Post IPL

The IPL took its toll on me. Watching almost every single match, and blogging about it, with work deadlines meant that something had to give and it was sleep. I was waking up very early to get caught up on work, so that I could watch the evening matches. Since the IPL's finale, I have been reverting to watching other sports I follow, but there has been a dent for me in viewing pleasure.

First, the French Open on clay court seemed like it was on slow motion. A classic Federer vs Nadal contest could have changed the tide, but it was the tamest final with Federer's spirit being broken, so it was not an appealing match to watch.

Second, F1 - full of controversies - Raikkonen rear-ending Sutil in one and being rear-ended by Hamilton in another. The overall race is up for grabs - however the Canadian GP was on the wrong time zone (unless I wanted to stay up late again...) - so only caught the news for the last one. I think I will continue to follow this and I am hoping for an exciting season...

Thirdly, the Bangladesh tri-series - definitely the worst possible first tournament for Indian cricket since the IPL (in terms of retaining interest in ODIs) - the first 3 matches were dull. There were times when I followed an innings after a gap of couple of hours and it felt like nothing had moved... The final was better, atleast it was contested - but was still not half as entertaining as the Aussie series last year or the IPL.

I am not really looking forward to the Asia Cup except for the India-Sri Lanka-Pakistan matches... and if they are no-contests as well, I will only be catching it on the news.

So I am wondering if this impact is short term? Will it take another Aussie series
to revive my non T-20 cricket interest? Both the test and ODI matches were great to watch in Australia (good pitches and good matches with some weeds on both sides :-)).

I will probably start watching the Euro 2008 from the quarterfinals... Hoping for interesting clashes. Looking forward to the Wimbeldon (for Federer to redeem himself and create history or for Nadal to stamp his authority). Looking forward to the Tour de France (hoping for a doping scandal free event).

If you followed the IPL, how has the transition been?