Mumbai Indians Win IPL 6!!!

Finally Mumbai Indians win the IPL trophy, and with this the most star-studded team finally get a hold of the trophy that eluded them for the last 5 years. And with this Sachin Tendulkar gets hold of a probably the only trophy that was missing from his trophy cabinet.

Mumbai Indians have always been a heavy spender at the IPL auctions trying to get hold of players that could possibly win them the trophy. They had won the Champions League in 2011 but somehow IPL trophy has eluded them. This year around they made many strategic changes like appointing Anil Kumble as the mentor, John Wright as the chief coach, and Ricky Ponting as the captain. This gave the world the opportunity to watch Sachin and Ponting open the innings together, definitely a breath-taking sight.

Though Ricky Ponting in the playing eleven did not work for them, but the courageous step of dropping him from the playing eleven and appointing Rohit Sharma as the captain proved to be a master stroke. Though I do believe that Ponting would have played a huge role from the sidelines, of mentoring Sharma to take on the captaincy.

Also Mumbai was one of the strongest team in the IPL with a very strong bowling attack of Jhonson, Harbhajan, Malinga, and Ojha (and all the other youngsters that got a chance proved themselves). Again the batting was bolstered by Karthikh, Sharma, Pollard, and Smith in supreme form ably supported by Rayudu and Sachin when required. But what took the cake was their fielding. Ponting and Pollard were involved in some breath taking catches, and their ground fielding was also superb with the likes of Sharma, Rayudu and Smith diving around and why should it not have been when they were being mentored by none other than Jhonty Rhodes.

Finally Mumbai Indians lived up to the expectations of their fans and they created that magic by being unbeaten at their home venue (Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai).

But to be honest I am not really sure if all the Mumbai Indian fans were excited by this victory, as soon after the victory, came the announcement that Sachin had retired from the IPL. Probably we might get to see him one last time in the Champions League donning the MI clothing. I don’t know if the IPL would remain the same from next year with the absence of Sachin. Also, I am not sure for myself, as my alliances have been with Mumbai Indians for all these six years and that has largely been due to Sachin’s presence in the team. Though maybe he still would be around next year in a mentor’s role but I am not sure if my alliances would still remain with the team.

Also, came the announcement from Rahul Dravid from IPL, unfortunately since he is out from international cricket, this year’s Champions League would probably be the last time we would get to see him play on the screen. Again, towards the end IPL was surrounded by this spot fixing controversy. I really don’t know, why would any player indulge in such an activity, as IPL already a very high paying league, and all this has done is brought dejection towards the league in the minds of the fans all over the world.

All I can hope is that IPL would remain the same as it has been over the past 6 years with or without legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, and amidst all the spot fixing haphazard that happened this year.

Sachin Tendulkar Turns 40!

Sachin Tendulkar turned 40 yesterday, and as I could not write down a post yesterday, I believe it is never too late to wish the legend. So I would like to take this opportunity to wish him a very happy birthday and also thank him for all the glorious days of cricket I got to witness when he played for India, whether be it in tests or in ODIs. And his records in both the formats speak for themselves.

It is really unfortunate that he announced his retirement from ODI cricket in December, or else he could have become the first Indian to do so. Anyways, he missed on the longest ODI career due to his retirement, and since he did not play an ODI since Feb 2012, that would be considered as his last day of ODI career irrespective of the fact that he announced his retirement from the format in December. Though I would have loved to have watch him play against Pakistan in that series, and it could have been a fitting end to a career and against a team with which it all started in 1989. Though now he would seventh Indian player to play test cricket in his 40s, and the first to do it after since 1960, but this is subject to the fact that he should play a test match after this. Hopefully he would play against South Africa towards the end of the year. The most precious memory of his birthday I have is of 15 years back in 1998, when he turned 25, and when he smashed the Australian bowlers all around the ground to win the series. Yesterday he could not play a big innings against Kolkata Knight Riders, and was dismissed cheaply, but yes his team did not let him down and spoil his birthday party.

Anyways, I would want to wish him a very happy birthday again, and I hope to see him soon playing the test matches, and playing it for a few more years.

IPL 6 – The Most Competitive IPL So Far!

Well this year’s IPL is definitely one of the toughest in terms of competitive level. One-third of the tournament is over, and yet there is no certain team that would make through to the final 4. It is on Delhi Daredevils that look to be out of the reckoning for the final 4 spot as they have all of their first 6 matches, which they might need to win 8-9 matches of their remaining 10 matches something that looks difficult, but anything can be possible in cricket so they are not yet out of the tournament.

Well at the start of tournament, one would have bet 4 out of Delhi Daredevils, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Royal Challengers Bangalore should make it to the top 4. Not much was thought of the other 4 teams of making it to the top 4. But surprisingly, team Delhi one of the strongest on paper has lost their first 6 matches, which probably make them the first team to be knocked out of the tournament. Again all of team Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bangalore have should a little indifferent form in their first 5-6 matches. Though team Bangalore is placed second at this point, team Chennai at fourth, team Mumbai at fifth, team Kolkata at seventh, and team Delhi at ninth (last). The other underdog teams (especially Rajasthan Royals) have done well and in fact are at the top of the table at this stage. The other teams like Kings XI Punjab and the debutant team (Sun Risers Hyderabad) have shown indifferent form but have managed to scrape to victories on most of the occasions and they are placed sixth and third in the table respectively. Also, Pune Warriors have not played to the expectations of the fans but have defeated the big teams like Chennai and the I form Rajasthan and are currently placed at eighth, but yes they still have a very good chance to qualify.

Well who all are going to make it to the top 4, definitely looks like a surprise that would be awaited. Let’s wait and see what happens, I hope that at least Mumbai Indians makes through to the top 4.

Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting to play for Mumbai Indians!!!

Now this is something the cricketing word would be looking forward to, seeing Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting bat together. Ohh, what a sight it is going to be. Hopefully, we would get to see this in this years’ IPL as Mumbai Indians have bought Ricky Ponting in this years’ auction. Though he has been bought at the base price (maybe because he has retired and also as he was not in a great form before his retirement). Mumbai are known for such partnerships as in the first two seasons, it was Sachin opening along with Sanath Jayasurya, another legend from the shorter form of the game (The top two ODI run getters of that time). And now it could be Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting opening together (The top two test run getters).

