The IPL season will be here soon and all the franchise owners, players, and fans are waiting for it with a lot of anticipation. The Indian Premier League is nothing short of a grand cricket carnival, an entertainment extravaganza, which everyone looks forward to every year.

While the fans wait to watch their favorite cricketers, the cricketers themselves look forward to playing alongside some of the greats of the game.

Betway recently spoke to Kevin Pietersen about his IPL experience, in which he has made some very interesting observations while describing the league as spectacular, gripping, and captivating.

Pietersen started his IPL stint in 2009 with the Royal Challengers Bangalore and even captained them, a team that included stalwarts like Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, Chris Gayle, and Virender Sehwag.

In the later part of his career he moved to Delhi Daredevils, now known as the Delhi Capitals.

KP has scored 1,001 runs in 36 IPL matches at an average of 35.8 and a strike rate of 134.7 with a highest score of 103.

At one point he was the most expensive player bought at the IPL auction.

Speaking to Betway about his IPL experience, KP reminisced about the interaction with other greats, the pressure, team spirit, captaincy, and what it means to play and watch cricket in India.



He says that he always wanted to be part of the IPL because as a professional one should not be behind the pacemakers of the game, and back in 2008-2009 the pacemaker was the Indian Premier League.

"One could learn from the greats of the game. How they practiced, how they spoke, how they approached the game, how they conducted themselves in team meetings, how meticulous they were in their preparation, how they trained, how they padded up ..."

Hearing KP say this shows the admiration he has for the IPL and what it means for players around the world.

He also spoke about the pressure that the IPL brings on, just due to the fact that franchise owners have invested their millions on a player, which brings with it added responsibility.

The pressure of playing internationals is quite different from the pressure associated with the IPL according to KP. He provides quite an intriguing example and speaks about the difference between walking out to bat at Lord's and walking out to bat for your IPL franchise.

The announcer at Lord's would say "coming out to bat is England's number 4 Kevin Pietersen".

The announcer at the Wankhede or Ferozshah Kotla would say "coming out to bat is the world's most expensive buy in the IPL auction" and with it there will be banging music and fans jumping and shouting in the stands.

Pietersen's most interesting reveals were about his experience of playing with other stars like Virender Sehwag and a young Virat Kohli when he was just starting out.

About Sehwag, he loved his careless free spirit and how he used to sing while bowlers ran up to bowl and then whack them all over the park. KP calls him a superstar and says some his most fun experiences in the cricket field were with Sehwag.

He goes on to talk about how he always knew that Kohli was destined for greatness because of his sheer determination to be the best possible player he could be, because of how he approached the game, how he learnt, how he was always determined to get his team over the line.

KP talks about this incredible friendship he shares with Kohli despite him being a lot senior, while sharing a few stories about making fun of Kohli's chubbiness in his early days.

He signs off by talking about how huge cricket in general and the IPL in specific is in India.

"Nothing compares to the IPL in India. There is nothing more spectacular, gripping, and captivating. There is no better entertainment than watching cricket in a packed Indian stadium"

Hearing the crowd cheering when Dhoni walks out to bat, or watching those partnerships between Kohli and AB De Villiers, according to KP, there is nothing like it in this sport.

It sure is a full entertainment package and the way KP describes it in his talk with Betway, I can only wonder what it would be like to be a part of this extravaganza as a pure spectator.

Indian Premier League (IPL), a carnival of cricket, brings together cricketers from around the world to exhibit their talent for hefty moolah. The non-stop, action-packed event spanning over one-and-half months springs many a surprise - at times intense soft on other, but always exciting, energetic and entertaining.

Potential Show Stealers

Teams that can go over the line

A lot has been said about the sort of bids that Ben Stokes and Tymal Mills attracted at the recently held IPL auction.

Stokes was bought by Rising Pune Supergiants (and who came up with that name?) for US$ 2.16 million, the highest bid ever made for a non-Indian player at the IPL, and the highest bid ever for any player after Virat Kohli.

Great for him. Really, for Stokes this is one hell of a deal. He is a wonderful cricketer no doubt. He has just been made Vice Captain of England and he is definitely one of their star performers in Tests and ODIs.

But he has an extremely poor T20 record; international and otherwise.

He averages under 15 with the bat in T20 Internationals. He has a highest score of 38 in 18 innings. Not a single 50.

In 68 domestic T20 innings, he has crossed fifty 5 times.

His strike rate is in the mid 130s, but then that is just about average for a T20 performer.

So what got him this huge pay cheque?

His bowling?

Ha! He's the same bowler who got hit for 4 consecutive sixes in the final over of the World T20 final by Carlos Remember the Name Brathwaite. He lost that cup for England.

And that was not a one off.

Ben Stokes is among the 10 bowlers with the worst ever economy rate and worst ever average in the history of T20 Internationals !!!



Yet Rising Pune Supergiants dished out over 2 million dollars for him.

Just wow.

Now we come to Tymal Mills.

Have you even heard of him?

He has played 4 T20 Internationals for England, where he averaged 40 with the ball. More recently, he has turned out for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League, who bought him for US$ 70,000.

And you know what Royal Challengers Bangalore paid for him?

