It was one of the most thrilling matches so far in the IPL and the Mumbai crowd certainly had their moneys worth.A last ball,last wicket runout and a game perfectly scripted for T20 that went down till the wire, ending up with the Kings Punjab eventually winning, who looked defeated until Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal.For Mumbai Indians it wasn't a game they deserved to lose considering the stiff competition on the top of the league table sans the Rajasthan Royals.
While the over 20,000 Wankhede crowd had reasons to feel let down, throughout the match the support for the hometeam was unconditional not to mention that it was thoroughly onesided, booing the Punjab players.At the post match presentation Yuvraj Singh made his displesure evident indicating the "crowd was partial" and that the guests had a host of players like himself, Sreesanth and others who represent the country and deserved to be appreciated.This wasn't the first of its kind though.The IPL has already been witness to similar instances when Rahul Dravid was surprised on not being lauded after scoring a boundary in Mumbai and Sehwag literally begging for an applause in Hyderabad.
While Yuvraj might have made his intentions clear like Sehwag and Dravid did earlier, these were clearly signs of what the IPL had in the offing to which the Mumbai fans would testify to.The Punjab captain's complaint for once defies logic, certainly the IPL logic.Wasn't this expected when IPL started on similar lines as the EPL(English Premier League) - Growing city based loyalties? As for the debates surrounding the IPL in terms of the fans apprehenson towards supporting their favourite stars or the city based franchise, the match against Punjab and Mumbai was testimonial to what the future holds for IPL in terms of the fan's loyalty.
Scenes like these are a new experience to the cricketers who otherwise witness great support when representing the country.But soon they would also need to realise that the league has a flavour of its own or one which is expected to build over the coming years and that the players not being appreciated playing away from home should not be a cause for concern.On the contrary the franchise owners would be smiling all the way for it has provided them with better opportunities to reach out to its niche audience and reap greater returns on their huge investments.
Afterall how often do we see a Steven Gerrard or a Lampard booed by the "English fans" at the Theatre of Dreams in the English premier league who otherwise get exceptional fan support playing at the Euro2008 or a Christiano Ronaldo welcomed back at Manchester United after a verbal dual with Wayne Rooney at the 2006Worldcup.The IPL fan loyalty will take its time to be as definitive as the EPL or a champions league.With such a dream start to its maiden venture the IPL slowly and steadily has all the makings to catch up with the best in the world.
Cheers,
Karthik.
