ABSTRACT
The success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is not only about the Indian control of international cricket, it is also about the rise of India. It is about the move away from a restrictive command economy to a free market economy with all the attendant dangers of rapid success, high rewards and growing potential for corruption. It is also about an India which increasingly sees itself as playing a greater role in international affairs and, in the natural course of events, becoming a great power. What this paper does is discuss why the IPL model is successful and how it is grounded in the overall Indian approach to the control of cricket. Further, what are the potential opportunities and pitfalls for the future growth of the game and Indian control of it? It concludes by discussing how the IPL fits into the rise of a modern twenty-first-century India.
