Mumbai: With the Bombay High Court giving clearance to stage only the opening match of the IPL out of the 20 to be held in drought-hit Maharashtra, the ninth edition of the competition gets underway.
The Bombay High Court, following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the wastage of water on stadiums when the state is reeling under water scarcity, has permitted only the first match be held at the Wankhede Stadium till the next hearing on the issue on Tuesday, April 12.
IPL organisers are clueless on where the home matches of the teams from this state can be held if the court rules against them.
The High Court has claimed that close to 6 million litres of water is being expended on maintaining the pitches for IPL.
And if that was not enough, parliamentarians in India’s capital have also questionedwastage of electricity during IPL.
They say that electricity should be supplied for IPL matches at much higher rates in the light of looming power scarcity as well.
IPL is the most popular sports event in India, but has also become a favourite punching bag for everyone.
When the Indian team performs poorly, most times IPL cops the blame as the root cause, with players being accused of not being committed to their national team like they are to their IPL franchises.
Though, at times, IPL is also hailed as the reason behind the rise of many cricketers, most times it is accused of making cricketers money-minded. IPL has also been alleged to be the platform for Indian cricket board’s top officials to exploit it for personal gains, leading to major conflict of interest.
Efforts are on to solve the deadlock with some cricket officials reportedly saying a benefit cricket match can be organised for the drought-hit farmers soon.
At the same time there is a major war of words between the IPL lovers and those who support the high court order against holding the IPL matches. After a press conference, a few journalists debated over the issue and it was interesting to listen to the conversations. Many of them commented that the drought was the creation of corrupt politicians who did not care for the environment.
“If the IPL has to be stopped, then men should also be stopped from shaving during this period since a lot of water is wasted every day,” remarked an IPL supporter.
When an IPL supporter remarked that pitches would get destroyed if not watered regularly, the counter question was whether it was OK for him to see people dying without water?
People supporting the High Court decision also asked whether the officials have even bothered to find out if the groundsman watering the pitch had enough water for his family at home. Then there are the IPL supporters asking whether politicians or the High Court would stop the wedding feasts of the rich where there is massive wastage of food and water.
Amid all the attacks, former Sports Minister MS Gill hit out at the IPL — saying that the BCCI has converted the Indian public into zombies of cricket. “Romans gave the world the gladiator fight, and now the BCCI has given the Indian public this tamasha (charade) called the IPL. It is nothing but a purely commercial event meant for money making,” noted Gill.
