The IPL is never just about cricket

If there is one thing as prominent as cricket in any IPL tournament, it is the other ‘C’ – controversy. Starting with the slap-gate in the inaugural edition and right up to banning Shah Rukh Khan in IPL 5, no edition of the tournament has been short on entertainment quotient not directly related to cricket. On that front, IPL 6 started with a bang even before a single ball was bowled or before a single run was scored. Officially, the latest edition of IPL kicked off on Tuesday with an opening ceremony with all the typical ingredients of the league itself — glamour, Bollywood stars, celebrities and of course the cricketers. [caption id=“attachment_689015” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Pitbull performing at the opening ceremony of IPL 6. PTI[/caption] Also, the TRP increase and EQ increase for IPL 6 before the actual launch could have been safely attributed to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and not Chris Gayle, with the former stirring up controversy related to Sri Lanka and their players/officials. Getting down to business, keeping the controversies and glamour apart, IPL 6 has a lot to offer and there are many things to look forward to. Be it for teams such as the Sunrisers who would be seeking to dispel belief that new teams do not do well in IPLs (they have done fantastically well for themselves by defending a paltry total of 126 on debut) or players such as Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir — who are seeking to use this as a platform to get back into the Indian eleven. While there is hope for many, there has already been a setback for a few such as Delhi Daredevils (Kevin Pietersen, Jesse Ryder) and Pune Warriors ( Michael Clarke). All this, without a single delivery bowled. On paper, with quite a few teams looking even and with no indication of clear favorites, the latest edition of IPL promises to be a cracker of a contest. Some may argue that the Super Kings are favourites to reign again with all the four key players contributing to the 4-0 whitewash against Australia donning yellow. And of course, the cynics are already weaving a theory of how the Sri Lanka player bans (three teams would be captained by Lankans) gives an undue advantage to CSK. Each edition of IPL has thrown up a lot of promising players for all the international teams and this edition promises to do the same. IPL is a classic mixture of players for the future and players from the past. For me, the IPL also gives me a chance to relive some of my fondest memories of living legends – if it was Dada, Murali etc. in the previous edition — it will be The Wall and Ricky Ponting in the current edition! The glitz and glamour is in plenty right from the word-go with Bollywood stars and international rapper Pittbull performing at the inauguration ceremony. There are others interesting prospects too — such seeing more of Sachin Tendulkar and Ponting opening for the same team. And who can forget Chris Gayle — who so successfully rolls up glamour, glitz, entertainment and cricket into one inimitable package! Whether you love cricket or not, whether you believe that IPL is cricket or not, one thing is for sure – you cannot turn a blind eye to it. So, pick your favourite team or a player or both, learn some of the moves Farah Khan teaches… and sit back and enjoy!