India’s Glitzy Cricket Contest Is Entering the Big Leagues

Earlier this year, a churning crowd streamed into Narendra Modi Stadium, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Electronic beats pounded from speakers, competing with police officers’ whistles. As the 100,000-plus spectators took their seats, a succession of Bollywood stars appeared on the field, performing pregame dance routines. Then a salvo of fireworks arched overhead, marking the start of the main event: the first game of the 16th season of Indian Premier League cricket.

“IPL is a festival,” said Rajat Tiwari, one of the fans who’d come to watch the showdown between the Gujarat Titans, then the league’s defending champions, and the equally formidable Chennai Super Kings. A marketing manager in his 20s who was drinking can after can of Predator energy drinks, Tiwari is one of the millions of Indians, many of them professionals in its growing middle class, who’ve helped turn the IPL into one of the world’s most lucrative sports competitions. He was transfixed by the spectacle around him, as a booming announcer led the crowd in chants. During quiet moments in play, trumpet calls blasted across the stands. After Moeen Ali, an English batter for the Super Kings, was apparently caught out by the Titans, the game was stopped, and the stadium’s speakers played a thumping-heartbeat sound effect, signaling that off-field officials were reviewing the tape. A few tense moments later, Gujarat fans began to roar: Ali was indeed out.