US$ 1.8 million ! The highest ever paid for a specialist bowler.

Unbelievable!

Thora paisa mujhe bhi dedo yaar... I can promise a better effort with the ball than either, 100%.

Six years ago when the IPL was first established, it was like a dream come true. It was the world's best cricketers and the world's biggest stars coming together, it was cricket and bollywood entertainment combined into one extravagant package.

For a fan like me, it didn't get better than that. It was entertainment at its best.

For the first time this year, IPL came to my town. It came to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah, the place I grew up watching India vs Pakistan matches.

Thanks to a friend, I got my hands on two passes for the Super Saturday IPL matches: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab.

It was going to be a day where I could watch Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Jacques Kallis, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and the big show Glenn Maxwell live in action!

And then there was the prospect of Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, and Shilpa Shetty being there.

The cricket itself was quite boring. The Royal Challengers were bowled out for 70 odd and Rajasthan Royals took their sweet time to get there. Punjab were bowled out for 133 and KKR could manage only 109. I saw only half a dozen sixes being hit throughout the day, and the highest score by a batsman was 37 by Sehwag. Maxwell, Kohli, Watson, Kallis... no one got going.

Despite that, there was ample entertainment on display. One can never be bored at an IPL game, that is for sure. Here are some highlights of my first day at the IPL:

1. Vijay Mallya's box was right behind where we were seated, while Shilpa Shetty was seated a few boxes away. Between the two innings, Shilpa Shetty paid Mallya a visit, and the crowd around us went ballistic. They merrily clicked away as the security had a tough time controlling people standing at the edge of Mallya's box.

2. Once the first match ended, the Punjab and KKR teams took to the field for some drills as the presentation was ongoing. At the end of the presentation, Shane Watson walked up to greet his Australian mates who were part of the Punjab XI - Bailey, Maxwell, and Johnson. They chatted for a good 10 minutes; your guess is as good as mine regarding what they chatted about.










































Cricket Bats - Fordham Sports

3. A representative from KKR came into the crowd and distributed KKR hats and flags to everyone. 15 minutes after he left a rep from the Kings XI came there and announced that whoever gave him the KKR flag or hat would get a Punjab one in return. I made sure I had something from both the teams to keep!



4. Maxwell's practice drill was the most interesting. A member of the Punjab contingent threw some balls at him and he played them straight down. He did that to 3 deliveries and then he proceeded to practice his switch hit / reverse sweep / reverse slog, whatever you want to call it. He must have played two dozen hits, including one that caught the top edge and sailed into the crowd. The crowd started cheering and asking for him to hit them their way, which Maxwell politely obliged. Every single switch hit from then on was hit into the crowd with perfect aim towards a row of people who would catch them. It was probably the most entertaining practice drill I had ever seen. It was also no surprise to see Maxwell hit the same shot off Narine for four as soon as he walked out to bat.

5. Wasim Akram was the first person to walk up to the pitch once it had been rolled and was ready for the KXIP vs KKR match. He knocked a few punches into the surface and then walked over to Gautam Gambhir to have a chat.

6. Preity Zinta and Juhi Chawla arrived together to the ground and walked into the Royal Box. Juhi took a seat there while Preity asked for where the Punjab box was. Lucky for me, it was right behind us, next to Mallya's box.



7. The security was tighter this time around Preity Zinta's box and walking up to her to take pictures was impossible, but watching her expressions throughout the match from 10 feet away was more than I could ask for. Having seen all the histrionics on TV for the past 7 years, it was a treat to watch it all from up close.



8. Juhi Chawla has the best smile in the business!



























9. Shahrukh Khan arrived during the second half of Punjab's innings. He came with Sheikh Nahyan and sat in the royal box. For the next 3 hours, it was a Shahrukh Khan show. Every Punjab wicket, every boundary hit by KKR was followed by SRK standing on his feet, clapping, waving, and asking the crowd to cheer louder. That man cannot stay away from being center stage.


Once again, I ws lucky to be about 10 feet away from him and managed to experience what I have seen all this while on TV in person.

The name "Shahrukh" was probably screamed every second during that time as fans tried to get his attention.

There was more focus on Shahrukh Khan then there was on the match.

It was a sight!



10. At the end of 11 overs, KKR were 50-3 and it seemed that they would reach the target. Just then Preity Zinta got up from her seat and walked to the edge of her box to speak to someone. At that same moment, Chris Lynn was clean bowled. Someone from the Punjab contingent asked Preity to stay there and not move till the end of the game.

While Preity stood there at the edge of her box, KKR lost 6 wickets in the next 7 overs, and with it the match.

The superstition regarding people's positions in the dressing rooms, dugouts, and elsewhere, which is quite common in the Indian dressing room, surely worked for Punjab that day.

The cricket was dull and boring, but the entertainment around the ground was top notch.

Nothing like it!

Majority of the Pakistani fans are not following the IPL. Most of them feel that the Pakistani players have been hard done by the BCCI and the franchises and hence it is the fans duty to boycott the league altogether.

Some of them genuinely are not interested in cricket that doesn't involve Pakistani players, while some just don't like the crash bang whallop feel of the IPL.

