League of relaxed gentlemen

Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium is ready to host the opening ceremony of the most extravagant sporting event in the country — the Indian Premier League — on Saturday evening. 

The event will see the who’s who of politics, business and the entertainment world gathering at Mumbai’s international stadium. As usual, there will be performances by top entertainers such as Hrithik Roshan, Tamannaah Bhatia, Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline Fernandez.

The extravaganza will be followed by the opening match between the defending champion team Mumbai Indians against Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK). All eyes are on the IPL, as CSK will be making a comeback after a two-year hiatus.

Two birds with one stone 

This will be the first time that the Bollywood-laced inauguration ceremony and opening match will be conducted on the same day. Till last year, the convention was to have an opening ceremony a day before the first match, which all eight captains would attend and sign the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ pledge.

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) had rejected certain proposals of the  IPL Governing Council regarding this year’s opening ceremony. The Supreme Court-appointed panel had asked the council to cut down the budget of the opening ceremony from Rs 50 crore to Rs 30 crore, and ruled out selling tickets separately for the opening ceremony.

Unlike last seasons, only two captains —Rohit Sharma and M.S. Dhoni — will be present at the opening ceremony. The other six captains will be present through the virtual medium.

Rohit Sharma

DRS to make debut

Unlike the European football leagues, which has included a review system for their matches for some time now, this will be the first time the IPL will have a decision review system (DRS). And what is more, a special award for the best strike rate has also been introduced.

With time nearing, last-minute preparations were on full swing with hoardings and billboards being placed across the city, which is also an indicative of the Mumbai Cricket Association  (MCA) revamping. 

The Association had not implemented the Lodha Committee recommendations in toto and was pulled up by the Bombay high court recently, which appointed retired Justice Hemant Gokhale and V.M. Kanade as administrators of the MCA. This meant that many senior officials had to step down. Barring that hitch, all seems in place for yet another entertaining season. Star India has the telecast and digital rights of the multi-billion dollar league for next five years at Rs 16,347.5 crore where it will pay Rs 54.4 crore to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) per match in over 300 matches.

CSK returns

After facing a ban of two years, this match also marks CSK’s return to the game, along with Rajasthan Royals for their role in the spot-fixing scandal. And this time around it is the talismanic wicket-keeper and batsman Dhoni who will be leading the CSK team once again. The former Indian skipper had lost captaincy to Steve Smith last season while playing for eventual IPL-10 finalists Rising Pune Supergiant.

Bonding time 

With less pressure and fans expectations involved in this game as compared to international cricket, players irrespective of nationalities are bonding and sharing light moments. Which was evident during the practice session at the stadium. Dhoni who unites with Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo after a gap of two years seemed relaxed and chirpy. CSK leg-spinner Karn Sharma, who was with Mumbai Indians last season, had a long chat with MI’s Krunal Pandya. CSK opener Murali Vijay went straight to Mumbai Indians nets to embrace his friends.

Third time lucky

This year also marks the first instance where Wankhede has had the honour of hosting the IPL final. The defending IPL champions get the hosting rights for the inaugural and final match. But MI, despite having won in 2013 and 2015 earlier, couldn’t host the finals. 

In 2016, Wankhede hosted the opening matches but the latter half of the series was shifted from Mumbai owing to the drought.The Rohit-led side won the title for the record third time last year to earn final hosting rights again and if all goes well, Wankhede will be hosting the finals on May 27. Earlier, the finals were hosted in DY Patil stadium between MI and CSK in 2010.

For Mumbai Indians fans who are accustomed to see Harbhajan Singh and Ambati Rayudu in blue colours, it will be a strange feeling when the two most successful teams start the 11th edition of the IPL.

Bollywood has always been brave enough to pitch films during the IPL. But circa 2018 will see all the biggies shy away from releasing films during the IPL dates.

While some have in the past done extraordinary business, many have faltered at the turnstiles not just because of the IPL but because of bad content as well.

Films like Himmatwala starring Ajay Devgn failed during this period due to bad content.

This year the big releases during IPL are October and Raazi respectively, but both these films are not big.

Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor’s film 102 Not Out is also slated to release in the first week of May.

“It is not a wise decision to release films during this period. It is also summer holidays and people are travelling. The problem is compounded and the evening and night shows will be affected. That is the reason why many restaurants also screen the IPL on large TV sets,” says Atul Mohan, Complete Cinema.

Other films like Daas Dev, Beyond The Clouds, Omerta, Naani Ki Jaanu and Mercury are all off-beat subjects and not expected to create any waves at the turnstiles.

In the last quarter of the IPL, there are no films slated for release barring the chances of an untitled Vikramaditya Motwane film that may come abruptly. After the release of Alia’s Raazi and Govinda’s Fryday on the second Friday of May, no film is slated to hit the marquee.

“Very rarely do big films release during  IPL. The beginning and end of IPL is a tough time for films  because there is a craze during the first few matches and during the finals. Films like October and Raazi are releasing during this period because there are no good dates available later and it makes no sense clashing with the big films. Even if you see films like Aashiqui 2 that released earlier during IPL and did well were not big films with a big star cast,” says veteran film distributor Vinay Chowksey.

Baaghi 2 that released a week before IPL has raked in the moolah before the IPL madness begins. And Bollywood prefers to join them with Varun and Hrithik Roshan performing at the opening act of the IPL, with the latter replacing the injured Ranveer Singh. But then there are issues like incomplete films that also add to the woes.

—Sanskriti Media