Day before Yesterday, I watched the IPL match between CSK and MI played at Chepauk. I was right on time to watch the match. I was told that the programmes in the ground started good 3 hours before the match, that is from 5.00 PM. CSK started well with Parthiv and Hayden. Hayden was looking little tentative in the begining. They were cruising at steady speed thanks an excellent 100 plus partnership between Suresh Raina and Mathew Hayden. Raina was hitting well and both scored half-centuries. CSK completed 20 overs for 208, which looked a decent score. I watched the first 6 overs of Mumbai innings but after that couldnt control my sleep. Decided to find out the result in the paper next morning. When I went to sleep I thought the total would be tough for MI but it turned out that they were very close and almost scored the required runs.
While watching the match yesterday, couple of thoughts crossed my minds:
1. Fate of One-day cricket:
IPL and Twenty20 has definitely come to stay. People are glued to the TV sets and it is definitely a hit. It is so convenient to go home and watch a full match in 3 hours. After sometime, who will have the patience to watch one-day cricket spanning for 8 hours. I believe at this stage, One-day cricket is poorly placed against its new born brother, Twenty20. Slowly over a period of time, one-day cricket may die due to lack of patronage both from the audience and the media.
Then the pertinent question of what happens to Test cricket. I feel Test cricket would survive as compared to one-day cricket. It is a different ball game and there will be a bunch of players who would specialise in Test cricket.
2. IPL's impact on cricketers:
IPL is a paradigm shift in the way a game of cricket is approached. IPL has provided an excellent opportunity for the young Indian cricketers to closely work with the greats of the game and they should try to imbibe the positive aspects. IPL will definitely bolden the cricketers and make them confident as and when they get a chance to represent the country. Who will be afraid to face Bret Lee or bowl to Andrew Symmonds after having closed watched and played with them.
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