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The Hindu
2 hours ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Anatomy of an IPL fan: cricketers, experts and fans examine why the game matters to them
In the beginning of May, the Indian Premier League (IPL) juggernaut, with more than two-thirds of the fixtures completed, came to an abrupt halt. Stadium lights dimmed. Commentary boxes fell silent. With military tensions mounting between India and Pakistan, the fate of the 18th edition of the franchise-based cricket league hung in the balance. Then a few days later, just as suddenly, the switch was flipped back on. Players flew out, others flew in. Some teams rose. Others faltered. But the pulse of the IPL? Steady. Loud. Unrelenting. Last week, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) clinched their first-ever IPL title. With tears in his eyes, Virat Kohli lifted the elusive trophy, in a culmination of years of relentless pursuit, near misses, and unyielding passion. With that, an electrifying season came to an emotional close. According to Ormax Media's 2024 sports report, cricket commands 612 million viewers in India. Of these, 86 million are urban IPL franchise loyalists. Google Trends show IPL-related searches topping charts for eight consecutive weeks, barring the brief pause mid-May. In the final week alone, 'PBKS vs RCB' clocked over 10 million searches; 'MI vs GT' had a search volume of 5 million. This isn't just consumption, it's commitment. This is what it means when a game becomes something more than just a game. The gulf between domestic cricket and the IPL isn't as wide as it seems. The skill, the level of competition, even the pressure, it's all there. What changes is the spotlight. 'There's not much of a difference in the game itself,' says Abhishek Desai of the Gujarat Cricket Association. 'It's all about the exposure — playing alongside the world's best. And the IPL is louder, flashier, and that makes everything feel bigger.' In India, where even silence can be political, the noise around cricket matters. And the IPL, more than any other format of cricket, understands how to dial it up. Test vs. T20 Tim Wigmore's Test Cricket: A History offers a sweeping chronicle of a format long seen as cricket's ultimate test — of skill, temperament, and endurance. But while Wigmore looks back at the grandeur and grit of the red-ball format, the sport has surged ahead. If Test cricket is its pinnacle, then T20, especially in its most commercial, glamorous avatar as the Indian Premier League, has redefined its base. T20 has reshaped cricket's priorities, drawing new audiences with its three-hour bursts of action. The IPL, as an extension of this format, has amplified that shift, injecting staggering money, youthful energy, and mass entertainment into the game's bloodstream. Wigmore portrays Test cricket as both archaic and alluring. He raises a pressing question: can this demanding, five-day format coexist with the electric thrill of T20, especially in its glossy franchise form? The IPL hasn't killed Test cricket, it has, in fact, made its survival more urgent. In challenging Test cricket to prove its worth, the IPL has become an unlikely mirror: a rival that paradoxically keeps the older format alive. Today's aggressive, fast-paced batsmen may light up the IPL, but it's Test cricket that teaches them the true grammar of the game. The IPL may be where they shine, but Test cricket is where they are forged, say experts. Sport as story 'The IPL is a McDonaldisation of sport, which is a concept frequently spoken of by sports sociologists,' says Aman Misra, a Ph.D candidate at the University of Tennessee. He studies sports communication and the sociology of sports, particularly public memory and media perception of disability. 'It's tightly packaged, highly produced, and modelled on western templates. To make it work, they have to start creating rivalries, they have to manufacture narratives around wins and losses.' There is a conscious effort to build parasocial relationships, thinks Misra. 'The best way to understand it is that even if the league is 'constructed', the emotions it sparks are real. Sports reflects society,' he says. This emotional mirroring touches fans and players alike. Gujarat Titans' spinner Sai Kishore understands it. 'It's not bizarre to me. It means the team is theirs, too. They feel the wins, and they feel the losses,' he says. For comedian Danish Sait, who plays RCB's irreverent mascot Mr. Nags, defeat feels personal. 'You travel with the team, spend time with the players. When they lose, it hurts. But the business side still rolls on, so you keep the performance on. Even my valet tells me, 'Sir, please come back with the trophy'. I don't even play! But that's the magic of sport. It makes you one of them,' he says. 'When I got the opportunity 11 years ago to be the bridge between fans and cricketers, the goal was to humanise the players — to bring them closer. Back then, cricket was all about hero worship, the constant David vs. Goliath narrative. But no one was showing them as real people, just like us, who love the game and have a sense of humour. I really enjoyed speaking the language fans speak and creating something they could connect with.'Danish SaitComedian and RCB mascot RCB remained among the league's great enigmas — hugely popular despite never winning the title until this season. The 2024 Ormax report pegs it at 13.3 million fans, just behind five-time winners Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. 'Everybody loves an underdog,' says screenwriter Navjot Gulati. 