A month Pune and Kochi were dancing. Why? Because they were getting their own IPL team, but today slogans of ‘Ban IPL’ are being screamed all over.
A month back IPL news meant ‘KKR thrashed again’ or ‘Sachin proves he is god in all forms of the game’ or ‘Yuvraj angry over captaincy issue’, but today it means ‘Was Shashi Tharoor really playing a foul game or is he another victim of controversy’ or ‘Modi not going down without a fight.’
So ultimately who is the joke on? Is it on Sunanda who was forced to give up her share in the Kochi team? Is it on the newly ex-president of the IPL Mr.Lalit Modi ? Is it on the million cricket fans who religiously followed every match, only to realize that it was all fixed in the 1st place.
Tharoor’s little secret game has now become a major issue involving many big names in the underworld, and questioning the credibility of many politicians and the government. It all started with Modi’s casual tweet about Tharoor wanting to be all hush-hush about his girlfriend Sunanda holding free equity in the Kochi team, and that ironically has got Modi himself under the axe.
When Tharoor who claimed to be ‘only a mentor’ to the Kochi team found himself at the receiving end of the IPL and political blows, with no ‘team’ to support his case, he bailed himself out by resigning as foreign minister, with grace. His resignation speech was classy to say the least, and only a fool would think that was his vote of thanks to political life. Lets all hope that will rise from the dead.
Lalit Modi was the next victim of the IPL hurricane, but for all we know of him, he wasn’t one to give in so easily, the IPL was his brain child, his baby. For the past 3 years Lalit Modi has taken centre stage of the IPL, he hasn’t had to share the limelight either, because the rest of the world didn’t care for the supporting actors. Modi took the all the right and wrong decisions associated with the IPL unilaterally, and always thought it a better idea to tweet about it as soon as he decided.
But one who has lived by the axe must die by the axe, and ultimately at the end of IPL-3 Modi has been reduced to just another twitter fanatic. Most of the in-house people in the BCCI who Modi trusted he could depend upon has let him down. But then Modi’s best friend Sharad Powar had to play Brutus here, lest he dirties his hands and poses a threat to his own position as the next ICC president.
Modi’s top crime is that he was involved in betting and match-fixing allegations. The IT department has proof for that, but investigations have come out with more surprises, putting the whole IPL brand name into shame. Names were dragged in, denials were in plenty, and the media saw to it that no one was spared.
Earlier Preity Zinta had a lot of explaining to do over the alleged ‘proxy ownership’ of the Punjab kings XI. Now its Shilpa sheety’s turn to save Rajasthan royals face, and she has opted to do that by the language IPL best understands by now, tweeting.
The tax department and the government are determined to get to the bottom of the IPL mysteries. This has become bigger than a national issue, and the government knows that if they do messy job here the ICC will step in along with the international paparazzi and that could turn really ugly.
Except for the bookies no one likes the word match fixing, irrespective of the result of the matches. I remember the match fixing controversy during South Africa’s tour of India 2001. Too many hearts were broken when the secret was out, including mine. So if any hint of match fixing is whispered we want to know the truth.
I was watching Preity Zinta’s interview with Barkha in which Priety stated that, “everybody is talking about the IPL which is great in a way but I wish they would focus on the game, I wish they would focus on the sport which everybody's completely ignored.”
Yes Preity we wish for the same, we would also rather talk about and watch the game, than the dramatic IPL circus show. But we would also like to be assured that whatever happens on the field is the result of those 22 guys who toil is out in the field—The same guys who we idolize, the same guys for who we prayed, and not the result of a raw deal made between a bunch of high profile businessmen in the luxury of a 5-star hotel room. If the latter is found to be true then we definitely won’t be laughing, as the joke would undoubtedly be on us the fans.
