All pain, no gain

From Gareth Flusk, South Africa
God, from not liking the tournament at all and now having to endure a gluttonous six-week period in my own country. Never have I been less inclined to watch cricket. The semi-naked, flashing-light, loud-music brand of cricket has just shown how truly rank the South African fan is. All they want is to swill beer, get a front row seat and see if they can get a look under a dancer's skirt. That vantage point also grants you the chance to hurl abuse at your favourite international player. In all of this kerfuffle with your mates, if you have seen any of the cricket, it's simply unforgivable.

Last night, the chairman said that this is will bring more people to cricket. This rot is not promoting the game at all. It promotes the IPL for the IPL. One day internationals and Test matches will still pull the same crowds. The beautiful blonde causcasian most-non-Indian-looking girl doesn't want to go to a Test match, as there is no chance of being spotted by "Miss Bollywood" scouts. The traditional format will still see chaps sit in the stands explaining it to their really interested girlfriends, whilst actually watching.

If fans around the world are to determine that Twenty20 is the future, then great. But simply know that Modi's minions are exploiting the men around the world for their drunken, leery nature and the females in the pursuit of being the next big thing. The IPL is so attractive to the crowds because the psychology fits in perfectly with their ADHD nature. Modern spectators simply have this need to constantly to move around, be distracted by various random activities and not concentrate on the reason they entered the stadium. A little known fact is that Ritalin is banned within a 10 km radius of the stadiums. (As well as that this tournament is not under ICC Match fixing scrutiny; Modi deemed it too expensive at 7 million pounds - never mind that the IPL is worth approximately 8 billions dollars).

In two short years and 12 very long weeks, we have successfully produced a generation of "I want all the glory for as little effort as possible" cricketers. Can't wait to see what happens when we have the proposed two IPL's per year. Ouch.