IPL ver. 3.0

The IPL 3.0 ended yesterday and with it ended the reign of Lalit Modi. While the previous two versions of IPL were all about cricket, this one was about anything but cricket. Lalit Modi crashed out of the IPL as spectacularly as Kings Punjab XI and it appears that he left a lot of things to ponder about.

A quick progress report about the teams which did not made to the semis first: KXIP which is obviously my home time, disappointed and Yuvi looked completely out of sorts, DD batted so carelessly in all the matches in the later part of the tournament that Gambhir had to acknowledge that they did not deserve to be in semis, RR were very much an on and off team which never looked like getting into semis and KKR…well they stayed out of controversies this season, for a change, but their form remained more or less the same which they have displayed over the past two seasons.

Now the teams which made to the semis: RCB had a very good combination and always looked like a very potent group to challenge anyone and they did live to their reputation, DC had a horrible start to the tournament but won 5 games on the trot to get into semis and this is one of the teams where the Indian players performed particularly well, CSK also had a horrible start to the tournament but you cannot simply write off a team which is being lead by MS Dhoni and lastly MI- a team which finally got its act together after the disappointing shows in the first two seasons.

The final between CSK and MI promised to be an interesting match but actually it was not. Chennai posted a healthy total of 168 and the way Mumbai started it was always going to be difficult. It is a bit unfortunate that MI had to lose in the final because people invariably start questioning Sachin’s big match skills and his captaincy. However both the things were pretty decent if not great, I would say.The fielding lapses proved to be too costly to MI and this is what Sachin also felt at the end of the day. Nevertheless, a very good performance from both the teams to be able to reach to the finals.

Find of the tournament (Indians only, I don’t care if Pollard was hitting the ball a long way or Hayden might have just played his last IPL match): Among fast bowlers, Ashish Nehra was one J ..just kidding. Ojha won the purple cap but I don’t remember much of his wickets. But all the three fringe Indian spinners performed well- Mishra, Chawla and Ojha so definitely something to be happy about. Bhajji let the ball do his talking this time and there were no slapgates. Zaheer bowled a near perfect line and length all the time and Praveen Kumar was OK too. Vinay Kumar is a bit too young and it would be great if he turns out to be a decent bowler. However, the fast bowling department was largely a disappointment- Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth and Run Producer (RP) Singh had forgettable tournaments and let us not even talk about Nehra. Pathan did well with the bat but his bowling was below par and a comeback seems unlikely in the near future for this one time budding sultan-of-swing.

Well among batting the cards don’t look too promising either and this is definitely a cause of concern. At the top Gambhir flattered to deceive and Yuvraj Singh is still recovering from his injuries. Considering the time he has taken to recover I was just wondering if he got operated by Dr. Christiaan Barnard to get a heart transplantJ. But we do have the stars of CSK- Dhoni and Raina who look to be in pretty good form. Raina is a batsman whom I love to watch but his weakness against short ball can well finish his career. I wish Gary babu helps him with that. Rohit Sharma also did well with DC but we cannot bank on him, can we? He flourished in last year’s IPL too but then was a flop show in the subsequent World Cup. It would have been good to see Sachin with the team too but the old man has his own reasons not to come along. So let’s respect his decisions and try to nurture more Sachins for T20 at least. Murli Vijay is a welcome addition to the team though Uthappa must have cursed his luck to miss out. Jadeja could prove to be a useful player (though he is short of match practise as he was serving a ban for IPL this time-idiot) for this version of the game and Dinu Karthik is a decent member of the team too.

Promising batsmen from IPL 3.0 as per me- Naman Ojha, T Suman and Saurabh Tiwary.

May I also take this opportunity to announce a few awards. The jury comprised of myself and Sheru, my Uncle with whom I had some virtual discussions:

Best commentator-Sunny (this is a big one and he is OUT, I still miss Maninder Singh though)

Best captain- Sangakkara, I guess

Best bowler- RP Singh (no guesses this time)

Best fielder- Sourav Ganguly, for sure

Best hair transplant- who else but Harsha Bhogle

Best batsman- this one is being shared by Gilly and Haydos

Most stylish player- Yuvraj Singh

On a serious time, I don't see any favourites this time too for this World Cup (which happens every now and then and still called a World Cup J). It won’t be surprising if India gets knocked out like last year and as a cricket fan I do not expect too much either. The team members must be fatigued after the IPL (paapi pet ka sawaal hai ..aur kuch nahin J ) but no harm in praying for your country.

Good luck to the men in blue