The Spectator

The anger is impalpable neither there is that accustomed widespread outrage, the emotion that is emerging as a reaction to the spot-fixing story is probably that of being desensitized. You are sucked into believe what your skeptical friend always told you about the correlation between the words - IPL and fixing. The crime has been substantiated, the alleged characters have confessed, the law enforcing authorities are widening their ambit of investigation and the avid fan in you is left to wonder how easily your innocent affection for the game has been maliciously tampered with, yet again. Every sport is bigger than individuals - good or bad, and the good old cliché of ‘the show must go on’ followed suit with decent crowds for the post-fixing-bust-story matches. You probably tuned into Sony Max the next day, resumed scrutinizing the points table and started building up for the final couple of laps of this edition of the IPL. You probably realized that the excitement wasn’t the sa...

At the beginning of every IPL season we have these subdued concerns about the length of the schedule sheet. The concerns carry a sense of aloofness once the season progresses and we don’t mind watching our team play 16 games over 7 weeks, more so if it is winning! Needless to say, 6 seasons since its launch the IPL is assuming an ODI innings kind of outlook with the length of the middle overs broadening. After 66.67% completion of group stages in IPL-6, two teams (PWI, DD) are out of contention and one team (CSK) has already qualified. Two teams (RCB, SRH) are on the verge of qualifying and one team (KKR) is on the verge of elimination! Yes it leaves an anticipative finish for the knock-out race between 3 teams (MI, RR and KXIP) for one spot and a stiff contest for the positions on the points table. Simultaneously it leaves quite a few matches of very little consequence. This implies you have to live with likes MI vs CSK and PWI vs RR on the same day, for a couple of weeks now! ...