5 reasons why we love the IPL
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is in its 10th year and has been loved by one and all. Be it the young aspiring cricketer on the maidans of Mumbai or the elderly person buying fish in Kolkata; they all follow the IPL.
Couple of seasons back it was termed as “India ka tyohar” (festival of India) and I would say that this phrase aptly summarised the omnipresent love for the league. IPL changed the landscape of cricket in India. And not only in India, IPL brought in a revolution of cricket leagues world over.
The Big Bash League, The Caribbean Premier League and various other leagues across the cricketing world owe their success to the IPL.
There is no doubt that a lot of moolah has been pumped in to make IPL what it is today and the cricketers are the biggest beneficiary of this. But it would not have been successful without the warmth of the fans.
And fittingly so, the ad campaign of this season’s IPL has the tagline - “Ye das saal aapke naam” (these ten years are on your name). Given this scale of success, one often wonders the reason behind it. It is indeed an interesting topic of research and one would find people often debating on the reasons for the unmatched success of IPL.
Let’s take a look at few of the reasons which justify our love for this celebration of cricket.
#5 Shorter duration and timing of matches
When T20 cricket was introduced, the aim was to bring back followers who may not have the time to watch five-day test match cricket. Obviously, there were the purists who would any day prefer test cricket over T20 matches.
But there was a general feeling that in this fast moving world, T20 was the need of the hour for the game of cricket. T20 brought in a new genre of spectators who preferred the format because of its shorter duration.
IPL was an attempt to take that vision ahead. Given the fan following for cricket in India, it was a no-brainer that IPL had a great potential to succeed.
The organisers did a fantastic job in choosing the timings of matches. Evening schedules ensured that fans could finish their daily work and watch a game of cricket which would last 3 hours. And it suited everyone, be it the school going kid or the office goers.