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Team Bonding is passe! Franchisees are the way to go!

by raj

A year ago, the first edition of CLT20 in Cricket concluded. Very conveniently for a section (a large one) of western media, and former cricketers from Australia, England etc, an Aussie team won it and all IPL teams crashed before semis. They went on to mock IPL, and concluded that IPL teams can never match the teams from other countries, who have bonded through the year and fight for each other(!).

Of course, that was cynical but a large section of the western press, former cricketers, bloggers from Aus/Eng/NZ-etc, commenters thereof rejoiced in their theory and generally let out a cry of joy in India's direction. Where are you folks? Just show up now!

Some stats from CLT20

An IPL team was the champion
Half of the finalists were from IPL, the better half at that
50% of the Semi-finalists were from IPL
66% of the IPL teams made it to the semis
The next best was Aussie teams(50%), Saffers(50%).

So, what happened to all that team bonding, and money based franchisees can never beat the sheer love and passion that other league cricketers have for their team LOL

Ian Slipper(Former Cricketer, Australia) and co., please voice your opinion now

And all assorted bloggers who expressed that sentiment last year, speak up now. I have bookmarked a lot of you so I'll publish the links soon of all you wise old men where you cynically, with an agenda, tried to link up unlinked facts and based on your indigestion at IPL's success, tried to use NSW's victory as a prop.

What did you say? Oh yeah I am gloating on the basis of a single triumph by an IPL team. Of course, that is silly. That is the point. That is what you did last year. I laughed at you then. I am laughing now. Yeah, you know who you are. That is why you shouldn't gloat based on a single event. Hope you learnt your lesson.
*And I am not seriously gloating - I am just making a point - so you cannot throw this back at me if a non-IPL team wins next year.
** IPL may be evil. But the point is many of ye who are opposing IPL could possibly be equally evil, just with a different agenda. Simple, plain, obvious fact but needs restating in today's unthinking world.

15 comments:

Scott said...

I reckon a lot of it comes down to timing. In this tournament, the Indian teams needed to bond together again after players had different seasons and training regimes, plus had to adjust to southern wickets and weather. Scratchy to begin, then steadily improving to peak at the business end. For the money they spend, they ought to be the best teams. Mind you, CSK did need a rather convenient result in the final group game to even make the semis...

Anonymous said...

Simple but obvious fact, anything is possible in T20. All the so-called experts forgot that.

raj said...

Scott, that is precisely the point. This post talks to those who jumped to conclusions after NSW convenienty for them won it last time. And a lot of them are quite "respected"(if I may use the word for them) bloggers or former cricketers.
Just goes to show how agenda can blind people.

Even you say here about "scratchy to begin". Eh, who? CSK had two thumping wins and a as narrow loss as can be in a super over before the final group game. If anything, Victoria needed a convenient result but didnt get it.

Mahek said...

Not everyone who has some criticism for the IPL has an agenda. It wasn't just the western media. A lot of Indians said the same thing. Since you've bookmarked people maybe you should share the links and give undue importance to this really trivial topic, which is exactly what I'm doing with this comment.

Rajni said...

A proud Chennaikar speaks. A big fan of Srini,Cheeka speaks such huge deafening volume that there is a real danger of international team based cricket falling apart now that Chennai is disputed T20 champions.. so much so that the main architects of the win fail to play well for the team, but they play well for the franchisee. Regional affiliations than national one?

CSK won cos they had able captain in MSD and they got good opening from Hussey and superb bowling by Chennai's son in law Muralitharan :)

Jonathan said...

Fair call, but if you're posting links, then make sure you distinguish between people "seriously gloating" ("can never match...") and people making a point similar to this post (or just having a laugh, or even looking for excuses for the IPL teams). Remember the garbage thrown around beforehand, about how the less rich clubs and associations could never match the quality of the IPL teams, and by Pakistanis and others suggesting that the national side's T20 performance would reflect on the domestic champions?

