Well, this one is the Indian Premier League!! If you thought the political league threw a big surprise, this one was huge!! No one would have given Deccan even a slim chance at the beginning of this edition, but to see the underdog triumph is something we all enjoy.
Most of the matches were closely fought and pretty interesting this time around. But, empty stands and lack of the electrifying atmosphere like back home took some sheen off the entire event. Commercially, we still don't know if this was a successful event, but the commentators did all they could to help the sponsors. In this context, I don't really know what to make of Chris Gayle's comments, but it seems as though once you wear the hat of the West Indian team captain, indiscipline and lack of tact sets in automatically (we saw Brian Charles Lara, didn't we!).
In a few years from now, (if and) once T-20 repeatedly proves its money spinning power, it is not unreasonable to expect big players announcing early retirements to play just the lucrative form of the game. Gone are the days when we saw players retire from the shorter version of the game so that they could play test cricket for longer. An over dose of T-20 will most certainly be suffocate the flow of money, but in the right dose, clear signs are that it will be a big money spinner in the future.
Starting from Shilpa Shetty's googly to Sidharth Trivedy to Katrina Kaif performing at the closing ceremony, glamor was something that was not deficient this time around-even the cheer leaders seemed to have shed "more" thanks to the fact it wasn't happening on our shores. Kolkata had one 'hell' of a tournament this time! With the fake ipl player becoming a rage on the world wide web, he generated more interest than most of the games they played. In some ways, I was happy to see them lose after the shoddy treatment meted out to Dada, it did seem like natural justice at play. Buchanan will be out of favor with even the D level clubs in his home town after the showing here. The shocking multi-captaincy theory drew flak all sensible cricket lovers, but Sharukh Khan thought otherwise! Good that he didnt waste money returning to SA once again.
Some of the old guns like Gilly, Kumble, Hayden performed exceptionally well and I felt especially happy for Kumble (being a huge Jumbo fan myself)! Though I support the Chennai Superkings, Deccan is my second favourite team (no, not after this win) and it was good to see them take the cake.
Mumbai clearly under-performed inspite of boasting of the best opening pair in the IPL. They tinkered with their batting line up too much in a desperate attempt to produce results and unfortunately for them, it didn't work. After Sreesanth's newly christened name, Punjab is perhaps more famous for having 'Appam' in the team than their performance!! Rajasthan looked a mere shadow of last year's team, Yusuf Pathan being the only saving grace.
IPL-2 had its elements no doubt, but will the T-20 fever continue to have this frenzy it has generated in its formative years? Only time will tell, but I do hope test cricket weathers this storm because after all its the ultimate TEST!!
Most of the matches were closely fought and pretty interesting this time around. But, empty stands and lack of the electrifying atmosphere like back home took some sheen off the entire event. Commercially, we still don't know if this was a successful event, but the commentators did all they could to help the sponsors. In this context, I don't really know what to make of Chris Gayle's comments, but it seems as though once you wear the hat of the West Indian team captain, indiscipline and lack of tact sets in automatically (we saw Brian Charles Lara, didn't we!).
In a few years from now, (if and) once T-20 repeatedly proves its money spinning power, it is not unreasonable to expect big players announcing early retirements to play just the lucrative form of the game. Gone are the days when we saw players retire from the shorter version of the game so that they could play test cricket for longer. An over dose of T-20 will most certainly be suffocate the flow of money, but in the right dose, clear signs are that it will be a big money spinner in the future.
Starting from Shilpa Shetty's googly to Sidharth Trivedy to Katrina Kaif performing at the closing ceremony, glamor was something that was not deficient this time around-even the cheer leaders seemed to have shed "more" thanks to the fact it wasn't happening on our shores. Kolkata had one 'hell' of a tournament this time! With the fake ipl player becoming a rage on the world wide web, he generated more interest than most of the games they played. In some ways, I was happy to see them lose after the shoddy treatment meted out to Dada, it did seem like natural justice at play. Buchanan will be out of favor with even the D level clubs in his home town after the showing here. The shocking multi-captaincy theory drew flak all sensible cricket lovers, but Sharukh Khan thought otherwise! Good that he didnt waste money returning to SA once again.
Some of the old guns like Gilly, Kumble, Hayden performed exceptionally well and I felt especially happy for Kumble (being a huge Jumbo fan myself)! Though I support the Chennai Superkings, Deccan is my second favourite team (no, not after this win) and it was good to see them take the cake.
Mumbai clearly under-performed inspite of boasting of the best opening pair in the IPL. They tinkered with their batting line up too much in a desperate attempt to produce results and unfortunately for them, it didn't work. After Sreesanth's newly christened name, Punjab is perhaps more famous for having 'Appam' in the team than their performance!! Rajasthan looked a mere shadow of last year's team, Yusuf Pathan being the only saving grace.
IPL-2 had its elements no doubt, but will the T-20 fever continue to have this frenzy it has generated in its formative years? Only time will tell, but I do hope test cricket weathers this storm because after all its the ultimate TEST!!
