For hockey’s sake, field wears NBA look

At the Gachibowli stadium here this evening, the news was all happening on the turf as the spotlights finally swung away from the current crisis in the administration: officials trading charges and the coach who walked out.

It was the opening day of India’s own Premier Hockey League, NBA-style.

As Pakistan player Kashwif Jawad, one of the 13 foreign players invited to play in the Indian hockey’s latest experiment, said, ‘‘It is extremely interesting. The time-outs and the quarter game looks very exciting.’’

After years of hunting for the success formula, the ingredients this time seem just right: a Rs 71 lakh prize money packet, two tiers of five teams each, matches of four 17 and-a-half minute quarters and fancy team names.

And of course, 700 minutes of TV time spread over a month, thanks to ESPN.

‘‘I am excited by the whole thing. The professionalism is evident. I feel it will only benefit the game in India,’’ says the Dutch coach of the Spanish team Maurits Hendriks, here as technical advisor to the IHF.

The opening today was on spot too, with hundreds of fans, including school children, turning up for the first match—under lights—between the Hyderabad Sultans and Sher-E-Jallandhar. And after the colourful balloons, and a Sonu Nigam song PHL Toofani, even the result was a bit of a surprise: the Hyderabad side scoring the only goal of the match through a Sameer Dad strike.

But more than that, the fans got to take some truly memorable moments such as this:

• Pakistan star Mohammad Sarwar moving in tandem with Indian aces Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh

And there’s more coming. Pakistani world record holder Sohail Abbas is expected to join the Hyderabad Sultans over the weekend.

With the hype flowing, so are the sponsors. The Maratha Warriors have already got one before their first match—confectionary giants Perfetti. Says ESPN Director of Communications Himanshu Verma, ‘‘This is the first sponsors we have got. That means we are going in the right direction. We hope the tournament becomes popular as we move on, and more sponsors are attracted.’’

For sure, the players have shown the way. Maybe, the administrators may get the message yet.