The other buys in this season for Mumbai Indians were, Phillip Hughes, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile, and Jacob Oram. Well Jacob Oram is always a great buy because of his all-round capabilities, but I am not sure of Glenn Maxwell especially since he has been bought for a million dollars. Not sure whether he is worth that hefty amount especially when you are not sure whether he is going to make it to the playing eleven. Mumbai did not buy any Indian player this time (there were hardly in the auctions though), and again look a little weak on the Indian bench strength, but surely have the players that can take the team to the title.

The complete list of players is:
Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, Amitoze Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Pragyan Ojha, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Aditya Tare, Pawan Suyal, Suryakumar Yadav, Sushant Marathe, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishi Dhawan, Jalaj Saxena, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Aiden Blizzard, James Franklin, Mitchell Johnson, Dwayne Smith, Ricky Ponting, Phillip Hughes, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jacob Oram.

To be honest, the seven Indian players that would make it to the eleven would be:
Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh / Pragyan Ojha (As I don’t see both the spinners playing together), Munaf Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni / Abu Nechim Ahmed.
(On second thoughts there can be a high possibility of playing both Harbhajan and Ojha in the team and that would mean only 1 from Munaf Patel, Dhawal Kulkarni, Abu Nechim Ahmed and in that case it would be Munaf, provided he is fit, else it could be Dhawal). But this would impact the selection of the 4 foreign players to a large extent.

The four foreign players that would make it to the eleven should be:
Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, James Franklin / Mitchell Johnson / Jacob Oram, Ricky Ponting / Dwayne Smith
(To be honest, Pollard and Malinga undoubtedly make it to the eleven if fit. The other two slots would be depending on the requirement, whether they need two all-rounders, or 1 all-rounder and fast bowler, or all-rounder and a batsman, or a fast bowler and a batsman. Given that Johnson is primarily be a fast bowler but can also fill in the all-rounders spot. With the entry of Oram, Franklin’s selection looks difficult unless he used as an opening batsman.)

The most probable eleven looks like:
Opener – Sachin Tendulkar
Opener – James Franklin / Dwayne Smith
No. 3 – Ricky Ponting
No. 4 – Rohit Sharma
No. 5 – Dinesh Karthik
No. 6 – Ambati Rayudu
No. 7 – Kieron Pollard (Number 5, 6, and 7 can rotate depending on the match situation)
No. 8 – Harbhajan Singh
No. 9 – Lasith Malinga
No. 10 – Munaf Patel / Dhawal Kulkarni (Dhawal only in case Munaf is unfit)
No. 11 – Pragyan Ojha
12th Man – Mitchell Johnson
This gives them 4 bowlers (2 quick and 2 spinners) and 3 part timers in Pollard, Smith / Franklin, and Sharma. This looks like the team that would play in the eleven. But I somehow feel, with Munaf out of action for a long time, and Harbhajan not in great form off late, this looks like a weak bowling attack, with only Malinga the saving grace. Also in the batting, apart from Smith at the top and Pollard in the end they don’t have players can play big shots. All of Sachin, Ricky, Sharma, Karthik, Rayudu would be players who take time at the crease before playing big shots.

The other option could be play, Johnson instead of Smith / Franklin, which could look a good bowling attack, but that means a depleted batting. Especially in this case who would open with Sachin from Ponting, or Sharma, or Karthik, or the poor Rayudu (he has had to perform many different roles every season)? This would be surprising.

This is why I feel that they really don’t have big Indian names in the lineup, and the ones that they have are not really in great form. They have always tried to have a great foreign players bench strength, but that does not really matter as only 4 of them can play and of them Malinga and Pollard take the spots, leaving to a lot of choices for the remaining 4 spots.

Also, I have included Ponting in the playing eleven, because of his captaincy. With Sachin, having to take the captaincy again when Harbhjan stepped down, I think Ponting can be given the responsibility since Sachin too wasn’t very keen on captaincy.

Anyways all I can hope is that the team plays well, and wins its first title this year.

IPL 5 – The most unpredicatble so far!

Probably this years IPL has been the most unpredictable of all, we have already crossed the two-third mark of the tournament, and so far only one teams looks certain of qualifying, and only one is certain of not qualifying (this too has been decided in just the  match yesterday). Yes, the tournament is still very much open, and finally which four teams will make it to the second stage, and which three teams will make it to the Champions League is still a big questions with almost every team as of now has a chance of making it to the top four.

It is really amazing how this tournament has come out as of now. I guess everyone expected Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Royal Challengers Bangalore to make it to the top four. But it is Delhi Daredevils who surely should make it to the top four. So one of these three heavyweights will have to lose out from the second stage. Though when the tournament was at mid way stage, it was Rajasthan Royals, Pune Warriors, along with Delhi that looked to make it through the top four, and the big ones missing out. But slowly the big four have started to come back to winning ways. Though one cannot really count out Rajasthan, Pune, and Kings XI Punjab out of the tournament as yet, as just a couple of wins will get them back in the top of the table. In fact this has been the nature of this IPL year ever since it started. For a long time now, a team placed at seventh or eighth position with just one win rockets into the second or third position and maybe with two consecutive wins into the first position as well many a times. Such unpredictable has been the nature of this edition of IPL.

Though all has not been good for Deccan chargers as they are now the only team that is out of contention for the second stage, as they have just managed to win twice in 10 games in the tournament so far, both of them coming against Pune Warriors. But honestly they have lost very close games, many of them which could have been won. In fact their batsmen have done well so as their bowlers, it is just that they have not performed well as a team. The opposite has been of Mumbai Indians, their bowlers have been outstanding and their batsman equally disappointing, but they have just managed to click as a team and have won close matches, winning on the last ball three times while chasing and once by defeating an opposition by 1 run.  

Who will win the tournament is nowhere in the questions as yet, in fact which will be the final four teams is the bigger question. Being a big Mumbai Indians fan I hope they play much better from here on and go on to win their first IPL title.

Mumbai Indians Win Champions League 2011!

Suddenly from nowhere has this team come out to win the title, defeating Royal Challengers Banglore. In fact I don’t think anyone would have ever imagined Mumbai Indians winning this tournament, since they entered this tournament on many injuries that included Sachin tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, Dhaval Kulkarni, Davy Jacobs, and many more. This list was simply endless, but most of these players were the ones that featured in the regular playing 11. But I must say that youngsters rose to the occasion, they grasped there chances and made them count. This is a definite surprise as I never expected to see the younger (unknown) players perform so well, especially seeing what the indian players did during the England tour.

