IPL turns 18: How Indian cricket lost its mystery

It wasn’t exactly clear then how the mysticism and exoticism of India would be stripped by a T20 tournament. IPL’s longevity wasn’t clear then. But the visionary Warne could see. Tempted out of retirement for the tournament, he had the foresight to see where IPL was headed, snagging for himself a 0.75 per cent stake of ownership for every year he played. “Three per cent of $400 million is all right,” Warne would deadpan years later. He could also see beyond the money into how the cricket itself was going to reshape along the lines of IPL.

He has been proven right. Last year, India were given a fierce fight at home by England, who won the first Test, before Indians rebounded superbly to win that series. But by the end of the year, they would fold meekly to New Zealand, losing all matches in a three-Test series – a historic white wash.
IPL isn’t the sole reason – India’s own batting weaknesses against spin, their young squad’s mettle and temperament for Test cricket in home conditions did contribute, but over years the overseas teams have become accustomed to India.

Aussie legend Shane Warne could see beyond the money into how the cricket itself was going to reshape along the lines of IPL, far before anyone else. (BCCI)

No more final frontier

Consider that victorious New Zealand team for that matter, who achieved what Steve Waugh’s mighty Australians couldn’t do. Its roster had players from Chennai Super Kings like Rachin Ravindra, Conway, and a host of others playing in the various IPL teams. That Kane Williamson wasn’t even available due to injury and still New Zealand shoved aside India is a testament to how well that team had adapted to the Indian conditions.

Couple of days ago Australia’s Mitchell Starc squashed the idea propagated by his own captain Pat Cummins about India’s perceived advantage with the conditions in Dubai for their Champions Trophy triumph. “I’m not sure it is an advantage per se because as cricketers we have got all the opportunities to play all franchises in the world, but the Indian guys can only play in the IPL. So, I don’t think you can sit on that because you have got guys who play across five to six different franchise leagues a year,” Starc said.

It’s an interesting assessment, also highlights how the Indian board’s understandable branding exercise to retain exclusivity over Indian players’ star power to just IPL also has had an unwanted collateral damage. The young Indians aren’t that used overseas as the players from other countries are.

India at disadvantage

A cursory look at India’s success in Australia has perhaps given rise to that misplaced notion of India’s commanding march overseas, but that was a result of a team that extended itself outstandingly. But the results in the series in South Africa – the last one in particular against a totally inexperienced rivals where India still couldn’t get over the line tells the real story. Or their record in England. India has had a great set of players in the last decade who have overcome conditions and done rather well, but it’s not been as easy as it has been for other countries to come over here and do well. IPL has been a big reason for them getting familiar.

Many T20 tracks here are sort of flatbeds but in Jaipur under Warne, or Chennai under Dhoni have been tricky affairs. They have had exposure there. Beyond the pitches, just the invaluable experience of spending three months in the country for the tournament -familiarity breeds, mysticism is stripped.
In the early years of IPL, there was a weak and ultimately naive attempt by some Indian players not to divulge secrets of fellow Indian players to overseas players. The mind goes to a breakfast table chat in RCB’s team hotel with Praveen Kumar. Taking the name of a senior Indian player, Praveen said, “Voh toh bole lekin kaisey kar sakte hain? (He talks about not showing my bowling secrets in the nets to foreign players but how is it possible?)”. Not just players, foreign coaches learn a lot and then transfer ideas to their respective internationals they find themselves attached to later. That’s not IPL’s weakness: That art is truly international and ideas/tactics are shared across national boundaries is a beauty of this tournament and a credit to the game itself.

Local learnings

Indian cricketers also get invaluable insight into overseas players’s minds. Not just to use against but to learn for their own games. Suresh Raina once told this newspaper about the turning point moment of his T20 game, rather his hitting game. “Hayden, Hussey came to the team and I thought, yaar yeh sab toh bade players hain. There was a meeting before a KKR game. Someone said we should take a few balls to settle in, assess the pitch. Hayden stood up, and said: “No I will take Ishant Sharma or whoever from the first ball. I am thinking, ‘Yaar, pehli ball sey marega? (He will hit from the first ball?) and he did exactly that. Went in, and tak-a-tak diya. Then I thought, I should play more freely — main bhi maar sakta hoon. ( I can also hit).

The point here, however, is the one made by Warne on a chilly evening in Kimberly: about how IPL was going to de-demonise India in the minds of the foreigners. Coupled with exclusivity that ties Indian players to not play in other franchises, it has helped overseas cricket teams a lot. Just the familiarity of moving around the country itself is tremendously helpful. “Had you played IPL before, you wouldn’t have been carrying crates filled with baked beans, eh?” Warne laughed, “Now that’s a mythical tale, it wasn’t just for me but it was shared; not as if I ate only beans, but your point in the bigger picture about getting used to India is right.” IPL has made the foreigners fall in love with Indian tadka – on and off the field.