How about an IPL All-Star weekend?

Ever imagined having an IPL All Star Game? This could be done the weekend before the knockouts begin, on the lines of the NBA All-Star Game. Saturday would feature individual competitions between the best batsmen, bowlers and fielders and Sunday would be a full T20 game between the best 22 players in the regular season.

First up on Saturday, a six hitting competition could be organised between the 8-10 batsmen who have hit the longest sixes in the tournament so far. The likes of Gayle, Pollard and Watson would face 1 over each, either from a bowling machine or a bowler of their choice from their own IPL team. (Why would a bowler agree but!?) Another variation could be an initial round with 10 batsmen and then a second round with the top 4. The batman who hits the longest six wins.

For the top 10 top bowlers, the long forgotten bowl-out, now replaced by the Super Over, could be the best competition. India defeated Pakistan 3-0 in the bowl-out during the 2007 T20 World Cup in a memorable game for Indian fans. The challenge here could be to hit the stumps the most number of times in 1 over, with the top 4 qualifying for a penalty shoot-out style final.  To make it more exciting, just 1 stump could be used instead of 3. Narine would have to decide which of his variations to trust; Malinga would probably stick to the yorker.

Finally for the fielders, I fondly remember a TV show named “Cricket with the K” on TV around 15 years ago. There was a drill in which fielders would try to get the maximum number of direct hits in a fixed amount of time while running around and picking up balls from different spots on the ground. Selecting the top fielders may be difficult, but maybe 1 from each team could be selected; a few Aussies would surely feature on that list.

Come Sunday, you would have the best 22 players in the IPL going head-to-head. Finding a basis to select the teams is difficult, as there really isn’t any clear cut regional split as in case of NBA. The important part would be selecting the best 22 players and 2 best captains to lead those teams. Some of the IPL teams resemble World XIs already; these 2 teams would be the best of the best.

You can tinker with the format and fans would definitely look forward to such a weekend. It could be a win-win on all fronts – new challenges for the players, strong ratings for sponsors, innovation for the game and fresh excitement for fans.