Who wrote the script? No I mean seriously who wrote the script?

Nobody would have imagined it will be final between Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers. Going by the last year performance, I am sure nobody would have given these two teams a chance to go head to head in the Finals of IPL-2009. But they deserved their places in the final by sheer consistency they have shown throughout.

Although DC were playing very good cricket right from the start, but they did managed to lose their way in the middle before recovering in the final stage. RC was almost the same team as that of the last year, patchy and pathetic to start with. Although they did manage to beat defending champions in the first match but that was as good as it got for them in the first half of the tournament. The whole story changed once Kumble took over, I seriously feel India had missed the trick of appointing Kumble as captain after Sourav Ganguly, although it remains a mere speculation, as how he would have fared as a captain. His work ethics, his determination, his mentoring skills, his man management skills were as good as anyone in the business. Knowing how Gilly smashed bowlers in the semi finals, he took it upon himself to take Gilly on. What a move it turned out to be. Getting Gilly in the first over in the big match is a big boost for any team. Definitely RC team owed a better batting performance in the final to their captain.

Tournament in South Africa meant there is a good balance between bat and ball. Almost every single time it has happened that when a batsman is running away with the game, bowler will peg them back with wicket or two and then contest restarts. This tournament has boosted to role of spinners or should I say slow ball bowlers. They were really proving to be vital in their team’s performance. Rohit Sharma for DC, Suresh Raina for CSK, Yuvraj Singh for KXI were prime examples of the same trend. All teams were equally strong. I believe had KKR managed to win that tight match against RR then things would have been different for them. We all saw the meaning of word momentum in this tournament. CSK had good all round strength but the fire was missing. Their all rounders were big disappointment. MI were the most confused team in the tournament. Sending Harbhajan Singh as a pinch hitter after the brilliant start given by Jayasuriya and Sachin was the peak of the confused state. But had that tight match against RR would have gone MI way, it would surely changed the whole equation. KXI were the easily gutsiest team. They were really patchy in their batting but they had it more than covered with their bowling. DD were the most consistent team throughout the tournament. But in the semi final they failed to raise their game. Gillchrist just ripped the bowling apart & they were out of the tournament before they can realize the punch. RR were easily overrated team but remember they were defending champions. They produced some stunning matches and were too reliant on Yusuf Pathan. Their batting was also very frugal. None of their batsman put a high prize on their wickets. Graeme Smith was a big let down. KKR were the most chaotic team. They made news for all the wrong reasons & were unable to get their focus back on the game. Mc’cullum led them with big heart but was difficult to gauge if he was disappointed with himself or the team. They lost many crucial moments.

The tournament was hyped more by commentators than cheer leaders. It was sad to see commentators going over the board for a good shot played. The screaming DDD LLL FFF maximum almost took all the fun away from the shot. The strategy break, the Modi gyann, attempts of some real pathetic commentators to get into the limelight with their pearls of wisdom, fake blogger almost everybody had their own share of IPL 2009. But amongst all these, cricket the game has lifted itself from all these paltry mortals. We all love the game of cricket & that’s why we took all that nonsense with good cricket.
In the end it was a true championship, the team which won the tight moments throughout were deserving champions.

My statistics of IPL 2009

• Delhi Daredevils Most consistent team 9/10
• Chennai Superkings Good all round side 8/10
• Royal Challengers Good fighting side 8/10
• Kings XI Gutsiest Team 7/10
• Deccan Chargers Lead by example side 9/10
• Rajasthan Royals Overrated but brilliant in patches 6/10
• Mumbai Indian Utterly confused team 5/10
• Kolkatta KR Most chaotic team 3/10

• Best team: - Delhi Daredevils
• Best captain: - Anil Kumble
• Best Batsman: - AB Deviliers
• Best Bowler : - R P Singh
• Best Spinner : - Murali
• Best Opener : - Mathew Hayden
• Best middle order batsman : - Tilakratne Dilshan
• Best batsman at death Over : - Dinesh Karthik
• IPL 2009 Moment for me : - Kamran Khan getting wicket of Sourav Ganguly to push match into Super Over
• Batting perfomance of IPL : - Adam Gilchirst’s 85 in semis against DD
• Bowling perfomance of IPL :- Anil Kumbe 4 for 16 in the Finals
• Best match : - DC vs KKR (2nd Leg)
• Player who lived up to reputation :- Matthey Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Rohit Sharma, Murali
• Player who were an utter flop :- Kevin Pieterson, Andrew Flintoff, Jacob Oram, Jess Ryder, Robin Uthappa
• One player I would pay any amount to have in team :- Matthew Hayden