Two IPL positives
June 2nd, 2008
The Indian Premier League 20/20 Cricket Tournament finished up overnight. While I didn’t feel overly attached to any of the teams I did enjoy watching some of the games that had the Aussies playing in them. Of the 60 games I probably saw parts of about 20 of them (it helps to be a night owl!). Reflecting back on the tournament I can see a couple of positives came out of it.
The first is that players from all countries came together and played as teams. Boundaries were not set on international lines, where things had started to become a bit tribal and aggressive over the last couple of years. As the tournament progressed you could see players from India, South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia were building lasting friendships. You could see things slowly changing. This will be a very positive thing for Cricket in the years to come.
The second thing is that a lot of fringe players got a chance to play against the big names of world cricket. I always love to see someone who has had a dream to play in the big time finally get their chance. When that moment comes where they really believe they belong at this level it is like a light comes on inside them. Andrew Symmonds did this in the World Cup several years back and I think Shane Watson did it this time. He won the player of the tournament scoring nearly 500 runs and taking 17 wickets. This might see him really step up and take his place long term in the Aussie team.
So while the IPL didn’t really grab me at first I can see how it has been very positive overall. If it gave some young players a chance to step up and it helped players from different countries see that we are not all that different after all then it has served a purpose. These two things alone will help world cricket to be better in the years to come.