IPL owes its success primarily to player commitment

The close encounter in the finals at Mumbai, yet again, proclaimed the roaring success of the Indian Premier League. Kudos to the organisers who stood up to the challenge and put up a great product.

That leads us to the next question. What were the factors that made this a big success?

The primary reason for IPL’s success was the players’ high intensity and sustained involvement through out the tournament. No matter how philosophical one is, the unprecedented flow of money is the strongest reasons for player’s unflinching commitment. At the same time, loyalty to the team cannot be discounted either.

Team owners seemed to take it pretty seriously too, going as far as sacking team officials and not mincing words even to the icon players and demanding results. The players must come to terms with owners’ reactions, which may not be very pleasant at times.

Terrific end to a stupendous show

Jubilant Rajasthan Royals players celebrate after defeating Chennai Super Kings in a final-ball thriller in Mumbai on Sunday.
The inaugural DLF-IPL Twenty20 competition was not about the big hits alone. Pacemen with control and movement struck. Spinners with clarity of thought and variety largely delivered. There were phases when batsmen who could graft were needed by their teams like oxygen. And natural stroke-makers flourished without resorting to crude methods.

Of course, there were a few ugly heaves that went for the maximum and a few dismissals that were self-inflicted. But then, Twenty20 cricket proved more than just a ‘hit or miss’ format.

Shane Warne, a tactically sharp captain with great motivational skills, showed strategy had its place even in the shortest version of the game. Warne shuffled his batsmen, managed his overs wonderfully well and switched his fielders around with great tact, either luring or suffocating the batsmen.

Fittingly, the Royals skipper was in the middle when his team nailed a humdinger off the last ball in a pulsating final.

The popular IPL witnessed packed stadiums and high-octane duels. The competition could grow in the years to come.

Chennai Super Kings lost by a short head and the side paid for a couple of tactical lapses in the final. S. Badrinath could have been sent higher in the order and the side should have squeezed in an extra bowler in the eleven for the title clash.

Cricket made IPL a success: Warne

After a dream victory in the inaugural DLF-IPL, the Rajasthan Royals captain and coach Shane Warne declared that “as long as his body holds” he would return to the Indian Premier League.

“I will be 40 next year, a bit too old for these sorts of finishes. But the players make me feel young. The IPL is here to stay. Lalit Modi, the franchises, all made it possible. It was an entertainment package, but the IPL was successful because of cricket.”
Defining moment

Sohail Tanvir’s pull shot off Laxmipathy Balaji turned out to be the defining moment on the last day of the 44-day, 59-match entertainment-filled league for the Royals at the D.Y. Patil Stadium on Sunday night. It was the Royals’ 13th win out of 16 IPL matches, the reverses having come against Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab.

“It was just one of those things that were meant to be. After all, we are the entertainers of the IPL. No one could have written a script like that, a last-ball finish to win.

“During the journey to the ground, the number of people I saw on the way, it was tremendous.”

When asked how he felt to have won a first trophy as captain in his 20-year-career, Warne said: “I was the vice-captain of the Australian side that won the 1999 World Cup in England and I have been part of Australia’s victories in the Ashes and against India. The IPL is up there.

Warne’s Rajasthan Royals reigns supreme

Rajasthan Royals had the serendipity of scripting a glorious last-ball win in the DLF-IPL final in front of a full house at the D.Y. Patil Stadium here on Sunday. Unperturbed by the fall of a clutch of wickets and undaunted by the climbing run rate, the Jaipur outfit proceeded to dare the rival.

Yusuf Pathan (56, 39b) was the most daring batsman profited mostly from glaring lapses made on the field by Chennai Super Kings, especially by Suresh Raina and Manpreet Gony off his own bowling.

Pathan capitalised on the luck that came his way and secured the final victory for his team with a blazing knock that had four mighty sixes and three boundary shots and forged a crucial fourth wicket partnership with Shane Watson that fetched 65 runs.

Fittingly Shane Warne, who had moulded a team filled with rookies into a winning combination, was in the thick of action when the moment came, although it was the left-handed Sohail Tanvir who dispatched L. Balaji for a four off the last ball of the tournament.

Royals needed eight runs off the last over and Balaji was given the responsibility of bowling the make or mar over. He bowled a wide, and the eighth wicket pair managed to steer the side to a phenomenal triumph on the final day of the IPL.

Raina’s steady hands had worked efficiently to make good runs in the first session and then held a sharp catch at backward point. A catch that came off the bat of Pathan when Royals’ score was 75 for three was a regulation catch he would have taken 99 times out of 100.

