When Lalit Modi introduced the IPL to cricket, the world knew that the bat-and-ball game would never be the same again. Gone were the slow and steady Test days, the fast and furious T20 dhamaal was taking over. New rules, new teams, new entrants, new controversies. And new problems. Like loyalty towards the domestic team versus loyalty to the national team.
Take the recent Sreesanth-Bhajji spat. While Team India stuck to one another like glue through the racial slurs and cheating during their last tour Down Under, with the entire team siding with the much-troubled Harbhajan Singh, what happened between two of Team India's best bowlers in Mohali on Friday was an eye-opener. Will the 'altercation' between Bhajji and Sreesanth cost them their friendship? Will the slap Bhajji supposedly gave Sreesanth be a slap on Team India's spirit of togetherness?
Scenario number two. Remember the aggression Team Punjab's Sreesanth displayed when he took Team Rajasthan's Mohammad Kaif 's wicket in the sixth match of the series? Yes, a bowler feels good when he claims a wicket, but wasn't his PDA (Public Display of Aggression) a little too much for Kaif ? Hello, this wasn't Symonds, it was poor, semi-retired, fellow Indian Mohammad Kaif ! Consider this. When former captain Sourav Ganguly clashes with current captain MS Dhoni who in turn will clash with would-be captain Yuvraj Singh, will equations change? Will juniors prefer one's captaincy over the other's? Will that reflect in the game when Team India plays an international series again? Only time will tell...
But it's not all war, there's also place for friendship... sometimes, even with the enemy! Yes, the same Ishant Sharma who hated Australian skipper Ricky Ponting's guts in Australia, was seen taking advice from Ponting during a match. That's team spirit, no doubt. That's also a sign of things to come in the following one month of the IPL season — soured relationships will get a fresh start, old enemies will turn new friends, Australia and India will, perhaps, not be as aggressive towards one another as before. Then again, the teams are sharing locker rooms... wonder if locker room secrets will also be shared? A classic case of unity in diversity.
Move over from the cricketers to the spectators. Will their favourites suddenly become unfavouritised? Will fans acquire new favourites? Going by the way the Hyderabad crowd refused to cheer Virender Sehwag on his 50 just because he wasn't part of the home team, Team Deccan, shows that loyalties everywhere are going for a toss. As Sunil Gavaskar had commentated at that instant: Sehwag may be a Delhi Daredevil now, but he's still an Indian. And his innings deserved an applause from all the Indians in the stands! Likewise, in Jaipur, the crowd was rooting for Shane Warne and Shane Watson, over their Indian teammates. So, is the IPL changing more than just the rules of cricket? Will it change player's attitudes and loyalties too? Will Team India be divided like the country's many states, or will national pride overrule the IPL?
Take the recent Sreesanth-Bhajji spat. While Team India stuck to one another like glue through the racial slurs and cheating during their last tour Down Under, with the entire team siding with the much-troubled Harbhajan Singh, what happened between two of Team India's best bowlers in Mohali on Friday was an eye-opener. Will the 'altercation' between Bhajji and Sreesanth cost them their friendship? Will the slap Bhajji supposedly gave Sreesanth be a slap on Team India's spirit of togetherness?
Scenario number two. Remember the aggression Team Punjab's Sreesanth displayed when he took Team Rajasthan's Mohammad Kaif 's wicket in the sixth match of the series? Yes, a bowler feels good when he claims a wicket, but wasn't his PDA (Public Display of Aggression) a little too much for Kaif ? Hello, this wasn't Symonds, it was poor, semi-retired, fellow Indian Mohammad Kaif ! Consider this. When former captain Sourav Ganguly clashes with current captain MS Dhoni who in turn will clash with would-be captain Yuvraj Singh, will equations change? Will juniors prefer one's captaincy over the other's? Will that reflect in the game when Team India plays an international series again? Only time will tell...
But it's not all war, there's also place for friendship... sometimes, even with the enemy! Yes, the same Ishant Sharma who hated Australian skipper Ricky Ponting's guts in Australia, was seen taking advice from Ponting during a match. That's team spirit, no doubt. That's also a sign of things to come in the following one month of the IPL season — soured relationships will get a fresh start, old enemies will turn new friends, Australia and India will, perhaps, not be as aggressive towards one another as before. Then again, the teams are sharing locker rooms... wonder if locker room secrets will also be shared? A classic case of unity in diversity.
Move over from the cricketers to the spectators. Will their favourites suddenly become unfavouritised? Will fans acquire new favourites? Going by the way the Hyderabad crowd refused to cheer Virender Sehwag on his 50 just because he wasn't part of the home team, Team Deccan, shows that loyalties everywhere are going for a toss. As Sunil Gavaskar had commentated at that instant: Sehwag may be a Delhi Daredevil now, but he's still an Indian. And his innings deserved an applause from all the Indians in the stands! Likewise, in Jaipur, the crowd was rooting for Shane Warne and Shane Watson, over their Indian teammates. So, is the IPL changing more than just the rules of cricket? Will it change player's attitudes and loyalties too? Will Team India be divided like the country's many states, or will national pride overrule the IPL?
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