IPL 2017 starts on Wednesday with the defending champions SRH playing RCB. But has the excitement and the buzz caught up with the cricket fan? Unfortunately it doesn’t seem so.
Before the tenth edition of the IPL has even started, teams losing players to injuries has become the a real cause of worry for fans. The fans relate to the players but some of the biggest names of world cricket have already pulled out from this year’s tournament. This will surely have an effect on the tournament as fans who were looking forward to see their stars on the field will be massively disappointed.
Injuries
Royal Challengers Bangalore are seemingly the worst-hit. Their skipper Virat Kohli is already nursing a shoulder injury and will be out for a couple of weeks. Apart from that their other star batsman KL Rahul, too will miss the season as undergoes a surgery.
As per latest reports, RCB’s AB De Villiers, who was supposed to lead the Bangalore side in Kohli’s absence, has been injured as well. Young Sarfaraz Khan has also joined the list. RCB fans are known to be quite passionate and love Virat Kohli for his aggressive batting and captaincy. His absence will surely have an affect on the number of seats getting filled in the stands.
Meanwhile, after the lengthy home season of Test cricket, it seems like the workload is finally taken its toll on the Indian players. R Ashwin and Murali Vijay have also joined the injured list. Ashwin is reportedly set to miss IPL 2017 because of a sports hernia On the other hand, Indian opener Murali Vijay is also reportedly going to take time off to heal his shoulder, which forced him to sit out of the Bangalore Test against Australia.
And then there is Ravindra Jadeja who will be sitting out of the IPL as well. Another player who has joined the ranks is domestic sensation Shreyas Iyer and he will also miss the first few weeks due to illness.
Thanks to the busy cricket calendar which has contributed to player fatigue, these misses will affect the balance and composition of the team.
Lack of loyalty
When the IPL began it was all about fans cheering for their local stars. Sachin represented Mumbai Indians and Sourav Ganguly represented the Kolkata Knight Riders. This is what made IPL such a big hit as fans went in numbers to the stadium to cheer their fans. Ten years down the line a lot has changed and now all the teams do not have their local lads leading the side. Instead we now have as many as four Australian players leading the sides, David Warner (SRH), Shane Watson (RCB), Steve Smith (RPS) and Glenn Maxwell (KXIP). Surely this will have an impact on the fans as the loyalties will tend to sway.
In the recently concluded India- Australia series there were a lot of controversies involving Aussie players which drew the wrath of Indian fans. This would, of course, affect the fan loyalty which has been constantly built up over nine seasons.
Overdose of cricket for Indian fans
Last year’s IPL drew a lukewarm response. Word is already around that the usual Indian Premier League (IPL) which has a lot of excitement seems to lack zing, that made it a huge success in previous years. One of the reasons behind is the overdose of cricket. A look at the cricket calendar since last year will reveal the huge amount of cricket being played throughout the year. Most importantly, out of all the countries it is team India which plays the most and like recent years there’s just been too much cricket this time around.
There has been the very little gap between the end of the Test season and the start of the IPL and the fact that days after helping their side win the series, the same players will now play, has not yet grabbed the attention of the average viewer.
EmoticonEmoticon