Not even a week has passed since Gambhir & Dhoni masterminded India’s legendary world cup final success over Lankans; and Indian cricket fans need to brace themselves for a contest between Gambhir’s KKR and Dhoni’s CSK to kick-start IPL: Season-4! It will be just the beginning of this “thrill-a-minute” cricket avatar that spans over 70 matches over 2 months; finally culminating with the 28 May final in Chennai to crown the champions: where the previous winners list includes Rajasthan Royals, Deccan Chargers and defending champs Chennai Super Kings! Whether the average Indian cricket fanatics absorb this entertainment with the same gusto as World Cup in these cricket hangover times? And after the hopefully-never-again auctioning drama, who will the fans vouch for: their home/favourite city or their favourite player teams? As we seek answers to these intriguing questions, I present before you ratings of the 10 teams (5 of them led by Indian players & 5 non-Indians) on a 10-point scale based on very complex calculations performed by yours truly cricket analyst :P
Here goes:

1. Kolkata Knight Riders (7.9/10): Captain – Gautam Gambhir. The best all-round side with the likes of Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Hasan at its disposal. And a batting-lineup powered by Manoj Tiwary, Eoin Morgan, Haddin & Ten Doeschate along with Gauti and you have a formidable team with the potential to go all the way indeed! Lee, Balaji, Sangawan & Unadkat form a decent bowling unit too. However, whether or not KKR is able to bury down the ghost of its IPL past remains to be seen? But on paper they are the firm favourites!

2. Chennai Super Kings (7.2/10): Captain – M S Dhoni. Defending champions with Captain Cool at its helm, CSK also boast of a powerful all-round unit with Bravo, A.Morkel & Styris standing out as IPL specialists. Add to that the likes of Raina, M.Hussey, Plessis and M.Vijay in batting & a versatile bowling line-up in Ashwin, Jakati, Randiv, Southee and Kulasekara. And CSK have all bases covered up there! Good to go till the final atleast!

3. Royal Challengers Bangalore (6.7/10): Captain – Daniel Vettori. Despite Virat Kohli being the only player still a part of RCB from previous seasons, this new-look side has a more than decent batting ability in A.B. Villiers, Dilshan, Kohli, S.Tiwary, C.Pujara & Pomerbasch. Zaheer Khan leads the bowling attack with Nannes, Langeveldt and clever captain Vettori. Mallaya’s team will hope to go one better than their IPL-2 final performance!

4. Mumbai Indians (6.6/10): Captain – Sachin Tendulkar. In Pollard & Symonds, MI possess one of the most destructive duo with the bat. With the guile of Harbhajan, Slinger of Malinga, rejuvenation of Munaf and batting prowess of Rohit Sharma, Rayudu and Suman. Last time around, this very talented team was undone by likes of MSD & company at the final hurdle. This time GOD will leave no stone upturned to lift IPL too!

5. Rajasthan Royals (6.4/10): Captain – Shane Warne. The winners of the inaugural edition led by the merecurial Warne, RR is stung by the loss of Yusuf this time. However, Shane Watson & Oram as the team all-rounders and Ross Taylor, Dravid to boost their batting. If Tait, Trivedi & Botha can come good with the bowl too, we may be in for another Royal surprise show!

6. Kochi Tuskers (6.3/10): Captain – M Jayawerdena. Some really shrewd captures in the auctioning means that this debut Kerala side has the potential to spring a few surprises for the established lot. Besides the captain: Hodge, Mc Cullum, Laxman & Owais Shah lend solidity to batting. Murali is a prized pick and KT will hope T. Perera also lives up to his allround potential. Of Sreesanth, RP Singh, R Powar: atleast one of them should come good or so KT will hope!

6. Pune Warriors (6.3/10): Captain - Yuvraj Singh. In Yuvi, N Mc Cullum & Jesse Ryder, this team does have a formidable allround attack. Batting is boosted by M Marsh, Manish Pandey, G Smith & R Uthappa. And if Nehra, Karthik, Parnell and J Taylor can save a few runs, the warriors might turn out to be a little hot to handle!

8. Kings XI Punjab (5.5/10): Captain – Adam Gilchrist. The best of the ‘worst trio’ of IPL-4. They have been hit really hard by auctioning mayhem! With an almost zero-size bowling, with Piyush Chawla their best hope. KXIP would really need D Hussey, Shaun Marsh, D Karthik, A Nayar and the captain himself to fire on all cylinders on a consistent basis for some success!

9. Delhi Daredevils (5.1/10): Captain – Virender Sehwag. My top-favourite during last season; DDR has hit the very bottom on paper this time and are desperately short in all departments! Only and only if the Captain, A Finch, D Warner, V Rao come good with the bat and Irfan Pathan, J Hopes & Van der Merwe can finally deliver as all-rounders, can the DDR offer some resistance to its oppositions!

10. Deccan Chargers (5/10): Captain – Kumar Sangakkara. From being the champions of IPL-2, this side has been absolutely ripped off by the auctioning! So much so that the woefully out-of-form C White is their best all-round bet! It will require some outstanding captaincy by the erstwhile Lankan skipper with a lot of support from Duminy, S Dhawan, Lumb, Steyn, Ojha & Mishra for the DC to make a substantial mark this time. However, in all probability, the ghost of IPL-1 may very well be back to haunt them again!

