IPL - A Triumph over Regionalism?

When the Indian Premier League was launched in 2008, skeptics could have viewed it as a hazard that would further inflame India’s regional divisions. Instead, it’s doing the opposite…

The third edition of the Indian Premier League 2010 has been a tremendous success. The IPL brand value has doubled itself to $4.13 billion in a year. In due time, it is set to dethrone the greater gods of the sporting world, such as the English Premier League, in brand valuations. The league’s official Web site—www.iplt20.com—is a work of art. Every piece of action is cleverly embedded into the Video Scorecard and can be viewed for free with a lag of not more than a few seconds. The sky is the limit, it seems, for this desi concoction of sports and glamour.

The success of IPL is no surprise, given the popularity of cricket in India. What could not have been fathomed was how well fans, who are used to cheering for India, are adapting to this regional contest. Traditionally, Indians are steeped into regionalism due to pronounced linguistic and cultural differences. Such chauvinistic bents have been brought into the spotlight by the recent issues raised by the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNC) in Mumbai.

So when the IPL was launched in 2008, skeptics could have viewed it as a hazard that would further inflame such regional divisions.

But what has transpired is far from that. Every IPL team is a corporate entity. The lack of government jurisdiction on these franchises meant that mandatory local recruitment was off the table. The team owners got a pick of players from all over the country and the world. So the agenda of regionalism that has been the driving force for every political unit in every state was not in play beyond the support from the city and state of the franchise.

Chennai, a strictly Tamil-only establishment, has a captain who may not be able to utter a single word of it. Dhoni and Suresh Raina, another player of the Chennai Super Kings, would very well be the quintessential North Indians ripe for the “We don’t speak Hindi” harassment if they got off a train at the Chennai station as commoners. But as far as the IPL goes, they are on their way to superstardom in the land of Rajni. The Punjab bowling attack is filled with an ensemble entourage of bowlers like Irfan Pathan, Rajesh Powar and Sreesanth, whose Punjabi vocabulary may be limited to what is said in Yash Chopra movies. The Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, Sourav Ganguly, is the only worthy representative of the immense Bengali pride in a team filled with non-Bengalis. Nonetheless, the Eden Garden crowd vehemently backs the team with deafening uproar. Besides the Delhi duo Sehwag and Gambhir, Tamil Nadu stumper Dinesh Karthik has been the driving force behind the Delhi Daredevils’ performance.

Rohit Sharma is another anomaly worth mentioning. He was born in Nagpur, has a North Indian lineage, is a Mumbai resident and is an integral part of the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chargers. Manish Pandey and Virat Kohli are welcome additions to the already outsider-friendly city of Bangalore. The Rajasthan Royals have no players from Rajasthan! The team is a picture of national integration, with players from Goa, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and Chandigarh.

Beyond the master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar, who has a truly national following no matter which IPL team he is playing against, the Mumbai juggernaut is powered by performers like Ambati Rayadu and Saurabh Tiwary. The latter would probably have suffered the wrath of the Shiv Sena or the MNS if he had aspired to be a rail employee instead of a Mumbai Indian cricketer.

The IPL is a microcosm of the Indian economy that is nurturing talent from the big cities and small hamlets around the country. The missing element in India’s success story, though, is the creation of opportunities for non-locals in all parts of the country in every walk of life. So it is nice to see a forum where every Indian, no matter what region he comes from, is appreciated for the runs scored for the local team. On the other hand, the individuals getting such opportunities need to strive for the team that they play for, embrace the local culture and put their pound of flesh for the betterment of the local communities. As optimistic and steep as that sounds, we have seen that happening in major league sports in the United States, and the capitalistic IPL venture proves it can be done. If the right lessons are learned from it, we can finally claim triumph over the formidable hurdle of regionalism to unite our great nation of India.