The start of the tournament was not at all good for them, though they won the first two games, but they were not at all convincing, infact they could have easily lost both the games. And then the third game they lost pretty convincingly at the end. It is only from the semi-finals that Mumbai side came together putting up some good performances. And then went onto win the finals very convincingly in Chennai.

Also what makes me feel very happy and does get me exicited as well, is that I am not sure whether players like Chahal, Kanwar, Satish, Abu Nechim would ever get to play for Mumbai Indians since in IPL next year when the injured players get fit, they will not feature in the playing 11. But yes they definitely have made a reputation for themselves , and managed to catch the eye of every IPL-Champions League fan and surely there performances will be remembered and appreciated for a long time to come.

Nevertheless, Mumbai Indians has showed that they have it in them to become the champions. For two years now they were playing very well in the IPL,  but the trophy eluded them. They were even started to be compared to South Africa, who play, but in the crunch situations somehow unfortunately get choked and miss the championship trophy. But I am very happy that Mumbai Indians have proved them wrong, and have won the big trophy, becoming the CHAMPION of CHAMPIONS.

Sourav Ganguly is back in IPL 4–This time for Pune Warriors India….

Sourav Ganguly is all set to make a comeback to the Indian Premier League, this time in the colors of Pune Warriors India instead of the Kolkata Knight Riders. Earlier during the auctions no team was interested in buying the most successful Indian captain. But recently he has been roped in by team Pune as a replacement for injured Ashish Nehra.

Pune has had a bad tournament so far, they won their first two matches comfortably but since then have gone onto to losing six consecutive matches and are now placed at the bottom of the group. But I feel, with Ganguly’s inclusion the team will get the balance it required. The stability he will get to the batting order, which has a bunch of dynamic players like Ryder, Yuvraj, and Uthappa will exactly what team Pune requires at the moment.

I am not sure if this move can really change the position of the team but yes, Sourav will be very eager to perform and silence all his critics, and this can be a god sent opportunity for him. Also, this just can be the incentive and motivation the team Pune was in a need of.

Also, now I am really looking forward to the match between Pune Warriors India and Kolkata Knight Riders to be held on May 19, 2011. Unluckily this is held in Mumbai and not at Eden Gardens Kolkata, otherwise it would have been great fun to watch the spectators to see whom they would have eventually supported, their biggest sporting hero or their city team. But unfortunately this might not be that evident since the match is held at Mumbai, but still it should be worth watching. Also, a similar affair was washed off when that time Dravid playing for Rajasthan Royals had to play in Bangalore against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Unfortunately, that time the rains played the spoil sport, but I hope this time they do not in the match of Sourav Ganguly against Kolkata Knight Riders.

The news from the Yahoo over Ganguly’s inclusion to team Pune:

“New Delhi, (PTI): After going unsold in the players’ auction, former India captain Sourav Ganguly made a dramatic return to the Indian Premier League by signing up for struggling franchise Pune Warriors as replacement for injured pacer Ashish Nehra.
"We were waiting for Ashish Nehra’s fitness report and ultimately the report came yesterday. I was already in talks with Ganguly and we decided that the amount of experience that Sourav has in cricket will no doubt help the team. So we finalised Ganguly last night," Pune Warriors Team director Abhijit Sarkar said referring to the finger injury that Nehra has been nursing.
Ganguly, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders for three IPL seasons captaining them in two editions, went unsold in the January players’ auction despite a rather modest base price of $400,000.
The 38-year-old refused a mentor’s role with KKR after that and there had been speculation of a possible comeback through another franchise. The left-handed batman was first sought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala but their application was rejected by the IPL’s Governing Council.
However, he signed on the dotted line for Pune on Monday, giving a major fillip to the side which has lost six matches on the trot after starting promisingly with a couple of back-to-back wins.”

Indian Premier League (IPL) 4 – Auction’s List

The much awaited IPL 4 auctions are finally over. For the first time ten teams participated in the auctions, and definitely a lot of money was at stake. But I must say this year, the auctions were very surprising, as many big names got no takers at all, while new Indian players got huge prices. If the first auction saw international players getting big bids, this time the teams were much intteligent by buying, most of the indian players. Though, now with 10 teams in the league, it will be very difficult to make out a very stable team like it was the case in the previous three editions.

Well here are the results of the auctions that were held on 8th and 9th of January (yesterday and today).  The list of players bought is in descending order of their final bid price.

Gautam Gambhir sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for a record $2.4 million.

Yusuf Pathan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $2.1 million.

Robin Uthappa to Pune for $2.1 million

Rohit Sharma to Mumbai Indians for $2 million.

Irfan Pathan to Delhi Daredevils for $1.9 million.

Yuvraj Singh to Pune for $1.8 million.

Saurabh Tiwary to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.6 million.

Mahela Jayawardene to Kochi for $1.5 million.

David Hussey to Kings XI Punjab for $1.4 million

Dale Steyn goes to Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million

Muttiah Muralitharan to Kochi for $1.1 million.

AB de Villiers to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.1 million.

Cameron White to Deccan Chargers for $1.1 million.

Jacques Kallis to Kolkata Knight Riders for $1.1 million.

Ross Taylor to Rajasthan Royals for $1 million.

Angelo Mathews to Pune for $950,000

Ravindra Jadeja to Kochi for $950,000

Johan Botha to Rajasthan Royals for $950,000.

Dan Christian to Deccan Chargers for $900,000

Dinesh Karthik to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000

Piyush Chawla to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.

Sreesanth to Kochi for $900,000

Adam Gilchrist to Kings XI Punjab for $900,000.

Zaheer Khan to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $900,000.

R Ashwin to Chennai Super Kings for $850,000

Ashish Nehra to Pune for $850,000

Andrew Symonds to Mumbai Indians for $850,000

S Badrinath to Chennai Super Kings for $800,000.

Praveen Kumar to Kings XI Punjab for $800,000.

Abhishek Nayar to Kings XI Punjab for $800,000

Umesh Yadav to Delhi Daredevils for $750,000

David Warner to Delhi for $750,000

Munaf Patel to Mumbai Indians for $700,000

Venugopal Rao to Delhi Daredevils for $700,000

Cheteswar Pujara to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $700,000.

Doug Bollinger to Chennai Super Kings for $700,000

Kumar Sangakkara to Deccan Chargers for $700,000.

Dirk Nannes to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $650,000.

Tillakaratne Dilshan to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $650,000.

Kevin Pietersen to Deccan Chargers for $650,000.

