There are few take aways from IPL..

* There is one thing to have an idea.. And completely different thing to execute it.. Just look at the difference between ICL and IPL.. IPL is an example of ‘Execution to Perfection’

* But we just cant take away credit from ICL here.. ICL brought in the competition.. BCCI was a monopoly till then.. It could have done much more to improve the Ranji Trophies and the Duleep Trophies. But BCCI was only looking at the money.. But ICL came in.. It revolutionized cricket.. And made the mammoth elephant – BCCI to run for its bucks..

* There are a few things which made IPL a grand success.. And ICL as just its shadow.. Trust me.. One of the biggest factor was undoubtedly Media.. The amount of coverage news paper, TV channels, FM Radios etc.. has been giving to IPL has be just unbelievable.. If BCCI had not relaxed its criteria with the press, before the start of the tournament.. I must say, BCCI would have just screwed up things.. Media was the biggest factor for IPLs success…
Pen is mightier than sword!! – No doubt about it..

* IPL also brought in Corporate Honchos and Bollywood big guys.. And very big money along with them.. They had so much at stake… that they took sufficient effort to market their team.. And in the process, IPL had distributed the role of marketing itself.. The corporate culture also got professional touch, which is generally missing with the sports administrations across the country.

* IPL brought out amazing leadership skills of Shane Warne.. Oh man.. What did he do to the Rajasthan Royals.. I thought they were clearly out of the tournament.. when I looked at the team on paper.. This is one of the best examples of what a leader can do.. A great leader can bring in so much energy.. He can make anything possible..

* Dhoni ofcourse deserved his due credit.. I always like the way Dhoni looks at things.. His ‘Go out and enjoy!’ attitude is great! We should also appreciated the way ‘The Team’ accepted defeat.. He didnt pin point fingers @ anyone..

* IPL is yet another huge success, which was completely ‘MADE IN INDIA’.. One more reason for India Inc to be proud!! People are already thinking of replicating this model elsewhere.

* IPL is over now.. People are going do some searching.. to spend time in the evening.. Every one got what they wanted.. atleast to some extent.. The people, BCCI, players, franchise.. I cant help but make this comment.. Even Sreesanth got.. What he really really deserved..

Anyways, Hope you had a nice time watching IPL..

I am happy that Mumbai Indians are back in reckoning

But what was the fun part in the whole evening? Well a number of them.

* From the time we left office, the discussion was which team should we support.. We had no idea about the composition of the team.. Bangalore had the suckiest team combination possible.. Looked like they misunderstood IPL to be a Test Match Tournament.. But that apart, we didnt know whom to support. Everyone wanted to support Bangalore, because we were all in Bangalore. As things started moving the Kolkata way, the team started cheering for Kolkata.

* The first thing we noticed as soon as we entered, was the Golden helmet and Golden Gloves of the Shah Rukh Khan Team. It was indeed very catchy!

* McCullum’s 150 was awesome… This was a great knock.. He single handedly changed the team’s loyalties..

* Another interesting discussion which had was.. Will Dravid and Ganguly Click.. We all were sure that they were incapable of playing great knocks and that indeed turned out to be the case.. But Ganguly atleast bowled well..

* It was very obvious that we switched loyalties from Bangalore to Kolkata.. Infact I expected this to happen.. Thats why, I switched loyalties even before the match had started!! Honestly, I didnt care a damn for the Bangalore team.. There are 2 people whom I admire a lot in this tournament… One is Sachin Tendulkar, and the other is the King Khan.. So my support will always be for Sachins team and Shah Rukh’s team.. I dont care if they own Mumbai or chennai or bangalore..

Apart from all these fun, one thing is for sure.. IPL has started off in a nice way.. It is actually fun to watch these games.. I wont watch IPL regularly, but I believe it has made a big impact.. Thanks to ICL, we see more innovation and investment in the game.. Also, IPL is showing the fact that Geography no longer matters.. I dont care a damn for Bangalore.. I am sure a lot of people are backing their favourite player’s team.. etc..
It is indeed making a difference..

Even after the match we were discussing about the IPL matches and the changing loyalties.. Most of the guys got down at office.. I took the cab and went home.. On the way, the cab driver asked what is the type of work you do.. I told Google is a software company.. And we build softwares.. He asked.. “Oh you do coding work is it?”… What the heck on earth.. Driver asking me “coding work?”.. I was so surprised at his knowledge.. “Yes, we do coding most of the times.. What have u studied?” He told that he is 2nd year Bachelors degree in Info Science.. I asked him when and why did he discontinue studing.. He told that he left his course 3 months back.. He studied in PESIT (one of the top colleges in bangalore).. He has a family problem and cant study anymore.. He also told me “I have to be loyal to my family now and forget about studies..”.. I reached my place… I got down from the cab and said.. “I dont knw what your family problem is, but I think u should finish your education.. I wish you all the best.. Please dont discontinue..” He gave a helpless smile and went away..

But his statement “I have to be loyal to my family now and forget about studies..” left me cold.. I meant, here I was talking about changing loyalties from Bangalore to Mumbai team.. both of which I dont care.. and I was giving global gyaan about loyalties.. And here is this statement.. It means soo much more about loyalty.. It is something which is going to come to my mind every time, I watch an IPL match..

What the heck is Loyalty.. I really dont care who wins IPL now..