- Is IPL Losing Its Charm? - March 17, 2022
- Sultans Teaching Us How To Play Like Defending Champions - February 27, 2022
- Stars who played Crucial Role in Revival of International Cricket in Pakistan - February 18, 2022
Indian Premier League will be entering its 15th season this year. Apart from that, more than 11 major T20 leagues are being played across the world. However, is the IPL losing its charm within all that going on? T20 cricket is now entertainment for the fans. A 3-hour match with raining boundaries and wickets makes it exciting for the people to enjoy. On the other hand, a league or tournament with more than 70+ matches within a span of 3 months makes a tournament somehow less attractive
Reasons why is IPL losing its charms
From DLF To Vivo, Pepsi Dream 11 And Now TATA?
We have rarely seen in any leagues where the main sponsor quits sponsoring a league with the league management from the start. Unquestionably, people debate on sponsor swapping frequently as the reason for why IPL is losing its charm.
DLF was the leading partner with the league since the first season was played. They remained their main sponsor from 2008 – to 2012. By the end of the fifth season of IPL, DLF decided to end its contract with the marquee event because Lalit Modi was suspended from BCCI after being accused of misconduct, indiscipline, and financial irregularities. The real-estate tycoon Delhi Land & Finance faced many issues, and hence they decided to end its contract with IPL.
Before the start of the sixth season in 2013, the Indian league signed their deal with Pepsi for five years, but that deal lasted for two years, and hence they also had to leave their deal and decided to get back off from the main sponsor. This time Pepsi’s reputation was getting tarnished after the 2013 spot-fixing scandal.
After Pepsi exited the scene, Chinese mobile manufacture VIVO came, signed a deal for five years, and renewed their contract. After that, however, the incident of Galway Valley military face-off between the Indian and Chinese Army soldiers, the band took a break for a year because of a public backlash which was replaced with Dream11 just for the 14 seasons, that VIVO again replaced it, but then it also exited the scene.
Now the cash-rich league will be coming with a new leading sponsor this year which will now be backed by TATA, an Indian-origin country with much patriotism. Now the question arises for how long will TATA remain IPL’s main sponsor? What if there is another scandal, war, or accusation to a brand’s reputation?
3 Months Long Tournament
IPL 2022, season 15, will be from 26th March 2022 till 29th May 2022, which means a 3-month long tournament will be underway with ten teams and 74 matches.
When IPL matches are being played, the rest of the cricket-playing nations avoid touring any country and usually allow their players to play and participate in the world’s richest tournament. Critics have raised many questions that out of 12 months, only nine months are available to play cricket and tour different nations. We have even seen the ICC World Cup events getting postponed due to the extravaganza.
What Former Cricketer Michael Holding & Present Chairman of PCB Ramiz Raja says about IPL:
Money Over Cricket?
The auctions started from 20 Lakhs (Indian Rupees), which then hit 2 Crores (Indian Rupees). Many players from around the globe are not interested in playing less cricket and usually opt to go and play in leagues where they are paid heavily.
An example of South Africa can be seen when Pakistan toured significant players such as Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, and Quinton de Kock were allowed to go and play IPL in 2021. This shows that players have put national duty over India’s t20 event.
We recently learned from the National Team Selector, and Former Captain of Australia George Bailey said that Australian cricketers will not be releasing players when Australia is playing a series.
Match Betting And Fixing Scandals
IPL has now become a Million-Dollar industry and generates revenue for BCCI. Apart from the tournament, many betting sites have emerged and have become part of many franchises of the IPL. In the past, we have seen that these betting platforms have hired several players in 2013, such as Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila, and Ankeet Chavan, which went on for a betting scandal in 2013, which also resulted in a ban for two major teams of the contest in 2015, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.
