The Business of IPL:Written for moneymint.in

What started as a small idea conceived in the most improbable circumstances for a cricketing league in London’s Wimbledon suburb in the year 2007, today is the hottest sporting league the world has ever seen. It is amassing itself with each passing edition and promises to enthrall not only the audiences but also to spring up money like never before. Cricket has got its money minting machine, its own kuberan in the form of the Indian Premier League and hence, the epicenter of world cricket is no longer in London or Sharjah or even Australia but it is India.

The magic began in Jan 2008 when eight teams were auctioned for a whooping sum of $724 million. The revenue generated from media and sponsorship deals not withstanding in this figure. A part of this whole sum was reinvested in the aging cricket stadiums in the nation and specifically to those which were to host IPL matches. A typical example of successful business strategy. It was a win win game all the way. The players were not left behind. For instance, players are being offered a fee of $1.55 million for just a five week season, against $500,000 to $1 million, depending on the country, for an almost year-long slate of national team games. This was the beginning of a revolution in cricket world, A revolution which took the whole cricketing fraternity by storm.


The shift in paradigm is so huge that many players have already leaving their national teams to focus on the IPL. To cite a few examples, Hayden and Gilchrist have a lot of cricket left in them which is evident from the form they are displaying in the IPL chose to retire from the international cricket to join the league. The stage was set up just like a blockbuster movie and what a fitting finale the first edition met. The results of each of the matches had its influence on the business. How? Let me explain. The fact that underdogs Rajasthan Royals triumphed in the first edition increased their worth by a whooping 71% against an average of 31%. But the road was not as smooth as it looks. In spite of the huge success of the first edition and the enormous amount of money it was minting for everyone involved, the terror attacks on Indian soil had taken its toll on IPL. Govt. of India, rightly so weighed security of elections as being more important that the security of IPL and hence, after a long period dual IPL was finally moved to South Africa for the second edition. Now, an Indian premier league in SA, the doubts of it being successful again began to surface in some minds. But proving everyone wrong, the second season began with bang with the new players surpassing the older ones in terms of revenue they would generate. Even though, South African govt. welcomed IPL with open arms, it was left to smart business strategy of the league to draw in the crowds. Giving out charity tickets to the local schools and the success of local players in this edition pulled in more and more crowds and eventually it seemed like the match was being played in India only. Knowing that the ticketing revenue would be lesser this time around, the moves like having strategic breaks of 7.5 mins in mid of each innings which was to be filled by commercials was a smart move and it paid off in terms of revenue if not in terms of cricketing virtue. All corporates chose this time as the moment to cash in. Vodafone went out all guns blazing with its zoo zoo ads and 15 of them had the audiences in splits.

Though cricket is played in 104 nations across the world for a period of 165 years, before IPL, the professional leagues had never truly looked into cricket from a business perspective. Most leagues around the world are operated by non-profit entities. But private franchise ownership opened a new chapter in the history of cricket and it has changed cricket like never before and the change is a permenant one.

As for the after effects of this, the third season is going to be bigger with more teams joining. Other countries like Pakistan, USA have plans to start similar leagues of their own. 20-20 cricket has found new meaning and it is all set to rule the cricketing fraternity as the youngest and richest member of the lot.

IPL is all set to transform the way cricket is played all over the world.

The same article on moneymint.in

Hits and Misses of IPL 2

I know this one is quite late. But it had kept me too busy to write one here. I am talking of IPL 2. Here is my own list of bests and worsts of the season 2 of IPL starting from the worst.

