IPL defies Recession, Slowdown and the Downturn!

http://www.livemint.com/2009/02/06110832/Pietersen-Flintoff-fetch-reco.html?h=A1

Recession? What is that? Obama may be keen on limiting the top CEO and banker salaries, but hey, he hasnot heard about IPL!

And i thought Vijay Mallya was cash strapped due to losses in Kingfisher operations. His overzealous acquisition of KP suggests his pockets are deeper than thought! Sometimes, i think Mallya is handling more than he can... with Force India, United Breweries, Banglore Royal Challengers, Kingfisher and all! Offhand, i think that the acquisition of KP was funded by the Rs.80000/- per month pay cut of the pilots in Kingfisher Airlines. The break even of Rs.7.75 crores paid by Mallya for KP would happen in less than a year. A small price to convert a test team to T 20 outfit!!

Theres enough and more star power at IPL this time around with Shilpa Shetty joining in the ranks of Preity Zinta, SRK, Katrina Kaif, Riya Sen and Juhi Chawla! The bids have soared through the sky for most of the 17 players who debut in IPL this year. Dhoni stands trounced by KP and Freddie as the top billed player. Interestinly, if i remember it correct, in IPL season 1 it was mainly the pool D,E,F players who provided the batting and bowling goods! Talk of Shaun Marsh? Gautam Gambhir? Shane Watson? So the highest bidded players were not the top draws in terms of results. VVS Laxman? Rahul Dravid? Sachin Tendulkar? Saurav Ganguly?

$1.5 million fee is pittance when you compare it with Messi's fee of $330 million in Spanish League! But well, cricket in its T 20 avatar is looking up steadily! You already have high passions at stake: Remember crying Srishant and Harbhajan's slap? Shane Warne has reported threatened not to play for Jaipur Royals if they shift base to Ahmedabad and Saurav Dada has indicated fitness for a T 20 go!

With the ad rates not so high this time around and companies being under seizure on account of a downturn, it would be interesting to see how much BCCI and Modi net in IPLs second coming! It would be interesting to do a Superbowl versus IPL kind of an analysis (specially now when the chips are down and out!). Watch this space.

WHo knows, India's deliverance from the downturn may be through the exuberrance of a sporting event after all!