IPL ends, fans diagnosed with acute Evening Disorder Syndrome!

By K.R. Nayar 

India Premier League (IPL) fans have been badly hit by the Evening Disorder Syndrome (EDS). For the last 65 days, they were glued to the television every evening. With Royal Challengers Bangalore emerging champions, the biggest challenge for the fans is how to shake off the IPL addiction. For a few days, many will be like players who went unsold during the auction — sitting in silence, uncertain and deeply emotional.

The routine of reaching home in time for the match and getting hold of the remote control to switch the coverage in various languages may last for a few days. In fact, the overworked remote control will sigh with relief and probably announce its retirement after 65 days of peak performance. At the very least, it will demand a battery replacement

Some will stare at the television as if it has personally betrayed them — like a power cut at a super over.  Others will keep hoping the broadcast resumes, as if the match was paused due to a “strategic timeout.” For many, evenings will feel like a match abandoned without even a toss. 

Many may have also enjoyed their dinner watching the action; but from now on they will need to focus on what they eat. That may also mean some may complain about the lack of taste in their food, just like those who blame the pitches for their favourite teams’ defeat. Housewives would have realised they cannot push yesterday’s food quietly without being noticed.

Families used to talk less about family matters during the match. Most talked through signals whatever they wanted to convey like the umpires’ DRS signals. Those who rushed home in a hurry and forgot the groceries may have conveyed it like an umpire whose decision was overturned by the third umpire.

Wives who are not cricket fans will be the happiest — finally their husbands will listen to them with the same intensity that they have for Sunil Gavaskar or Ravi Shastri’s commentary. It is now time to repair the sofas in some homes. In their excitement, a few may have stood on them, pulled off the threads during tense phases, and repeatedly plunged onto them in despair. It is time to rediscover that they had a nice living room. Very often, living rooms were the league’s strategy room. Messages on the ifs and buts in the match will now be replaced by a good morning and a good night, and not a good evening. WhatsApp, once a battlefield of opinions and arguments, will now resemble a middle-order collapse with no recovery plan in sight.

The healthy early-to-bed habit may also be embraced, but for a few days, sleep patterns are likely to go haywire…something close to a jet lag. Fans could miss the echoes of the crowd roar that they had gotten used to while going to bed. Also, no serious thinking about the next match, just plain stares at the ceiling fan. IPL had so thoroughly hijacked everyone’s routines for the last 65 days.

The last two months saw many IPL fans turning coaches, selectors, and astute captains. The coming days will bring them back to reality that they are none of the above. Those turning IPL experts every evening will have nothing to talk about regarding their expertise. Soon, bank balances and bills to pay will become more important than the net run rate and scoreboards. During the IPL, the BCCI should have introduced a Red Cap for the fan consuming the maximum amount of snacks. Surely, there would have been a large number of contenders. 

The nation would want to know: what will the fans do next? Maybe nothing, as they continue to age and wait for IPL 2027 while recalling the exciting matches from this edition with a smile.