Who is Fake IPL Player?

Few blogs have captured the imagination of the “masses” as much as the Fake IPL Player (FIP). I have been following it on and off and I find his writing delightfully entertaining.”its been 4 weeks, 43 posts and over 17000 comments till now!” It is hard to ascertain whether he is “an insider” or “an outsider.” And eveyrone seems to be talking about it / him / whatever! GreatBong recently wrote about the blog (& the blogger) on CricBuzz. 

Fake IPL Player - Screenshot

In a poll conducted by FIP himself (which has not been taken “off the blog” – Does anyone remember the results?), FIP highlights the mystery / intrigue that he wants ot be sorrounded by. Some of the inferences that can be drawn from his (recent!) apparent self-revelation in the FIP RIP video (though they could be completely misleading) are:

“Grew up in Delhi – that’s where I learnt my art”


“Traveled and worked almost all over India”


“One of the earliest memories – Kapil Dev running back to the pavilion after beating England in the 1983 World Cup semi-finals”


“Skipped my IIM Interview in order to watch India play Australia at Ferozshah Kotla – a match that, by the way, we lost!”

“As to my fascination for the city of Kolkata – I love the people there!”

He speaks flawless English, Hindi and Bengali.

He says something about “writing a book” … “sometime later”.. or “perhaps not”

Let me randomly speculate. Not that I have anything to lose or gain by doing this. But I guess that’s what you do when you are idle – chew on loads of fodder and digest your own predictions – knowing that they might be as far away from the truth as pigs flying!

HYPOTHESIS #1:  – “Earliest Memories” in 1983 – A child’s earliest memories happen when he is about 4 years old maybe? (+/-1) .. So between 3 – 5 years old. If we assume this to be true, then FIP is probably born between 1978 – 1980. So he must be about 30-odd years old right now.

HYPOTHESIS #2: “Skipped my IIM Interview” – According to HowStat.com, in the last decade there has been only ONE ODI at Feroz Shah Kotla on 14th April 1998 (which Australia won by 4 wickets) – The Pepsi Traingular Series between India-Asustralia-Zombabwe in April ’98 – Now this can approximately be the right time for an IIM Interview (They usually happen around March – April). – So that it corroborates!

[LIGHT BULB] – If he appreared for an “IIM” interview in 1998, this indicates he must be at least 21 years old in the year 1998. Which means he might have been born not later than 1978.

Some people say this might be Akash Chopra (born September 1977). It might be worth noting that Akash Chopra has an alternate publishing career and has already had one of his books published by Harper Collins. Also, according to this blog, he was sent back by Buchanan, half-way through IPL2. Anyway, I have a strong hunch that FIP is actually someone I might happen to know – in fact – someone that even you might happen to know (possibly!). The “someone” I am referring to has done some work earlier on the speculative fiction genre. But I am really not sure – so I am not going to take any names.

Here’s a video of a story that appeard on TIMES NOW about the Fake IPL Player.

‘Nuff speculation! I’d rather be the armchair audience, and wait for more from “the fly on the wall, the ghost in the darkness.”  And while we’re ON it, who do you think it is?