Of course, there were many more factors, even systematic ones, than just money, the resulting talent pool used and "bonding". Some of those factors are pretty constant, some applied in different ways this year and last year. (The franchise structure isn't really one of them, though.) As you say, it would be stupid to think IPL teams are doing to consistently do well or badly in the CL, at least in the short term.

(Also, while not disagreeing with your main message, gotta say that given the strange draw for the groups stage, looking at who made the semis this year doesn't say much even about this year!)

Govind Raj said...

Quite interesting Raj. But we should not forget South Australia and Warriors played damn good Cricket before they lost in Semis and Finals respectively.

On Paper, RCB looked the strongest team. They have looked so most of the times. But somehow they never win anything in spite of lot of pumping up by Sid Mallya.

So the truth is somewhere in between !

Jonathan said...

Forgot to say that thinking that comments on a teams' CL success there should be related the value/goodness of their home league is quite silly, whatever your views. Anyone hinting along those lines has more problems than just gloating on a single result!

raj said...

Jonathan, please put your thoughts in a simple, straightforward manner. No Escape clause, please :-)

I want you to state your last comment in as unambiguous terms as possible so that I can bookmark it. I will use it later when I require :-)

Anyway, the simple fact of the matter is that there is a good number of bloggers, former cricketers in Aus/Eng who try to cynically use every possible opp to thumb their noses at IPL. Even while reporting on it to increase hits on their blogs(thereby exhibiting the same commercial sense as Modi), they tend to use every remote opp to throw muck at IPL. One such case was using the NSW victory in the first CL for mocking at IPL teams and implying that IPL teams with their money-driven mercenaries cannot match the unselfish team-driven teams of otehr leagues.
I am sure you know who all said this. It takes a couple of google searches to get a handful of names including commentators and former cricketers as well as some bloggers who try hard to pretend to be unbiased but expose themselves often in this manner. Only thing is no one calls these emperors' nakedness.

Mahek neednt get angry - afterall, I wasnt saying "All people opposing IPL are doing so only because of india antagonism". My targets know who they are and it gives me immense pleasure to puncture their ego. I am sure they'll be reading our site or if not, our friend Jon will be kind enough to send the link to them.

straight point said...

raj...

let me be the first one to submit link... :)

Mahek said...

Is this really an anti-India or anti-IPL thing? Look at other sports and you see people mocking Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, New York Yankees for using the power of money to win. A little bit of perspective would help.

raj said...

Mahemk, nothing can answer your question better than this comment by achettup in SP's link:
"Its quite sad isn't it. A lot of these people don't even know why they're supposed to be disliking the IPL teams, but its become chic and its a viewpoint thats almost been forced down their throats by those with motivations that are not too difficult to see if you know where to look. Good for them, as you say, but now what, I mean schadenfreude can only bring pleasure for so long, right?

"
Ataboy Ache, you said it

Mahek said...

Replace IPL with Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, New York Yankees and you'll find plenty of stories that fit this narrative.

Jonathan said...

Hi Raj, forgot about this one for a while. Still interested in seeing your list, which hopefully does only include the sorts of things you describe, not posts like this one.

I'm not sure where the ambiguity is in my previous comment, but here goes: The things which make a domestic tournament good (for cricket in that country, for cricket overall, however you want to look at it) aren't always going to be the same things that make the tournament's top teams do well in a Champion's League. Talking about one doesn't really say anything about the other. Anyone seriously conflating the two makes jumping to conclusions on a single result look like a trivial error.Hi Raj, forgot about this one for a while. Still interested in seeing your list, which hopefully does only include the sorts of things you describe, not posts like this one.

I'm not sure where the ambiguity is in my previous comment, but here goes: The things which make a domestic tournament good (for cricket in that country, for cricket overall, however you want to look at it) aren't always going to be the same things that make the tournament's top teams do well in a Champion's League. Talking about one doesn't really say anything about the other. Anyone seriously conflating the two makes jumping to conclusions on a single result look like a trivial error.

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