No matter how hard we try to avoid, the IPL invites interesting comparisons with club championship counterparts in other sports around the world. It is very much different from even domestic T20s of England and Australia, leave alone other sports. It's not the gameplay which is different, but the fan psyche,club loyalty in particular.
One of the biggest reasons why the IPL teams will find it hard to find a strong fan base is that the fans of regional teams simply do not exist. The Ranji teams playing to empty stands is proof enough for that. Even a home team victory in this trophy will go unnoticed by the fans. The only people watching these matches are the selectors, if at all they do. In fact, the newspapers next morning would give them a more interesting analysis of the performance than the stats gotten from watching the matches live!
Cricket fans in Asia and for that matter, the world, have been brought up watching intense games featuring their countrymen, be it the battle for the Urn or the cross-border pseudo-war between India and Pakistan. It is too early to expect a fan in India to boo off a fellow player just because he plays against his city's IPL franchise. Sample this with fans of Manchester United or Real Madrid who will not mind stepping onto the field and knocking the opponent's defenders off. In football or basketball, it's the club passion which drives the game; loyalty would be an understatement. Unfortunately, in the IPL we don't even have that.
People of Jaipur will still want Sachin to remind Shane Warne of the Sharjah nightmares of the previous decade, although Warne captains their team. And it's a known fan pulse that most IPL followers in India support the Mumbai Indians since their demi-God is the captain. Or are they of the opinion that the team has more Indianness associated with it because of the peculiar name?!
In this regard, Kolkata is a clear exception which takes a step forward, to fan frenzy. And all for one man - Sourav Chandidas 'Dada' Ganguly. Their desperation is such that they want one of these four names to appear on the back of one of the player jerseys. Otherwise, their rule is simple - Cheer for the opponent! This was evident in a critical South Africa-India encounter where Eden fans cheered for the Proteas because Dada was dropped for the match. Strange enough fan behavior!
For the purists, the commercialization of the sport is annoying. Even more annoying is the fans cheering every time the leather hits the ropes without bothering the bat from where it is dispatched.It is not that the people in the subcontinent are boundary-hungry. In all these years of cricket, they have witnessed only that in these flat batter-friendly tracks and are wanting only more of ball-bashing.
Lalit Modi said he wants to make iconic teams with global following like MU, Real and Ferrari, out of the IPL. I personally feel that he needs to do that in India before targeting a global fan base.
On a lighter note, it's good that the Ambanis bought Mumbai and christened it 'Mumbai Indians',and not Balasaheb. Otherwise it would have been Mumbai (only for) Marathas!
Disclaimer: Any resemblance to existing states of India or real life characters is purely coincidental and meant for a lighter read :)