Daniel Vettori to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $550,000

Lakshmipathy Balaji to Kolkata Knight Riders for $500,000

Pragyan Ojha to Deccan Chargers for $500,000

Rahul Dravid to Rajasthan Royals for $500,000.

Graeme Smith to Pune for $500,000.

RP Singh to Kochi for $500,000.

R Vinaykumar to Kochi for $475,000

Manoj Tiwary to Kolkata Knight Riders for $475,000.

Morne Morkel to Delhi Daredevils for $475,000

Brendon McCullum to Kochi for $475,000.

Ishant Sharma to Deccan Chargers for $450,000.

Brad Hodge to Kochi for $425,000.

Shakib al Hasan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $425,000

Michael Hussey to Chennai for $425,000.

Brett Lee to Kolkata Knight Riders for $400,000

Stuart Broad to Kings XI Punjab for $400,000

VVS Laxman to Kochi for $400,000

Murli Kartik to Pune for $400,000

Ashok Dinda to Delhi Daredevils for $375,000

Eoin Morgan to Kolkata Knight Riders for $350,000.

James Hopes to Delhi Daredevils for $350,000.

Ryan Harris to Kings XI Punjab for $325,000.

Brad Haddin goes to Kolkata Knight Riders for $325,000.

Shaun Tait to Rajasthan Royals for $300,000

Callum Ferguson to Pune for $300,000

Aaron Finch to Delhi Daredevils for $300,000

Amit Mishra to Deccan Chargers for $300,000

Shikhar Dhawan to Deccan Chargers for $300,000.

JP Duminy to Deccan Chargers for $300,000

Mitchell Marsh to Pune for $290,000

Manpreet Gony to Deccan Chargers for $290,000

Parthiv Patel to Kochi for $290,000

Naman Ojha to Delhi Daredevils for $270,000

Tim Paine to Pune for $270,000

Abhimanyu Mithun to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $260,000

Jaidev Unadkat to Kolkata Knight Riders for $250,000

Paul Collingwood to Rajasthan Royals for $250,000.

Sudeep Tyagi to Chennai Super Kings for $240,000

Ajit Agarkar to Delhi Daredvils for $210,000

Owais Shah to Kochi for $200,000

Scott Styris to Chennai Super Kings for $200,000

Steven Smith to Kochi for $200,000

Dwayne Bravo to Chennai Super Kings at $200,000

Davy Jacobs to Mumbai Indians for $190,000

Ramesh Powar to Kochi for $180,000

Wayne Parnell to Pune for $160,000

Ryan ten Doeschate to Kolkata Knight Riders for $150,000

Jesse Ryder to Pune for $150,000

Joginder Sharma to Chennai Super Kings for $150,000

Charl Langeveldt to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $140,000

Mohammad Kaif to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $130,000

Faf du Plessis to Chennai Super Kings for $120,000

Clint McKay to Mumbai Indians for $110,000

Jerome Taylor to Pune for $100,000

James Pattinson to Kolkata Knight Riders for $100,000

Alfonso Thomas to Pune for $100,000

Nuwan Kulasekara to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000

Matthew Wade to Delhi Daredevils for $100,000

Dimitri Mascarenhas to Kings XI Punjab for $100,000

Colin Ingram to Delhi Daredevils for $100,000

Ben Hilfenhaus to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000

Nathan McCullum to Pune for $100,000

James Franklin to Mumbai Indians for $100,000

Wriddhiman Saha to Chennai Super Kings for $100,000

Pankaj Singh to Rajasthan Royals for $95,000

Rusty Theron to Deccan Charges for $85,000

Suraj Randiv to Chennai Super Kings for $80,000

Andrew McDonald to Delhi Daredevils for $80,000

Thisara Perera to Kochi for $80,000

Michael Lumb to Deccan Chargers for $80,000

Michael Klinger to Kochi for $75,000

Johan van der Wath to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $50,000

Moises Henriques to Mumbai Indians for $50,000

George Bailey to Chennai Super Kings for $50,000

Roelof van der Merwe to Delhi Daredevils for $50,000

Luke Pomersbach to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $50,000

Rilee Rossouw to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000

Nuwan Pradeep to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000

Chris Lynn to Deccan Chargers for $20,000

Travis Birt to Delhi Daredevils for $20,000

Nathan Rimmington to Kings XI Punjab for $20,000

Jonathan Vandiar to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $20,000

Aiden Blizzard to Mumbai Indians for $20,000

Robert Frylinck to Delhi Daredevils for $20,000

Steven O’Keefe to Kochi for $20,000

LIST OF THE UNSOLD PLAYERS:

On Saturday
Tamim Iqbal, Chamara Kapugedera, Ajantha Mendis, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Dilhara Fernando, Luke Wright, Matt Prior, Mark Boucher, Graeme Manou, Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs, Sourav Ganguly and Chris Gayle.

