ABSTRACT
April certainly is not the cruellest of months when it comes to modernday leisure and the Indian Premier League (IPL), the natural bed fellows of late capitalist society. The growing popularity of sports-entertainment culture reflects emergent media and leisure economies, combining global cosmopolitanism with local cultural identities and histories. The genesis of Indian cricket's financial pre-eminence since 1980s is inextricably linked with the deregulation of the Indian media market and a confluence of other factors: economic liberalization, the creation of large middle class and broader trends in globalization. Cricket was first played in India in the late 18th century, imported by British sailors and soldiers as a derivative sport. The code of cricket used in the IPL is Twenty20, a recent English invention shortening the austere format of long-form Test match cricket, and even more abbreviated than the one-day game as a more convenient and lively spectacular experience.
