IPL is a wonderful aggregator. It lifts cricket beyond the divisions of regions, formats, and countries. It causes Mathew Hayden and Andrew Flintoff to build an innings together. On the flipside, it distributes the loyalties of the Indian fans into multiple quarters. Which team do you support if you are a fan of Tendulkar and Dhoni alike? I understand that this dilemma applies to a minority of fans because most can simply support their state. Also, and thankfully so, indecisiveness rarely ails cricket fans, in cricket I mean. We all have firm and fast cricketing opinions. The queer problem of indecisiveness about favorites thus seems negligible by the law of enormous masses. I think there must be such a law.

Nevertheless, someone has to think of the minority and rescue them from the wooliness. Because, trust me, you can’t enjoy Cricket that way. Some would resort to the noble approach that “May the best team wins the game”. But do you really buy it? I don’t. To me it is like playing a T20 match with an approach suited for ensuring a draw in a test. With all due respects to the ‘original’ cricket, we aren’t talking of the gentlemen’s game here. This is T20. Hit or miss, just play the shots.

I quote a contradictory opinion over here for the sake of discussion. The quote is from a distinguished player and sports observer R. C. Robertson-Glasgow, a.k.a. Crusoe. Here is what he suggested about half a century ago:
“And yet, in games, it is the neutral who can, if he be permitted, arrest the departure of sanity, and suggest, by example, that it is rationality which is supposed to distinguish immortal man from the beasts that perish.”

Now, that was a whole lot of decades ago. Times have changed. We’ve learnt to accept that we are mortal and perish, we would. Modern sciences tell us that we are all fish brained at the core of our cranium. How much can one expect from just that? Nothing much really. Insanity is then the only choice and means to enjoy an aggressive game of T20 Cricket.

You must now give up playing safe and stick your neck out. Chose a team to cheer (or criticize) and hit the deck hard. The choice should be fairly simple if you are from one of the eight states with IPL teams. If not then you can chose a team that has some of your domestic players. If you are not so much for geography, then go for biography. Chose a player whose lifestyle or appearance you like and support his team. The point is you must choose. Even if you are not so much into cricket, chances are that you would still be into Bollywood. Hence, you can still choose a team. Most girls would clearly know weather or not they like Shahrukh Khan. And, I am yet to find a man who can’t chose between Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty.

With so many handy ways to choose a team, you can’t stay neutral – go pick a color.

Media can now focus its undivided attention on IPL as the marathon New Zealand tour is over and there are no more speculations required on how the pitches are going to be. We’ll soon see TV channels resort to desperate measures as they grab a thirty second slice of information and stretch it into a thirty minute program with at least three ad breaks. Rest assured of an overkill considering that the benchmarks from the recent series were “Dhoni ke Djinn” and “New Zealand ka Chakravyuh“.

However, the action in South Africa has started much before the creative guys can take off their thinking caps, scratch their heads, and put on the sterile caps once again. There has been yet another arm twisting negotiation under the threat of canceling IPL, this time with the cricket club in Cape Town. And, the golden helmets are at fire already.

The Kolkatta Knight Riders seem to have an agenda to be the top runners in riding through the event if not to the trophy. KKRs were the early movers in hunting their angels and that too with primetime media coverage. They got on to the controversy (read popularity) wave the earliest with their four captain strategy, irrespective of the limited scope for strategy in the T20 fireworks. And, they were the first to ride-in for the South African safari. No wonder that KKR has bagged the “Best Marketing Strategies” Power 2009 award organized by 4Ps – Business, Marketing and Advertising magazine.

KKRs have been in Bloemfontein for a week and have thrice been face-to-face with one of the strongest T20 teams in South Africa – Gestetner Diamond Eagles that represents the Free State. Eagles have twice claimed the Standard Bank Pro20 Series, which is SA’s premier T20 series. Eagles beat the Knight Riders twice before ‘Dada’ came riding, threw his weight around, threw his bat around, scored a half century, and KKR got the third time lucky.

There is one more match planned between KKR and Eagles on the 14th April, wonder if it would be telecasted. But before that we would get to see the match between the reigning champions Rajasthan Royals and this year’s Pro20 winners Nashua Cape Cobras. If the Cobras’ motto is to be trusted then this is certainly going to be “Cricket: with Venom.”