It is the Twenty20 season and as the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) comes to an end in Mumbai, it is time for the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With Friday night’s clash between defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the annual summer event of the IPL is back in vogue. Launched in 2008, IPL has become a money-making brand while WPL has finally found its footing with five teams. Women’s cricket in India is carving out a niche and it is a progressive step as only recently this brand of sport was deemed the first by the BCCI to bridge the gender divide. The board initiated reformative measures including pay parity in terms of central contracts, match fees, and the WPL became an essential milestone. Following in the footsteps laid by Diana Edulji, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, to name a few, the current generation of women cricketers have also reaped the benefits commercially. And when Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians won the maiden WPL with a seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals, it was a watershed moment in the history of Indian women’s cricket. With the Under-19 team recently winning the World Cup, the advent of the WPL should further add to the quality within the Indian ranks.
Just as the women rest, their male counterparts are already busy with the IPL which will go on till May 28. A 10-team championship can sap energy from the best players. Not surprisingly, ‘workload management’ has become an oft-repeated expression as cricketers look at the urgency of the IPL, the World Test Championship final in England and also the World Cup in India, set for later this year. At the end. All-format players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and a few bowlers have to choose between their IPL stints and India duties while juggling. MS Dhoni coming to CSK at the age of 41, is a testament to longevity. Equally, it is a revelation of the career choices players make these days, starting with Tests through staggered retirements, then leaving ODIs and T20Is out for last. Sachin Tendulkar, who played top-flight cricket for 25 years, will probably remain an exception as the current generation picks and chooses their formats. The latest IPL has drafted in the ‘impact player’ concept in which a team can impact a replacement, as in football, and the star’s core skills are used only for fielding, unlike the usual cricket substitute . The stage is set and new stars will emerge in a year during which India can finally chase glory in ICC events.