Cuttack, May 9: Be it Gayle storm or the on-field spat between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, the Indian Premier League keeps cricket lovers glued to their television screens.
But the local version of the T20 extravaganza is struggling for attention from cricket-lovers. The second edition of the Odisha Premier League (OPL) reached the semi-final stage today, but the turnout improved only marginally even though entry to the stadiums is free.
During the league matches, Barabati Stadium wore a deserted look after a dazzling inauguration with celebrities, cheerleaders and fireworks on May 1.
“IPL is a complete entertainment package. We all have our favourite cricketers to watch out for. But in OPL, we can hardly identify the players or support a particular team as they are no longer named after the different cities of Odisha,” said Saurabh Sahu, a college student.
Biplab Samantaray, who was a great find of OPL-I, is also missing in action this time because he is now part of the Hyderabad team, Sunrisers, in IPL-VI. Other popular players such as Nataraj Behera, Niranjan Behera, Alok Mangaraj and Bikas Pati have not been able to pull crowds to the stadium.
The absence of franchise owners and their grand arrangements — including roping in celebrities and cheerleaders, along with live telecast and constant updating of scores on the OPL website — were other factors for the poor turnout. Also, league matches of the first edition were played at four different venues while the semi-final and finals were played at Barabati Stadium. This time, all matches are confined to Barabati, Cuttack, and VSS stadium in Sambalpur.
The low turnout has become a major worry for the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA). However, the OCA authorities blame the situation on the IPL.
“The low turnout is because of the ongoing IPL. However, we have been successful in providing a platform to local cricketers. A lot of young talents have been identified and they would be given scope to play for Ranji and under-19 tournaments,” said OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera.
Behera said the OCA had earlier planned to host the OPL in April. However, it did not materialise because the association was busy making arrangements for tournaments such as the ICC Women’s World Cup.