Kolkata portals

It is already stale news that the second season of IPL, the biggest cricket even of India will be held in South Africa. May be after what happened in Lahore on March 3, one cannot criticize the decision hardly as the security of cricketers is a matter of serious concern. It is quite obvious that when the general election in the country will be under way the government will have to take care of the security of the citizens. Nothing can be bigger than the election in a country. Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner Shahrukh Khan has said the same thing. But, what about the spirit, the electrifying atmosphere?

From the very first match of the tournament last year, IPL had come up as a great package of entertainment and game. Colorful jerseys, rocking music at the stadium and attractive cheerleaders had taken the event to a whole new level. South Africa is much better than India, as far as infrastructure is concerned. No doubt, the tournament will be organized in a much better way in that country and as there is no threat of fundamentalist groups, the body shaking of the cheerleaders will be much ore enjoyable, but alas on the television screen. The cheer of the crowd will never be the same because nowhere else in the world, people are so crazy about cricket as we Indians are. Some one has rightly said, In India cricket is not just a game, it’s a religion.

Will Sachin Tendulkar enjoy the moment of stepping into the field with his bat in South Africa as he does while playing in Wankhede? Will it be the same for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to hit a spectacular over boundary in a South African field and doing that in India? No it can’t be. Definitely they will get some appreciation for their performance, thanks to the Indians who stay there. In fact the season 2 of IPL is a great gift for the NRIs. It is a golden opportunity for them to watch their national cricket heroes closely. But will they be able to turn the atmosphere of the stadiums electrifying as people of Kolkata do in Eden Gardens?

To be very frank, IPL in South Africa will be ‘no match’ to its first season. But yet, something is better than nothing. We must take the fact in a positive spirit that at least the tournament will take place. Yes it will be a little bit disappointing to see our national cricket heroes playing in comparatively quiet atmosphere but if we see it from the security’s point of view, it is not very harsh. We will certainly not like to see our cricketing heroes lying on hospital beds with bullet injuries just for the sake of entertaining us. We can’t even allow thousands of people to lose their lives for blasts or terrorist attacks in stadiums. Had IPL been played simultaneously with the general election in the states, one could not have ruled out the possibility of such a tragedy. So for the sake of our lives and the security of our cricket heroes, we must make this sacrifice with smiling faces. So lets say “NRI friends, this year we give it to you. Enjoy!”