'RCB's arc is full of drama, chaos, and heartbreak,' he adds. For years, they came agonisingly close — losing the final in 2009, 2011 and 2016, and pulling off a dramatic comeback in 2024 only to stumble in the playoffs. One of the most consistent teams, RCB made the playoffs five times in the last six seasons. It's a cruel irony. A team that boasted T20 swashbucklers such as Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers somehow never managed to translate their talent into silverware. Having won nearly every other cricketing honour, Kohli bore the weight of this one for years. Which is why, Gulati says, 'It won't just be their core fans who'll celebrate. I think a lot of people will celebrate just because there's a story there.' For Mumbai Indians fan Dhruv Shah, co-founder of Funcho Entertainment, a comedy content channel, the appeal lies in sport as an outlet. 'Most of us have aggressive, competitive sides, but life gets in the way. The IPL lets us win by proxy. Cricket allows us to win.' Fandom and identity The emotion isn't superficial. It cuts deep. Therapist Meghna Singhal, a Ph.D in clinical psychology, maps fan grief to the DABDA model: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. 'Fans genuinely grieve. At first, it's 'We didn't deserve to lose'; then, 'The umpiring was biased'; followed by 'If only we bowled that guy'; then comes a week of sadness; and finally, 'It was still a great season'.' Cricket is a life marker for actor Nakuul Mehta. His fandom is a dream deferred. 'Like most children in India, I once dreamt of playing for the country. But at some point, you realise your ambition outweighs your talent. So you live that dream through your heroes. When they win, you soar. When they lose, it stings, it feels personal.' He credits the IPL management with building a fandom few saw coming. 'When my team loses, it hurts because I lose the right to defend them. But when they win, it feels worth it, like all those years of standing by them finally paid off.' Singhal adds that team loyalty anchors personal identity. 'Sports fandom taps into a deeply human need to belong. When we support a Mumbai or Gujarat, we're anchoring ourselves to a shared identity,' she says. Psychology calls this the social identity theory, according to Singhal. 'Our sense of self is shaped by the group we belong to.' Meanwhile, veteran sports editor Suresh Menon believes fans are outsourcing emotion. 'You look at Kohli and think, 'Thank God I don't have to do all that.' You've nominated him to win on your behalf.' He calls it coquette psychology. 'Sport is fundamentally meaningless. So we impose meaning, glory, sacrifice, heartbreak. It's got a story. It's got memories.' 'When India beat England for the first time — whether at home in 1952 or away in 1971 — it felt like getting our own back on the colonisers. Cricket can mean many things: a way to assert nationhood, to express identity. During the Depression, Don Bradman became a towering figure in Australian cricket, someone the nation could rally around, just like we did with Tendulkar. He didn't just play for us; he stood in for us. That kind of identification with a sporting hero runs deep. And then there's the thrill, the unpredictability, the drama, the not knowing how it will end. That's what pulls fans in, even those who don't follow every match.'Suresh MenonEditor and columnist Media arms of franchises are happy to add to the storybuilding. 'International cricket doesn't need to build characters,' Menon notes. 'But IPL franchises have private players. So you get social media teams building emotional hooks. Personalities are amped up. Narratives are fed.' Misra agrees. 'Sport has always been likened to war to a certain extent. Journalists love conflicts, rivalries, storylines. We're not telling Indian audiences what to think, we're telling them how to think. We are creating meaning through media logic. So even if you're not playing, you start to carry this conflict emotionally, as though it's yours.' That is the aim with which comedian Sait began donning the role of RCB's mascot. 'When I got the opportunity 11 years ago to be the bridge between fans and cricketers, the goal was to humanise the players. Back then, cricket was all about hero worship. I really enjoyed speaking the language fans speak and creating something they could connect with,' he says. Winning by proxy That effort to humanise players, to bridge the gap between icon and individual, is echoed by players, too. Says Sai Kishore of the Gujarat Titans, 'People in Gujarat feel deeply connected to the Titans. Most of us players aren't even from here. But fans get that local flavour, just like Chennaiites do with Dhoni. That's love.' Kishore now calls Ahmedabad his second home. 'The connection is real. The IPL is emotionally intense. When we lose, it's not just about 'moving on to the next one'. We feel it.' In the end, only one team gets to lift the trophy. But millions more will feel like they lifted it, too. Because when the IPL rolls into town, the country doesn't just watch. It plays along, and for a little while, all they are going to be saying is, 'Ee Saala Cup Namdu' (this year, the trophy is ours). The writer is a culture, lifestyle and entertainment journalist. This article appeared in print in the June 8, 2025 edition of The Hindu-Magazine. It was written earlier and updated on June 4 after Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the IPL trophy the previous evening. The article could not include details of a tragic stampede that took place in Bengaluru on the evening of June 4 during the victory celebration.
