IPL 2020: And The Crowd Goes Wild... Artificially

Tonight I saw an IPL match between SRH and RR. SRH won. The game was not fun, to say the least. Didn't look like a T-20 match rather it was more like a five-day test. The reason if you ask me is the crowd or the lack thereof.

I don't know much about cricket. Not a fan, but not a repeller either. You won't find me binging re-runs of old matches on youtube anytime soon. That said, I do watch cricket, but only if I am in the company of people who love watching the match. Cricket is no fun watching alone, you need people to enjoy it. Atleast that's how I see it.

Artificial Audience

If you have watched any match this season you must've noticed the artificial audience noise. They make it look like as if there are 10,000s of people in the stadium. While in fact, all the seats are empty.

I am not opposing the use of this artificial audience. But I am questioning why wasn't a similar arrangement made for the players? They need the adrenaline rush more than the people watching home back in India.

Technical difficulty must have been a big issue for them.

The match that I saw today, didn't feel like T-20. It was more like a 5-day match. The pace was the game was slow, there was 1 boundary in the brief 4 overs that I saw. And the commentary!; It felt as if I was watching a one day match. SO BORING. That's not the IPL I know.

And in this match (and I am guessing all the matches this season), players didn't score as much as they did in the past seasons. The reason for this is the lack of adrenaline rush with the players.

Adrenaline Rush

"Adrenaline rush" is when your heart beats faster and your senses are heightened. This is by no way a clinical definition, but that how I understand it.

When you are in a stadium full of people you can sense the energy. At that moment - hearing people chanting, shouting, singing - you feel indestructible. The feeling you get is surreal and cannot be defined.

A fashion model friend once told me "more than cool dresses I love the energy you gets when I am on the stage with my crew". And I know what he meant. I have been on boxing rings, and trust me when all the eye in the room are on you and people are cheering, you feel like you have unlocked a new health bar.

Data Analysis

If I had time, I'd love to get data of past IPLs check average runs created in each season. I can't say with strong conviction, IPL 2020 will have the lowest average.

This would be a good observational study on how we can 2x or even 3x our strength when we get praise from strangers.

If I ever do this calculation, I'll include them below.

This article Was written to show one thing: Humans have hidden hacks. All you need to do is find and unlock them.