The IPL finals have come under an unexpected cloud.
And it’s not the endless back-and-forth controversy overshadowing the ongoing Indian Premier League matches.
It’s a real cloud this time. An ash cloud courtesy a long-dormant island volcano in the Indian Ocean.
The Meteorological Department has admitted it was busy looking for rain and did not see this coming. To be fair, we did warn of cloudy skies, one official said.
Meanwhile, it turns out that the two teams set to battle it out in the IPL-3 finals will not be able to battle it out in the finals.
Most of the players reportedly flew overseas on Thursday night, as soon as the last semi-final match ended, to attend an extravagant bash still underway from some time last week.
Now, with all flights cancelled, they cannot return.
The chaos has been worsened by the fact that the first information on the ash cloud came via a tweet from @1modi and so was summarily dismissed as unreliable — after all, the man had recently said his account was hacked into.
Yet another publicity stunt, one Tweeter responded, even as the Opposition called for more resignations on the grounds that national security was being compromised and a fake image of instability projected by people “tampering with weather data to serve their own vested interests”.
{{/usCountry}}Yet another publicity stunt, one Tweeter responded, even as the Opposition called for more resignations on the grounds that national security was being compromised and a fake image of instability projected by people “tampering with weather data to serve their own vested interests”.
{{/usCountry}}The Income-Tax Department is reportedly celebrating, however.
Forced to work overtime tracking every rupee ever exchanged for an IPL franchise, team member or match ticket, they are glad the rest of the city has had to cancel all vacation plans too.
Back to the original villain/victim of the fracas, Tharoor has been declared Kerala’s official brand Twambassador by a private website launched by his fans on Twitter.
His sole duty will be to post 140-character twessays on the state every three hours. The only rider: He can never again use the words cow, cricket or politics.
The website also plans to release a compilation of his tweets so far. It will be only 12 pages long, but the Income Tax department has already pre-ordered 200 copies.
PS: As this goes to print, Raj Thackeray is denouncing the ash cloud as an un-Indian influence and demanding that the Mumbai Indians be declared winners if the match is called off due to its ‘sneaky tactics’.
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