Sometimes
I worry that the IPL will end up being managed like a cheapo Mickey Mouse operation, milked out of every cent, and then
run straight into ground after a couple of years. I can't say that
announcements like these help to assuage my doubts much.
It seems the Kolkata team will be called the Knight Riders. Yes, the Knight
Riders. I'm sorry, but that's like naming your team the 'Delhi
Dukes of Hazzard' or the 'Mumbai Magnum P.I.s.' What genius at
what marketing department decided that was a good choice?
That entire team seems completely baffling in its construction to me. It
appears as if it's being run from the deepest recesses of a palatial mansion
near the mountains by some overgrown man-child of the Billy Madison ilk, the
only heir to a billionaire oil magnate's fortune, who was given an IPL team for
his 30th birthday present while he lounged around drunk by the pool, chasing
imaginary penguins. (It's actually owned by Bollywood star Shah Ruhk Khan, which
I'm not sure is a better or worse scenario in this case. Indian readers?)
How else can you explain some of the personnel choices so far? Could there be a
locker room out there with less chemistry than this one? Ricky Ponting and
Shoaib Akthar taking orders from Saurav Ganguly? With John Buchanan as a coach? Brendon
McCullum and Tatenda Taibu? Was that necessary? Oh and the team's highest bid
was for a 19-year-old who has played all of 20 first-class games and looks like he weighs 57 kg. Brilliant. (That is by far the runaway nominee for
Ultimate IPL Draft Bust.)
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