Does it sometimes feel as if the Indian Premier League (IPL) never ends? For a league that lasts a little over a month, it has a funny way of stretching out through 12 of them, right? That perhaps is both its point and its genius.
Last year, I had the chance to meet Lalit Modi, the founder, creator and, in many ways, true spirit of the IPL.
In explaining its ban on legitimate media organisations covering it, he also revealed the twisted secret to the IPL’s ubiquity and omnipresence.
“We had no money,” he said.
“We had no money to spend on marketing, so it was a strategic move by me to ban the media. It was only for that reason that the media would write about us. Good or bad was not the issue. The issue was we needed to be top of mind, we’re going to be breaking the news.
“What better way to breaking news than by banning all the media honchos from entering my stadium?”
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That logic sounded suspiciously like it had been made up on the spot, to try to justify the unjustifiable.
But observe this year, between IPL 7 and IPL 8, which begins tomorrow in Kolkata.
An event that most TV channels and news agencies and websites are not allowed to cover has actually not been out of the news cycle at all.
That it has been in the news through a long-running corruption case is not ideal but top of mind, as Modi will attest, is ultimately top of mind.
Part of it is a cricket calendar which knows no end, either. The World Cup ends, the IPL begins, the Ashes take place and England come to the UAE, and maybe India and Pakistan get it on, and in between the Caribbean Premier League is scheduled and suddenly, another year has gone and the IPL is back.
But this is an opportune moment to take stock.
It seems scarcely believable that this will be the eighth season. When it was launched, it threw the cricket world into such a tizzy it is difficult to believe now.
It hit, unflinchingly, at the strange fatalistic nerve cricket has always had, worried permanently about its own demise. The IPL will kill international cricket; it will kill Tests; it will kill ODIs. As of now, it has killed nothing.
If the World Cup is anything to go by, an argument can be made that the IPL, and Twenty20 generally, has given the 50-over game an adrenalin boost, helped in no small part by fielding changes.
Against the lifetime of great sporting leagues, eight years is nothing.
Some seasons it still feels as if the core identity of the IPL is yet to be found.
How many franchises should there be? What format should the league be in?
In retrospect, that is probably among the league’s most fascinating traits, that despite the sense of impermanence around it, never has it felt more a part of the regular cricket calendar.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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The finalists
Player of the Century, 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ronaldinho
Coach of the Century, 2001-2020: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Sir Alex Ferguson
Club of the Century, 2001-2020: Al Ahly (Egypt), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain)
Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Club of the Year: Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid
Coach of the Year: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta), Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Agent of the Century, 2001-2020: Giovanni Branchini, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola
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TOUR RESULTS AND FIXTURES
June 3: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 Lions 13
June 7: Blues 22 Lions 16
June 10: Crusaders 3 Lions 12
June 13: Highlanders 23 Lions 22
June 17: Maori All Blacks 10 Lions 32
June 20: Chiefs 6 Lions 34
June 24: New Zealand 30 Lions 15 (First Test)
June 27: Hurricanes 31 Lions 31
July 1: New Zealand 21 Lions 24 (Second Test)
July 8: New Zealand v Lions (Third Test) - kick-off 11.30am (UAE)
How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.
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