• Kolkatta Knight Riders: Yes, this is indeed the worst thing that can happen to a sporting extravaganza of this magnitude. Right from the point of Ponting pulling out and the team losing out on it's Paki players to the continuous losing streak and the never ending controversies in and around the team, this has put IPL2 to shame. KKR are in news always and always for wrong reasons.
• Loss of form of Rajasthan Royals : May be due to key players like Shane Watson and Sohail Tanwir or may be b'cos of off the colour Greame Smith making a comeback after injury, the champions are not in true color. It was sheer fun to watch a young team led by an inspiring leader making it to the top the last time. The same doesn't seem to happen this time around. Adding to their woes is the loss of Shane Warne now.
• Kevin Peterson and Andrew Flitoff : If you think they are on this list b'cos of their huge pay cheques which everyone envies ( including me) you are not entirely wrong. These are players who did not perform worth their money. Both were out of touch throughout their stay and after the exit of these two players the respective teams appear to have strengthened.
• See-Saw Mumbai Indians: Very much like the season 1 of IPL, Mumbai Indians are having a see-saw in their fortunes here. Starting with a win against the runners up of the last year, they slumped to a defeat failing to chase 120 runs on the board and some inexplicable captaincy in another match from Sachin. However, recently they seem to have regained the touch and are in contention of the semi-final spot yet again.
• Re-charged Deccan: On papers Deccan were and are one of the strongest side. Just that they couldn't perform as a unit last time around. The Chargers this time with changed jerseys are a different unit altogether. From being the bottom team in the last edition, this time they are right on among the top teams.
• Daring Daredevils : This is the case of old wine becoming tastier. If they were good in Season 1 they are the BEST this season. Being on the top of the tables consistently they are an amazingly strong side with players of calibre Glen McGrath and Danile Vettori warming the benches.
• Namma Chennai : After initial hiccups, Namma Chennai looks all set to reach semi-finals in style and are a very formidable unit. With Hayden,Raina and some other new timers like Jakati and Tyagi in top form all I can say for Hayden case is Australia's loss is Chennai's gain.

The best things about IPL are undoubtebly the unlimited entertainment they are providing. Hence, the top three feature entertainment as their major contributor.

• Unlimited Entertainment: With doubts of the season's success, IPL 2 shifted to SA. But what a tournament it has been so far. If IPL 1 was more to do with Batsman only, this season has been even to both batsman and bowlers. Matches turning either ways like the turn of the page in book, each match is so damn exciting to watch. Due to smart marketing strategy, it has managed to pull in crowds to the stadium and make the whole season a success.
• Fake IPL Blogger : I need not introduce this guy to you for sure. Beleive him or not, Agree with him or not, He is speaking truth or not , who really cares. All he speaks is so much fun to read and is guaranteed entertainment.
• Vodaphone ads starring ZOZO: Now this has to top the list. I call it innovation at its best. Vodaphone has always been keen on making ads without big stars and this one continues the trend. But I believe by the time all the ads are out, ZOZO would have become stars. The ads are so much fun to watch. The best was the "Make up alerts".

Well, skeptics may list out negatives of the tournament. But negative and positives are just two sides of the coin and is bound to exist in everything, IPL is no exception.

IPL:Indian Political League

Enough of hype and hoolah around IPL. What started out as a innovation in cricket , at the culmination of its first league turned out to be an entertainment gamble which paid off money in millions to the organizers and players. It sparked off war of words between the franchise owners over the selection of players. Then it metamorphosed into a dream to play for, even among prominent international cricketers. England who had opted out joined the bandwagon. The auction which was conducted just months before was another slap on the face of the common man, tycoons like Vijay Mallya paying 7.2 crores to Peterson while firing employees who merely earn in thousands in the name of recession. But the juggernaut rolled on.
Finally it has hit the roadblock in the name of elections. For those who consider it more important than the general elections, well I don't have anything to say. It is nothing but the arrogance of the organizers and the BCCI to be stressing upon having the event amidst such security crunch. In fact, IPL has now become the Indian "Political" league now. With politicians reaping out benefits from each and every leaf that falls from a tree, this is like a boon. They have started throwing stones at each other. Statements like moving out IPL out of India are a National shame is exaggeration. After all this is just a game and that too not something like an Olympics or a commonwealth games. At the same time, the decision to move out is not justified either. Sample this, Chennai Super Kings Vs Mumbai Indians at Centurion Park or Lords. How exciting does this sound? I feel that IPL should wait for the other big game, the politicians game to finish off and then begin somewhere in October when the weather will be ideal for playing in India and be the true Indian Premier league. As for the existing schedule which will be affected by this move, well we can’t have a win-win situation always. Let’s say, this is the price we pay for not foreseeing the elections while planning the IPL 2.

