Fake IPL Player
Encyclopedia
Fake IPL Player is a blog
that started on April 18, 2009, the same time as the second season of the Indian Premier League
(IPL) Cricket
tournament. Originally, the blogger wrote anonymously, claiming to be a member of the IPL
team, Kolkata Knight Riders
(KKR). The blog was controversial from the start, giving unflattering nicknames to players, coaches, and owners of KKR and other teams, telling sordid stories, and showing most of them in a very negative light. As the blog rapidly became popular, it was believed to be of a fringe KKR player who was upset at not being part of the core team. The blog worsened an already bad season for KKR, which lost most of their games, had controversies surrounding their coach, John Buchanan
, and frequently changed captains, including Sourav Ganguly
. The 2009 IPL season
took place in South Africa
, and two KKR players, Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar, were sent home to India midway through the tournament. This fueled speculation that they were suspected of being the person behind the blog. The team was also rumored to have banned use of laptops by players. The management of the team termed the blog as "poison pen writing of the dirtiest variety," while denying it could have been written by an actual player. The blogger posted a disclaimer saying "All characters appearing in this work (blog) are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional."
In August 2010, Bangalore
based marketing specialist Anupam Mukerji revealed himself to be the person behind the blog. He said he had "never met a cricketer in his life," and was just making up stories. He never expected it to become this big, he remarked, adding that the Fake Player ended up getting legitimized by the media frenzy. He was inspired by the popularity of a similar blog by Fake Steve Jobs, and the Richard Gere
movie The Hoax
. He continues to write a weekly column as the Fake IPL Player for Mirror, a Times of India tabloid in Mumbai and Bangalore.
In IPL 2011, Anupam started Pitch Invasion, an online radio station that provides live cricket commentary with a twist.
and among major cricketing nations, most of whose players and coaches were involved in the league. According to Mumbai-based digital marketing firm, Pinstorm
, the fake IPL player blog had at its peak, on 26 April, 150,000 visitors, who each spent 15 minutes on the site, adding up to about 37,000 hours spent on the blog in one day, putting it up there with popular individual-led blogs such as Aamir Khan
’s blog at its peak with about 170,000 visitors.
The blogger said in an email interview to a newspaper that the key reason behind such wild popularity was the blog's "audacity", and that "the mainstream media needs to realise that getting ex-cricketers to write about a match that happened the previous day, which has already been dissected to death on TV and the internet, isn’t of interest to sports readers anymore."
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
that started on April 18, 2009, the same time as the second season of the Indian Premier League
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
(IPL) Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
tournament. Originally, the blogger wrote anonymously, claiming to be a member of the IPL
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
team, Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders is the franchise representing Kolkata in the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 cricket tournament. Sourav Ganguly led the team in IPL1 and IPL3, Brendon McCullum in IPL2, and Gautam Gambhir in IPL4...
(KKR). The blog was controversial from the start, giving unflattering nicknames to players, coaches, and owners of KKR and other teams, telling sordid stories, and showing most of them in a very negative light. As the blog rapidly became popular, it was believed to be of a fringe KKR player who was upset at not being part of the core team. The blog worsened an already bad season for KKR, which lost most of their games, had controversies surrounding their coach, John Buchanan
John Buchanan
John MacLennan Buchanan, PC, QC is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th Premier of Nova Scotia from 1978 to 1990 and as a member of the Senate of Canada from 1990 to 2006.-Early life:...
, and frequently changed captains, including Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his...
. The 2009 IPL season
2009 Indian Premier League
The 2009 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 2 or the 2009 IPL, was the second season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2007. The tournament was hosted by South Africa and was played between 18 April and 24 May 2009...
took place in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and two KKR players, Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar, were sent home to India midway through the tournament. This fueled speculation that they were suspected of being the person behind the blog. The team was also rumored to have banned use of laptops by players. The management of the team termed the blog as "poison pen writing of the dirtiest variety," while denying it could have been written by an actual player. The blogger posted a disclaimer saying "All characters appearing in this work (blog) are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional."
In August 2010, Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
based marketing specialist Anupam Mukerji revealed himself to be the person behind the blog. He said he had "never met a cricketer in his life," and was just making up stories. He never expected it to become this big, he remarked, adding that the Fake Player ended up getting legitimized by the media frenzy. He was inspired by the popularity of a similar blog by Fake Steve Jobs, and the Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
movie The Hoax
The Hoax
The Hoax is a 2007 American drama film directed by Lasse Hallström. The screenplay by William Wheeler is based on the book of the same title by Clifford Irving and focuses on the autobiography Irving supposedly helped Howard Hughes write...
. He continues to write a weekly column as the Fake IPL Player for Mirror, a Times of India tabloid in Mumbai and Bangalore.
In IPL 2011, Anupam started Pitch Invasion, an online radio station that provides live cricket commentary with a twist.
Popularity
During the IPL season, the blog was very popular in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and among major cricketing nations, most of whose players and coaches were involved in the league. According to Mumbai-based digital marketing firm, Pinstorm
Pinstorm
Pinstorm is a digital advertising firm headquartered in Mumbai, India with offices in New Delhi, Bangalore, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Zurich and Santa Clara. It was founded in 2004 and ranks amongst the leading digital advertising firms in the world...
, the fake IPL player blog had at its peak, on 26 April, 150,000 visitors, who each spent 15 minutes on the site, adding up to about 37,000 hours spent on the blog in one day, putting it up there with popular individual-led blogs such as Aamir Khan
Aamir Khan
Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema....
’s blog at its peak with about 170,000 visitors.
The blogger said in an email interview to a newspaper that the key reason behind such wild popularity was the blog's "audacity", and that "the mainstream media needs to realise that getting ex-cricketers to write about a match that happened the previous day, which has already been dissected to death on TV and the internet, isn’t of interest to sports readers anymore."
The Gamechangers
In March 2010 Fake IPL Player released a book called 'The Gamechangers' in India, coinciding with the third season of IPL, and loosely based on the contents of his blogs. This was before he had revealed his identity in August 2010. The book, which has been positioned as fiction written anonymously, covers 35 days of the Indian Bollywood League (IBL). The book describes the powerplays and machinations that go on behind the scenes of "megabucks" cricket. The central plot of the book is the chase to unmask a treacherous anonymous blogger who is upsetting the IPL. And through this story, FIP supposedly exposes cricket's dark underbelly. Critical reviews of the book were polarised with some praising it and some others criticising the book and its purpose. The June 7, 2010 issue of India Today put The Gamechangers at No. 9 in the list of Top 10 national bestsellers.Pitch Invasion
In April 2011, the Fake IPL Player started an online radio station called Pitch Invasion which claims to provide irreverent and wacky cricket commentary. Anupam acts as the main station host and has diverse people working with him including a PhD. in astronomy, a player who claims to have trapped Sachin Tendulkar LBW in a Ranji match except that the umpire didn't give him out, a musician, a photographer amongst others.External links
- Fake IPL Player Blog from blogspot
- Terms And Conditions IPL 3
- Player Nicknames revealed
- Review of Fake IPL player's book from SifySifySify Technologies Limited is an Internet service provider established in 1998, based in Chennai, India.-Company profile:...
- Review of The Gamechangers by Open Magazine
- Fake IPL Player's interview with MintMint (newspaper)Mint is a business newspaper from HT Media Ltd, launched in collaboration with The Wall Street Journal on 1 February 2007. It is a premium business news publication aimed at decision makers and policy makers of the country and it is the first newspaper in India to be published in the Berliner...
- Fake IPL Player reveals himself on Times Now channel
- Pitch Invasion report on NDTVNDTVNDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...