PSL & IPL Aftermath 2018

The IPL got over early in June after almost a month and a half of cricket frenzy. IPL will be liked by many, disliked by the purists; but there is no doubt that it has changed the course of the game forever. Like any change, the IPL comes with its pros and cons.
Pros

1. Cricket as a Career: Sports has never been a career choice for majority of the Indians unless they are super talented, and cricket is no exception. Bar the top 16 who found their way into the National team, the remaining hundreds struggled for a decent living. The IPL ensures that the select 16 are no more the ones who make all the money. In the current IPL at least 100 Indian cricketers made money. With more IPL versions, the number of teams is sure to increase and I foresee a B division of IPL as well in the near future. This ensures that youngsters in India can look at cricket as a serious career option even if they do not make the select 16 of the Indian team.
2. New Talent on display: IPL serves as a great platform for youngsters and out of favor cricketers to showcase their talent and stake a claim to the Indian team. Typical success stories include Yusuf Pathan and Manpreet Gony. Also a part of the list are the Asnodkars, the Shikhar Dhawans, the Abishek Nairs, the Amit Sharmas and their likes. Good performances in the IPL provide good leverage to these cricketers, which was hard in the pre IPL days where the domestic matches suffered from low viewership.
3. Shortened format: The shortened T20 format is not an IPL innovation per se, but the IPL has used it as its core value prop for the non hard core cricketing fraternity. Families, Ladies, even House Wives now watch the game that was earlier viewed as the hardcore fanzone. This increases the spread of the game and has added the fun aspect to it.

Cons

1. Commercialization of Cricket: Cheerleaders, Franchises, Sponsors, Bidding of cricketers; like every sport, cricket is now a victim of commercialization. The purists will strongly detest the way the game has been scarred permanently. But sadly, the purists are few and the majority have loved the so-called commercialization; leaving the purists, a dejected lot. Its the same in all fields, be it Theatre, Arts, Media, Soaps; the purists suffer everywhere and so be it with cricket.
2. Regional loyalties vs Country Loyalties: The entire IPL success hinges on how much regional loyalty it can generate among the people in the long run. After a few initial IPLs, people will stick to their teams and if the IPL is not able to generate interest, people will move away from it. It is the loyalty that makes people watch Team India or their favorite clubs in the English Premier League or the NBA. To cite an example, I was supporting Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Mumbai Indians played 4 close matches which were decided in the last ball\over of the match. I survived those, but if India had played those 4 matches in such a short span, I surely would have needed an appointment with a Heart Specialist. This is what IPL has to strive for.
3. Heavy Workload on Cricketers: The current format of IPL is too demanding for the cricketers and will not be sustainable in the long run. This could lead to exhaustion, injuries and shortened career spans. The only solution is to lengthen the IPL time frame that then conflicts with the International Calender, leading us to the next important point.
4. Will it kill International Cricket: I would say yes in the long run. Looking at examples from European football, where footballers retire from International arena but still continue playing for the clubs, it seems highly probable that the same will happen with cricket. Cricketers outside of India earn more than 10 times from IPL that they get from International cricket. So why wouldn't they elongate their club career at the expense of their country. We can talk about patriotism but that is just good for talks but not in reality. Right now the IPL is searching for some space between the jam packed International schedule, but I foresee International Cricket looking for a space left by the IPL calendar in subsequent years.

IPL has changed cricket forever, be it good or bad. I am a purist and still a fan of International cricket that has given be great memories. But I see future generations remembering the city heroics rather than the country heroics. What do you think?