For about 10 days, marquee sporting events like the Indian Premier League (IPL) were rightly put on pause in India due to India-Pakistan border tensions. It wasn’t just about a war-like situation developing on the borders of the country. But it was also about it being a symbolic gesture. In simple words, entertainment and a volatile situation in certain parts of the country couldn’t go hand in hand.
However, with a rather uneasy ceasefire coming into existence, the IPL is all set to resume on May 17. Of course, the prevailing tense situation between the two nations wouldn’t suddenly get better with the resumption of India’s biggest sporting brand. But somewhere, it gives the fans the chance to temporarily forget the events of the past few weeks and believe that everything is normal again.
For the IPL franchises, there is something else to ponder about: The availability of certain foreign recruits for the rest of the tournament. Among the 20 South Africans partaking in the league, eight of the WTC final-bound cricketers are expected to leave India by May 27. The likes of Jos Buttler, Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell will also miss the playoffs due to national commitments. Mitchell Starc too will skip the remainder of the IPL.
Josh Hazlewood, Starc’s pace colleague, seems likely to return to India, but there is still some ambiguity as to when he would come back. Meanwhile, a few others like Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran and Jamie Overton are not coming back. Those four players represent teams that are out of the qualification race. So, franchises have already started to look for replacements.
Despite a few stars missing from the action, come May 17, and you will again observe thousands of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fans sporting the franchise’s blazers with “Virat Kohli” written on them. Once again, the fans will have to do a balancing act while crossing the massive peepal trees on the footpath of the Chinnaswamy stadium.
In a nutshell, it would be back to business as usual for the players and fans. But as Sunil Gavaskar, the Indian legend, noted, let the games be held with a little less fanfare: “I would sincerely… because of what has happened and some families have lost their near and dear ones,” he was quoted as saying by India Today. “I would like all the show-sha baji that goes with it to not be there. Just the game to be played. Let there be a crowd but no music. Let’s not have the DJs screaming in the middle of an over. None of that.”
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