Ok – if you started to think of this as another blog on the Indian Premier League, I’ve got you stumped! By IPL, I meant Indian Political League this time!  But to give you and the way you think some credit, let me be fair – I will have some references to the cricket IPL as well, so it wasn’t as bad in the end eh!

I’ve had a lot of fun watching both these leagues unfold over the last few months. If the ride up to these events was fun, the actual events and the end result was very heartening to see indeed. Here is my take on five big lessons learnt from these leagues:

1. Planning & execution is the key to success:

The Congress pulled off a few rabbits off their hat. Sweeping the polls in states that have never been their bastion, the Congress clearly showed that planning and executing well is the key to success. The cricket league had something pretty similar to showcase too. Teams ranked 7 and 8 in the inaugural edition of the IPL played the finals and it was ironic enough that the tables turned and turned literally. The team that finished last a year ago was the winner. Gilly, the man behind this turn around has in interviews revealed the secret of this turn around – Some good planning, learning from mistakes and some smart execution.

2. There’s no place for “Left” overs:

The Left, a major opponent of development was ousted. In what I believe is a fitting message for them to change and embrace development, the Indian electorate showed that we want to move on. In subsequent interviews, the leaders of the Left, snorting under the message they received said that their party was out of touch with the ground reality! WOW! Did it need Einstein to figure this out?

Wasn’t Somnath Chatterjee saying the same thing a while ago? The story wasn’t different in the cricket league  either – Ganguly, the Lord who can’t field, run or bat was a poor shadow of himself. Being a passenger on the slow moving good train that was KKR, he for sure played his last ever game. Should I say I was fortunate enough to see him play his last? . Laxman, the rock star of test cricket and a spectator in T20 was asked to go home mid-way with the champion side. He was rusty to say the best and played his part “motivating” the team on the benches for a large part of the second half!

3. Charge of the “Youth” brigade:

While old is not necessarily out, youth for sure is in. From Rahul Gandhi to all those young chaps who’ve become members of Parliament, this is a new beginning. There’s for a moment no discounting the old hands here – but the guy’s who actually made it through are the finest and probably the fittest. While I’d love to believe that it’s the case always, there are a few exceptions too right?

How else can you explain an 81 year old with prime ministerial aspirations running the race and winning too? The sane can be said if a former Finance minister who won by the skin of his teeth – there’s a sect of people that believe he didn’t but, is controversy ever away from Indian politics? With the cricket, the Suresh Raina’s and the Rohit Sharma’s continue to impress driving home the fact that Indian cricket is in safe hands. If that wasn’t enough, the emergence of Kamran Khan and Manish Pandey is more testimony to this fact. Welcome to the future – the big turn is just around the corner

4. Failure is an orphan:

From being the toast of Indian cricket ( I still believe he is), MSD wasn’t a part of the dream team that the Chairman of selectors put together. At the expense of stating the obvious, I find it ridiculous that a semi final loss actually had such a steep fall for poor MS. Don’t worry MS – you hold all the keys with your young guns – this is a freaking domestic league at the end of it. Don’t let these distractions take anything away from you.. we need you and nee you in full flow for the other big things coming up. These spineless souls will soon be singing your praises! On the political side, the queen makers if you will, had such a fall. From being courted, wined and dined, they were all dropped like hot potatoes (don’t tell me they look like one now please!) from the moment the lead results started to come out. So much for loyalties and alliances eh!

5. Don’t burn bridges, especially by wagging your tongue:

The cake goes to out former Railway minister. After having a good 5 yrs at the helm, he fell apart with the leadership and went on record to say that the Congress will not win more than 3 seats in Bihar. He didn’t stop there, going on to criticize Sonia and the party that he has been associated with for a good 5 yrs. Guess what happened? Our friend won just 3 seats instead and had to eat humble pie – but to his credit, he came out and said he made a mistake! He went to Delhi with his tail between his legs saying I will provide my unconditional support! What does 3 mean when someone already has 300+ mate? What happened on the cricket?

The war of words on the proposed multi captain theory had its share of fallouts – While people love to talk and comment, this war broke an already divided house into pieces of garlic bread that everyone was content to just eat! From being the butt of all jokes to finishing last on the table, they saw it all. The extent of the damage that these talk have done is still being estimated ( hopefully, Fake IPL players predictions on changes to this team will seal it). The piece I loved the most was a commentator on TV saying, forget winning here – I understand… but look at the fair play awards list, KKR are last here too!! I can tell you one thing for a fact – this commentator has no role to play in any future KKR team. Will he want to is a different question though!

With these leagues over, I realize that my evenings are never going to be the same again. TV shows will be back in vogue – but what the hell, the cricket is just around the corner you see!

Image Credit: Tom@HK

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