Abu Dhabi: Fighting for credibility after being left devastated by a spot-fixing scandal, the controversial Indian Premier League will roll out its seventh edition here from Wednesday with the promise of putting cricket first while keeping the drama and glitz to a bare minimum.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians, captained by Rohit Sharma, will square off against 2012 winners Kolkata Knight Riders, led by veteran opener Gautam Gambhir, in the event-opener at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
The UAE is hosting the high-profile T20 event’s first leg from April 16-30 owing to a clash of dates with the Indian general elections and security concerns emanating from that.
The tournament will return to India on May 2 after being assured of security in states where voting will have ended by that time.
The razzmatazz, which has made the IPL a magnet for both the fans and the cricketers the world over, is not expected to just vanish because of the unsavoury scandal but the organisers have promised to tone down the glamour quotient.
To start with, there will not be an opening ceremony this year. Instead, a gala dinner has been organised for the teams, with Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, co-owner of the Knight Riders, is one of the stars expected to perform.
But when the curtains go up on perhaps the most popular domestic cricket tournament in the world, the focus will also be on the off-field matters in the backdrop of the ongoing Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the betting scandal in which some big names of the league have been implicated.
For one, former BCCI President and Chennai Super Kings co-owner N Srinivasan has been forced to step aside and the event’s COO Sundar Raman is also under the scanner.
Its reputation might have taken a beating but what is likely to remain unchanged is the fans’ adulation for the IPL.
Even though the UAE is a foreign land, finding a fan-base for the tournament has not been much of an issue due to the huge expat population that has shown its support for the event by buying most of the tickets within a few days of them going on sale.
But questions have been raised about the choice of the emirates as a venue to host the event given its history of being a hot-bed of match-fixers. The IPL organisers have tried to justify it by saying that the decision was based purely on logistical grounds.
The negative buzz at the start of the tournament notwithstanding, cricket will take centrestage when the matches start and the focus will be on the multi-million dollar buys who will aim to justify their fat pay cheques.
Among them is Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, the costliest buy of this year’s auction who copped a massive fan backlash after his flop show in the recent World T20 final.
Bought for Rs 14 crore by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Yuvraj is under pressure to prove his worth in the backdrop of the World T20 debacle.
Also, England swashbuckler Kevin Pietersen, bought for Rs 9 crore by the Delhi Daredevils, will aim for a fresh start after his national career was abruptly cut short when England decided to dump him for issues other then just cricket.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik would also be watched closely after Delhi splurged more than Rs 12 crore to hire his services.
In Wednesday’s high-profile clash, which seems perfect to kick off the tournament, Mumbai, despite being the defending champions, are only slight favourites given the impressive balance that KKR seem to have attained after some smart buys in the players’ auction.
Kolkata, which retained just two players from last season’s team (Gambhir and spinner Sunil Narine), seem quite solid with the inclusion of some value players such as Australian express bowler Pat Cummins and Indian pacer Umesh Yadav.
Fitness-permitting, both of them can make a huge difference to the side’ fortunes even though the batting will continue to rely heavily on Gambhir, veteran Jacques Kallis and the off-colour Yousuf Pathan.
Mumbai more or less retained the squad that won the trophy last year but strengthened the team by bringing in Australian veteran Michael Hussey, who has previously played exclusively for the Chennai Super Kings.
They will, however, be without Sachin Tendulkar, at least on the field, as the batting great has retired from the sport, but is still involved in a mentoring capacity. (PTI)
