Whether it was the partial Indian revival seen in Perth, a few days ago or the mind-boggling money that came out to buy players in the IPL auction held in Saudi Arabia, cricket has remained in the news and continues to be eye-ball grabbers! True, what happened in the Perth Test match where India beat Australia by a handsome margin, may be just that one-off happening, though the wish is for the domination to continue. Still, coming as it did after the humiliation at the hands of New Zealand in the home series, nothing better could have happened to make the players and fans to think of it as a revival of form. Indian cricket, as they say have class talents to fall upon but form had been the worry particularly after the New Zealand bashing. The need of the hour then was to shrug off that negativeness that had crept in.

To be sure it was a great comeback that way and a perfect start to the long series in Australia, thanks to Jasprit Bumrah, the stand-in captain and acknowledged today as one of the best exponents of fast bowling. He led the way and things suddenly fell in place but what a start it was once again in Perth! It seemed as though the clouded mindset was there to continue with the Indian batting coming a cropper in the first innings with just 150 on the board, even that total was thanks to the enterprise of newcomer Nitish Reddy who made 40 odd. But thereafter started the changeover and how! Heroics of the past, which the fans were keen to witness, returned and the rest is history. Suffice to state, a win was established for a start with heroes like Yashasvi Jaiswal and iconic Virat Kohli piling up tons to warm the cockles of the supporters’ hearts.

True, the true challenges have just begun. A challenge to retain the top form and the challenge to keep the goal of a handsome series win to make sure of a berth in the ICC world Test championship final. These then are early days but as the saying goes, a journey well begun is half done. In a few days the battle resumes at Adelaide when the second Test resumes but at least unlike the beginner at Perth, the Indians would walk in with a touch stronger in mind, something that cricket lovers in India too will eagerly look to. For, that is why this sport captures the imagination of its followers like nothing else.

Even as Indian cricket’s new chapter opened up in Australia, at distant Jeddah in Saudi Arabia  another eye-catching event unravelled, the money-spinning IPL auction.  The ten teams’ representatives were ready to bring out the big money running to crores of rupees to get players and ready their respective teams for the next season’s IPL scheduled to kick off sometime in March next year. Why would an auction call for such wide interest, one would wonder. First for the kind of money that the Franchisees come up with to grab the player(s) they want.  Running to crores for a player can be mind boggling but that is what cricket in India has evolved into.  There were 120 Indians in the list to be picked up from a total of over 180 players and it was estimated that over Rs 600 crores were transacted to satisfy the needs of each of the team management.

Then again, this was the second time that this high profile IPL auction is being held outside the country. It was held in Dubai last year and this was the first time that it had come to Saudi Arabia, a country that is now increasingly getting involved with major sports in the world. With a huge base of south Asian migrant workers in the country, the event had a big following. Besides hosting an event of this stature was, as the Chairman of the Saudi Cricket Federation, Prince Saud Bin Mishal was to say, a part of the country’s commitment to developing the sport.

Indeed, ever since the ODIs and in particular the T20s came on to their own vis a vis Test formats, cricket has never been the same. Vibrant and exciting have been part of this new genre and the cricket world and certainly India had accepted with open arms, so to say. To say the IPL is the most sought after event in the country’s sports calendar (all sports included) is no exaggeration. Only thus have several rags to riches stories blossomed in Indian cricket.  What leagues like the IPL had done was helping raw talent from across the country to gain not just national but international attention.

Jaiswal is one big name in current times.  From a nondescript setting in a remote place in Varanasi to the hugely different Mumbai city life, Jaiswal’s journey through cricket was just phenomenal. And that is what this young man is now, a phenomenon with a Rs 18 crore tag to his name in IPL. There are many such examples. A dream world, one would say. But that is what cricket now in India has been offering to young talents, because cricket skills of the highest order sell and sell big. At Jeddah there was this 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who became the youngest crorepati of IPL!  Need anything more be said. Surprises never cease in Indian cricket!