture.
The 10th season of the IPL marks a defining period for franchises © Cricbuzz
However, on the ground the caravan is expected to chug along just fine even in the face of resistance.The preamble to the on-field action will however gravitate around how the opening weeks of the tournament will feature only five members from India's playing eleven in Dharamsala. For years, IPL was blamed for fatigue on the international calendar. The tables have seemingly turned. Besides its first-mover advantage and a cricket-mad demographic, the IPL has stayed clear off the chasing pack - Big Bash, NatWest T20 Blast, Caribbean Premier League - simply because its own star players weren't out representing the country at the same time. How well the tournament copes with the absence of Kohli, Jadeja, Ashwin and Rahul in the initial half could serve to give an indication of what the tournament can manage without its star appeal.
The "first-rate" Australians have stayed back; the English are here too. Ben Stokes (Pune) and Tymal Mills (Bangalore) are the swanky, big-money signings, fortunate to have been playing at at a time when those in the ECB hierarchy under Andrew Strauss have had their hearts suddenly warmed by the IPL. The tournament has also thrown open its doors to two of Afghanistan's finest, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan as it seeks to swat away murmurs that it has turned somewhat parochial.
The season marks a defining period for franchises too. Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab have been associated with the IPL since inception but have no titles or a hysterical fan following to show. Will the investors continue to burn through their coffers for a slice of the BCCI revenue pie when the contracts come up for renewing at the end of this season? Royal Challengers Bangalore are also old-timers without a title but star attractions like Kohli, de Villiers, Gayle and Watson has atleast earned them a reprieve through healthy gate receipts and sponsorship revenues. If only the bowling, boosted by the Mills acquisition, held its end of the bargain.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians benefited most from the major rejig of 2011, allowing them to build a strong core for the years to follow and it was little surprise that Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir split four titles between 2012 and 2015. The two bigwigs will gun for the third title to end as the undisputed team of the decade. Chennai Super Kings, the other two-time winners, and inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals obviously cannot do anything to stop this and will serve out the last year of their suspension.
The season will also see the Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant close out their two-year contracts. The idea of a 10-team IPL and all players going back into the pool for auctions are still merely conjectures. Pune have dropped an 's' from their name, handed the captaincy to Smith and signed Stokes for INR 14.5 crores at the auction - clearly indicating they mean business. Gujarat haven't resorted to the theatrics, besides overdoing the orange in their theme song, because they played smarter in the draft. Elsewhere, away from the prying eyes, defending champions Surnisers Hyderabad are looking to reinforce once more that a T20 competition can be won by stockpiling crafty bowling options.
All things considered, for all the uncertainty ahead, as the IPL comes around the street once again blaring its horn incessantly, it is perhaps time to reflect on what has been a truly defining 10-year period in cricket, a sport so averse to change that administrators have to dilly-dally endlessly before passing resolutions. So put aside those debates about the two-tier Test system and One-Day league championships aside for the time being. For all the grabbing corporate hands reaching out for your patronage, sport on this scale is still a means of bringing people together. It has been so for the majority, with lots of good-natured 'my city versus yours' mixing.
The IPL is here to stay and you might as well dust out those squad lists, pull on a jersey, grab a popcorn and see those balls flying incessantly into the stands. Who knows? You might just end up having fun.
© Cricbuzz
