Disjointed thoughts on the UAE leg of the IPL, which had big crowds and some pretty good Twenty20 cricket
NEI India Film Editing Via ESPN Cricinfo
The weather
April 18, Chennai Super Kings versus Kings XI Punjab. There is a place
and a time for watching cricket from grass banks. Abu Dhabi in April, at
2.30 in the afternoon, didn't seem like it. The approach to the
stadium, over a vast expanse of sand with dust blowing all over the
place, added to the feeling of foreboding that had led, earlier, to the
procurement of a tube of SPF 80 sunscreen.
And yet, the front slope of the West Mound stand was packed with
spectators. Down the back slope, meanwhile, rolled a group of children
attending their first ever cricket match. The sun proved a largely
benign presence, easily kept at arm's length by means of an umbrella or a
wide-brimmed hat. It was hot, yes, but only as hot as a normal summer
day.
This was the case right through the UAE leg of the tournament, in all
three venues. This wouldn't have been a surprise for anyone who had done
some rudimentary research. The UAE is at its hottest in July and
August, and is cooler than the warmer parts of India in April and May.
In April, the average maximum temperature in Abu Dhabi is 33°C. The
corresponding figure in Delhi is 36°C.
By India, for India
Even if the weather wasn't outrageously sapping, scheduling afternoon
matches at 2.30pm seemed a touch excessive. The match timings - evening
games began at 6.30pm local time - were clearly aimed at the Indian TV
audience, long accustomed to their 4.00pm and 8.00pm starts.
The Indian TV audience is used to this sort of thing, of course. During
the World T20 in 2010, they got to tune in at 7.00pm to watch West
Indies take on India in Bridgetown, where the local time, for the local
fans, was 9.30am. An early morning start, for a format of the game
designed to be played and watched under lights.
Timings aside, Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi may well have been
Bangalore, Mohali and Mumbai, considering the wall-to-wall IPL branding
plastered all over the stadiums. Or the Bollywood music that blared
incessantly from the DJ's turntables. Or the flyers that remained strewn
around the stands after the spectators had left, selling electronic
appliances at duty-free rates to fans who had flown in from India.
The fans
Most fans at the stadiums, though, belonged to the massive Indian
diaspora that lives in the UAE, and the tournament afforded them a
chance to watch India's big names in the flesh for the first time since
2006, when India played two ODIs against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, and for
the first time in a sustained manner since 2000, when India last played
an ODI tournament in Sharjah.
The stadiums, as a result, were uniformly packed to capacity, unlike the
ones in South Africa that had hosted the 2009 edition of the
tournament. This in itself should earn the UAE extra points in favour of
hosting future editions of the IPL or the Champions League or even
international cricket involving India.
You do wonder, though, why the BCCI waited until the general elections
were almost upon India before they went in search of a host. Everyone in
India knows that elections happen once every five years; the BCCI,
moreover, had the precedent of 2009 to go by.
Finalising the venue earlier might have also helped franchises draw up
schedules for their players to make public appearances outside matches,
like they do in India. As it was, the average fan in the UAE didn't even
get to watch the opening ceremony, an invitees-only event.
The pitches
They got to watch some pretty good cricket, though, even if it wasn't of
the edge-of-the-seat kind for most part. There were only two 200-plus
totals in 20 matches, both of which came in the same game, and 16 scores
under 140. It was good to see bowlers influence matches, though, and
some of the young fast bowlers from India enjoyed themselves.
Varun Aaron showed he could be accurate as well as quick, Mohit Sharma,
Sandeep Sharma and Ishwar Pandey moved it around, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar
was as much of a threat in the death as he was in his natural habitat of
the early overs. All of them conceded between 5.56 and 6.69 runs per
over.
This had a lot to do with the pitches in the tournament. The pitches in
Sharjah had a glossy sheen to them, and batsmen found the ball coming on
beautifully in the initial part of the tournament. Abu Dhabi helped
both spin and seam, with a bit of bounce and green patches that came
alive under lights. Dubai was on the slow side, and seamers who took the
pace off the ball proved quite difficult to hit.
Marauding Maxwell
Brendon McCullum is the third-highest run-getter in the tournament, with 193 runs in 151 balls.
Glenn Maxwell has faced two balls less than McCullum and scored 107 runs more. Maxwell's 43-ball 95
against Super Kings seemed like a season . He promptly smashed 89 off 45 in his very next innings,
against Rajasthan Royals, and followed that up with a 43-ball 95, this time
against Hyderabad Sunrisers.
Over the course of those three innings, Maxwell showed he could play the
most gorgeous orthodox drives, the most inventive laps and
reverse-sweeps, and the most primitive clubs over the leg side, all the
while looking a little bored, as if he was asking the bowlers "is that
all you've got?"
Spectators at the three venues exercised their lungs frequently and
vociferously over the two weeks that the IPL pitched camp in the UAE.
Their noisiest cheers, though, didn't greet MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli.
They came instead in Sharjah, during the 15th over of Kings XI Punjab's
innings against Sunrisers. Maxwell had almost walked off the ground,
after slogging Darren Sammy straight into deep midwicket's hands, before
the third umpire confirmed Sammy had overstepped. The umpire signalled
no-ball. Maxwell returned to the crease. Sharjah roared its approval.
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