By Debayan Mukherjee

Kolkata, March 26 (IANS) For the aficionados of the Kolkata Knight Riders the Indian Premier League is more a fun than serious cricket. They are firmly behind their Dada Sourav Ganguly and his hapless boys who are going through a lean trot in the third edition of the cricket's biggest money spinner.

With the Twenty20 extravaganza returning to their city of joy after it was shifted to South Africa last year, the fans here are having a ball. And there are some who loathe the tournament for its ill effects on the classical form of the game and for some others it's just a commercial razzmatazz that is hurting other sports.

"Young players like Sourabh Tiwary and Abhishek Jhunjunwala are being weaned away by the lucre of the IPL and they might settle for it than striving hard to play for the country," says Soham Dey, a second year B.A. student of Journalism and Mass Communication. "That's a dangerous trend."

But Debasish Banerjee, Manager of an Electronic Company, disagrees.

"Maybe, IPL is big business with all its frills, but it also has some positive aspects. It's a great exposure to young cricketers in the country. They will learn a lot sharing the dressing room with international players," says Banerjee.

Eminent sports personalities from the city, former Davis Cup coach Akhtar Ali and swimming ace Bula Chowdhury, have a different take. They are concerned at IPL's adverse impact.

While Ali feels the IPL is a money-making racket, Bula says, "cricket as a sport is getting hampered due to the tournament's commercial nature."

"The IPL is pure business spiced with needless embellishments which have no place in cricket. I don't like this kind of entertainment." says the long-distance swimmer.

"It's sad that the IPL, being a domestic tournament, is hogging all the limelight away from major international events which deserve to be highlighted." sighs Bula, citing the media dismissed in a couple of paras the Commonwealth Boxing Championships, where India won as many as six gold medals.

The average Kolkatan though is not complaining and savouring every IPL moment. Whether it is Shah Rukh Khan's jig at the Eden Gardens or the return of Dada to captain the KKR. Kolkata is partying every evening finding some excuse or the other.

"I watch the IPL only because I love Shah Rukh Khan." chirped Sukla Mukherjee, a housewife.

"The sweet sound of willow on a pleasant winter afternoon at the Eden Gardens is mesmerising. But I'm afraid that the IPL may kill Test cricket slowly," cautions her husband Dipankar, a journalist.

Dipankar Bhattacharya, a middle-aged businessman, said last year he sorely missed being part of the IPL as it moved to South Africa due to Lok Sabha polls.

"It was very unfortunate that the IPL went overseas and the homecoming this year is pleasing," he says.

"Terror has taken its toll on sport. I fear that the homecoming may be temporary if terror is not tackled," confessed a worried Abhijit Dasgupta, a general physician.