IPL 7, UAE Phase: The apprehensions of a cricket follower

Sharjah cricket stadium

Ever since its introduction into the cricketing calendar in 2008, the sound of the Indian Premier League has reverberated in the ears of cricket lovers from all over the world. I’ll have to admit, though, that the events from latter half of the last couple of editions of the lucrative league have turned me off a bit. With the massive scars of the IPL 6 spot-fixing scam still very much translucent, I am cynical about the potential of IPL 7 to keep people glued to their TV sets.

When you keep cricket as the sole focal point, however, there are a few things to look forward to with the 1st phase of IPL 7 kicking off in the UAE from April 16. With Dubai being the headquarters of the International Cricket Council and having played host to Pakistan in the last 5-6 years, you would have to say that it was fairly rational on the part of the IPL governing body to move the 1st phase of the tournament to the country due to the parliamentary elections, but it was a move that was questioned by the Indian sports ministry, as the UAE has seen some ugly match-fixing incidents in the past.

Will the setup in the UAE be as captivating as it was in South Africa during the 2nd season of the IPL? That for me is the big question. I don’t regard the UAE as a major cricketing center, and hence the venue for IPL 7 doesn’t quite appeal to me. Given the fact that the Pakistan matches in the last few years haven’t attracted much attention, what is the crowd pull going to be like for the first 16 or 17 days of the tournament? Big crowds at the IPL venues in India add to the exhilaration; however, if the grounds in the UAE aren’t going to be chock-a-block, it could alleviate the traditional IPL atmosphere by a big margin.

The size of the grounds in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah is pretty big, and that should make the contest between bat and ball a lot more sportive; however, from what I’ve seen while Pakistan play in these 3 grounds, the wickets have been a tad slow, the bounce a bit spongy and scores in T20Is haven’t necessarily been on the higher side.

Going by the stats, there have only been two 200+ totals in T20Is in the UAE. Sri Lanka scored 211/3 against Pakistan at Dubai in December 2013, and the Irish scored 225/7 against Afghanistan last November in Abu Dhabi. Given the spectrum of world class T20 batsmen playing for various IPL franchises, though, you may see a change in trend this time around.

Weighing the pedigree of the Indian Premier League in its first 6 seasons and the ambiguity over the response to IPL 7 being conducted in the UAE, it is terribly hard to forecast whether IPL 7 will start off with a bang. With my fingers crossed, I hope that the mercurial nature of T20 will conjure up something totally unexpected once again, this time in the UAE.

Only 8 more nights to go for IPL 7; are you ready?