IPL back to its glorious best

CHENNAI: Much to every Indian cricket fanatic’s delight, normal services have resumed in the Indian Premier League, the best T20 competition in the world that is 15 going on 16. After being benched by the COVID-19 pandemic for three years – the tournament had to be shifted to the UAE for two years and was held with limited capacity in select venues in the country in 2022 – the IPL, where the crème de la crème of international cricket join hands with top domestic talent, is back to its glorious best.

The ongoing IPL 2023 season, which kick-started on March 31, has marked the return of the home-and-away format in the league stage. And the first set of matches has given a glimpse of what was missed in the previous three editions – fans packing stadia to their rafters to get behind their franchises, teams taking advantage of home conditions etc. In simple terms, it was the proverbial manic energy that the game was missing when it wasn’t being played out in the home turf.

The recent Chennai Super Kings-Lucknow Super Giants clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will best explain the above-mentioned factors. More than 35,000 yellow-clad fans welcomed back Chennai Super Kings that was playing at Chepauk for the first time in nearly four years – it last played at the venue in May 2019. For all practical purposes, the mantra of the day seemed to be ‘bleed yellow’.

With the spectators doing their bit to square up to the visiting team with loud chants and whistles, four-time champion CSK, under the leadership of MS Dhoni, choked LSG with what it usually does best at home – bank on slow bowlers on a spin-friendly track. The template for Super Kings at home for the rest of the season is clear – suffocate the touring teams with its quality spin attack, which comprises Maheesh Theekshana, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner and Moeen Ali.

While CSK and the other nine teams will have the cushion of playing seven home matches in the first round, they will have to quickly adapt to the ‘Impact Player’ rule, experimented during the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy (domestic competition) and implemented in the IPL only this season. An ‘Impact Player’ is a substitute who can replace any member of the starting eleven at any point during a match.

The introduction of the ‘Impact Player’ rule has added a new dimension to the League, but the teams have played it safe so far – bringing on players only towards the end of the first innings, at the half-way mark or at some stage in the second essay. No side has caught its opponent by surprise by making a bold move early on. It remains to be seen if the pattern continues for the remainder of the tournament. Irrespective of which team one is rooting for, the return of IPL to these shores bodes well for the sporting fraternity, and will be a harbinger of the big investments to be made in the franchisees and the talent.