If the row between Sreesanth and Harbhajan is any indication, the Indian cricket team may end up paying a heavy price for IPL. IPL seems to threaten Indian team’s cohesion. Apparently, after the match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab, Sreesanth who was on the winning side walked up to Harbhajan Singh — the captain of Mumbai Indians — shook his hands, and said, “Hard luck”. Seems like that was enough to provoke Harbhajan into hitting Sreesanth under the eye. If the bad blood continues, it doesn’t take a whole lot to figure that having both of them on the Indian team may actually do more harm than good. Worse, what if we see such spats among other players as well?
One could argue that Harbhajan Singh has had a bad history to begin with, and is hardly an exemplary sportsperson. Also, Sreesanth’s antics on the field are soon becoming folk tales. But that doesn’t change the fact that we are going to have people like them in our cricket team. So how is the Indian cricket team going to fare under IPL constant barrage of situational conflicts?
Another argument is that IPL, the format, and the dynamics of teams is still nascent with IPL. Once it matures, these issues will disappear. But I am not convinced. Assuming that IPL does mature, and that IPL does discover new talent for our national cricket team, will an all-star Indian cricket team win more matched? Deccan Chargers have demonstrated that it is not always the case. A lot more goes into a successful team than an all-star roster. The key is teamwork and confidence, and that’s exactly what IPL is eroding away from the national team. And this, is not a wild leap of logic, its based on the empirical observation with the US basketball dream team. Its an all-star team with the best players on paper, but still cant seem to win championships for over 5 years now. Is this going to be the chronic trend of the Indian cricket team?
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There is a fundamental difference here; at least for the moment that is. The fact that the IPL is only about a month and a half with international commitments dominating the rest of the calendar — added to the Indian public’s general obsession with the National side, the current squad should still not have as much of a problem. The problem with the NBA is that the national team is a side hastily assembled together who play a one-off tournament.
However, if the IPL, and indeed the proposed ‘EPL’, grows in importance, market forces — i.e., the business interests that run these tournaments will ask for a longer season and you would gradually see a domination of franchise loyalty over country.
But I guess, for that we’d need to see how successful this current IPL season is. Will it sustain itself over the 44 day period? And as far as national side chemistry goes, we could see this as an issue possibly 3-4 years down the road when fan loyalty for franchises really gets partisan. Then you would see something like the England national soccer team are facing currently.
@Aditya About the national side chemistry becoming an issue 3-4 years down the line, yeah.. I can buy that. What I did not expect was it happening one within the first few weeks of IPL launching! And thats what worries me. I guess the question is: Is this incident a symptom, or just a blip on the radar? I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be a symptom of something larger at work.