IPL - The way things are shaping up

Indian Premier League (IPL) - the much hyped up T20 league has got off to a huge start. Going by what happened on the opening day of this series, the amount of publicity and positive response garnered from the general public was very high. The TRP ratings for SET Max hit the roof and broke all previous records for cricket.(Link) Though the crowds in the stadium thinned down for the Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings, the subsequent matches witnessed pretty good crowds.

Some thoughts...

Matchwinners

As of now it's been batsmen all the way. Before this series started, my friend Robin was saying that a "team would be as strong as the weakest link" and I agreed with him. Little did I realise the irony of this statement then. For, it was the bowling department which was as strong as the weakest link. Batsmen can easily go after one or two bowlers and get high scores. On the other hand, the batting department shone as brightly as the brightest star batsman of the day. A look at the man of the match (MoM) awards will glaringly reveal this fact. One out of the past seven matches featured a bowler getting the MoM award - Mahroof in Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals. A batsman's contribution gets more highlight than a bowler's contribution. Case in point: Shane Watson's 76 n.o. was judged to be better than Shane Warne's 3-19 in Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab. Though it might seem too early to reach these conclusions based on just seven matches, these results are an indicator for the way things will shape up.

Team Loyalty

It's way too early to expect die hard supporters for each team. The stadium still has people sporting the Indian tricolours during the matches. It will definitely take some time to witness fan loyalty for the teams on the lines of English Premier League. There will be a spark which will light up the flames of passion and create rivalries. But it's still early days for that.

Scheduling and Competition

If IPL becomes a success, other cricket boards would want to start their respective domestic leagues.

There will come a time when these league matches will become more popular and better money spinners than international matches. One day matches will become passé but test matches will stay. Soon cricket will become a global game, as envisaged by ICC.

Enough of dreams, wake up to the reality! The only thing I expect to happen in the medium term is the huge scramble for the best talented players from each country. As long as this format doesn't seep to the lowest leagues with every level being professionally managed the above words would only be words.

Related Links

Team	Official Site	Fan Sites
Indian Premier League	http://iplt20.com/	http://ipl-fan-club.com/ http://www.indianpremiercricketleague.com/ http://crazyipl.com/ http://www.cricketpremierleague.in/
Bangalore Royal Challengers	http://www.royalchallengers.com/	http://www.rcfanclub.com/
Chennai Super Kings	http://www.chennaisuperkings.com/	http://chennaisuperkings.blogspot.com/
Deccan Chargers	http://www.deccanchargers.com/	http://www.deccanchargersfans.com/
Delhi Daredevils	http://delhidaredevils.com/	-
Kings XI Punjab	http://www.kingsxipunjab.com/	-
Kolkata Knight Riders	http://www.kolkataknightriders.com/	http://www.kolkataknightriderssrk.com/
Mumbai Indians	http://www.themumbaiindians.com/	-
Rajasthan Royals	http://www.rajasthanroyals.com/	-

PS: Any addition to this list is welcome.

Reverse Outsourcing

The recent news about TCS opening a 1000-seat centre in Ohio, US was the focus of a lot of attention - primarily because this showcases how an industry which is always seen as the reason for jobs moving away from US, is now creating jobs in US. This is a strategy which would be followed not only by TCS but also by other Indian IT giants such as Infosys and Wipro. Traditionally, the whole Indian IT services industry was built around the lower labour cost and the perfect time zone match between India and US that helps in round-the-clock development cycle.
So, how does such a move make sense?

• By moving the primary software development centre to the client's country, it becomes easier to interface with the clients. Under the existing scenario, most of the on-site work gets done with the vendor's employees working on the client site. This move will help vendor companies to build a critical mass of employees near client, which will make servicing the clients easier.
• Hiring local talent helps remove the headache of moving people from low-wage countries to on-site. With H1B visa restrictions, the extreme talent crunch faced in countries like India and the vanishing labour cost arbitrage, it makes better sense to bring in local talent. This also improves the companies' goodwill in the eyes of the US and other developed countries' public.
• The recession in US is forcing companies to cut their IT and Systems costs. Since IT doesn't form the core competency of any non-IT company, the best move for them is to outsource to the experts. For companies reluctant to let their data move out of their home country, a near-client facility would be the next best solution.

The time is ripe for Indian IT companies to shed their image of a low cost service provider and move on to become a multinational organisation, not limited by the dynamics in India. The current US recession is a potential springboard to move to the next level of providing IT services.
TCS Press Release
ET Article

bCheck's apps

bCheck is a pretty cool site with a small set of tiny applications, some of which are quite useful. Two of them which I found very useful:

Purrint

Purrint gives the additional functionality which we always have felt to be lacking in the 'Print Screen' button. With this application, one can choose to save to a file, 'print' the screen or just copy to clipboard.

Capster

This application provides the option to run an application at Windows startup with the help of Caps Lock key. One immediate use I can see for this functionality is to start my Thunderbird and FeedDemon at start up using Caps Lock when I am connected to the internet, and not start them when I am working offline.

Courtesy: Lifehacker

Bridge to Terabithia

In a season where I am watching more and more animated movies, Bridge to Terabithia came in as an extra sweetener. Simply put, this is a children fantasy movie which explores the wide array of emotions a boy goes through when turning from a kid to a teenager - a time when he is still amazed by the childhood fantasies he sees in even small things and at the same time goes through a change in emotions he displays to the people around him.

The vivid imaginations portrayed in the movie are so delightful that one gets easily transformed to the childhood days when each of us held different fantasies. But what makes this movie truly special is the mix of the real and the imaginary world that it tries to portray, and is quite successful at it.

Google Talk Chatback Badge

Here is yet another cool application from Google. As always, Google is very good at making innovations at micro level but which has a significant impact on its users. Google Talk Chatback Badge is one such. Pretty useful for guest users to chat with blog authors without using their Gtalk id. You can find my badge in the right column just below the logo.

To create one for yourself, click here.

It would be good if Google can go ahead and include the chat history from these chats and make it available in Gmail (as they are doing now for normal Gtalk chats).