T20 is exciting when ...

... the bowlers dominate the batsmen. What joy to see low scoring thrillers!

Also South Africa is proving to be an inspired choice for a location. With the pitches supporting the bowlers - it is clear that the fly-by-night lesser skilled batsmen are not going to make the cut.

Which means that we get to watch real talent fight real battles out there. It also means that the Jaffers and Chopras of the world have a right to play their trade in the IPL. It will also mean that teams will actually relook their batting lineups and go in with one anchor and one hitter kind of a lineup.

The thing with the last IPL was that the batsmen started on top and the bowlers had to learn new tricks to keep the scoring down. In this case - the learning curve is all for the batsmen and hence the old experienced hands are going to be the ones most succesful.

Cheers to the new IPL ~ its like a Hamam. Everybody has a chance here

The IPL and the stock market

While there will always be many ways to make money in the IPL - one of the long term solutions is investments. Not investments in shares but investments in players.

The way to make big money is to contract players cheap - make them successful, have them capture the public imagination and then sell them at much higher rates.

It makes for an interesting conundrum for any team then! You need to have established stars to get audiences riveted to your team, to ensure that you have fans and to ensure that you win matches. And yet these stars dont come cheap. So you need to get a mix of stars, good steady known players and then the unknown guys - young talented but with no pedigree to show that they can really shine. These are the ones you take your chances on.

Ofcourse as was shown in the case of Hyderabad last year - even buying the best players on paper can get you to bottom place. However the IPL mandates that you balance your portfolio well. For every Sachin and Sanath that you buy - you need a Nayar and a Rahane and equally you need the mix of Dhavals and Rajes. The Sachin and Sanaths will win matches alongside Nayars and Rahanes being the supports while the Dhavals and Rajes will come out of nowhere to make a name for themselves.

The Sachins and Sanaths are high short term returns - they win matches and are attractive to sponsors and hence get immediate money. They also sell the shirts. They would however also be the depreciating assets - resale value would be lower than the buying price for sure
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The Nayars and the Rahanes are possibly the known future stars - the ones that come inexpensive and can weigh in with their performances. The Dhavals and the Rajes are the ones who come at prices tending to zero - can make a name for themselves and get sold for astronomical prices. These are the logn term investments. High Risk if they dont fire as even one really bad over in a T20 can have the match lost - as to make these guys future stars and marketable - they have to be played in a fair smattering of matches.

So one has to be a strong scout and spot the ones with the talent and get them in - take your chances and play them even if it means one can lose the match. Because if you nurture and market that talent well - you have a big fat profit on your hands.

The strategy is also very useful when it comes to players on the brink of national selection - say for eg Shaun Marsh last year. If he were to be sold - there would be some buying to be done.

So the long term profits depend on who one picks to be the future star. They could perhaps pick a trick or two from The Rajasthan Royals. Buy low - sell high - they have it made!

A cycle of life

Most parents strive to provide their kids with all that they missed out on. In doing so they make some sacrifices and bear some pain but in the end its all good and they end up happy if their kids get what they were aiming for.

Similarly when the parents get older, most good kids take care of their parents. The parents on the other hand try their best to pull their own weight and be no liability and enjoy all that their kids are providing them with.

So then lets classify Sachin, Rahul, VVS as the elders/parents of the Indian team and Gambhir, Dhoni, Zak et al as the young kids of the family.

Sachin and Dravid have perhaps had the most frustrating of times in their prime. 20/2 would more often than not be the scoreline they would see when they came together and then both would play to save our asses. They did it on numerous occasions but rarely had the bowling to back them up. And when they failed we failed. However they soldiered on - rising way above the mediocrity around them - taking those overseas losses one after the other on their chins. Hearing them be called chokers but yet carry on. They had to - after all they were upholding the standards for performance for an entire country. These were the guys who would spawn the next generation of Indian batsmen - who would have taken to the sport having fallen in love with the superlative batting. Or if someone idolized Kumble, superlative bowling.

Their efforts were almost like the provident fund being deducted every month - an investment for the future. The hope was that it would pay off sometime. That they would inspire those few cricketers who would turn and become world beaters.

They came forth. A Gambhir who showed that he can bat like a Geoff Boycott to save a test or play an attacking game like his own self to setup a victory. That he can take on the fast guys or stride down the ground to those pie-chuckers. An Ishant Sharma who can in one fierce spell of fast bowling scythe down Australian skippers and others to create breakthroughs. Or a reborn Zak who with accurate and experienced bowling crash through any batting side.

That the big guys like Sachin and Rahul and VVS were deprived in their early days means that now is the time for redemption. Its time for the kids to pay back the seniors for their efforts and investments. With test wins outside the subcontinent - anywhere, everywhere against anyone and everyone.

And make no mistake - not only are the seniors carrying their weight - they are worth their weight in gold. Playing gem like innings which win matches.

And series wins outside - just like the one in New Zealand - are just reward for everyone - irrespective of age, experience of seniority. Because its the cycle of life. As you sow so shall you reap.