And it should (how I wish!) work as an eye-opener for our smitten-by-stars media which never really talks about cricket, only talks about the obscene ‘Gods’ they have created. And when they are in a generous, missionary mood, they would talk about a Joginder Sharma or Praveen Kumar - the underdogs from small-town India.

But these are real cricketing stories…the real muck of BCCI, which earns more than Vijay Mallya, and spends all of it on Yuvraj (or whoever hits more sixes in the last series).

I get a feeling that IPL will be more of a farce - more entertainment tricks (after all they need their money back, ANYHOW) than Cricket. ICL, by the virtue of being a ‘cheaper’ product, has the liberty to play more cricket and worry lesser about ‘returns’. And I liked quite a few matches last few days….esp. getting a team from Lahore is a masterstroke.

And once again…great article!