A storm is brewing. There is nary any doubt that before long it will become a raging controversy. At the heart of the controversy are pretty teenaged girls from US and Europe who are here in India, visiting major cities as cheerleaders for the Indian Premier League. The Maharashtra minister of state for home has described their performance as “absolutely obscene” and said their act is “not right in a country where we worship womanhood”. The saffron brigade is, I’m certain, meeting in Nagpur or Mumbai and planning its strategy on how to blunt this latest assault on Indian culture. Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha has appealed to the cricketing bosses to seriously ponder over the issue of cheerleaders and “save the glory of the great sport”.

Now, if Sinha happened to be a bit of a cricket purist and was talking about saving the glory of cricket from the slam-bang of 20:20 he would find many nodding in agreement. Not surprisingly, cricketainment of the kind represented by IPL has its critics. Unmderstandably so. Purists aren’t impressed by this version of the game where the general idea is to put a foot out and take a swing in the general direction of the ball—whether it is ball one or ball 120—and hope that the bat and ball connect.

But with big money pouring in and the game’s brightest stars congregating in India to play, the future of IPL seems secure. The three-hour packaged show is creating great atmosphere and the lingering doubt expressed by naysayers that this “tamasha cricket” would lack intensity have been removed with imports from Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, et al, not merely turning up to participate but playing fiercely and competitively:

·         The exchange of words between Shahid Afridi and Shane Warne in the match in Hyderabad between Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals showed that any notion that IPL would be “exhibition” cricket was far-fetched

·         Jaques Kallis of Bangalore Royal Challengers and Gautam Gambhir, the Delhi Daredevils’ opener had an animated exchange at the Kotla

·         Eternal sourpuss Saurav Ganguly managed to rile Shane Warne with his antics in Jaipur a couple of nights ago; it was ludicrous to watch Ganguly frantically telling the umpire what to do, and even more to find the umpire do precisely that.

What all this means is that IPL—the big, bad den of vice being inflicted on the gentle, genteel world of cricket, lovely cricket—means something to the players apart from earning them big bucks. Even so, if the naysayers were carping about there being no finesse in this hugely abbreviated version of cricket it would be understandable. But, no. The moral brigade is talking about saving the game from a few bouncy young women in skimpy clothes dancing on cue at various points in matches. What’s more, the moral brigade seems to be getting its way. The cheerleaders in Kolkata showed up in leotards and at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla skirts were replaced by shorts.

Bravo, the moral brigade has saved Indian culture from assault and we can now go back to worshipping Indian womanhood. Meanwhile, the innocuous cheerleaders with their pom-poms must be thoroughly befuddled about the tremors they have caused in an ancient civilisation. A civilisation whose glory is threatened by blonde teens in mini skirts must really be brittle. Don't you think?