This IPL tune in to cricket’s Koffee with Karanisation

In a recent interview, Virat Kohli was asked about RCB’s repeated failures. That vexed question that no one from Bangalore likes to address was also laced with sarcasm. With the city’s WPL team following the unremarkable footsteps of the horically underperforming IPL team, Kohli was reminded about the unflattering sameness of the two set of RCBians.
But unlike the confrontative press conferences from his captaincy days – remember Centurion and Chrchurch – Kohli didn’t scorn or snarl. He actually threw back his head and let out a hearty laugh. the way, the interviewer here wasn’t some brave reporter pushing the envelope but RCB’s resident comic Danish Sait, aka Mr Nags, pulling his long-time friend’s leg.
This isn’t a build-up to the story about the born-again inward-gazing post-sabbatical Kohli toning down his temper. It’s the primer to a much bigger change that the ongoing IPL is presently witnessing. This is about the cut-throat race among the 10 franchises to create social content. It’s about their brain-straining, back-breaking effort to engage and entertain fans even after the floodlights at the stadium go dark. It is about the star cricketers, each certified global influencers, playing along to help their employers to woo new followers, build a brand with the aim of monetizing the attention of fans.
Welcome to the virtual universe of IPL 2023 that has witnessed unprecedented growth spike this year. With the world’s biggest cricketing event back to the original home-and-away format after the pandemic disruption and two new teams wanting their own slices from the pie, there is an urgency to sign up fans and secure the franchise base. Every IPL team has set up such content-churning factories that pin their most-selling product, the candid tes of their celebrity cricketers, prominently on the walls of social media pages and handles.

Even the inane and everyday moments of IPL stars, and even non-stars, have thousands of takers. Rashid Khan breaking his Ramzan fast, Ricky Ponting giving throwdown to his son, Sanju Samson at the Ahmedabad Kerala Association function, Gowtham asking daughter to say namaste to Dhoni, Umran Malik dedicating Moosewala song to Samad, cake smash birthday celebrations, dumb charades, treasure hunt, singing contest, bake offs, dance moves … there are enough reasons to put everything out there. In the cryptic world of google search, everything has the potential to reach a million views. Time will tell if this IPL will end up as the most-watched tournament ever but going the deafening social media buzz this could easily end up as the most liked, shared and subscribed tournament ever.
This new demand for content has bloated the squad strength. Chasing players at nets, team bus or chartered flights like stalkers are the content creators. With cameras in hand, they are paid to exploit every situation to create that elusive viral video. The cricketers don’t seem to mind, they too are conveniently dropping their guards. The embedded vlogers have changed the game. For these few IPL months, celebrity cricketers don’t speak about ‘invasion of privacy’.
One such scene happened after Mumbai Indians recorded their first win of the season against Delhi Capitals. The game had seen the MI skipper Rohit Shamra, after a modest start to the season, play a delightful hand to help his team win. After the game Rohit seems to be on a video call with wife Ritika when the shadow of a member of MI’s content team falls on him. He informs his wife that their video call is being recorded. “Oh God,” she replies but the call continues.

Ro on call with Rits after a nail-biting win in Delhi 🥺💙#OneFamily #DCvMI #MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians #IPL2023 #TATAIPL @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/qCXaLj8dwT
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 12, 2023
Ritika informs Rohit that she saw the game in their room, was screaming at the top of her voice and their daughter Sammy was delighted to see the trophy. now Rohit has settled on the cool keg near the dugout but he isn’t left alone. It is only after the “See you tomorrow”, “Miss you” and “Over and out” final pre-hanging up exchange between the couple that the camera moves away. The content is soon served to the fans on social media. Rohit scores another winner. The “Ro on call with Rits after a nail-biting win in Delhi” is a viral video.
Before the start of the season, the Delhi Capitals youtube channel had posted a 45 minute long video of all-rounder Axar Patel and wife talking about their 11-year long courtship. Kite-flying on makar sankranti, shared plate of manchurian and joy rides at melas in home town Nadiad in Gujarat, the newlyweds were willing to share all personal details. Their comfort levels with the host, the friendly vibe of the interview is hard to miss. The host would crack inside jokes, Axar would crack up. He would even nudge the pair to narrate an anecdote they had forgotten about and they would oblige. It was like old friends making a home video.
Though late, the IPL franchise has now made an effort to develop a sense of humour. The usual reels and insta stories about foreign players asking difficult to pronounce words from Indian languages remain popular but now the teams are taking professional help to be funny. Back in the day, teams would stress on signing a pinch hitter before the start of the season. Now, the search for rib-ticklers is equally intense.
Lucknow Super Giants’s important signing this year is internet’s reel making funny man Shubhman Gaur. With him around, the players seem under pressure to spread laughs. In his first episode is India’s brightest young spinner Ravi Bishnoi. He can’t stop giggling as he speaks about among things the art of cheating in exams. What are school days secrets between friendly hosts and star cricketers.
Another friend of players, the popular cricket anchor Gaurav Kapur sits across the Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya for a long interview. Here too there are revelations. Hardik talks about the conversation he had with his wife before he took up captaincy. “My wife said it’s a great opportunity for you to show exactly what you are. People don’t know your cricketing side. People think you are just a guy who’s playing, having fun. But people don’t know how much you know this sport. You are a nerd. But a different looking nerd.” Hardik, the nerd, if not for Kapur we wouldn’t have known that.

But what about the tough questions? Like the kind Mr Nags asked Kohli, the one about RCB’s dismal IPL record. These most-watched in-house IPL interviews featuring star players have their own terms of engagement. Tough questions can’t be asked with a stern or straight face with a tone that reporters flaunt at post-match press conferences. For that you need to be a self-deprecating stand-up with a wig, false moustache and funny accent. Just like Mr Nags.
The settings are team hotel alcoves usually, but it could well be pals gossiping with and talking to their famous cricketer friends across a couch, ribbing them about their laughably poor winning records. Among other things, this IPL is also about the start of cricket’s Koffee with Karanisation.