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?

Mumbai Indians need 12 to win from 10 balls against Rajasthan Royals…

Abhishek Nayaar hits Botha for a huge six!!!

6 to win from 9 balls.. Game Over for RR.. One can almost hear their co-owner Shilpa Shetty sigh – No Chance!

But this is IPL and RR are the defending champs led by the mercurial Shane Warne!

Botha bowls Nayaar of the next ball….. 4 to win off 6 balls…. And then Munaf Patel bowls an amazing final over as the Royals win by a whisker – 2 runs !!!


Welcome to the ‘Incredibly Pulsating League’ 2009 – the ultimate combo of cricket and entertainment, it just does not get better than this atleast for me!! What with an unbelievable amount of time at my disposal, courtesy my ongoing holiday time at home, IPL 2009 is serving as my daily dose of thrillenium!!

However, this fun & frolic saga had begun during my last EVS days only, when I accumulated a good fortune with my perfect IPL prophecies. Had I continued on with those, who knows I could have been an IPL consultant by now :P

So as this cricketing mahayudh reaches its edge-of-the-seat climax, these are my top-4 for the semis (in that order):





Delhi Daredevils: Viru and Gambhir at the top, followed by Warner, Dilshan, Villiers and Karthik and you have a super-strong 20-20 batting line-up. This coupled with a more than handy bowling attack comprising Nehra, Sangwan, now-injured Vettori, Nannes etc. and you have a really formidable outfit. Not to forget the fact that DDR is also one of the best fielding unit in IPL. Sitting pretty at the top of the table now, this has been favourite team from the start….

“Yeh Delhi Daredevils hai mere yaar, bas cricket, victory aur IPL 2009 is baar” :-)

Chennai Super Kings: Led by the captain-supreme MS Dhoni, CSK is one of the most balanced teams in the tournament and one of the favourites from the start. Runners-up last time, the team had a very ordinary start this time, what with winning only 1 of its first 5 matches. But since then the team has bounced back in style and is on its way to a semis birth. With Orange cap holder Hayden going great guns this time, Suresh Raina blazing on all cylinders, Albie Morkel as dangerous as ever and a decent bowling attack, CSK may well make it to the finals yet again.

Deccan Chargers: After hitting rock-bottom in 2008 with the last spot, the team is determined to make up for the debacle this time around. Fully charged up under the able leadership of Gilchrist, who is himself moving to top gear now, DC would be a tough nut to crack this time. The return of Symonds has further bolstered the team that also includes Gibbs. With some luck, one of the strongest line-ups in the tournament is all set to reach the last 4 stage and from thereon, anything is possible.

Rajasthan Royals: The winners of the last edition had the worst possible start this time, after being skittled out for the IPL-lowest 58 in their very first match against Royal Challangers Bangalore. But the defending champions have bounced back in their inimitable style under the inspirational leadership of Warne. With Yusuf Pathan (one of the most dangerous players in this format of the game), Graeme Smith, R Jadeja etc. in their line-up, the side is good in both batting and bowling. Their 211 runs effort against Kings XI Punjab was testimony of how the team is all set to repeat their 2008-act.

The Surprise Package: Vijay Mallaya’s RCB has been the surprise package of the tournament so far. With their latest victory against CSK, the team stays in reckoning for the semifinal birth. Sachin’s Mumbai Indians may be in a gloomy state after their 2-run loss to RR, but other teams would ignore MI at their own peril.

The Disappointments: SRK’s Kolkata Knight Riders has turned out to be the biggest disappointment of IPL 2009. After being plagued by captaincy issues at the start, the team has been found wanting on all fronts – batting, bowling and fielding despite being a formidable outfit on paper. KKR is all set to do a DC this time around. Yuvi’s Kings XI have also disappointed this time and would have to win all their remaining matches to replicate their top-4 performance of 2008. They will also hope that other results come out to their liking!

All said and done, the last phase of IPL-2009 promises to be a supremely exciting affair!!
Hats Off to Lalit Modi for making this IPL another winner amidst all the problems faced initially and despite this cricketing extravaganza happening away from home!!

So guys, stay glued to this ‘Incredibly Pulsating League’!!

Let the best team (read: DDR) win! :-)