Weird things about the new T10 League
What's the story
Cricket saw a new format come to life at Sharjah last week, when the inaugural edition of the T10 League kicked off. The 10 overs a side match promised a lot of action, but more than the action it was the new marketing gimmicks that are making the headlines. Here are the weird things from the inaugural edition of the T10 League.
Zero does have a value
Dot balls are gold in the T10 league
Shorter the format, lesser the balls, which means every single ball is important in the T10 league. Hence the organisers came up with an interesting concept. Each dot ball in the game is sponsored. The sponsor's name would flash on the screen alongside the commentators repeating it. Dot balls are truly gold in this league.
Marketing gimmick
Cricket's entry into the Olympics?
The T10 league began with the idea that the format will make its way into the Olympics. Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag and England cricket Eoin Morgan strongly promoted the idea. The league organisers also repeatedly used the idea of T10 cricket at the Olympics to promote the event, this is clearly a marketing gimmick.
No Indian players
Team names very India centric
Four of the six teams Kerala Kings, Punjabi Legends, Bengal Tigers and Maratha Arabians are names that sound very much Indian, yet Virender Sehwag who captained the Arabians was the only Indian player involved with the league. Sehwag's only contribution in the T10 league, other than the marketing campaigns, was the lone delivery he faced in the entire tournament to complete Shahid Afridi's hat-trick
Easy pickings
Boundaries made even smaller
Sharjah has a nasty reputation of being batsman friendly. Clearing the ropes back in the day was not a difficult task. The T10 organisers decided to make it easier by making the boundaries shorter. It is T10 cricket after all and today cricket is a batsman's game, that's what drives the spectators crazy.
Surprising
The tournament has nothing to do with India
The tournament was won by a team with the name Kerala. It was captained by Eoin Morgan, an Irishman who captains England. The team was full of players from Pakistan, West Indies and Ireland. The franchise owner Hussein Adam Ali is a perfume tycoon from Yemen. Then, why the name Kerala Kings?