Call it a publicity gimmick or a frustrated cricketer’s handiwork, the Fake IPL player’s blog had become the unofficial source of gossip for millions of IPL fans around the world. The blogger, who claimed to be a member of the Kolkata Knight Riders team revealed several details including team strategies, dressing room discussions, personal details of players and more. And now several clone blogs inspired by Fake IPL have popped up, some claiming to be run by IPL players.
One such blogger is ‘The real IPL player’, who calls himself doosara pheko. He claims to have played one IPL match for the KKR team and he writes about the day-to-day activities of the team members from South Africa, just like the original one. The tagline of the site says, “Using a decoy isn’t much fun, so I’ll post myself from now on. Will still keep a low profile. By the way the decoy’s tasted blood and is still posting, sans input from me.”
The blogger gives a detailed analysis on the various incidents that took place in South Africa. In one of the entries, the blogger writes, “Breakfast was a dull affair with little conversation. Lordie acknowledged me yet again. Halleluijah! Might get to play again. Jai ho Lordie, may you hit us out of trouble in games to come. Will have a team meeting soon with more boring strategy talk.”
The blogger writes in a style similar to that of the Fake IPL player. He also uses the same nicknames for the players — Saurav Ganguly is Lord Almighty, Kishen Kanaiyya is Ravi Shastri, Phoren Babas are Brendon McCullum and coach John Buchanan, Little John is Ishant Sharma. Although the site is a complete spoof of the actual one, it has attracted quite a lot of attention and is one of the most popular IPL blogs today.
Several fans have also gotten creative with retaliatory websites to the Fake IPL player. A blogger named Deep Tonsil has started posting comic strips using the images of members of the Kolkata Knight Riders. In a blog titled The Curious Case of Little Johnny, the blogger writes, “Fake IPL player may be doing a noble job but he is no good. If you think IPL news on his blog is interesting, wait till you hear the information I have on some of the biggest cricketers and celebrities.”The blog, which pokes fun at SRK, Shoaib Akhtar and Ishant Sharma was met with an overwhelming response.
There is also a blog called gethu.com, which is a glossary of the nicknames of various players and the interpretations of those names.
On a similar note, Amin Aijaz, who started a fan site for the Fake IPL Player, writes, “A loser you would say. But the entertainment quotient provided is priceless. Now with all the cricketing circles abuzz about this mystery blogger, no one seems to be able to resist his blog and posts.”
Who’s the blogger?
* Saurav Ganguly - Because the cricketer was stripped off captaincy and this was his way of getting back
* Shah Rukh Khan - Because he is known for his publicity stunts
* Young players - Because the clues that the blogger has left behind suggests so
* Murali Karthik - A prominent member of the group but hardly much written about
* A cricket journalist - Because of the language and the style of writing.