IPL: The unreality show

Just when it seemed that this year's IPL would go off without incident and perhaps even with a modicum of dignity, (much Jumping-Japanging notwithstanding), it has reverted to type with a scandal that would sicken any lover of the game. For a long time now, there have been uneasy murmurs about the possibility of matches being manipulated, but now it seems that we have direct evidence that implicates some players and threatens to open a larger and decidedly messier can of worms. As can be expected, the reactions follow a set pattern- BCCI makes pious noises aimed at quietening the uproar as quickly as possible, the police leaks information like a monsoon downpour and media thunders at all and sundry.

At a certain level, there can be no bigger act of cheating than of players who deliberately underperform for material gain for sport works entirely on faith. There is no intrinsic value in the game itself; it is after all only a made-up game with manufactured pursuits and invented rules. When millions of people choose to believe in the players who perform this charade, and do so with an intensity and passion not found in other walks of life, sport morphs into ecstatic religion. When players cheat like this, it is like a deity picking our pocket at a temple-blind faith gets mocked for its blindness, and the fan is made to feel very foolish for having created such false heroes.

And yet, the idea of cheating is not as black and white as it once was, for players are receiving some mixed signals. Over the years, the character of the sport has changed irrevocably, and along with it, the implicit codes of behaviour that went along with the idea of being a cricketer. The IPL represents the pinnacle of this new avatar of the game. IPL has often been described as a reality show, but in truth it is really a spectacle of the unreal. Nothing in the IPL makes sense in a conventional way. The owners are bigger stars than the players, off-field action if often more engaging than the sport, film stars give cricketing tips to players and Kapil Dev is made to dance. Players are auctioned off periodically without having any say in the team that they play for, teams are routinely shuffled for entertainment and money, 'strategic time-outs' dot a twenty over game, and millions of dollars are paid for obscure players who are then kept on the bench.

When scandals erupt, the guardians of the game seem more interested in protecting the viability of the tournament than in preserving the spirit of the sport. Those on the gravy train are quick to get into the time honoured 'few bad apples/rotten eggs' mode of defensiveness; in truth nobody really wants to know what goes on. The day after the scandal broke, the television coverage from the studio studiously ignored it and focused instead on 'guests' Sonakshi Sinha and Akshay Kumar while the dancing troupe jumped japangly in the background. Even the outrage of the fans that we are seeing today is likely to be transient; the anger will eventually become a consumer product, part of the entire IPL package.