INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE - INDIA AS CRICKET CENTRAL

Sixers arriving on a flying carousel, Bollystars and Big Biz dancing in the aisles, power czars and pompom girls—IPL turned the gentleman's game into a rave party. Everyone won.

- BY AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

In the late '70s, when Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer came in with his millions to stir up the old world rhythms of cricket, it must have felt like a blast of rock music at a country do. Day-night matches, helmets, coloured clothing-the purists called it a "circus". But it brought in big money. Enough to attract star players, even if it was beyond the pale of cricket law. But if Packer was like a casino, the Indian Premier League was all of Las Vegas. Big and brash on a scale that happens only in India, it was a monsoon wedding of entertainment and commerce-there was, er, ladies sangeet too. Cricket in India was already a rich princely state eyeing the empire, but the IPL still pulled off the Packer's ci