IPL: A Walkthrough

IPL has been a blockbuster. Like it or not, you simply cannot ignore it. With more then half of it over, its time to recollect some of the important milestones. Some moments which stood out . Here is my list of imp events in no specific order.

• Harbhajan Slapping Sreeshant: This will rank as one of the top event in the IPL. Never before in cricket we have seen such an incident involving players from the same team. Harbhajan has been portrayed as synonym for indiscipline and as for Sreeshant, well statements like" Don't cry like Sreeshant" have become common.


• Rahul Dravid not good enough for T20: This event comes as the biggest proof for Rahul Dravid's inefficiency in the shortest form of cricket. Not that this is the first instance. But here he has failed in all aspects batting,captaincy,leadership,chosing the right players resulting in backlash from team owner Vijay Mallya.


• IPL means money and everyone loves money: Players from all over the world enjoy playing for IPL or at least they pretend to enjoy playing for IPL. Gilchrist retiring from international cricket citing "age" and speculations about Hayden considering retirement in another year are some proofs. Pakistan board planning to come up with PPL (with the same money spinning plans as IPL) ,well I won't call it exactly a proof but a rather immature attempt .


• McGrath still the one of the best: With his stingy bowling, he surely has proven that he still is a match winner. Delhi still manages to find ways to lose in form of other bowlers is another thing.

IPL Loyalty Dilemma

Off late I am in a new state of dilemma. This is over the tsunami which has taken frenzy over the entire nation called the IPL. Whichever TV Channel you open or whichever radio station you tune in to people are ga-ga over it. Now I am not going to write about whether it is worth the hype or not. Time will tell the answer. My dilemma here is to decide upon which team should I be supporting. And I think this must be a common feeling.

There can be numerous logics in deciding which team to support. I tried the following:

When I looked for my favorite players, Yuvi and Pathan is in Punjab , Gilli is in Deccan, Gayle is in Kolkotta, Warne is in Rajasthan, Murali is in Chennai ,McGrath is in Delhi, Jayasuriya and Sachin are in Mumbai and last but not no way the least Nathan Bracken and Praveen Kumar are in Bangalore. So, I am torn into pieces if I decide to support based on players of choice. But still If I manage to make a decision, I would go with Punjab.

If I go by the logic of location of the team on the map and my nativity , Chennai is the place where I belong while Bangalore is the place where I have some wonderful memories and Delhi is a city I really really like. But still as nativity counts above other factors this factor draws me towards Chennai.

Then, I decided upon to support the best team, but with surprise results being thrown in like Royal Challengers being dismissed for 82 going on to beat Mumbai Indians. When I thought Rajasthan Royals were the odd men out in this league they came up with a surprise win over Yuvi's men. Still going by this philosophy, as per the points table Kolkotta team looks to be favourite. But the level of uncertainity raises serious doubts over this philosophy.

And if I decide to go by the team ownership and ambassadors of each team, one side we have Shahrukh Khan (for Kolkotta) and Preity Zinta(for Punjab) from Bollywood while the rest of bollywood seems to be rooting for Mumbai , Kris Shrikanth and Vijay (Oh! God didn't they find anyone else) are rooting for Chennai cement's Chennai team, Business tycoon Mallya has Bangalore to his name and so on. Based on my preference of the ownership, I would go with Bangalore team.

And in case I decide to think as silly as to decide by the gersey, I felt Delhi's gersey was the best and Chennai's the worst.

So, here I am still unable to decide whom to cheer for apart from the cheer girls as of now.