Cricket-loving Indians across the globe are ecstatic about the latest and greatest tournament under the Indian Premier League (IPL). This humongous extravaganza combines the glamour of Bollywood with the fanatic following of cricket among Indians across the world. The Twenty20 matches are as long as a Bollywood film and - hopefully - just as exciting. No wonder it has been dubbed as "Cricketainment".
The billion-dollar tournament between eight Indian city clubs borrows from British football clubs and American basketball championships. Middle-aged NRIs in the United States who grew up in India and always missed cricket excitement can now relish this new avatar of the game on slick lines. They can watch the action for three or four hours without losing sleep for the entire night as for one-day and three-day matches. Says Sameeer 'Sam' Khanna from New Jersey, "I missed cricket action here; and my kids have grown up without enjoying cricket action. Now with these Bollywood stars, they can be attracted to cricket."
British NRIs have always had a good and healthy dose of cricket in their country of adoption. But British cricket players have not been allowed to play in IPL to rake in high fees like football players. Cricket is declining in Britain due to the lacklustre performance of its national team, said Rajinder 'Ricky' Syal of Birmingham. As an avid cricket fan, he welcomes IPL as the next big thing in the evolution of the game and hopes that his favourite British cricket stars will be allowed in IPL in the near future.
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Indians world over excited by new 'cricketainment'?
Indians world over excited by new 'cricketainment'?
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