Pros and Cons of the Indian Premier League

PRO – Comeback chance

Prior to the IPL, Watson’s career with Australia was as good as over

The biggest comeback story in the history of IPL would be that of Shane Watson’s. In the first season of IPL, Shane Watson featured for Rajasthan Royals and steered them to their maiden IPL trophy with his brilliant all-round display.

Before that tournament, however, his career with Australia was as good as over as he couldn’t find a place in the team.

However, that stellar IPL campaign brought his international career back on track and he went on to feature in many games for Australia in all formats—becoming a world class player in the process.

This is the advantage of playing in the IPL. Since playing well here can’t be ignored, the international selectors are bound to take a look at players who do well in the IPL and give them a shot with the national team—even if past experiences with that said player weren’t pleasant.

CON – Fading of interest in Tests

Fans, especially the younger ones, prefer watching the shortest version of the game

T20 cricket was introduced to the world over a decade ago. However, it wasn’t then when the fall of Test cricket began—it was a lot later when the IPL began.

This is not an attempt to claim that IPL has ruined Test cricket. Frankly, Test cricket is the best and nothing will change that. However, when a country with almost a billion cricket lovers begins losing interest in Tests, the graph in general points downwards.

Before the IPL, a lot of Indians found themselves glued in front of the TV to see the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar offer no strokes to deliveries outside the off-stump. Such was the passion for the game.

Now, however, with the rise of T20 cricket’s popularity due to the IPL, fans—especially the younger ones—prefer watching the shortest version of the game rather than watching 5 days of cricket.

This has also influenced players as one can feel the vibe of cricketers wanting to play in the IPL more than in Test cricket.

Finally, due to the rise of T20, players are more slog-oriented and not as temperamental as they should be. Had their upbringing consisted of playing for long hours, we might as well had more players with genuinely good technique rather than compulsive sloggers or mystery spinners.