February
25, 2008 Will IPL Concept
Improve Cricket
at Grassroots Level? By Avishek
Roy
New Delhi
Powered by top-flight business houses and Bollywood bigwigs, the
Indian Premier League (IPL) might usher in a new revolution in
cricket, changing the rules of the game once and for all.
But the big question is how much of the new concept will percolate
down to improve the game at the grassroots level.
Adviser to Delhi franchise GMR Group B. Vanchi feels the IPL will
boost cricket at the grassroots level.
As a first step, the group has floated GMR sports infrastructure to
explore the "future possibilities" of IPL.
And Vanchi believes IPL will provide options to invest at the lower
levels as cricket anywhere can fetch good returns.
"The concept of IPL is well-thought-out and there are many ways in
which we can help the domestic cricket structure. For instance, we
have the territorial rights for a distance of 80 km in and around
Delhi within which we can conduct tournaments at various levels. We
can conduct school level leagues, coaching camps etc," Vanchi told
IANS.
"There can be several promotional events that can be thought of. We
can take local stars like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to meet
and motivate the children in the coaching camps. Imagine how
enthusiastic the kids would be to interact with them. So there are
many ways by which the IPL and we as franchisees can promote the
game. We can also have cricket clinics etc," he said.
Vanchi feels that the money flowing into cricket is so huge that
parents can think of cricket as a genuine career option for their
children.
"The youngsters can dream of becoming cricketers and securing their
future financially as well. It is going to bring in a sea change in
the people's outlook towards the game," he said.
However, former Indian cricketer Madan Lal believes that all the
talk about reaching the lower strata in the game through IPL is
rubbish.
"Nobody would have ever thought that the Twenty20 would have such an
impact on India till India won the inaugural World Championship. The
franchisees will make huge money... how many of them will be
interested in investing at the grassroots level.
"Instead of concentrating on the IPL, the Indian board should have
used the opportunity to improve the structure of domestic cricket,"
Madan Lal told IANS.
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