On Sunday
Shane Harwood, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards, Andy McKay, VRV Singh, Andre Nel, Ian Butler, Chris Tremlett, Ryan Sidebottom, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Makhaya Ntini, Chanaka Welegedara, Graham Napier, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Jeevantha Kulatunga, John Hastings, Prosper Utseya, Jeevan Mendis, Aaron Redmond, Darren Sammy, Lou Vincent, Neil McKenzie, Jehan Mubarak, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Martin Guptill, Simon Katich, Jonathon Trott, Bryce McGain, Jacques Rudolph, Jason Krejza, Aaron Heal, Ray Price, Abdur Razzak, Suhrawardi Shuvo, Xavier Doherty, Tim Southee, Chaminda Vaas, Thilan Thushara, Kemar Roach, Peter Siddle, Grant Elliot, Elton Chigumbura, Dillon du Preez, Samit Patel, Justin Ontong, Zander de Bruyn, Vernon Philander, Wasim Jaffer, Upul Tharanga, Darren Bravo, Adam Voges, Ian Bell, Chamara Silva, Nikita Miller, Malinga Bandara, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Sulieman Benn, Robin Peterson, MS Panesar, Rangana Herath, Paul Harris, Kyle Mills, Farveez Maharoof, Ryan McLaren, Jacob Oram, Dwayne Smith, Justin Kemp, Ravi Bopara, Michael Yardy, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tim Bresnan, Indika de Saram, Denesh Ramdin, Tatenda Taibu, Chris Hartley, Gareth Hopkins, Brendan Taylor, Dinesh Chandimal, Niall O’Brien, Luke Ronchi, Ricardo Powell, Xavier Marshall, Loots Bosman, Lendl Simmons, Thilan Samaraweera, Jamie How, Phillip Hughes, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Thilina Kandamby, Mohammad Ashraful, Hamilton Masakadza, Chamu Chabhabha, Hasantha Fernando, Gayan Wijekoon, M Pushpakumara, Rayad Emrit, Lee Carseldine, Akalanka Ganegama, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Mahmadullah, Tinashe Panyangara, Dammika Prasad, Daryl Tuffey, Stuart Clark, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Sajid Mahmood, Rory Kleinveldt, Nuwan Zoysa, Iain O’Brein, Mitchell Starc, David Miller, Adrian Barath, Peter Ingram, Darren Ganga, Imrul Kayes, Mahela Udawatte, Junaid Siddique, Joe Denly, Mark Cosgrove, Morne van Wyk, Glenn Maxwell, Tom Smith, Darren Stevens, Nathan Reardon, Naeem Islam, Farhan Behardien, Colin de Grandhomme, James Faulkner, Dilruwan Perera, Tim Armstrong, Yusuf Abdulla, Isuru Udana, Pedro Collins, Mashrafe Mortaza, Tyron Henderson, Ajmal Shahzad, Suranga Lakmal, Peter George, Michael Hogan, Shahriar Nafees, Neil Broom, Phil Jaques, Kane Williamson, Andrew Puttick, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Tharanga Parnavitana, Rob Nicol, Usman Afzal, Anthony McGrath, Angelo Perera, Danza Hyatt, Richard Cameron, Andre Russel, Steven Croft, Aaron O’Brien, Wes Durston, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Doug Bracewell, Johan Low, Saeed Rasel, Cornelius de Villiers, Tino Best, Michael Lewis, Simon Cook, Paul Franks, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Lionel Baker, Ghulam Bodi, Michael Vandort, Raqibul Hasan, Robert Quiney, Runako Morton, Malinda Warnapura, Gihan Rupasinghe, Ethan O’Reilly, Nicholas Buchanan, Tim Lang, Gary Putland, Jack Shantry, Jake Haberfield, Brendan Drew, Trent Copeland, Henry Davids, Daniel Harris, Ed Cowan, Michael Hill, Rhett Lockyear, Cameron Borgas, Floyd Reifer, Adrian Shankar, Tom Beaton, Greg Smith, Andrew Gale, Craig Thyssen, Adam Lyth, Dean Brownlie, Ahmed Amla, Shannan Stewart, Paul Horton

When this list contains the name of Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara, Sanath Jaysurya, Chaminda Vass, Mark Boucher, Herchele Gibbs then, definitely I think that probably teams have made out some strategy, and these high profile players did not fit into their scheme of things. Well all I can say is that this IPL has had controversies since the announcement of the edition, but probably it is going to be a grand one, definitely bigger than ever.

Teams Announce Retained Players for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2011!

The teams have announced the players they want to retain for the next three seasons starting from 2011. The committee had earlier announced that a team can retain a maximum of 4 players with a maximum of 3 Indian players. Yesterday 8th December 2010 was the last day to announce the retained player names by all the franchises (teams). I was thinking that the franchises will be going mad over thinking which four players they could retain. They really would be having problems in selecting 4 players from their present lot. But to my surprise (well IPL has been full of surprises) the teams made this selection very easy. In fact three teams decided not to retain any player, while two teams retained only a single player. Only Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings were the teams that retained its maximum quota of 4 players. Well this is really a surprise since I believed that most of the teams would try and retain the players who have performed really very well for them in the earlier seasons. For example, Rajasthan Royals did not retain Yusuf Pathan, Kings XI Punjab did not retain Irfan Pathan and Kumar Sangakarra, Delhi Daredevils did not retain Gautam Gambhir, Dilshan, and Karthikh, Royal Challengers Bangalore did not retain players like Robin Uttappa, Anil Kumble, and Jacques Kallis while Deccan Chargers did not retain players like Rohit Sharma, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and RP Singh.

This new season of IPL has been in news and controversies since the last season ended, but I hope that all the controversies will end with this and we can have a good season of T20 cricket.

Here is the complete article from cricinfo.

“Ganguly, Dravid shown the door, Kohli stays on

Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir are among the big names released by their IPL franchises, along with Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle and Andrew Symonds, while Virat Kohli is the surprise retention for his team for the next three seasons. Wednesday was the deadline for the franchises to name the players they would retain from their current squads and while there is no common thread running through the choices of players retained and released, the key factors seem to be form, brand appeal and age.

Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab have decided not to retain any of their players, while all the other IPL franchises have held back at least one current player. Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, the 2010 finalists, have retained the maximum of four players each, in the process parting with half of the $9 million salary cap available to teams.

According to the auction rules for IPL 4, teams can retain up to four players, only three of whom can be Indians. The retained players – who must have been part of the franchise’s registered squads for the 2010 season – will be valued at $1.8 million for the first player, $1.3 million for the second, $900,000 for the third and $500,000 for the fourth.

Mumbai, as expected, held on to Sachin Tendulkar, the highest run-scorer of the 2010 season, offspinner Harbhajan Singh, West Indies allrounder Kieron Pollard and Sri Lanka seamer Lasith Malinga. Chennai took the Indian trio of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and M Vijay out of the auction, in addition to South African allrounder Albie Morkel, their regular opening bowler. Delhi Daredevils retained only Virender Sehwag, meaning Gambhir – their captain for the last two seasons – is in the auction pool.

The most interesting choice came from Royal Challengers Bangalore whose sole retention is Virat Kohli, currently on an impressive run in ODIs. There is no place for Dravid, their icon player, nor for Anil Kumble, their captain and the head of the state association. Kolkata’s decision to drop Sourav Ganguly, the biggest cricketing name to emerge from the city and the face of the franchise’s on-field persona, is a bold step.

Punjab’s decision to release all their players was expected following their dismal 2010 season, which means Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Yuvraj Singh will go under the hammer.

Siddhartha Mallya, owner of the Bangalore franchise, said the decision to retain just one player was backed by financial logic. “You must realise that with retention, a big chunk of your budget gets taken away,” Mallya told ESPNcricinfo. ” Mumbai and Chennai have kept four players, which means that half their budget is gone. It finally comes down to how much money one was going to lose. We have a big balance sheet but we have lost $1.8 million for keeping one player. We still have about $7-odd million left but if we had retained four then we would have had to buy virtually an entire squad with the remaining half.”

