The rise and fall of the IPL

It is back, the biggest reality show of India is back. Every year, the sum of money & the controversies we hear about seem to get bigger. I will try to trace the journey of this 5 yr old cash rich baby of BCCI, along the stages of a product life cycle.

Initial Phase: I am the best

This is what the BCCI meant when it crushed its rivals’s ICL, by introducing its own version of T20 called as the IPL. IPL was introduced amid much fanfare, with we Indians for the first time witnessing players being “bought” for crores and that too quite legally. With potential business worth crores in sight, it was nothing short of a shot in the arm for the advertisers and the sponsors.

The Growth: Kal tha fakir aaj dil shehzaada hain

The growth of IPL was quite noteworthy. Who would have imagined young unknown names in domestic cricket getting an opportunity to play the biggies at such an early stage of their career. Who would have thought some of our Ranji Trophy batsmen would get opportunity to hit sixes off bowling off Warnes, Mcgraths, Bonds? Some of the then unknown players like Ravindra Jadega, Vinay Kumar, Ojha should be thanking IPL more often than not for helping them to project themselves in the bigger league and landing them the national team berth. The scenes behind were no less enchanting. BCCI, sponsors, TV news channels & infact spectators in general as well were winners. IPL provided suffieicent entertainment to employees coming home tired at around 8 o’clock after a long day of work. ALL SEEMED WELL..

Growing -Maturity: Time for ‘other’ news

Every soap opera has controversies, Good, Bad, Ugly folks right? IPL started appearing in news for reasons other than just cricket. Modi episodes, tax issues, petty issues like cheerleaders clothing, copyright issues over songs being played during matches etc definitely did not help the cause of IPL. The once fast growing viewership ratings started showing signs of tiring.

Declining Maturity: Law of marginal utility prevailed

The law says: Too much of anything is bad, even though it may be your favourite. Far too many matches sandwiched in a short duration took its toll on the Indian fan. People became tired of watching so many matches. The result was obvious on the TRP ratings of IPL-4 as compared to its predecessors.

Decline ?? Self goal ?

First the tuskers lost its ivory,now the Warriors have decided to withdraw from the battle. To add to it (masala? woes?), as the news channels say, Indian team has become “besahara”. Our first PM, Pt. Nehru had said very aptly- Organisations fall not because of the might of the enemy outside but because of its internal problems. IPL is definitely losing out due to problems created by its own guardians- Far too much politics, far too many matches & far too many controversies. It is now a wait & watch for all of us whether IPL survives this decline and remains a perennial event just like EPL.

We cant keep things simple, can we? IPL was meant to give opportunities for unheard Indian players, help India become one of the prime destinations for development of cricket. Let it be that way. Controversies & the desire to publicize & commercialize it beyond a certain point is not really needed, is it?