It turned out be a costly lapse and perhaps the title too went down with it. Later he ran out Pathan with a direct hit, but by then Royals was within striking distance of the target.

Earlier Raina’s ingenuity and purposeful batting paved the way for Chennai Super Kings to post a modest total. It was a peculiar first session when the left hander was the lone batsman who came close to dominating the bowling. Mahendra Singh Dhoni added valuable runs in the end to take the total to 163.

Delhi Daredevils get a Royal thrashing

The purple cap on Sohail Tanvir’s head is a beacon for batsmen to recognize and respect the IPL’s highest wicket-taker. Captain Shane Warne’s gambit to use him as a pinch-hitter did not work. The Pakistani repaid his captain with a stunning catch on the fence to send back dangerman Virender Sehwag in over number two.

That signalled the beginning of the end for Delhi Daredevils in the first semifinal of the DLF-Indian Premier League at the Wankhede stadium here on Friday night. Sehwag and mates crumbled in 16.1 overs for 87 runs, chasing down 192 for nine in 20 overs.

Substitute Taruvar Kohli and Mohd Kaif displayed their reflexes to send back Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik respectively.

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Shaun Marsh’s century helps Kings XI Punjab to easy win

This was one tall-scoring no-contest that nobody seemed to mind. The crowd loved the barrage of big hits, Kings XI Punjab was pleased to post its highest tally in the Indian Premier League while a seriously-depleted Rajasthan Royals did not think too much of the 41-run defeat.

Centurion Shaun Marsh, fellow opener James Hopes and skipper Yuvraj Singh happily indulged in some huge hitting to raise the team’s score to 221 for three against a rival that happily experimented with everything — a new captain, a toothless attack and an inexplicable batting order.

The result was a near carnage at the PCA Stadium with the Kings XI trio hitting 14 sixes and 20 boundaries between them much to the delight of the home supporters. Rajasthan responded with eight sixes and 18 fours in its 180 for seven.

Emphatic win for Mumbai Indians

On a day when afternoon showers nearly washed out the match, the crowd’s loudest cheers were reserved not for the moment when the covers came off and an 18-overs a side match was deemed feasible but when the public address system announced ‘Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar’ as he walked out with Sanath Jayasuriya.

Chasing Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 122 in their DLF Indian Premier League match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday, the Mumbai Indians’ skipper (40 n.o., 42b, 4x4, 1x6) largely stayed in Jayasuriya’s shadow. The Sri Lankan hogged the limelight with a blazing 54 besides gifting stinging palms to a few spectators as he carted four sixes into the stands besides four fours in a 37-ball blitz.

The duo’s 96-run partnership ensured Mumbai Indians’ nine-wicket victory in the last league match for both teams. Mumbai Indians finished with 14 points while the home side stayed on eight.

Royals beat Mumbai by 5 wickets

Niraj Patel (40 not out) and Ravindra Jadeja (23 not out) turned heroes by scoring 16 runs from the match-deciding last over to guide Rajasthan Royals to an improbable last-ball 5-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians in a nerve-wrecking Indian Premier League match here Monday.

Chasingh 146 for victory, the young duo stood tall among ruins to share an unfinished 69-run stand for the 6th wicket to single-handedly decide the fate of the match though aided by some blunders by the Mumbai team.

Monday's result ensured that Delhi Daredevils make it to the semifinals with 15 points from 14 matches while Mumbai Indians (12 points from 13 matches) will have to wait the outcome of Tuesday's match between Chennai Super Kings (14 points from 13 and bottom placed Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad.

If Chennai wins, they will make the grade and Mumbai's match against Bangalore Royal Challengers on Wednesday will be inconsequential as the MS Dhoni-led side will get 16 points in that case.

If Chennai loses, Mumbai will have to win against Bangalore and in that case net run rate will decide who will make it to semifinals.

Coming together in the 13th over at their team total of 77 and five, Jadeja and Patel braved the odds to inch closer to the target of 146, but to score 16 from the last over seemed difficult if not impossible.

Dilahara Fernando, who bowled the last over conceded a free-hit in the second ball and Niraj took three from it before hitting a six in the third ball and two singles in next two balls.

The drama was not over there with the Sri Lankan bowling a wide in the penultimate ball when Mumbai needed four from two balls.

IPL Challengers ambushes Super Kings

Winning cricket is a lot about handling pressure. When a semifinal place beckoned, Chennai Super Kings dug a hole for itself at Chepauk on Wednesday.

