Consider this scenario: a domestic cricket league featuring ten privately owned, city-based franchises holds its annual tournament. After one team clinches the title, a victory celebration is held in a stadium designed for 35,000 people. But lakhs show up. Chaos erupts. A stampede follows. Eleven people die. Dozens are injured. The blame game begins.
You’ve guessed it — the league is the Indian Premier League (IPL), an entertainment juggernaut that has captivated the nation. The 2025 IPL final reportedly attracted nearly 690 million views across television and digital platforms — almost half of India’s population. Even regular matches draw massive audiences in the crores.
The tragic loss of life during the post-final celebrations is a sobering reminder of how deeply entrenched cricket has become in our national psyche. While the victims were undoubtedly among the most unfortunate, the incident invites a broader question: are we too obsessed with cricket? And is it time to reflect on the countless productive hours we, particularly our youth, spend glued to screens?
I realize this might sound like the lament of a fun-spoiling uncle. But the truth is, fun can take many forms — and being perpetually transfixed by cricket might not be the healthiest one.
Let’s talk about the IPL. It’s not a national competition in the traditional sense. No matter which team wins, it’s an Indian team. The players are auctioned and traded like commodities. The teams are owned by corporates, private individuals, and investment funds — they don’t truly represent your city. The entire format is, essentially, a business venture.
What is making you, the viewer, so invested in this that you throng to a victory celebration risking stampedes?
And what are we really watching? According to many cricket experts, the IPL’s T20 format isn’t even traditional cricket. With only 20 overs — just 120 balls — teams play a highly compressed version of the game. Strategy often gives way to risk-taking. It’s more spectacle than sport. Judging player quality in a T20 match is like determining the better tennis player from half a set. It may be exciting, but it hardly reflects consistent excellence.
And even when it comes to cricket – don’t we lean on this game a bit too much? Sure, it is an interesting game (given to us by the British – just to be clear) – but does it deserve to be watched a 100x or 1000x more than any other sport in India?
Sure, India seems to be world-class in cricket. But how many countries are actually competing in this “world” of world-class cricket? There’s probably six decent teams. Of these some like New Zealand and Australia, have populations the size of Ahmedabad and Mumbai respectively. And cricket is not the primary game there. The cricket boards of other countries have less then a tenth of the budget compared to that of BCCI in India. So when India wins, how “global” is the triumph, really?
Particularly worrisome is the time our youth spends watching cricket. In the name of “supporting my country” or in the case of IPL “supporting my team,” multiple hours are wasted everyday for several months of the year while the various cricket tournaments are on.
To the young fan who proudly declares, “I bleed blue,” or “My favourite player is the best,” I ask you this:
How much do the players earn from the matches?
Crores, of course.
And how much do you earn watching them?
Exactly — nothing. Zero.
In fact, you’re the product. You watch the match, you see the ads, you buy the noodles, the tyres, the shampoo — and help sponsor brands make money. Year after year, you invest a big chunk of your life just watching others succeed. All because you’re the “biggest fan.” The uncomfortable truth is: no one cares if you are. They only care that you’re watching.
So ask yourself: Do you want to spend your life watching other people achieve greatness — or would you rather strive for it yourself? Would you prefer to build a meaningful career, or risk your life in a crowd celebrating the success of a privately owned cricket team?
Sure, get inspired by your favorite players. Watch a game or two, maybe the semi-finals and finals. See the dedication, fitness and hardwork of the players who perform on the field and take it back to your life. But to be a loser who watches cricket non-stop and has nothing better to do with his life than to waste a day attending pointless and plain dangerous victory parades – that’s a problem.
There’s nothing wrong with the organizers BCCI, the teams, the players and even the game itself. What is wrong is an over obsession that seems to have taken over the youth, which leads to massive time wastage and misplaced priorities in life.
Don’t waste your life watching other people achieve excellence, get inspired by them and achieve it yourself.