Brand IPL

I know this is a marketing blog – which you might violently disagree with - and I have a few thoughts on IPL 3 – which you might not necessarily agree with far less like. Some of these thoughts might not have anything to do with marketing yet I felt like using this forum to share the same with you.

First and foremost, there is this huge debate about the existence of IPL after Lalit Modi - actually Lalit Kedi (The Tamil word for ‘fraud’). First of all, there is a lesson here for all and sundry. Distance the brand from people, promoters or professionals who run it. Something, I had talked about here a few months back. No one is worried what would happen to Nestle if its current chairman dies. Do you even know who its current chairman is? That’s how it should be. Brand should be visible; not its custodians. Since IPL had been so intertwined with Modi, we are needlessly debating if it would exist long after Modi exits.

Brands need to be persisted with and supported even if they don’t take off in the short-run. Mumbai Indians is a prime example. A team that was languishing in the bottom of the table the last two IPL’s ended up runners this year. It could be due to better team performance et al, but foremost was the support their owners extended to the team in terms of money, bigger buying during the auction etc.,

And hey my hometown won! Not just this year’s IPL – which is great – but what gave me more satisfaction was the fact that Chennai won the Fair Play Award as well. I am quite old-fashioned when it comes to cricket. I like the 70’s and 80’s style of cricket. Play fair. Play to win. Chennai did!

Talking about the final, and for that matter every match played across the country, what a partisan crowd we Indians are. We pride in saying we love cricket. The heck we do. We love our team, whatever that restricted term is; that’s all. If we really love the game, we need to love it no matter who plays. We need to appreciate and applaud opponents when they play better. Every crowd in the country, with the exception of Chennai, applauded just their home team.

The worst was the Mumbai final. Here is a team that comes from behind and wins their home team and not one person stood up and clapped for Chennai. The 50,000 fans that day should hang their heads in shame. Even better, come and watch the Chennai crowd appreciate good cricket – no matter who plays that.

And the worst was when the match got over. During the award ceremony, there was hardly a handful in the stadium to get up and applaud when Dhoni went to pick up the cup. Yeah, I understand it was getting late and all that, but my point is this: Would the crowd have left if Mumbai had won?

If you think every other city would have behaved the same way, I would like to remind you of the 1999 test match when Pakistan won us by a mere 14 runs in spite of that heroic Tendulkar’s effort. It was an agonizing loss after coming so close to victory. Yet, not one person in Chepauk stadium left, me included. We all stood up and clapped as the Pakistan team went around the stadium on a victory lap. We are talking an International Test Match, guys. And we are talking about our arch enemy. Yet, I feel proud to say we stood up and saluted them. It was like saying, ‘We all hate you alright. But you guys won. Well done.’ Shame on the Mumbai crowd.

The final yet again proved, if proof was necessary, how poor a captain Tendulkar ever was and would forever be. People just talk about his not sending Pollard early. But that was just his fifth or sixth big mistake that day. He couldn’t read his own pitch right and picked just one spinner. He couldn’t keep his cool and was seen visibly yelling at his team when things went wrong. Mumbai might have come to the final but that was not Tendulkar’s doing. If so, why couldn’t he bring his team anywhere close even to the semis in the previous two editions of IPL? He is poor captaincy material – that was abundantly clear when he captained India and lost matches left, right and centre – both abroad and at home.

Tendulkar could be a great batsman – of which I have no doubts – but he isn’t a gentleman as he is always made out to be. I could quote instances galore from past but one thing would suffice. In Raina’s second over (when they were 87 for 2) he clearly edged the ball to Dhoni. Remember guys, the ball brushed his glove on the way to Dhoni – something he could clearly have felt. Yet, he turned his back on the umpire and refused to walk. Legally right, yes. But morally? Great batsman, agreed. Good gentleman?

Raina walks when he edges. Dhoni walks when he thinks he is out. Gilchrist walks when he knows he has to go. Isn’t this why this sport was once called a gentleman’s game?