IPL is on, but these cricket fans don't care!

CHENNAI: In neighbourhoods left paranoid by the pandemic, doors are mostly shut. One can still hear the roars of joy and cries of anguish behind those closed doors in the evening these days. They are watching IPL and discussing it. The first match broke the viewership record for an inaugural match across seasons. Broadcasters are expecting more records to tumble.

In some of those houses, you may also come across someone not aware of what is going on in the UAE. Not that they are not cricket fans. They keep track when Test matches or one-dayers take place. Even wake up early to catch live action in New Zealand. But when the format switches to T20, they switch off. Minorities very much in the community of cricket fanatics, they stay away from IPL when the nation finds solace in it.

Not that they are completely unaware of IPL. It's difficult to be like that when sixes, last-over heroics and record chases become national obsession and people they know discuss them. So they do consume some of it indirectly. They also realise how important IPL is for the commercial health of cricket. But left to them, they don't feel the urge to tune in at 7.30 pm.

Venkatesh Viswanath is a registered patent agent based in Chennai. A cricket fan like most of his friends, he went to Chepauk for IPL matches in the inaugural year in 2008, stood in the queue in the heat and gradually got so fed up with everything that he stopped following the tournament completely from the third year.

"Cricket was no longer a gentleman's game when IPL started. But what I saw was something else. Batsmen trying to blast every ball, uneven contest between bat and ball, cheerleaders and the same thing happening every day. It's a world where entertainment only means sixes. Bowlers have no part to play in this. I was initially attracted to it, but started getting a feeling that this is belying the sanctity of cricket," says the 35-year-old, who enjoyed the England-West Indies and England-Pakistan Test series.

Anish Desouza, a chemical engineer from Mumbai and Deepraditya Datta, founder of a retained executive search firm who grew up in Kolkata before settling down in Mumbai, are on the same page. They recollect only vaguely what is going on in IPL this year. For example, they don't know how the league table looks like or whose record Rajasthan Royals broke when they scripted the highest successful chase a few days ago.

"Had it been Test cricket, I would have known or made an effort to find out who held the previous record," says Desouza, who is a fan of the modern era, used to the hustle and bustle of contemporary cricket. 

"Earlier I did take interest, before I realised that the same thing is happening every day. Pitches will have nothing for bowlers, batsmen will go only for big shots and matches will almost invariably be decided in the last over. It's only about hitting the ball, which for me became monotonous after a point," adds the 31-year-old, who goes to Wankhede for other cricket, including Ranji Trophy, and tries to keep track of Test matches irrespective of whether India is playing or not.

Predictability in content amid unpredictability over who will win and one-dimensional contests favouring the batsman are not the only factors that put these fans off. The IPL and several T20 leagues in other countries have witnessed cases of spot-fixing and betting. Players and team officials have been suspended for their involvement in these. In the sea of people rooting for IPL, there are also those who are sceptical.

"I can't point a finger or provide evidence, but there have been occasions when I got a feeling that some of these are scripted. Then you hear stories from some of these leagues. I have been seen people bet on IPL, although I don't know if they influence results. But sometimes, you get that iffy feeling," says Datta, whose lack of interest in IPL is more fundamental than that. 

"It depends on what you consider as entertainment. For me, a batsman defending a bouncer and the ball dropping still at his feet is more entertaining than a cross-batted heave. Grammar and technique matter to me, which IPL disregards," adds the 49-year-old.

As IPL continues to create fans and conquer new territories, a small section of cricket fans wait for the return of cricket in whites. Aware that their 
opinion has little weight or value in the scheme of things, they are happy to have that opinion and stay away from the sixes.