IPL and Communal Harmony

Indian cricket has come up with a new gig, the Indian Premier League(IPL). Would it be successful, may be. I have my own reservations against the whole process, at least in the Indian cricket context. I am very much opposed to the players being auctioned like commodities (for any sport). Indians are used to seeing the Indian team as one national team and do not necessarily have any regional allegiance. Regional cricket (e.g Ranji Trophy) is not popular at all in India. Regional tournaments are held to have a pool of players, mainly for the selectors to choose from.

Now with IPL, players of all nationalities (cricket playing countries) are mixed up in one team. Now would we be able to  split our allegiance ? I might belong to Delhi but my favorite Indian player might be playing for some other team. Or lets say Ricky Ponting (Australian, assuming is playing for my state) thrashes my favorite bowler who plays for another state. Who do I support, in these scenarios ? As it is in India, tempers run high when it is cricket, imagine what would happen if it becomes regionalised. Would it change the communal balance of India, it remains to be seen. 

IPL itself was a knee jerk reaction by the BCCI to put up something against the Indian Cricket League (ICL) which was thought of by the Subhash Chandra of ZEE TV. BCCI threatened the players of a life ban if they played for the ICL. ICL now has all the unsuccessful players or retired players.

IPL has all the big names attached to it like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya etc. None of the players came up against this whole thing of auctioning players (Dravid briefly mentioned in a press conference about his about his reservations against it), may be it is lot of money to just pass up. I detest the fact of someone owning the team. I know it is common in soccer, football, basketball etc, but even there I am not very comfortable. I for one feel that Sports, Arts, Music, Mathematics, Science etc should be done for its own sake. I am not opposed to making money, but it should not be the be all and end all of everything.

Would IPL bring camaraderie and understanding between players of different nationalities (given we have so much sledging on the ground) or would it flare up the passion and emotions attached to cricket and bring regionalism among the Indians, remains to be seen.