A horrible mess-up saw the side slumping from 60 for no loss in the ninth over to 111 for eight when the final over commenced. Sixteen runs were required off the final six balls.

Then, Suresh Raina managed just a single run off the first three balls from Praveen Kumar. Makhaya Ntini conceded three dot balls and Royal Challengers Bangalore romped home by 14 runs.

The visitor deserved credit for the manner it fought after making just 126 for eight in 20 overs. Then, Dravid led well and his bowlers responded.

Super Kings has 14 points from 12 games while Royal Challengers takes its tally to six from an equal number of matches.

While Royal Challengers displayed great spirit on the field, it still was a match that Super Kings contrived to lose. When percentage batting was required after a solid opening stand of 60 in 9.1 overs between Stephen Fleming and Parthiv Patel, Super Kings batsmen perished to forgettable lofted shots. Strategically, it was poor cricket.

Dhoni’s dismissal, after he promoted himself to No. 3, was the turning point. He took a calculated risk of paceman Vinay Kumar and holed out to long on.

IPL Kings XI holds its nerve in a thriller

Sachin Tendulkar left his mark on T20 cricket with a well-crafted 46-ball 65 (12 fours), his first half-century of the DLF Indian Premier League.

His run-out at the non-striker end after being sent back by Robin Uthappa, Mumbai Indians 41 runs away from victory at 159-4, triggered off a wave of panic down the ranks.

Instead of picking up the cue from the skipper’s composed batting, four more run-outs followed as the home team was bowled out for 188, two tantalising runs away from a probable victory.

Kings XI Punjab won by one run, with captain Yuvraj Singh bringing down the curtain on a grand game with a dive to run out the last man. He had earlier twisted the knife into Mumbai with two vital wickets (Uthappa and Shaun Pollock) just when Mumbai Indians was inching towards 190 needed for victory.

IPL Rajasthan Royals storms into the semifinals

It is all over for Kolkata Knight Riders. For the Shah Rukh Khan-owned side the inaugural DLF-Indian Premier League is almost over though it has two more matches left.

Diehard supporters may come up with many permutations and combinations that could keep the side’s chances of a semifinal berth alive but the reality is that Shane Warne and his Rajasthan Royals has ensured the elimination of Sourav Ganguly’s Knight Riders.

The Kolkata side will now play for minor places in this Twenty20 competition.

5-wkt. win for Daredevils

Powered by a frenzied 90-run partnership in seven overs between openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, Delhi Daredevils overcame a mid-innings stutter, to script a five-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the DLF-Indian Premier League match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday.

Chasing Challengers’ 154, Gambhir (39), the most prolific batsman in the IPL, kept threading his fours, while Sehwag (47) unleashed mayhem, slashing Zaheer and pulling Praveen Kumar.

Sehwag survived but not for long as he smote Praveen straight to Bharath Chipli but by then his 19-ball cameo topped with nine fours and a six, had set his team well on course.

IPL Akhtar doubtful for crunch game

After Sunday’s thunderstorm that blew away Kolkata Knight Riders’ chances of a win over Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens, the team suffered another jolt with the news that bowling spearhead Shoaib Akhtar is down with a knee injury.

With Rajasthan Royals eyeing its ninth win, the Kolkata outfit would have liked to field its best 11 in its 12th match of the DLF-Indian Premier League on Tuesday. The local side needs to win the remaining three games and wait for other results to see whether it can make it to the knockout stage.

IPL T20 Another win for Mumbai Indians

It was yet another dismal performance from the Deccan Chargers. It suffered its fifth straight defeat at home as Mumbai Indians notched up it’s sixth straight win with a 25-run verdict in the DFL-Indian Premier League at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday.

Sri Lankan pace bowler Dilhara Fernando’s double strike in the fifth over of the innings — forcing the dangerous Adam Gilchrist to slash to third man and trapping Rohit Sharma leg before — effectively short-circuited whatever hopes the host had entertained.

IPL T20 CSK Makhaya Ntini performs a hat-trick

Chennai Super Kings won the DLF-IPL Twenty20 match by three runs against Kolkata Knight Riders as per the Duckworth-Lewis method after play was halted first by the failure of some lights in the floodlight towers and later by a Nor’wester that lashed the stadium.

At the time of the stoppage, Super Kings had replied with 55 for no loss in eight overs chasing Knight Riders’ 149 for five in 20 overs.