It is not cricket they say. It is one big party.

Some even call it a farce and believe that majority of the matches are fixed.

RP Singh's no ball the other day in RCB's match against CSK brought all those critics forward calling the match and the entire league fixed.



I would really like to know what the odds were for that match before it started, after the Bangalore innings, and near the end of the CSK innings. Betting, including online betting in India, is quite common among cricket fans and it will be really interesting to study betting patterns for this particular match.

But I tell you what. Even though there are no Pakistanis playing the IPL and even though it might be all fixed, I absolutely love the IPL.

What is there not to love?

The matches are exciting, the competition is intense, the adrenaline is pumping all the time, the crowd is into it every single second, there are sixes, fours, wickets, screaming fans, team owners either glowing with confidence of a victory or looking stressed when their team is losing grasp of the match... and so much more.

It is absolute fun!

Where else will you find two Delhi team mates fighting it out for Kolkata and Bangalore getting into a heated argument only to be separated by a common Delhi team mate?

Gambhir and Kohli would have thrown a punch or three at each other if it was not for Rajat Bhatia's interference.

And I would have absolutely loved it.

Eoin Morgan would have enjoyed it too.



Where else will you find the big screen on the ground flash "From Sir with Love" when Ravindra Jadeja sends the ball sailing into the crowds.

The tag of 'Sir' has spread like wildfire during the IPL. Something that was being used to rib Jadeja by the Twitterati and Cricket Bloggers has now become a trend among the cricketers and the commentators.



Alright lets put all fun and games aside and take a bit of a serious look at the IPL.

The Coaches
Stephen Fleming, Darren Lehmann, John Wright, Alan Donald, Steve Rixon, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Tom Moody, Jonty Rhodes, Anil Kumble.

Those are prolific names. They have either been involved with or are involved with the franchises in the IPL. And they take their cricket damn seriously.

The IPL provides them with a platform to enhance their coaching skills, which will come to good use when they take over international teams, and it provides the players the opportunity to learn from the best.

All those men were world class cricketers who have tons of experience to pass on to players.

One just had to see Allan Donald give the Pune Warriors a briefing during the strategic timeout in the game against CSK to understand how passionately involved with the game he was.

Opportunities for New Talent
The presence of Ricky Ponting, Jonthy Rhodes, Anil Kumble, and Sachin Tendulkar in the Mumbai dressing room would be an awe inspiring one for the likes of Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik and all those fringe players in the team.

The amount they can learn by just listening to them is immense.

No other platform will provide young international players like Kevin Cooper, Chris Morris, Steve Smith, Aaron Finch, and Mitchell Marsh the sort of exposure that the IPL does.

The intensely competitive matches can only bring out the best in these players and constantly playing under pressure enhances their capabilities no end.

The same can be said for the young Indian cricketers aspiring to play for their national team. Rayudu, Mayank Agarwal, Rahane, Manprit Juneja, Vinay Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem are just some of the names of talented cricketers that are rubbing shoulders with international stars at the IPL.

Undoubtedly they are learning and giving it their all to impress the right people to stake a claim at international cricket.

Internationals Have to be at their Best
Since the teams can play only 4 foreign players, all the international players, no matter how big, have to be at their best in every single game.

The competition for places in the XI is extremely high, which makes these international cricketers give their best increasing the overall performance levels.

Brendon McCullum, who is arguable one of the most explosive batsmen in T20 cricket is finding it difficult to break into KKR's XI because of the presence of Kallis and Morgan.

CSK can play only 4 of M Hussey, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel, Chris Morris, Ben Laughlin, Dirk Nannes, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ben Hilfenhaus, Akila Danajaya. How do you leave any of them out? Besides a couple, all the rest are sure starters for their international teams!

Have you seen the Catching?
Even if every game is fixed, the catches can't be!

There is no excuse for missing out on the absolutely magical catches that some of the players have pulled off in this IPL.

There have been many with probably Pollard and Ponting standing out.

Ponting more so because it was off the bowling of Harbhajan and watching the two celebrate together was unreal.


The skills on display are just beautiful.

IPL is cricket entertainment at its best.

76 matches are played every season and I reckon at least 50 of them are decided in the final over, out of which 20 or so off the final delivery.

That is excitement to the core.

Even if its fixed, it is one hell of a fix.

It requires special talent to ensure that the match is played out in that manner.

Seriously.

Whoever is scripting / fixing these games is a genius really for bringing out the best in all these cricketers from all around the world.

It definitely keeps me at the edge of my seat.

The best part about the IPL is that you don't really have to support any team, which for an ideal cricket fan makes watching the game even more fun as you can just purely enjoy the cricket!

I had just as much fun watching Jadeja smash 16 off the final over to win a game for CSK, as I did while watching Allan Donald celebrate like a kid when Marsh and Dinda wrecked CSK's chase.

It is just fun cricket.

How can you not watch it?

So what if there are no Pakistanis playing?

So what if it doesn't test you the way test cricket does?

So what if Dhoni has to win every time?

Forget about these minor issues and don't miss the annual cricket fun fair I say.

It is an absolutely magnificent extravaganza!