Arthur Turner

The Indian Premier League in South Africa was a massive success and was embraced by the South African public. In fact the tournament was probably better supported than the 2003 Cricket World Cup. I am sure the local support far exceeded the expectations of the organisers. It certainly surprised me.

It is estimated that in the region of 15 000 Indians traveled to South Africa to support their teams. The IPL reserved 25 000 tickets for the two semi-finals and the final before they went on sale. These three matches were sold out halfway through the tournament.

The IPL enjoyed massive support from the Asian community in South Africa and it was wonderful to see how they embraced the teams. The Asian community world wide once again showed their great love for the game of cricket.

It will be interesting to see if the IPL brings the tournament or a segment back to South Africa in the future. There is certainly a case to be made for this decision as it would make sense to build on the legacy that has been left behind from the 2009 tournament. However, this decision will be driven by commercial realities and the fact that it is an Indian domestic competition.

The IPL needs to be careful that it does not become over commercialised, the strategic break is the best example of this. As I wrote in an earlier column the strategic break has no benefit from a cricketing point of view or for the spectators at the ground or the television audience. Fortunately, it will not be implemented for the ICC World Twenty20 in England.

The entertainment aspects at matches needs to be controlled to ensure that cricket does not become a by-product of the IPL. The game needs to remain the focus and matches must not become a Bollywood extravaganza. Twenty-over cricket is a very strong product like soccer and rugby and does not need to be marketed artificially.

Scheduling problems

The IPL and the International Cricket Council needs to agree a moratorium on international cricket while the IPL is being played. The early departure of the players like Kevin Pietersen and Chris Gayle to play in a meaningless Test series is in nobody's interest. The ICC needs the member countries to buy into this concept in the interests of the players' earning capacity from the IPL and to avoid future scheduling problems.

The international players' performances dominated each team. Currently each franchise is allowed to contract a maximum of 10 foreign players per tournament but only four are allowed to play. They should consider allowing five foreign players on the field at any given time. This will further enhance the standard and also ensure that the highly paid foreign players are better utilised. The foreign players together with the Indian national players is what makes the IPL marketable.

The IPL also needs to put in place a ruling that franchises can only contract players who have played international limited overs cricket. This will ensure that only the best players in the world are contracted.

The standard of certain aspects of the cricket were disappointing, especially the fielding and catching. These disciplines of the IPL game have not improved since the last tournament. Also, the 'death bowling' was poor at times with many bowlers missing their lengths by big margins.

South Africa staged a very successful tournament at short notice and has once again proved to the world that the country has the capacity, infrastructure and passion to host major global events.   

Arthur is a former cricket administrator and current player agent.

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