Bollywood nights: Has IPL turned cricket into a 'sixy' beast?

It’s over and we’ve survived. The inaugural season of the IPL has been run and won and we can put the circus to rest for at least another year.

The IPL will be seen as a success. Good crowds (albeit supplemented by free tickets), excellent TV ratings – what else could any sporting tournament hope for? With a victory to the Rajasthan Royals, it’s even been won by the underdogs (led by an Aussie) in a cliffhanger final.

That’s not to say that everything is perfect and that there aren’t some lessons to be learned. Probably the most important lesson is that reputations are meaningless. Some of the more fancied players have failed to repay the investment.

Indeed, the Rajasthan Royals were the cheapest franchise, spent the least on players and yet headed the points table at the end of preliminaries and made some of their more fancied opponent look decidedly second rate.

The whole “you get what you paid for” concept has been completely turned on its head. The tournament's leading batsman, Shaun Marsh, was picked up for the bargain basement price of $50,000, the leading bowler, Sohail Tanvir, for a miserly $100,000 and Player of the Tournament, Shane Watson, for an equally thrifty $150,000. Do you think these blokes might look to renegotiate their contracts?

Rajasthan also turned the theory of the game upside down. Traditionally Twenty20 is considered to be a batsman’s game and yet they have three of the top five bowlers in the competition. The game is still evolving and no doubt other teams will take note.

In fact, the whole concept, not just the game itself, is still evolving and there are a number of things that could bear some scrutiny and maybe even change before next year.

Firstly, get rid of the bloody cheerleaders. Dancing girls were introduced to entertain Americans in the interminable breaks in their football games so that the fans didn’t forget why they were there and decide to go home. There is absolutely no need to have them shake their over-stuffed money-makers every time a boundary is scored. And don’t get me started on the male cheerleaders.

Secondly, there should be some reward for finishing at the head of the points table. Rajasthan had probably earned the right to host a home final and give them the best chance of getting to the Grand Final. A neutral ground for the Grand Final is fine, but pre-ordaining finals' venues is a risky business.

The kit that some of the teams force their players to take the field in could also bear some scrutiny. The gold and black outfit of the Kolkata Knight Riders is so garish that it would make Donald Trump blush.

In hindsight, it appears that the TV rights were sold a little cheap - $1bn sounds like a huge sum, but spread over ten years, it’s not quite as impressive.

To put things in perspective the American National Football League demands $3.75bn per year for their TV rights. Even the Australian Football League gets £150m year with only two per cent of the potential viewing audience. It’s probably too late now to ask for a rethink.

There may be a case for a slight name change too. Given that four of the top five batsmen and three of the top five bowlers were imports, there is a good case to change the name to the International Premier League – just kidding, but it’s a thought.

Now, thankfully, it’s back to serious cricket for a while but, no doubt, we haven't seen the back of the IPL just yet. It has captured hearts and minds in its home region, but still has much to do elsewhere. The final was broadcast to 122 nations, but few outside South Asia would have had it as a ratings blockbuster.

As for talk that the IPL could take on the world, there’s an awful lot of work to do first – and that includes convincing the rest of the cricketing world that the IPL is a concept worth backing. But I’m sure that if the BCCI thinks there’s a quid in it, they’ll give it a red hot go.

One final question. What is the obsession with royalty all about? There are two kings, two royals and a knight amongst the team names. If someone could explain it, I would be eternally grateful.