Birth of IPL

Surprisingly, the BCCI's biggest bounty has come in the form of an irony. Now that the entire country and the sentries of BCCI are basking in the glory of the success of IPL, few remember the persistent attempts that Lalit Modi (Chairman & Commissioner of IPL) had to make during the past few years to make the concept of Twenty-20 acceptable to our administrators of the game.In fact, most officials in the BCCI would refute the claims that when Modi made the initial proposal a few years back, he was rebuked upon. The Indian mind-set was not ripe enough to accept this novel idea. The explaination given was convincing: Twenty-20 would corrupt the purist's definition of the game and will kill the next generation of Test Cricketers. The BCCI was so uncomfortable with this format that they were almost in the process of drastically reducing the One Day Tournaments for the younger lot.As luck would have it, Dhoni's men did us proud by winning the innaugral edition of the Twenty-20 World Cup in South Africa last year. This achievement could not have come at a better time since India had been knocked out in the first round of the Fifty-50 World Cup earlier in the year. The country was desperate for a trophy and Dhoni gave us that spark. Suddenly, huge commercial opportunities were identified in this infant of cricket and the idea started to get acceptance.The Indian Cricket League did what Modi had struggled to do. The BCCI was threatened with the rebel league and thus was born the "DLF IPL 2008". That Bollywood and corporates follow was only a matter of time. Suddenly we see Yuvi smashing Bhajji and realise a new excitement bursting within us. The IPL has tremendous potential provided the quality of cricket is maintained. The cheerleaders and the hoopla is here to stay but not by themselves. Some babies have abnormal births but they survive to win the marathons in life.