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Diageo weighs RCB stake sale as IPL hits $2 bn valuation, ad norms tighten
British spirits giant Diageo Plc is exploring the possibility of selling part or all of its stake in the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The company, which holds the team through its Indian subsidiary United Spirits Ltd, is in early discussions with potential advisers. While no final decision has been made, the franchise could be valued at up to $2 billion. Diageo and United Spirits have not issued any public statements regarding the potential divestment. Health Ministry urges tighter ad rules on IPL ads The move comes as Diageo faces mounting regulatory pressure from the Union Health Ministry to curb indirect advertising of alcohol during major sporting events like the IPL. The company has historically leveraged soda and non-alcoholic brand extensions to maintain visibility under existing restrictions, a strategy that could soon be curtailed under stricter advertising norms. Valuation soars with RCB's commercial rise RCB, one of the original teams in the IPL) was first owned by liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya. The team later came under the control of Diageo after it took over Mallya's beleaguered spirits empire. RCB recently won its first IPL title, a major milestone that has boosted its visibility and commercial appeal. With Virat Kohli - one of the most followed athletes globally - in its ranks, RCB commands enormous market appeal, particularly across digital platforms. The potential sale comes as IPL franchise values continue to soar, thanks to the league's rapid commercial growth, bringing it on par with the NFL and English Premier League in terms of global influence and ad revenue. For Diageo, the timing may be strategic. The company is witnessing a decline in premium liquor sales in its largest market, the United States, and broader global cost pressures. Selling RCB, a non-core part of its business, could free up funds and help Diageo focus on its main operations. Health Ministry pushes to ban surrogate promotions of alcohol, tobacco The backdrop to this development includes a recent push by India's Union Health Ministry to ban all forms of alcohol and tobacco advertising, including surrogate promotions, during IPL broadcasts and related events. In March, the ministry wrote to IPL Chairperson Arun Singh Dhumal, urging a complete prohibition on such advertisements across all platforms, including television, stadiums, and affiliated venues. 'The Indian Premier League (IPL), being India's most viewed sporting event, sends a contradictory message to the public about health and fitness when it allows the direct or indirect promotion of tobacco and alcohol,' the ministry had said in a statement. The ministry also called for a ban on the sale of tobacco and alcohol products at all IPL-related events and sports facilities.
Hans India
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hans India
IPL 2025: PBKS co-owner Preity Zinta thanks authorities for safely leaving Dharamshala
Preity Zinta, the veteran actor and co-owner of Punjab Kings (PBKS), expressed her heartfelt thanks to various authorities for safely ensuring that everyone was able to leave Dharamshala after the side's clash against Delhi Capitals was called off as a precautionary measure. Thursday's IPL 2025 match between PBKS and DC was called off after just 10.1 overs of play in the first innings at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala, due to the military tension between India and Pakistan. Air and drone strikes from Pakistan resulted in blackouts in Jammu, Pathankot and Udhampur, all of which are located in close proximity to Dharamshala. The spectators were asked to vacate the stadium in a calm manner, while the players and support staff were taken back to their hotels under tight security. On Friday, both teams, along with match officials, commentators, broadcast crew members and other key IPL-related personnel boarded buses from Dharamshala to Jalandhar, where they boarded a special Vande Bharat train and reached New Delhi on Friday night. 'Finally back home after a crazy last few days. A heartfelt thank you to Indian Railways & our Railway minister Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw for helping both IPL teams and all officials & families leave Dharamshala in a safe, swift & comfortable way.' 'A big thank you to @JayShah, Mr Arun Dhumal, BCCI & our CEO Mr Satish Menon & the Operations team of @PunjabKingsIPL for helping co-ordinate the evacuation of our stadium in Dharamshala safely & in an orderly manner. Everything was handled so well,' wrote Preity on her 'X' account on Sunday. She also thanked the fans for not panicking when asked to evacuate from the stadium in Dharamshala, and also apologized for being 'curt' with them at that moment. 'Finally to all the people that were in the Dharamshala stadium - Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou for not panicking & for any stampedes.' 'You guys are absolute rock stars. I'm sorry I was a bit curt & said no to pictures with everyone but the need of the hour was the safety of everyone and it was my duty & responsibility to make sure everyone stayed safe Thank you for making it possible Love you all Ting !' she added. Following the game being called off in Dharamshala, the IPL 2025 was suspended by the BCCI for one week. Now with a ceasefire announced on Saturday, though it was violated later that evening, the BCCI has asked all franchises to assemble their respective teams by Tuesday, with an eye to resume the business end of the tournament – 12 league games and playoffs. A final decision on the dates and venues for the revised IPL 2025 schedule will be taken by the governing council after receiving advice from the government authorities.
NDTV
10-05-2025
- Sport
- NDTV
Venues For IPL 2025 Completion Revealed? Report Says "All Far Away..."
