Ek Nayi League: What could it be?

The other day, I was surfing the net and reading sports articles when I accidentally saw one of Kapil Dev’s 1 minute video. He was talking something about playing “dil se” and why it succeeds. But towards the end of the video, he said we will fail if we play “dil se” in “Ek Nayi League”. This got me hooked. I searched for “Ek Nayi League” and came across this website - http://www.eknayileague.com/

The aforementioned website has more videos where Kapil Dev described about a renowned Indian person (Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sania for instance) and talks about how passionately they have achieved all the success in their area of expertise. How they have battled all odds (Yuvraj Singh from Cancer and Sania Mirza for elevating Women’s tennis in India). Kapil Dev think MS Dhoni shouldn’t retire after developing such a fantastic Cricket team. But one common thread that binds all these videos is that these champions will fail if they play with all their heart in a new league codenamed “Ek Nayi League”. 

Kapil Dev ends his videos by saying he will reveal the concept of the league soon. When a living legend, who brought India on a global Cricketing platform, tries to describe and tease you with something new, you better stand and take notice. I am no different. So I thought, why can’t I take a calculated guess as to what the new concept / new league is all about? 

Image courtesy: http://www.eknayileague.com/

Key takeaways from the videos and Kapil Dev’s image from the website – 

• Top performers will fail if they play with their heart
• It’s more to do with the mind than the heart
• The concept has to be something to do with renowned people in society, at least their examples are sought to put forward the point
• Kapil Dev is involved, either as a brand ambassador or as a host of the league

Here are my guesses – 

1. How about a “reality-show” league where a certain number of celebrities will compete either as individuals or as teams. There will be competitions where participants have to use their intellect to succeed. Individuals / teams will play against each other and points will be awarded. There will be a points table, similar to the IPL competition. Once the round-robin competitions are done, there will be a grand finale, typical of a reality-show, to decide the winner. This seems possible since such a game show is not present in Indian television at this point. Celebrities will also bring in more viewership. Kapil Dev’s teaser campaign suggests that the makers are confident of the concept and hence take a risk with such a marketing concept. 
2. If this is not about a television show, then it must be an advert of a product. The climax of the teaser videos by Kapil Dev will culminate in revealing an existing product category with a different concept. Now, as per the takeaways mentioned above, what could that product possibly be? Something to do with the mind. In one of the videos, Kapil Dev suggests Dhoni should not consider retirement. This makes me believe that the product category should be something that either prolongs retirement and / stimulates intellect. If my presumptions are correct, then it could be an Insurance advertisement of a new insurance product. Kapil Dev as brand ambassador also adds added weight to a product where trust in the brand matters.
3. One of the few sports where mind rules over heart is the game of Chess. We have had IPL-like concepts replicated in Badminton, Lawn Tennis, Kabaddi, Hockey. Will Chess be next in line? Some of the takeaways mentioned above support this line of thought – mind over heart and the fact that retirement can be delayed. But it doesn’t connect all the dots. Also, an IPL like league for Chess will cater to a niche audience. This appears to be a remote possibility, but a possibility nevertheless.

Let’s now wait and see what Kapil Dev has up his sleeve. Will it be a bouncer or a Yorker? Time will tell.