Somerset refuse to play nicely
Lalit Modi had probably never heard of Alfonso Thomas before tonight. Now that the IPL teams are 0-3 in the Champions League he certainly has.
The IPL, is a sleaze-filled, dripping with liquid money fake-fest. There is so much money involved that it is actually cheap. The Champions League was supposed to be that too. It was IPL teams along with 9 makeweights to pad out the fixtures and shut Giles Clarke up. Then, along came Alfonso Thomas to rock Lalit’s world.
Suddenly we find that Somerset, with their Kolpaks and their journeymen (plus Tresco and Langer) are better than the IPL’s finest, featuring Gilchrist, Laxman, Symonds, Edwards et al. By beating the Chargers (Deccan, not San Diego), they may even have breached their contract for this competition.
Now all three IPL teams have lost their first matches, the best innings so far has been played by a little known South African (Puttick of Cape Cobras) and Peter Trego is too good a bowler for Laxman and Symonds.
The actual results have given the tournament a soul where it was supposed to be only a product. And it’s only been three days. The opening match was supposed to be a cake-walk for Bangalore, especially when they racked up 180-4, everyone having forgotten that JP Duminy knows which end of the bat to hold.
That didn’t matter because BRC were the weaker of the IPL teams. Delhi Daredevils had Gambhir, Sehwag, Dilshan. They manage to scrape together 98-8 and lose by 7 wickets to Victoria. The Somerset win is even more remarkable.
This is good for the global value of the tournament because it will raise interest in South Africa, Australia and England. But it is bad for Lalit Modi because India is his target market, and India will demand an IPL tour-de-force.
That’s another reason why it’s good for the rest of the world.
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