A league apart

When I was visiting Mumbai recently, my friend Rakesh Joshi called me.

“I have to tell you about the revolution taking place in Indian sports!” he gushed over the phone.  We agreed to meet that evening for a drink.

When I reached the bar, Joshi was already there, a half-consumed mug of beer in front of him.

As soon as I sat down he said, “Do you know how the sports scene in India is transforming into something spectacular and mind-boggling at the same time?”

He hadn’t even asked me what I would like to drink! This told me how excited he was because otherwise this polite man would never have committed such a breach of etiquette. However, I was not excited and my etiquette was very much intact; so I calmly ordered a mug of beer for myself, waited for it to arrive, took a deep sip, wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and then spoke.

“No, I have no idea. Please tell me.”

“Simple concept,” he said, “Learning from the huge success of the IPL – the Indian Premier League – for cricket, Indians have launched similar leagues to promote other games.”

“But I thought the IPL was a success because cricket is popular,” I said.

“So did I! But we were wrong. It appears that cricket is popular because IPL is a success!”

I frowned and tried to concentrate. “I’m sorry, I don’t get that. What do you mean, cricket is popular because IPL is a success?”

“Not sure,” he said briskly. “It sounded nice, so I said it.But what I do mean to say is that by shortening the format of cricket, IPL has made cricket even more popular. And it’s doing the same to badminton and kabbadi and hockey!”

“But these games are already short,” I pointed out.

“True. These games don’t have room to be shortened for more zip,” he said with a frown, his town implying that it was not very cricket of these games to be short and crisp to start with. “But the organizers have cleverly compensated by shortening the whole event! For example, PKL – the Pro Kabaddi League – organizes eight kabbadi teams to travel caravan-like to eight venues and play each other; this is followed by two semi-finals; then the third-fourth place play-off and the finals. All the action-packed drama takes place within a period of 40 days!”

“Mm,” I said, impressed. “That certainly would appeal to today’s youth whose attention span is the size of a small peanut. What about badminton?”

“Even shorter! IBL – the Indian Badminton League – polishes off the whole event in 16 days, following the Sudirman cup format (but substituting the woman’s doubles with an additional men’s singles). HIL – the Hockey India League – takes just one month from start to finish. And,” he continued seeing me nod in appreciation, “all these leagues have learnt five other critical lessons from the IPL: first, adopting a catchy three-letter acronym like IBL and PKL; second, nominating teams to represent key Indian cities; third, giving them memorable names like Hyderabad HotShots (badminton), Ranchi Rhinos (hockey) and Telugu Titans (kabaddi); fourth, selling them to corporations who leverage the publicity to promote their products; and fifth, getting celebrities from India’s two holy industries – Bollywood and cricket – involved to spread the games’ popularity. Sunil Gavaskar fans can absorb his love for badminton and throw their support behind his team Mumbai Masters. Likewise, Abhishek Bachchan can influence his fans – and perhaps his father’s too – to get into the kabaddi frenzy and support his team, the Jaipur Pink Panthers. These investors pour money into buying players and marketing the sport. As a result people watch and generate money for the investors. Everyone is happy!”

“Wow!” I said.

“Exactly! And now, Reliance, Star Sports and IMG have partnered to start ISL – the India Super League – to promote football with the same, staccato-like format.”

“Wow!” I said again. Then I began thinking. “What if this concept is applied to other Indian problems?”

“What do you mean?” asked Joshi.

“Imagine launching a league to promote education? As you said, it first needs an appealing three-letter name: why not ISL for the Indian Studious League? Teams of kids from all over the world will travel across India, competing for six weeks in geography, mathematics, language and science. With company sponsorship, cricket heroes providing encouragement and Bollywood stars adding their undying support, it’ll be rollicking success. Very soon we will solve India’s literacy problem.”

“Wow!” It was Jain’s turn to be impressed. “That’s a terrific idea! How about another league to eradicate poverty, perhaps IEL – India Enrichment League?”

“I prefer GHL – Garibi Hatao League,” I said, “but brilliant idea!”

“And why not another to tackle corruption?” said Joshi, his eyes bright with excitement.

“Yes!” I cried. “CIL – Clean India League!”

“My God!” said Joshi, his voice shaking with excitement. “We’ve stumbled on the answer to all of India’s problems. Let’s drink to this!”

We each took a long and deep pull of beer and sat back quietly, thinking about the imminent transformation of our country.