In the right direction?

The BCCI has made some sweeping changes in the IPL. Not only has L Mod been ejected. But a host of his stooges too have been shown the door. The most bizarre move by the BCCI has been the move to get closer to Jaggu bhai once again! Hope this doesn't backfire once again!! Also of notice is the fact that the Kochi IPL team might find itself sitting out of IPL 4. The BCCI seems set to stamp its authority on the IPL. Let us hope this is a move in the right direction...

Do we still continue to watch cricket?

First it was 3. Now there is a new list of 29. Should we still continue to see cricket? Well, I forgot everything when I sat down and saw the tense ending to the England-Pakistan match yesterday. But still there was a lingering thought in my mind. Was every ball being bowled already scripted? Was it because of Strauss that England won or was the victory decided over 150 million pounds and a cup of tea?
The ACL doesn't seem to evoke as much interest as the IPL. Easy ones for CSK and RCB. But MI slipped when it mattered. I think the Redbacks would be the team to watch this time around. By the way, who won it last time? NSW?

Smog clearing

Alright. The BCCI has finally had its way. They wanted to get L Mod out of the picture and it is now done. Forget the allegations and investigations against him. I can assure you in the next five hundred years, nothing will be proved. But L Mod will never be a part of the IPL any more. So from being ruled by a megalomaniac, the IPL will now shift hands to be ruled by stooges. Hope Sunny and Tiger can help in sustaining the IPL's purpose from a cricketing angle. Having said that, the blurred picture that we got of the IPL is slowly clearing. The seeds for season 4 have been sown and let us hope that from now on it gets interesting (even though anything that is controlled by the BCCI would certainly form a boring pattern). They just announced the format for the new season and we also know that the Pune team will be called Pune Warriors. Kochi is still Team Kochi. More important from a fans perspective is that fact that the existing 8 teams could retain 4 Indian and 1 foreign players (remember all players are out of contract with their IPL teams this September).
I would love to see DC retain Gilly. I am not particular about retaining any of the Indians - none of them gave anything significant in the 3 seasons they were on. But then, I would also love to see the whole team being retained.
CSK would want to retain Captain Marvel. But he might just be thinking otherwise - may be sambar and idly are not on his preferred buffet. The story goes on. Let us see how it wraps when the auctions begin later this month.
But before all that, there is this small matter of the Champions League in South Africa. The ESPN-Star group is trying its best to promote the event. But there seems to be very less excitement about the event. Pathetic. Because the cricketing limelight is now on a bunch of greedy crooks who play for Pakistan!!!