The 11th edition of the grandest T20 cricket tournament in the world begins this Saturday at the Wankhede stadium, Mumbai. The first match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings will be preceded by an opening ceremony that will officially start the cricket carnival. One of the acts in that opening ceremony will be the signing of the ‘spirit of cricket’ pledge by all the team captains.
As earlier confirmed by the IPL governing council, the pledge signing ceremony will not be performed live instead its footage will be telecasted. This allows all the captains to be present with their teams ahead of the opening match. The signing of the Spirit of Cricket pledge will take place at the Trident Hotel in Mumbai on 6th of April.
The Indian Premier League has faced many controversies in past years regarding the violation of the spirit of cricket. The notion of Spirit of cricket encompasses many factors such the on-field and off-field attitude of the players. BCCI is trying its best to ensure the spirit is something that is not compromised in any case.
The best recent example is that of the tainted Australian players. Australian Test captain Steven Smith and vice-captain David Warner were both handed one-year ban by Cricket Australia for committing ball tampering in the third Test against South Africa at Newlands. The BCCI banned both the players from playing in the IPL to ensure its consistent stance on such issues.
Indian cricket board has regularly taken stern steps towards corrupt behavior. Three Rajasthan Royals players who were found involved in the spot-fixing controversy were banned for a lifetime and are not allowed to play in any BCCI-run competition.
The IPL is also the only t20 league in the world to have an award for fair-play. Each team is awarded fair-play points by the referees and umpires after the match based on their on-field conduct. The points are accumulated throughout the season and the team with the highest tally wins the award. This encourages the players to behave themselves and helps in reducing the cases on-field dissent.
There is no doubt that in the cricket-crazy nation, the cricketers are the role-models for youngsters and kids. The IPL is keenly watched by all the factions and with more cameras than ever, every action of every player will be under scrutiny. The onus now relies on the cricketers to play the gentleman’s game in the right spirit.
