IPL = Kayfabe

Web definition of kayfabe is: "In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as 'real'."

IPL is increasingly looking like the professional wrestling world WWE. The organizers of the IPL just like the WWE would like you to believe that all the drama, all the high tension performances seen on the field is real, all the decisions are made as per the standards of the so called gentleman's game. The results are not premeditated, the matches or not fixed and above all the game is clean. Yeah!!!! Right!!!!!!!

I for one am a skeptic. Call me cynical or what ever epithet that exists in your vocabulary, the fact remains that the IPL is more of a stage managed event like a WWE production than an honest game of cricket. Don't believe me lets take a look at what happened in IPL 5:

1. Backdoor Entry: CSK qualified for the playoffs by the back door. I don't believe that a team with the batting pedigree of RCB could lose to DC who have just one good bowler in their side - Dale Steyn. CSK is all but out when suddenly the team owned by BCCI President N. Srinivasan (Mr. McMahon of the IPL) makes it to the the eliminators on net run rate. Surprise Surprise... I bet nobody saw this coming.... huh??
2. MI v CSK:  MI is a team which has always done well while batting first. They are not so good chasers. Inexplicably Harbhajan Singh wins the toss and decides to chase straight away giving the advantage to CSK. Dhawal Kulkarni manages to strike early blows for MI. CSK look like getting out for a paltry score, in walks Captain Midas Dhoni and CSK put up a good score. In reply MI's batsmen self-destruct getting out to silly shots under the pressure of chasing a high score. Hmm... When your strength is batting why in the hell would you make it your Achilles heel by putting it under pressure defying logic and common sense??? Its a question which only Harbhajan Singh can answer.
3. Against all odds CSK have qualified for the Eliminator Match (good for them. bad for cricket). "A team which had been written off has peaked at the right time" so say the commentators. Really!!! Why is it that this happens only with CSK and not any other team in the league?? 
4. DD v KKR: It could be said that KKR played well and DD did not have a good day at the office.Fair enough. Lets just say I am willing to believe that this game was not rigged and KKR won fairly. But there are still a few things which looked suspicious like for instance Ross Taylor being held back and all the 2nd grade batsmen going out before him; when the pressure was on during chasing. Now why would you hold back a strong batsman who can chase big scores and chase well under pressure until the last possible moment when he has no option but to commit harakiri? Anybody see a pattern emerging.
5. CSK v DD: This game was an insult to the collective intelligence of the  entire populace. I'm supposed to believe that Virender Sehwag won the toss and wanted to bowl because he has the best bowling attack of the league? Assuming I agree with Sehwag, can someone please justify benching of their best bowler of the series so far in such a crucial game? Can somebody please explain the logic behind batting first on a batting pitch without having your best bowler in your ranks? I mean come-on; kids playing gully cricket strategize better than those in DD think tank. The result: CSK belted the bowlers to all parts of the ground led by Mr. Flop Show Murali Vijay and setup an imposing score which naturally DD were not able to chase. CSK (N. Srinivasan' s team) are in their 4th final.

Wow what consistency. The only team to have made to the semi-finals of all editions of the IPL and to the finals on 3 occasions before this one. Now before the doubting Thomases out in the public start venting; let me bring their attention to a couple of more points concerning the IPL

1. The Eliminator and Final are being held at Chennai. Now assuming Chennai does not make to the final how many people do you think will be going to watch the final? In the current economy with the government gifting the public with price rise on every occasion how many people do you think will be buying the tickets if the home team is not playing? Lets just be honest here. I guess half the stadium excluding the 12500 seats constructed anew would have been empty. Curiously the 12500 seats were made available to the general public once the CSK qualified for the eliminator after beating MI. India is notorious for court cases outlasting the petitioners, so how did this matter get cleared in such a short span??
2. IPL was being hounded by allegations of spot fixing, players being paid more than what's regulated, matches being investigated for fixing and so on... Now this is something which had the potential to land the IPL in trouble, suddenly you have case of an IPL player being accused of molesting a women and another instance of two players being caught in a raid by the police on a rave party. Naturally the media goes gaga over the two incidents with everybody and their dog pitching in their two cents on the cases. In this furor the spotlight is moved away from dangerous topics like fixing, spot fixing, scams to popular but safe topics like molestation, rave party etc. The verdict: the player in the molestation case is safe after the case being settled out of court with the dropping of all charges and the rave party case against the players is also being dropped by the police. 
3. IPL also does not like constructive criticism much like Vince McMahon of WWE. Anytime somebody criticizes the IPL and BCCI, the effect is immediate, the BCCI drops your name from the list of players receiving a one time cash award from it. The cash award scheme is a carrot and stick method. The cash award is the carrot to keep the players interested and also stick enough to keep them under control. Take the case of poor Kirti Azad, asking the wrong sort of questions (as per the BCCI sycophants) about the IPL got his name dropped from the list of honorees this year. So too is Kapil Dev who has been blacklisted for publicly backing the rival ICL from where the concept of IPL was stolen and for not apologizing to the BCCI.

With all this shenanigans happening on and off the field tell me why should a person spend his hard earned money on this kayfabe being marketed as real? The WWE attracts lots of crowd and people throng to watch the matches but at least they know that the incidents are stage managed and scripted. IPL is run along the same lines as WWE but the difference is the scripted is being marketed as real to the gullible cricket loving public of India.

I agree IPL = Entertainment, but then market it as a "kayfabe" sports entertainment show rather than an actual cricket tournament. Leave that to those playing cricket at the international and domestic level (County, domestic leagues, tests, ODI & an occasional T20 too).