Age is not a universal disqualification. It didn’t count in Tendulkar’s case, nor in that of Shane Warne, Rajasthan’s coach and captain, who was retained by Rajasthan Royals, along with Shane Watson, a day ahead of the deadline. One franchise official explained the difference: “Warne is a global brand so that only helps to promote the franchise.”

If Rajasthan opted for Warne because they have always viewed the IPL as a global brand, Mumbai went with Tendulkar and Harbhajan for their popularity. Pollard and Malinga may have made the cut on account of being impact players, who have backed up their strong Twenty20 credentials with consistent performance.

Sehwag’s match-winning abilities, coupled with his rapid emergence as a brand, clearly had a say in Delhi’s decision to retain him. MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina must have been shoo-ins for Chennai following their compelling IPL and international form. Vijay’s performances, coupled with his potential to attract a strong local fan-base, must have tilted the scales in his favour, while Morkel’s proven all-round skills were always going to be an asset. If there is a stranger in this crowd, it could be Kohli. Despite his owners trumpeting his recent performances, Kohli is still work in progress. But he is young, ambitious and has the youth appeal – all qualities of the UB Group’s target audience.”

The retained players:

• Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga
• Chennai: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, M Vijay, Albie Morkel
• Rajasthan: Shane Warne, Shane Watson
• Delhi: Virender Sehwag
• Bangalore: Virat Kohli

Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab Terminared from IPL!!!



Indian Premier League has been in the wrong side of the news ever since the two new teams were announced for the fourth season. Since then the controversy regarding the stakes of the IPL Teams has risen and both the IPL and it’s then chief Lalit Modi have been in the highlight of all the controversy. A lot has changed in the panel of the IPL committee as well, and most of this change has come in less than a month ago. Today a major decision has been taken by the BCCI on the other franchises. It has terminated the Rajasthan and Punjab contracts, and these two teams will no longer be a part of the Indian Premier League. These two teams have been scrapped for the “violation of the franchise agreement”. Well this is a big blow to IPL 4, and also as the auctions for the team players were round the corner, I guess this decision might just change the scenario of the coming IPL. Here is the complete article from cricinfo: 

“The IPL has terminated its franchise agreements with Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals and has also issued a notice to the Kochi consortium, asking it to resolve disputes between the owners and form a joint venture company to hold the rights within ten days. The decisions were taken at an emergency meeting of the league’s governing council in Mumbai on Sunday.

The decision to terminate the agreements was taken five days before the deadline given to the franchises to reply to the show cause notices issued on October 1. In the notices, both the franchises were accused of transgressions in relations to shareholding and ownership issues that would “shake the very foundation of the tender process.”

One of the co-owners of the Rajasthan franchise, Raj Kundra, responded to the development by saying that they would explore legal options. “We have no idea [why the agreement was terminated],” Kundra told NDTV. “We need to see a copy of the termination notice and study it. I don’t see IPL 4 happening if the BCCI treats other teams like this.”

The BCCI president Shashank Manohar said after Sunday’s meeting that Rajasthan and Punjab needed to be scrapped for “violation of the franchise agreement” and that there was no process to replace the two franchises at the moment. “With regards to Rajasthan, the bid was given by a different bidder and the agreement was entered into with a different company,” Manohar said. “The shareholding pattern were different. The shares were transferred into with different people without the permission of the governing council.”

When asked about Kochi, Manohar said the franchise hadn’t been scrapped because it hadn’t violated the agreement, but was only suffering from internal disputes. He said Kochi had ten days to resolve all problems otherwise it also ran the risk of being scrapped.

“It was unanimously decided that the franchise agreements with KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited (Punjab) and Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited (Rajasthan) be terminated forthwith based on the legal opinions obtained by BCCI in the matters,” the IPL’s governing council said in a release after the meeting.

“It was further unanimously decided to issue a notice to the unincorporated joint venture holding the Kochi franchise, calling upon them to resolve all their disputes and form a joint venture company which will hold the IPL franchise rights.”

Manohar had criticised the three franchises after the board’s annual general meeting and was especially hard on Kochi. It was difficult, he had said, to communicate with Kochi as the franchise owners had split into two factions after winning the bid to become the tenth IPL franchise at the auction in March.

Sunday’s meeting was the first for the reconstituted governing council, which had its membership reduced from 14 to eight, and its tenure and powers cut. Chirayu Amin was appointed the chairman of body, replacing ousted chairman Lalit Modi, and the rest of the council comprises five other members – Arun Jaitley, Ranjib Biswal, Anurag Thakur, Ajay Shirke and Rajiv Shukla – and two former cricketers, Ravi Shastri and Mohinder Amarnath, as honorary members.”

To be honest I am not sure if it is a correct decision or not, but anyways I would like to congratulate BCCI as they definitely have taken a very brave step and a very tough decision. Hopefully they will not back off from this in future as that will really put forward a very bad image of theirs (something that is very common in India), and that will disappoint me more.

India are out of the T20 World Cup!!!

Once again India is out of the T20 World Cup, without qualifying for the semi-final stage. It has been very similar situation for India in the last two editions of the world cup. They entered the tournament in both the years after a very hectic IPL schedule. Last year India won both its matches in the group stage and then lost all its three matches in the super eight stage. Similarly India won both its matches in the group stage and lost all its three matches in the super eight stage in this edition. The only difference was that last year both the victories India got were against the minnows Bangladesh and Ireland. Well this year they did defeat South Africa, definitely a big team. They won the other match against minnows Afghanistan.

In both these years India has not been able to play its full strength side due to the injuries that have happened during the IPL. The players have had to undergo a lot of burnout in the 40 days before entering a major tournament like the World Cup. Even Indian captain blamed the IPL for its loss in the World Cup this time (something he had not done last year). Indian started off well defeating Afghanistan and South Africa, but then faltered against Australia, losing by a huge margin. After this they just could not recover at all. They lost to West Indies and in their final match against Sri Lanka, almost till the final ball of the match it looked that India could win, but they just gave up probably in the last over. They went into that match with a must win situation and on top of that win with a minimum of 20 runs. They started well scoring 90 runs in the first 10 overs but could not capitalize on the advantage and scored only 73 runs in the last 10 even though they had 9 wickets in hand half way through their innings. Then in the second innings while bowling they got off to a decent start picking a couple of wickets early, but again when it looked as if they would definitely win the match (not by the margin of 20 runs, but a win never the less), they lost the match. In the last four overs they had 51 runs to defend to win, and 31 runs to have a chance of qualifying for the semi-final spot. From that situation in the match having lost it would have been the most disappointing thing for the team.