As per the D/L method, Super Kings needed to score 52 in eight overs.

The Super Kings openers, Stephen Fleming and Parthiv Patel, negotiated the famed Knight Riders’ pace attack of Shoaib Akhtar and Ishant Sharma with aplomb.

IPL T20 Mumbai makes it a no-contest

The sight of Shoaib Akhtar steaming in is a scary sight for the batsmen, apart from testing their reaction time. Ishant Sharma bringing the ball down from a height is a daunting prospect. Without runs to defend, these two weapons turned into blanks for Kolkata Knight Riders.

Sanath Jayasuriya steadied Mumbai Indians’ nerves with blistering strokeplay (48 not out, 17b), flicking sixes to mid-wicket like only he can to rattle the bowlers, reducing the run chase to a no-contest as the home team sauntered home by eight wickets in its DLF-Indian Premier League’s ninth round match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.

Akhtar was brought down to earth after the minor high of Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket off the fifth ball, as Jayasuriya’s counter-punching resulted in 29 runs in over number two. From then on, it was a cruise all the way for Mumbai and it overhauled Kolkata’s 67 — the lowest score in the IPL so far — in just 5.3 overs.

Shaun Pollock showed Mumbai the way with an outstanding four-over spell of swing bowling, finishing with three for 12 after the visitors were asked to bat.

Tendulkar chipped in with four catches as Dwayne Bravo (two for 13), Rohan Raje (two for 16) and Dominic Thornely (two for seven) joined the party.

Shoaib Akhtar bowls Knight Riders to victory

Shoaib Akhtar produced a magical three-over opening spell to demolish the Delhi Daredevils top-order, as Kolkata Knight Riders scripted a sensational 23-run win in the DLF-Indian Premier League encounter at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.

For Akhtar, who had to miss two matches on fitness grounds and was doubtful even for this tie, it was a memorable IPL debut. He began in spectacular fashion, sending back Delhi Daredevil skipper Virender Sehwag in the second ball of the opening over.

He removed Gautam Gambhir in his next over and dismissed A.B. de Villiers and Manoj Tiwary off successive balls in his third over to be on a hat-trick. Tillekeratne Dilshan, however, denied Akhtar a hat-trick.

Daredevils fought back through some dogged batting by Dilshan and Amit Mishra. The two added 24 for the sixth wicket to put Daredevils back on track. Just when it looked like Daredevils was in with a chance came the dramatic run out of Dilshan (25, 19b, 5x4). Laxmi Ratan Shukla’s throw sent the Sri Lankan back.

IPL Kings XI leaves Challengers in ruins

Rahul Dravid, under fire from all quarters, must have finally realised that it is impossible to win a war with bows and arrows against an enemy armed with rapid-fire guns.

It was yesterday once more for Royal Challengers Bangalore as it came up with yet another uninspiring performance against Kings XI Punjab and found itself gunned down with nine wickets and 4.2 overs to spare.

The victory was the sixth for Kings XI in nine matches. With 12 points, the team shares the second spot with Chennai Super Kings. The result meant that Royal Challengers kept Deccan Chargers company with four points and seven losses from nine games, but trailed in the net run-rate to be last in the standings.

Yuvraj Singh may have lost the toss but got everything right mainly due to the bulk of the job done by home-grown bowlers and overseas batsmen. A target of 144 never looked challenging as Kings XI’s frontline batsmen dealt in sixes and stayed in cruise mode.

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Delhi Daredevils wilted under Shane Watson’s assault to lose its DLF-IPL encounter to Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Sunday.

The powerful Australian hit thundering shots and towering sixes (74, 40b, 5x4, 5x6) and single-handedly changed the complexion of the match as Royals scripted its fifth win on home ground. Royals, which has won all its matches at home, leads the table with 14 points and has almost clinched a place in the semifinals. Watson was named ‘man-of-the-match.’

Defending a total of 156, Daredevils strove to compete against the odds. A.B. de Villiers and Virender Sehwag pounced on mistakes made by the rival batsmen and Royals looked vulnerable.

Delhi sustained the pressure, but once Watson pulled Yomahesh for a six over midwicket and targeted him to accelerate Royals’ scoring rate from a mere three an over in the first five, events changed dramatically.

Though leg-spinner Amit Mishra captured the wickets of Graeme Smith and Ravindra Jadeja, it was not enough.

Watson fell when the Royals was seven short of the target. He was declared out after umpire Steve Davis referred the appeal to the third umpire.