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Q: All these years, one wondered whether there were enough emotions for the IPL teams like you have in the global football leagues. We now see it happening, albeit in a negative way, given the reception that the Mumbai skipper is receiving. What say?
A: I presume you are referring to the passion of EPL. If it is so, there is no comparison with the passion of IPL.
IMHO, the passion of spectators of IPL is dominantly towards a game or an individual (specially iconic captains or players). I am referring to a three-hour spectacle with all the ups and downs as it happens in a film. When I talk about individuals, I can think of only three individuals who dominate the excitement of the audience viz MSD, RS and VK. Now, none of them are captains of a franchise but they evoke emotional response whenever they walk into any of the matches. The current behaviour of the fans for Rohit Sharma js because he is no longer captain of MI. Fans are not generally logical. Their response to a specific situation is generally emotional. The kind of response MSD gets when he walks for batting, all over the country, is beyond imagination. He doesn’t have a scoring track record like RS or VK. I doubt MSD’s successor would earn a similar response in the near future. Again, the same is true for RS, of course the recent episode at MI has earned him the passion for a fall guy. The spectators are now fighting for an alleged injustice to him. His brand pull appears to have gone up due to this event.
Now, both MSD and RS have won five IPL trophies for their respective teams. On the other hand, Vk’s team never won an IPL trophy yet his personal charisma is more than the team , as I perceive.