The tricky situation of the IPL
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The IPL finds itself at the forefront of moral pontificating given the horrendous surge of COVID deaths in the country that is hosting the tournament.
But the IPL has always been the centre of moral pontificating; it’s a filthy flushed tournament with no history, rivalries, soul or all the other things we love about sport. And it’s muddied the waters of the international game, and one ignored by the ICC.
Over the weekend Australian fringe IPL participants Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa have withdrawn from the competition. Noting they never really got to play in a tournament where game day appearances count for the majority of the income.
The moral high ground is so easy when there’s no gold in the game.
Having said that, photos of New Zealand players frolicking in a hotel pool bubble is, at best, not really reading the room.
They are living in a privileged, albeit a well managed one, bubble. Some respect for the carnage outside their bubble might be a good idea.
But what would be gained if the competition was called off? It’s hard to think of any resources that might be then pointed in the way of the common good.
Some strange Virtue Signaling?
While India goes into a (badly administered) lockdown the general public needs a diversion. And the IPL is just that. It is also an expression of India’s global power; in cricket at least.
There is so much to come on this.