Five reasons why IPL should be scrapped.

Since the Indian Premier League was inaugurated, it has resulted in more head ache than is worth. True, there has been some absolutely stunning performances and amazing finds through IPL, but there will always be a question of integrity and purity of the matches played and this is not how cricket is played, not in India at least.

Here are the five reasons why I think the Indian Premier League should be scrapped.

1. Cricket is not about money. Cricket is about the unification of souls (Might seem sappy, but it is true). It is about a person revelling in the beauty and the innocence of the game. It is about discovering oneself. It is about patience and hardwork. Once you bring in big guns like India Cements, Raj Kundra, Shah Rukh Khan and Sun TV, it is hardly about cricket than it is about money and trading. So there is no way in hell, that I would want the game and the players to be sidelined for a bunch of crores!
2. They are human beings, you know? Two months of rigorous cricket is not good even at the international level. Consider playing club cricket every alternative day. By the end of the tournament, you will be so worn out that thinking about cricket would make you want to puke. But does the BCCI care? No! Take two days off, fly all the way to England, regroup, find your one day playing methodology and kick off the tournament in style. And the most important part is- do NOT return home without the cup!
3. Football is a great game, no doubt. But the one reason why I hate it is because there is absolutely no “my” factor to it. There is no “my country made it”, there is no “He is from my land and he made it big.” No matter what you say, club cricket is nothing close to International cricket. I find it weird when people in India say “my team made it to the top four of IPL” because I associate ‘my’ with “Country” and nothing else. I do not want to see club cricket overriding international cricket because there is no bigger shame than that.
4. The amount of electricity, water and other resources being used for prepping the stadiums is beyond negligible. The power cuts increase, people don’t get proper water supply, why? Because all of this is being directed to the stadiums. Money, energy and time spent on watching a live match is on a totally different plane altogether. My mother strictly told me that she wouldn’t let me watch IPL live simply because she did not want to  be a middle class person chugging out thousands of rupees for the corporate giants and  though it took time for me to understand her concept, I now understand it clearly. It was her way of defying the money mongrels.
5. Finally, do I even need to start about the spot-fixing scandal?

Long live cricket, long live the purity of the game.

Aishwarya Kumar.