It is just three days into the IPL, and already we see cricket taking a backseat. IPL has become all about dancing girls, celebrity attendance, in-your-face publicity and unabashed histrionics off the field.

 Pr3rna writes

“At the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi a crane flung Akshay Kumar from the top of the floodlight tower to the ground … There were acrobats and there were pom-pom girls. Cricket was one of the actions scheduled for the day, purely incidental. This is the feeling I got after few games played so far in the tournament … All this is fine and everybody is enjoying but the way slogging starts from the first ball, Cricket seems to be buried under the glamour and the noise. Players are boo-ed even when they take singles,forget the reaction on dot balls. When it comes to Cricket I think I still love the longer version of THE GAME.”

Quatrainman lists out some glaring lacunae in an event so hyped up –

“Branding – So far, the franchises seem to be a branding fiasco. For an event of this size and depth, most of the team names have shown an appalling lack of creativity, typified by the defaulting of two teams to “Kings”.

Moderation – The ads crowding the screen real estate would embarass the local cablewallahs. Why aren’t we ever able to strike an efficient balance between class and crass? … The lack of moderation is also evident in the almost frenzied insistence by all commentators and public figures involved that the event “rocks”. The English news channels have devoted a large chunk of their daily coverage to covering such breaking news items such as the fall of the eight wicket. Lessons of ratio and proportion were last seen only in the 8th standard arithmetics textbook.

Differentiation – If you leave aside the cosmopolitan squads, what’s different about the cricket being played? An engrossing football match in comparison keeps you glued, because the action is seamless and momentum shifts can be engineered in seconds. The 4 minute over is a boon to advertisers, but the speed of the game on the field still does not translate well to the living room, with the content being ‘filtered’ so poorly … From Rameez Raja to Ranjit Fernando, it’s the same pack of tired cliches and retired insights. A nadir was reached when Ravi Shastri said yesterday: “That ball spun and bounced like a spitting cobra.”

At Churumuri, Arvind Swaminathan complains about the predictable commentary, the pathetic telecast quality and the queer feeling of ‘too much happening in too less time’.

“I dislike the fact that it is really, all said and done, a reality show for the rich: The sight of the camera repeatedly panning on to grown-up actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Priety Zinta, businessmen like Vijay Mallya and Mukesh Ambani, and celebrities Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi leaves you wondering if the ghost of Mark Mascarenhas is back. Yes, they own the teams at great cost, but should we pay obeisance so often?  … Five matches in three days and I can’t even remember anything from day one, except McCullum’s sixes. After a few days I will forget that too. I dislike the fact that it doesn’t leave you to savour a great spell of bowling or a fine catch. It’s all here and now.”

But then, he also captures the high points –

“… it’s truly beautiful to be surprised at every stage of the IPL by friends, foes, and foes-turned-friends. To see Sanath Jayasuriya and Harbhajan Singh and Shaun Pollock put their heads together to haul Bombay out of the coals is a sight for the Gods… I like the fact that it provides such a learning experience for young Indian cricketers: it is magnificent to see a promising Vinay Kumar being advised by Boucher. Or to see an Abhishek Nayar pull off a stunner under pressure… It’s delightful to see them (Indian players) being stumped and surprised by a Brendon McCullum or a David Hussey or a Mark Boucher night after night.”

Or an Ishant Sharma “disturbing Rahul Dravid’s furniture”, if I may add.

And finally, an interesting stat from the IPL Cricket Blog – “This is the sixth successive IPL T20 match where foreign players won the man of the match award.“