True irreverence is always light-hearted. Not surprisingly, it’s taken someone from outside the mainstream Indian media — a gentleman, or lady, who blogs by the name of Fake IPL Player — to capture how the “biggest sporting extravaganza ever” is actually a soap opera of egotistical administrators and megalomaniacal investors; a travelling carnival in which cricket occupies a small tent in a far corner.

Fans of the game, especially those who have already bought into the highs and lows of the IPL, will argue with that assessment. After all, runs are being scored, wickets are being picked, sixes are being hit, and brilliant catches are being taken. But the hunger to accord a one-year-old event with sudden global legitimacy from all concerned is rapidly exposing its weak foundations.

This column is not meant to be an idealistic midnight memo from Jerry McGuire to his colleagues. Nor is it meant to be a holier-than-thou sermon to his peers in sports journalism from someone who has shunned the lure of a tournament from which we all could have something to gain, and nothing tangible to lose.

But this is a time when we, in the media, need to pose some serious questions — both to the game’s administrators and, as an extension, to ourselves for leaving no stone unturned in hyping the IPL as a coming of age of world cricket when, in fact, it is no more than a coming together of existing business tycoons with those who fancy themselves as the tycoons of tomorrow.

... contd.