IPL 2010:LADY FRANCHISEE CO-OWNERS & THEIR DISRUPTIONS

IPL 2010 has started and once again all eyes are now set on it. The moolah, the glamor and the hype makes the IPL all the very interesting event in itself. IPL is certainly the cynosure of cricketing world and that gives it immense attention. As part of the immense attention and through my curious observation I have noticed an important factor that might just work in favor of any IPL team in turning the things around. Yes, I m serious and I will try to justify my observation as much as possible through a case study.

Ok, now coming to the observation. Few of the franchisee owners sit with their teams in the player's dugout during the IPL match especially Priety Zinta- the Kings XI Punjab's co-owner, and Nita Ambani- the Mumbai Indian's co-owner. Both the ladies are big time cricket crazy fans and their enthusiasm is unmatched to anyone else on the cricket field. Thanks to their so called celebrity quotient that their every reaction is captured by the TV channel along with the real battle between the bat and the ball taking place on the cricket field during the IPL match. As a result, everyone pretty much who is glued to the television set during the IPL match will know how active are our cricket crazy ladies during the match. Yes, they clap, they shout and they do all the things that a crazy cricket fan will do. They both love their teams and support them as no one else do - just like the biggest fan of their IPL teams, but there is a catch!!

In the IPL 2010, it is very much observed from the initial matches that both our super ladies ( Preity & Nita Ambani) sit primarily in the player's dugout along the team and mostly, the team's coach sits just next to them. I m very critical about the fact that the franchisee owners sit in the player's dugout during the IPL match. I think its a very important thing strategically and it may very significantly impact the team's overall performance. It's probably very important to give the space to the team of its own. The reasons- (1) its an all men cricket team and, the atmosphere and the comfort level among the players is definitely disturbed with the presence of the lady in the dugout; (2) there is that men's talk that takes place among the male athletes during their match that is completely thrown out of the window with the presence of the lady; (3) the outburst of lady emotions during the match when its a pressure condition just adds extra pressure on the team members as they can see their owner-ladies right in front of their eyes; (4) since, both the ladies are pretty much new to the game and are cricket enthusiasts, they discuss all the minute details of the game with the coach or the players during the course of the match, which could be really annoying as it may just cause the collapse in their concentrations; (5) there is a worst case possibility that in the dugouts when the owners sit besides the player with whom they share greater camaraderie, it may cause tiff among the team on the lines of politics and favoritism; and (6) last reason is very obvious that when the pretty lady like Preity Zinta sits in the player's dugout it's very human of the male team members to lose focus of the match. So, my conclusion with this case study will be to leave the team alone in the dugouts during the match and let them completely focus on the game. At the maximum if our franchisee owners want to meet their team they can come for few minutes  during the match and let the coaching staff take care of everything else. I m sure it will only reap better results for the IPL teams.

P.S. This case study is purely my opinion only. I love the enthusiasm of lady IPL franchisee owners especially Priety Zinta, she is live-wire, but I also want to see Kings XI Punjab win and for that matter Mumbai Indians as well.