Here’s hoping that “Manoranjan ka Baap”-4 turns out to be yet another paisa-vasool entertainer!!!

P.S. As we have seen in previous three seasons, the 20-20 format comes with its share of surprises, so despite this analysis I am indeed all geared up to expect the unexpected again!! But would love to hear your predictions people? Which teams will you be vouching for?

Remember the day when you cracked CAT; or the afternoon when you landed up with your dream job; or the evening when you celebrated Happy Hours with your dear friends; or the night when your girlfriend finally accepted your ILU proposal. Add all that together and it may still not match the bliss, delight, joy & eternal happiness that swept the whole India after Captain Cool bludgeoned the final delivery of World Cup 2011 out of the ground with his all famous Helicopter shot!!!

4 days & nights have passed after the historic day but the feeling has not yet sunken in!! Yes, it will take sometime. For its not everyday, that our beloved India scripts an epic saga of a revolutionary-kind; be it sports or otherwise. As far as our religion cricket is concerned, it has indeed been a really long wait.. 28 years but as it now stands, worth all the way!!

I still remember the euphoric atmosphere after our T20 WC victory and silent admiration of MSD men after rising to Numero Uno in Tests. But this achievement overshadows everything and will continue to do so till atleast the next 2015 edition hosted by Aussies & Kiwis!! Scenes witnessed at Clock Tower, Dehradun… across whole India on TV… this probably is the only single event to be celebrated with unbelievable enthusiasm from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, cutting across gender, age-groups, geographies, caste, creed & religion.. Unity in Diversity Personified!!

And Dhoni Dashers did it in style!! After a majestic ton by Jayawardena and some lusty blows in batting powerplay took Lanka to an above average 274, even the over-optimistic MIB cricket fan was fearing for the worst when the GOD was Malinga-ined with a gem of a delivery to upset all predictions about the perfect WC ending with Tendulkar’s 100th international century! Yes, it was a world cup final and it was not going to be easy.. not a bit!! I have always thought of Gambhir as the crisis man in the all-mighty batting line-up of ours. And Gauti chose the ultimate stage of them all to prove his credentials for once and for all. That ‘97’ will always be remembered as the greatest fighting knock by the Delhi southpaw with some very able hand given by the Gen-X star of India: Virat Kohli!

And then came MSD! And I almost felt-like swinging to the trance of 1200 Micro-grams LSD..!!

“Cometh the hour, Cometh the man”!! This ‘91’ will be engraved in memories of all Indians forever for its steely resolve and do-or-die spirit! No Murali, No Slinger, None of Lankans fielding could halt India’s destined march to World Cup Glory!!

Tendulkar: This Crown is for the GOD of all things!

Yuvraj: ‘The Return of the Prince’ and Man of the tournament award!

MSD: The best captain this cricket-freak country has ever produced & Man of the grand finale Match!

And for the Super-15 that brought eternal happiness to billions of hearts!!!!!

A BIG THANK YOU TEAM INDIA!!! 2nd April, 2011 will be remembered till eternity!!!

PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN :) :) :)

THE FORCE that destroyed 3-time defending champions in the Quarters & then steamrolled past our dangerous neighbours in the Semis… The GOD at the top of his powers… Viru at his electrifying best at top… The PRINCE in his career-best form with everything: Bat, Bowl & Fielding… Gauti & Kohli providing calmness & steadiness to the middle-order… MSD at his strategic brilliant on & off the field and due for a big-one with the bat for a long-time now… The rise of ‘Raina: the perfect no. 7’ when the going gets really tough… A bowling attack spearheaded by Zaheer at his wicket-taking best & given solid support by back-in-form Bhajji, competitive Ashwin and now street-smart Munaf & Nehra… The transformation from a ‘below-average’ fielding side to an ‘above-decent’ fielding unit… Team MIB is the Unstoppable Force!!

THE OBJECT inspired by the Lion’s heart & unmoved by burnt-to-ashes English in Quarters & yet-another-semis-act by the Kiwis… The barrage of boundaries by the ultimate Run-brigade of Dilshan & Tharanga… Captain Cool ‘Sangakkara’ in outstanding touch with both bat & gloves… Jayawerdana leading a bit fragile middle-order with his enormous experience… The DEADLY 3M: toe-crushing Malinga, GOD of spin Murali, Mysterious & Magical Mendis… Top all that with a give-it-all attitude on the field… The Island Nation is the Immovable Object!!

The Judgement Day has arrived… It’s the Final Showdown..!!

For the first time in the history of the WC, it will be an all Asian grand finale & the crown will be lifted by a wicket-keeper Captain..!!

“Its what you do that defines you”… And that defining moment is here now: 2nd April, 2011 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai..!!

But as Harsha Bhogle quipped, in this clash of equals, if there is one favourite: it surely is Team India!!

Its time for a 1983-encore… Glory Glory Team India!!

VANDE MATRAM!!!