"So the IPL kicks of today", muttered my buddy, kabhi bhee,(KB for short) in barely audible tone. Slouched comfortably in the armchair,over his second cup of morning tea, the newspaper almost blanking him from view it was a statement made as if he had read a news article that had eluded most of us, a statement, meant  to elicit a reply, 'oh really'?? 'wow' !! ' I didn't expert it to start so soon', but all he received from me was an  affiramitive 'mmmh'. 

 To the uninitiated, not knowing about the IPL cricket matches starting  in India is akin to a Scotsman not knowing what scotch whiskey is, as on the lips of every India are not just the teams playing, but all that need to be known about captain's and coaches, players and promoters, venues and locations..... et al !! Being Indian and not knowing about Cricket is sacrilege, and I choose my words carefully in the animated discussions on this national sport, hoping not to make an insensitive remark, or ruffle any feathers on team loyalties. The Indian audience and fan following of cricket has grown by leaps and bounds, and no other sport has come to engross the nation as much as this 11 man combination has. 11 men and 1.1 billion views, each one has a view on cricket, and each one claims it as if he's the last word in the sport !

This season's revitalized interest in the 20/20 format IPL has stemmed from the euphoric ICC world cup win just a few days ago, leaving a nation drunk with success, a reason to celebrate after a long time. Now the masochistic India has come to imagine they have a divine right to rule over cricket ( read win all tournaments/ matches).

And not without reason with 1.25 billion Indians and the extreme focus this sport receives, it should be possible to nurture a talent base best in the world. A kaptain Kool Dhoni and Koach Kirsten have demonstrated, clear focus of objectives, and relentless hard work to achieve the objectives gets positive results, and a revitalised team with no individual agendas an unswerving team spirit can win the day.

Can India learn a lesson from team India? Can IPL further the cause of cricket in India? Is India the new cricket hub of th world? The answer to all three questions is a resounding yes, and to debate the matter, please send in your comments to create a new conversation.

"Let's go stack up for the game" said KB "we're out of chips an the Cola's need replenishment" Here we go again, I thought silently to myself, another calorie filled evening, with a whole season to come. Long live cricket in its various avtars, what would TV viewing be without cricket ?