If I come to take out some positives from the tournament, then definitely for one it would be the batting of Suresh Raina. He scored a hundred against South Africa, and also played well enough in the other matches. Rohit Sharma too played very well against Australia, but apart from these the batting performances have been disappointing. Especially the performance of Murali Vijay who was chosen in the team as a replacement for Virender Sehwag, just could not fire at all in the tournament. His only noticeable performance came against Afghanistan. Also Ravindra Jadeja was a big disappointment in the tournament. He did not bowl well, did not bat well (though he did not get many chances to bat), and the worst was dropped quite a few catches. His noticeable bowling performance also came against Afghanistan. The other positive in the bowling department can be the performance of R Vinay Kumar. He really played very well in his debut and the only match. He somewhat was the good only bowling performance in the match against Sri Lanka. Also the most disappointing thing was that once Sehwag was injured Murali Vijay was chosen and not Robin Uthappa. Personally I feel that the form in which Robin was in during the IPL, he would have been the best choice as a replacement for Sehwag.

Apart from this there was nothing to cheer about for the Indian fans. If I talk about the rest of the tournament, the best thing was that all the major teams advanced in the second stage of the tournament (something that had not happened in the earlier two editions). Also England and Australia have played some great cricket. Pakistan has been very lucky getting into the top four stage while the last team that is Sri Lanka also have played some very good cricket in the tournament. They have played very well and they only faltered once in the tournament against Australia. By reaching the semifinal spot one can say that Pakistan has been one of the most consistent sides in the T20 format. They were the runners-up in the first edition, champions in the second. And now they have a chance to defend their title once again. Sri Lanka too has made it to the semi-final stage for the second consecutive time. Australia had made it to the top four in the first edition, and now will be looking forward to win the tournament (this is the only major tournament they haven’t won as yet). Well this can be the first time when England can try and win the tournament (they haven’t ever won a major tournament).

Well I end this post wishing Indian team all the best in their future tournaments. Also they will have to be very careful as next year again there will be the cricket World Cup 2011 sometime very close to the IPL. Hopefully next year the team will come up with some better performances.

Chennai Super Kings win IPL 3!!!

Chennai are the champions of IPL third edition. They defeated the favorites Mumbai Indians comprehensively in the finals.  As I had written in my previous post that I was supporting both teams (Mumbai Indians a little more), so this loss for Mumbai Indians has not hurt much. Though I would have loved to have seen a different result, but genuinely I am not very disappointed with this result either.

Mumbai Indians have played great cricket throughout the tournament. They had won 10 out of their 14 games in the league phase. Also they were playing the semi-finals and finals in Mumbai, so had a slight home advantage as well. But they were not very good on this day. They started off well, and till half way through the first innings, they were on the top. But after that the pressure of the final showed on them and they dropped two very easy catches of Suresh Raina, who went onto to lay a good foundation of the victory for Chennai. Also what was debatable was the fact that why was Kieron Pollard sent so late into bat. He was just given about 18 balls to play, had he come sometime when there were 5-6 overs left probably the result could have been something else.

Anyways now talking about Chennai Super Kings, it will not be correct to say that they deserved to win this year if one sees their performance in this edition. But if one looks at their performance in all the tree editions then I guess no one will have a doubt on whether they deserved or not. They have by far been the most consistent side. Having made it to the semi-final stage in all the three editions.  This year the managed to enter the semi-finals through a great innings from their captain MS Dhoni. Then after that as everyone says its history. They had been to the finals in 2008 but had lost then, so this was their chance to win it. 

I must say that one needs to spare a thought for Sachin Tendulkar. He had performed brilliantly in this tournament, he also had inspired the young team to perform well at this big stage, and in the finals he almost anchored the side to victory (despite having an injury in his right hand), and still the team lost. As everyone says, no one remembers how well you have played the tournament, if you lose the finals, also no one will remember that how bad were throughout the tournament if you win the finals. If anything is remembered it is the name of the eventual winner.

As MS Dhoni had correctly said after his knock n the last league game, that it is important to make it to the top four after that it is more of lottery cricket. Well his team has proved him correct, they somehow managed to qualify, but then just raised their level in the final two games and won the championship. They not only won, but won both the matches were convincingly.

Well this year the awards were much different from the others in for the Indians. I the first edition it was foriegners for won the awards, the second year it was a mixed bag for both Indian and foriegn players. But this year surprisingly every award has gone to an Indian player. Finally it has been an Indian Premier League. Now coming to the awards given at the end of the tournament:

2010 Champions: Chennai Super Kings
IPL Fair-play Award: Chennai Super Kings
Man of the Match in the Finals: Suresh Raina (Chennai Super Kings)
Player of the Tournament: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians)
Orange Cap: Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians)
Purple Cap: Pragyan Ojha (Deccan Chargers)
Under-23 Success of the Tournament: Saurabh Tiwary (Mumbai Indians)
The only hatrick this year was taken by Praveen Kumar (Royal Challengers Bangalore).
The fastest hundred was by Yusuf Pathan (Rajasthan Royals)
And the highest Score was by Murali Vijay (Chennai Super Kings)

The final standings of the tournament were:
1. Chennai Super Kings
2. Mumbai Indians
3. Royal Challengers Bangalore
4. Deccan Chargers
5. Delhi Daredevils
6. Kolkata Knight Riders
7. Rajasthan Royals
8. Kings XI Punjab

The Batting charts was headed by Sachin Tendulkarand there were as many as 4 Indians in the top five in the charts. While the bowling department was a bit different with P Ojha heading the charts along with it was an all indian players show in the top five. And surprisingly the top four bowlers of the tournament were spinners. 

The top three teams that are Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Royal Challengers Bangalore have made it to the Champions League that will be held in South Africa in September this year.

One thing that has made me happy is that it is MS Dhoni’s team that has won. He has inspired his team to win this cup. Hopefully he can do the same thing when he leads the Indian team in the T20 World Cup staring at the end of this week in West Indies. With this I will end the post and also wish the Indian team all the best for the World Cup.

It is Mumbai versus Chennai in IPL3!!!

