The fly on the wall ‘reveals’ his story

So the dénouement did finally come. The Fake IPL Player revealed himself on Wednesday, the day Kolkata Knight Riders played their last match of IPL Season 2 but not quite in the way everyone had expected.

The blog, which spread like wildfire in a matter of days, became the toast of the blogosphere, shook the foundations of Shah Rukh Khan’s team and inspired boardroom discussions and countless media articles, finally came to an end on Wednesday with the blogger posting a self-shot video in his latest post.

He had carefully built up the climax. The series of posts (43) had a common theme — someone who has become a “victim” of the system decides to ridicule the establishment armed with his anonymity. He promised to “reveal it all” and threw in teaser polls on his identity.

The mysterious blogger instantly became an iconic figure with some of his nom de plumes (Appam Ch***ya or Bhookha Naan) achieving cult status.

The four-minute video titled ‘FIP RIP’, however, shows only the silhouette of a person claiming to be the Fake IPL Player.

The shadowy figure starts by saying: “This is me, Fake IPL player… or FIP as you sometimes call me… It’s been four weeks, 43 posts… about 17,000 comments till now…

“Behind all the greasepaint, I’m just another faceless guy… grew up in Delhi where I learnt my art… and I have travelled and worked almost all over India… actually, I grew up on cricket.

“One of the earliest memories being that of a grinning Kapil Dev, running back to the pavilion after beating England in the 1983 semifinals… I watched with horror when Miandad whacked Chetan Sharma for that last-ball six… and also overjoyed when Jadeja returned the favour 10 days…err…10 years later…”

Claiming to be an avid follower of the game, the blogger says he skipped an IIM interview for a cricket match.

“Actually I was crackpot enough to skip my IIM interview in order to watch India take on Australia in Feroze Shah Kotla… A match that by the way we lost…”

“But somewhere along the faceless journey in life, I happened to get intimately exposed to cricket… From the kings of Bollywood to the pimps of cricket… and vice versa… from the cricketers with oversized egos to journos (journalists) that are so happy being in such august company (that) they forget to dig deep enough… I’ve seen them all.

“Yes, I am an insider… I am the fly on the wall… the ghost in the darkness…”

The blogger has serious issues with the T20 format.

“We have changed cricket matches into three-hour cricket movies… with a couple of strategic timeouts in between…”

He says it would take him a couple of books at least to reveal all that he knows but it would also make him “history” were he to do that.

“Still, it’s a story that has to be told…”

In smooth English, fluent Hindi and Bengali, the blogger says he has an affinity for Kolkata - the city - and the team KKR just for the sheer drama they produce.
He signs off by saying: “Anyway… this is the story of FIP… finally, it’s all just shadow play… or as my name suggest, fake… See you when I see you… kabhi alvida na kehna.”