The men sweat it out on the field. They dispatch the ball across the ropes, take a run-up that’s enough to burn some serious calories, throw themselves at everything that comes their way and even pull off a little jig when they taste some success. Hello ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world of the Indian Premier League, cricket’s youngest Indian offspring, that’s as boisterous as it appears, sometimes, even more so.
From swashbuckling batsmen, who make bowlers shudder even when their names are whispered, to bowlers who have a revenge up their sleeve, to fielders who are nothing short of live wires, IPL is one format of the game that allows its viewers to head back with a sense of paisa vasool.
So, what about these cricketers who play round the clock, literally? I mean, one glance at their schedule will make you stop looking at them like superstars, and think of them as superhumans, because the kind of traveling and hectic life they lead, is enough to bring any normal person to his or her knees. If this is the case, how do they manage to look all pumped up, every single time they take field? The answer is simple.
Even though the BCCI might have scrapped the high profile IPL Nights after the sting that broke the big bad fixing scam, yet, players and officials, in their own capacity, let their hair down and paint the town red. Gyrating to cheesy bollywood numbers and groove chartbusters, players and their glamourous friends make sure that all the day’s hard work is duly compensated by having double, triple dose of fun.
The drinks flow freely, the banter continues and the giggles fill up the air. There are pranks, there’s delectable food in the company of all things glamorous. Even though the older form of the wild IPL nights no longer exists, yet, in their private dens, players love to unwind, spend time with their friends and chill as a part of preparing for yet another hectic day ahead.
Come to look at it, there’s perhaps nothing wrong really, in what they do. From the blinding flashes of the camera to the sweat soaked jerseys that are tell-tale of the struggles on field, from newspapers swinging between extremes to the living out of a suitcase life, crickets endure more hardships than we can perhaps imagine. Which is why, they believe that all work and no play will make them dull, and trust me, none of us would like to see crawling cricketers on field!