Its friday and its Indiana Jones... sorry but it turned out to be IPL weekend

I am going and watching Indiana Jones tonight. Review coming up tomorrow.... keep following up. At least they haven't released 'Sex and the City' here.

Sorry guys, Indiana Jones had to take the back seat in front of weekend full of IPL nights.

Indian Premier League

Harsha Bhogle once said "The most interesting thing to watch is Live Sport. Not only it has its own heroes and villains but its ending is unscripted. In 'Lagaan' we knew that 'Bhuvan' would win in the end. But in live sport we cannot predict. That makes it the most interesting form of entertainment."

It was Sunday night, according to estimates 40 million people were watching the final game between 'Rajasthan Royals' and 'Chennai Super Kings'. When we compare this to the highest watched live event ever, it was Soccer World Cup Final 2006, it had a viewer ship of 101 million world wide. Even the Super Bowl 'XLII' in 2008 had a viewer ship of 90 million. Very impressive for a new format and a new idea. This is in a sport that has traditionally been played as a inter-country events.

During last 45 days, in its popularity, IPL beat every possible events and entertainment in India. 'Saas-Bahu' serials to 'New movie releases' to 'Inflation numbers going over the roof' and 'Soaring oil prices', they all had to take the back seat. It attracted millions of new viewers to cricket. From 75 year old grannies to 6 year old kids, housewives to street urchins everyone was watching it.

New York times called it the 'Bright lights and big money in India' and BBC called it the 'New ambitions of an old country'. Jeffery Archer the master of surprise endings watched one of the IPL games called it the finest story of this year.

No one could have written the script better. 45 days of packed action coming down to the last ball. Who could have imagined even an year ago that an Australian and a Pakistani (India's two great rivalries) would be batting and Sohail Tanvir would hit the winning run in India. Over 60 thousand crowd which included Bollywood stars and industry giants and of course the great Sachin Tendulkar would stand up and clap for the victors.

Rajasthan Royals was the cheapest team in the league, everyone had written it off before the tournament. Bookies had placed it at the last position. Shane Warne playing IPL after his retirement from International cricket was chosen as their Coach and Captain. He took bunch of underdogs and created a unit which became not only the winners but the most consistent team in the tournament. Of course he owes it a lot to Shane Watson's MVP performance , Sohail Tanvir's brilliant bowling and the consistency of Yusuf Pathan.

Warne didn't get the chance to captain Australia, his colourful life and unpredictable character were always a hindrance. But when he got the opportunity he proved that he was always a captain material.

But IPL has thrown out a lot of questions:
1. Would international cricket remain the way we have known it?
2. Is IPL a result of BCCI bullying other nations?
3. What does success of IPL mean to other sports in India?
4. Would IPL make players greedy in such a way that they wouldn't like to play international cricket?

Tormented

Day two of blogging: First thought that has come to mind is: Would I keep counting the days when I write my blog. I hope not, the whole idea of my thoughts being free of all constraints would be lost.

From last few days I have been very depressed and troubled, life has come to a point where nothing seems to work, every step I take seems to be in the wrong direction. Does this happen to other people. I am not sure, maybe some people are smart enough to avoid these pitfalls of life. Though the sad part is that no one seems to be standing besides me. Everyone that I thought was with me seems to be finding ways out.

Here sometimes I feel that Rahul Dravid in IPL is going through a similar problem, everything that he does doesn't come off and Banglore looses. Life is tragic and as Buddha said, LIFE is all about PAIN.

On IPL: IPL itself caught on the Indian imagination, its unbelievable. I was always a big advocate of club level cricket because it would enhance the quality of matches, but I am also very surprised by IPL's popularity. I always thought that India - Bangladesh matches make no sense, no offense to Bangladesh's team but it doesn't attract even the most earnest admirers of cricket. I hope IPL improves and increases with time. I cant wait to see Indore's team in action.

It was a revelation to see Shoaib Akhtar bowl at his fierce best under the captaincy of Ganguly in front of 60000 people in Kolkata. Shoaib and Ganguly rejoicing Shewag's wicket together would be one of the classic moments of this IPL.

On the funny side of life: Just found out that the ex-CM of Madhaya Pradesh is actually now a minister in this government. I am not sure that's the norm our founders had thought of. If you reached a level why deplete your credibility and take a minor post. Something that I can't fathom. किस्सा कुर्सी का !