The IPL Governing Council has a proposed list of five venues which are far away from the Line of Control in case IPL 2025 resumes after the one-week suspension, according to a report by The Indian Express. The report claimed that Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Kolkata are being considered as the tournament venues. The places are not close to the areas affected by the escalating India-Pakistan tensions and that can reportedly convince the overseas players to return. IPL 2025 was suspended for a week amid the ongoing tensions and the BCCI said that further calls will be taken following a meeting with the stakeholders. According to the report, sources claimed that a two-week window will not be enough to finish the tournament and the BCCI may look to resume in September. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that the IPL 2025 has been suspended with immediate effect, albeit for one week in the wake of the India-Pakistan border tensions. The board added that the new schedule and venues of the tournament will be announced in due course after assessing the situation. "Further updates regarding the new schedule and venues of the tournament will be announced in due course after a comprehensive assessment of the situation in consultation with relevant authorities and stakeholders," said BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia in an official statement. The decision was taken by the BCCI on Friday after cross-border tensions intensified on Thursday night, leading to blackouts in Jammu, Udhampur and Pathankot, as air strikes and drones from Pakistan took over the skies. It led to the game between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals being called off at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala after just 10.1 overs of the first innings was completed. With the airport in Dharamshala and other north Indian cities closed, the players and support staff members of both PBKS and DC, along with match officials, commentators, broadcast crew members and other key IPL-related personnel were evacuated from Dharamshala by a bus taking them to Jalandhar on Friday morning, where a special train organised by the tournament took them to New Delhi. The BCCI further said the decision was taken by the IPL Governing Council, comprising Saikia and IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal, after due consultation with all key stakeholders following the representations from most of the franchisees, who conveyed the concern and sentiments of their players and also the views of the broadcaster, sponsors and fans. (With IANS inputs) Listen to the latest songs, only on
Gulf Today
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Gulf Today
IPL suspended for one week, PCB postpones PSL games
The Indian Premier League was suspended for one week on Friday while the Pakistan Super League postponed its remaining matches in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours. 'The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to suspend the remainder of the ongoing IPL 2025 with immediate effect for one week,' secretary Devajit Saikia said in a statement on Friday. The IPL governing council consulted the franchises and players and 'considered it prudent to act in the collective interest of all stakeholders', he said. 'While cricket remains a national passion, there is nothing greater than the nation and its sovereignty, integrity, and security of our country,' Saikia added. 'The BCCI remains firmly committed to support all efforts that safeguard India and will always align its decisions in the best interest of the nation.' Asked if players and support staff from abroad had been given the option to return home if they felt uncomfortable, BCCI secretary Saikia told Reuters: 'That's not our domain. It's for the individual franchises to decide what they want to do with their foreign recruits.' Thursday's IPL match in Dharamsala was abandoned midway through, with organisers citing a power outage, while Sunday's game at the same north Indian city was shifted to Ahmedabad because of the border tension. With the airport in Dharamshala and other north Indian cities closed, the players and support staff members of both PBKS and DC, along with match officials, commentators, broadcast crew members and other key IPL-related personnel were evacuated. The two countries have clashed since India struck multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday that it said were 'terrorist camps' in retaliation for a deadly attack in its troubled region of Kashmir last month, in which it said Islamabad was involved. Pakistan denied the accusation but both countries have exchanged cross-border firing and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other's airspace since then, with nearly four dozen people dying in the violence. With the BCCI saying IPL 2025 has been suspended for one week, it is yet to be known if an alternate window to host the rest of the tournament will be present immediately or not and what would be the venues of the remaining games. The IPL still has 12 group matches left, which are due to be followed by the playoffs culminating in the May 25 final in Kolkata. New dates and venues for the remaining matches will be declared 'in due course', said Saikia. The conflict took its toll on the other side of the border as well with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) initially deciding to move the last eight PSL games to the UAE. However, later on Friday, the PCB said it had postponed the matches on the advice of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, adding that cricket 'must take a respectful pause' amid the conflict. 'The PCB recognises the efforts and support of its partners, franchises, participating players, broadcasters, sponsors, and organizers in having ensured the smooth conduct of the tournament thus far,' it said. 'We, at the PCB, also have sincere regard for the mental well-being of participating players and the sentiments of our foreign players, and we respect the concerns of their families who want to see them back home.' Earlier, the PCB had, in a late-night meeting, decided to relocate the eight matches to Dubai because the foreign players were adamant on leaving Pakistan. The tenth edition of the PSL Involved 37 foreign players including from England, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies and South Africa. Most of the foreign players wanted to leave Pakistan after a drone fell adjacent to Rawalpindi cricket stadium where a match on Wednesday was cancelled. The top-notch players included former Australian opener David Warner, former West Indian skipper Jason Holder and New Zealand's current white-ball captain Michael Bracewell. There were eight matches remaining in the six-team PSL, including the play-offs and the final scheduled for May 18. Agencies
