What the boys of IPL could learn from the Women’s Premier League

Case in point: Harmanpreet Kaur, winning captain and winner of multiple player of the match awards, gracefully acknowledging the contributions of team members.

A tight final which saw Mumbai Indians pull away in the last two overs to win the title, a fantastic comeback by the Delhi Capitals last wicket pair who put on over 50 runs to give their team a sporting chance, some wonderful individual performances and a great crowd, all combined to make the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) a memorable event.

Already, though, the tournament is forgotten as the frenzy of the real Indian Premier League takes over.

More’s the pity for there are so many things that the men's game could pick up from it, none more important than the current favourite call of the millennials: calm down uncle! No matter how skillfully you steered the ball to the cover boundary or how many crores you make, or even how many brands you endorse, it is still just a game. And stop kidding yourself you are in some kind of mortal combat. “Pressure?”, said famous Australian cricketer and war-time pilot, Keith Miller “There is no pressure in Test cricket. Real pressure is when you are flying a Mosquito with a Messerschmitt up your arse.”

Get that boys? No lives will be saved by your shots racing to the boundary like tracer bullets, and none will be lost because the umpire gave you out. Which is why you don't need to threaten each other's mothers and sisters with dire consequences merely because you bowled a nasty bouncer.

Contrary to what a former colony once populated by convicts has been drilling into the heads of its young players, and importing it to the rest of the world, sledging doesn't give your game an extra edge. The likes of Donald Bradman, Garfield Sobers and Vivian Richards did just fine without all that unnecessary display of adrenaline. Closer home, there are icons like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Bishan Bedi, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, who didn’t need to prove their machismo through a volley of oaths.

The WPL was a delightful exhibition of individual and team effort on the playing field. What stands out in just about any photograph or video from the two-week-long tournament is how much the players seem to be enjoying themselves. A great catch like the one by Radha Yadav or by Jemimah Rodrigues was just a moment to celebrate with a smile, not an occasion to abuse the departing batswoman. Even the joy of winning or taking a wicket found spontaneous expression rather than trite and well-rehearsed high fives. When Kaur ran on to the field after Nat Scriver-Brunt had hit the winning runs in the finals, her joy was palpable; we could all share in it.

A word here about humility, that precious commodity barely visible in the men’s game. At the end there was Harmanpreet Kaur, winning captain and winner of multiple player of the match awards, gracefully acknowledging the contributions of team members. Indeed, what a role model the 34-year-old Indian team captain has turned out to be. After the finals she spoke about Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey: "I was actually very happy with the way they were batting… I was actually happy when she hit those sixes at the end." The two players she was referring to, whose performance had lit up the night and set a difficult target for Mumbai Indians, were playing for the losing finalist, Delhi Capitals. Her remark really summed up the tournament, where the players competed fiercely but without any ugliness of the kind that saw one former Indian spinner slap a colleague on the field in the 2008 edition of the IPL.

The game of cricket is richer for tournaments like the WPL not merely because it reveals new skills and unearths fresh talent, but also because it serves up an alternate way of playing and competing. It used to be called sporting spirit and has largely been debased in the hype of the men’s game.