It is Mumbai Indians versus Chennai Super Kings in the IPL-3 finals. It is great to see these two teams here as these are my favorite teams, and I just could not ask for more than a final between these two teams. By qualifying for the finals they also have automatically made it to the Champions League. Well I would want Mumbai Indians to win this, but I will not be very disappointed if they lose since it will be to Chennai Super Kings.

Mumbai Indians have had a great tournament so far and I would want them to finish it off well as well, something they could not do in the previous two editions. In the first year after a dismal start, they just came into their own, and made it very close in qualifying to the top four. They had to win two matches of the last three, and then they lost a very close match to Delhi Daredevils, and then in the next match Rajasthan Royals won of the last ball of the match. Though they won their last match, they still finished at the 5th position. They would have been happy of this, if they see the situation they were in at the start of the tournament, but would have definitely been disappointed specially looking at the way they played in the middle, as they played some great cricket to have a chance to make it to the next stage. In the second year they started well, and maintained their position in the top four almost more than half the tournament. But towards the end they ended up losing some very close matches and ended up 7th in the tournament. They would have definitely been disappointed with that year’s performance.  This year Sachin Tendulkar has led the Mumbai Indians team with some very good performances upfront. He has also inspired a lot of youngsters in his team to perform at this level.

On the other hand Chennai Super Kings have been the most consistent teams in IPL. They have made it to the top four in all the three editions so far. In the first edition the final it to the finals but lost the title to Rajasthan Royals and in the second year they lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi-finals. This time they have the opportunity to win the title. This year’s tournament has been of ups and downs for them so far. They started well, and then lost a few consecutive matches. Finally a great innings from MS Dhoni in their last league game saw them through to the top four.

I would wish both the teams the best (especially Mumbai Indians) for the finals. As I said I would be very happy if Mumbai win the tournament but will not disappointed either if they lose as that would mean that Chennai would have won.

Indian Premier League-2 (IPL-2)– Finally is Over.

The IPL is over but still can’t really get out of its fever as yet. It has been 36 days of exicting cricket and finally it has come to an end. Although this tournament had to be shifted to South Africa at the last moment due to the General Elections happening in India still this edition has really been a major success. Almost everyone in India was disappointed in the decision of shifting the tournament out of India and started calling it as a NRIPL and other names but at the end of these 36 days i dont think many of them are still left disappointed.

This year Deccan Chargers the team from Hyderabad won the tournament. They become the second tea to have their names embrossed on the trophy after Rajasthan Royals had got it done last year. They have literally turned the table around. Last year they finished 8th and this year as champions, that is what is called a turn around. Also Royal Challengers Bangalore who finished 7th last year have finished runers-up(2nd) this time around. Another amazing fact can be said about is that so far the two teams which have won the tournament so far have been the ones that have had a Foreign captain and that to an Australian, first Shane Warne did it for Rajasthan Royals last year and Adam Gilchrist has delivered it this year. Another fact is that both these teams have had an Australian coach to guide them , Shane Warne for Rajasthan Royals and Darren Lehmann for Deccan Chargers. If this is going to be the way then i guess we might see all the Australian players leading there respective sides next year(just a joke). BUt this will atleast give hope to Mumbai Indians and Kolkata KnightRiders of playing the finals next year as they finished the bottom two teams this year(if it countinues the same way next year as it did this time). Only Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils have managed to finish in the top four of both the editions.

This edition has been much better for the Indian cricket players specially. Last year IPL was hosted in India but the Orange Cap (highest run scorer in the tournament) and the Purple Cap (highest wicket taker in the tournament) went to foreign players that is to Shaun Marsh(Australia) – Orange Cap and Sohail Tanvir(Pakistan) – Purple Cap and also the player of the tournament went to Shane Watson(Australia). The other facts were that there were 6 centuries in the last edition with all of them being scored by Foreign players and in the bowling department the only 5-wicket haul of that edition was taken by Sohail Tanvir another foreign player.

Well this edition has been a bit different with the Indian players also getting the piece of cake of success here in South Africa. Mathew Hayden(Australia) won the Orange Cap while RP Singh(India) won the Purple Cap this year. Two centuries were scored this year with Manish Pandey (U-19 player from India) becoming the first Indian to do so. While Anil Kumble bagged the only 5 wicket haul of the tournament finishing with the best figures in a match in the edition, also Manish Pandey scored the highest score of this edition. Adam Gilchrist was named the player of the tournament this year while Rohit Sharma bagged the U-23 sucess of the tournament award. Finally the Indian Players have also joined the party. The international players have done their job of guiding the youngsters and also play the way been doing for so many years now for their respective countries. But this edition has done the Indian cricket a lot more proud than it did the last year. The Australian players have once again proved why they are the champion players and also that it does not really matter if they have retired from the international cricket or not. Also the South African players enjoyed this edition playing back in their home and would hope to take this confidence and experience into next their future tournaments. 

The Final Standings of the tournament were as follows.
1. Deccan Chargers
2. Royal Challengers Bangalore
3. Delhi Daredevils
4. Chennai Super Kings
5. Kings XI Punjab
6. Rajasthan Royals
7. Mumbai Indians
8. Kolkata KnightRiders

Orange Cap – Mathew Hayden (Chennai Super Kings)
Purple Cap – RP Singh (Deccan Chargers)
Player of the Tournament – Adam Gilchrist (Deccan Chargers)
U-23 Success of the Tournament – Rohit Sharma (Deccan Chargers)

The Batting charts were headed by Mathew Hayden and Suresh Raina was the only Indian to make it to the top five in the charts. While the bowling department was a bit different with RP singh heading the charts along with three othe rindian players in the top five.

Finally the Indian mega event has come to an end and people around the country and i think even back in South Africa will be eagerly waiting for the next years edition.

IPL 2 – Finals

Now both the semifals have finished and both the favourite teams have been defeated in the Semi-Finals. The top two teams at the end league phase the Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings have been shown the exit door by Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Well if you go to see one amazing fact is that in the last years edition the teams that were placed at the 7th and 8th spot will play the finals in this edition. I think this is what is called turning the tables over. Well these two teams have literally turned the tables upside down. Last year Chennai Super Kings finished runnersup last year this year they finish as the joint third (losing Semi-finalist), while for Delhi Daredevils this edition in a way can be said to be no different as they like last year also finish joint third(losing Semi-Finalist).

The Final will be played between the Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

MATCH No.	DATE	TEAMS	VENUE	TIME(IST)
Final	Sunday,24-May-09	Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore	Johannesburg	8pm to 11pm