IPL’s impact on player behaviour is massive

The IPL is rightly given credit for improving Indian cricket, raising fielding standards and making domestic players professional and competitive.

Yet, its role in advancing cricket in other areas is often overlooked. What’s not recognised is players are fitter and better behaved, thanks to IPL.

First, IPL’s impact on fitness. Come March- April, Indian cricketers hit peak fitness and stay away from dodgy wickets and bad outfields that might cause a niggle. As players are petrified of missing out on IPL, there is no whisper, let alone noise, about workload. Nobody wants to rest a tired body and there is no request for a break. Which is why Ravi Shastri declared IPL the best physio in the world!

At IPL time, every player’s battery is 100% charged. Giving IPL top priority is sensible because it is game changing (from a cricket standpoint) and life changing (from a financial/commercial perspective ) . There is lots to gain and lots more to lose.

Only fully fit players stand a chance to succeed. Varun Aaron and Nathu Singh violated this golden rule and made themselves irrelevant. Missing out on IPL is like missing an important connecting flight and failing to reach the destination.

Besides fitness, IPL’s impact on player behaviour is massive. The league, in a manner of speaking, has made every rogue a gentleman and converted naughty students into obedient favourites of teachers.

Matches are played in the ‘spirit of the game’ with sandpaper, foul temper and sledging left behind in the dressing room. Of course, in the past, there was the memorable exchange between Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth, and on another occasion hostilities almost broke out between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli. There is still the odd friendly discussion among players and Kohli has demonstrated he remains the master of the cold glare and sharp comment.

It’s not that IPL teams lack intensity and passion, or players are less competitive or there is no ‘heat of the moment’ incident. Players sledge less and send-offs are restrained because they understand franchise cricket is merciless and unforgiving.

Teams, sensitive about ‘brand value’ and fan response, have their own codes in place with strict guidelines and zero tolerance for offenders. Unlike civil courts which take 20 years to decide a case involving celebrities, IPL’s franchise courts can dispense justice in the time allotted for strategic time out.

But fear of punishment isn’t the only reason players uphold cricket’s ‘spirit’. In a sense, IPL is cricket’s UN, a multi-cultural, multi-national common platform that brings together players from different backgrounds to boost peace, friendship and understanding. At RCB, Virat and AB De Villiers are mates, same with Ajinkya Rahane and Ben Stokes at Rajasthan Royals. But when India are playing England or South Africa the equation is different. Cricketers, divided by nations are united by IPL!