IPL - one distasteful eyesore of a circus

Apart from an increasing lack of close and exciting matches, IPL clearly stood out for me in terms of the assortment of varied colors that it exhibits. And to be frank, they are hardly soothing. On the contrary, they are an eyesore, if you have managed to watch too many matches like me.

Well, to begin with, you just pity the owners at their lack of creativity and choice of names. All the teams are either kings or royals. OK, so we get it, India was once a princely state and ruled by all sorts of rajahs. But, wasn't it why we were so vulnerable to the invading forces like the East India Company? Thats one heritage i don't find worth celebrating. But it gets worse, with names like Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils. Let me not even get started on the KKR.

Once you get past the apparent stupidity of names, comes the dresses. The jerseys with bright colored, shouting logos. One huge one at the back, another even bigger at the front. Couple on one arm and another one on the other. Ditto with the pants. The logos are anything but color co ordinated and look like the work of a colorblind maniac.

Thats not all, far from it. The beautifully mowed ground is scarred by big imposing logos of at least a hundred companies. As the camera pans out to show you the outfield, in the background (or the foreground), all you see are these 3D logos and you can't help but sigh in agony.

I know its a commercial venture and money has to be squeezed out of it but you can't put off the viewers. Or maybe you can. I long for the virgin whites in the cricket match with no embellishments on the grounds. I yearn for simpler days. I miss test cricket.