2008 was a landmark for India in terms of globalization of the gentleman’s game. Club Football has its own power in the European countries. That’s why, Cricket lost its value in England, but not in that land, where the British people used to rule for more than 200 years. Indian Premier League started in 2008. Rajasthan Royals, under the captaincy of Shane Warne won the IPL-1. Due to 26/11 attack by Pakistani Terrorists, the Indian Government was not ready to take any risk during the Lok Sabha polls. IPL-2 got shifted to South Africa, which gave some boost to the South African economy. Deccan Chargers of Hyderabad based Deccan Chronicle won the IPL-2 under the captaincy of Adam Gilchrist.
In 2010, IPL came back to its home ground again to rule the hearts of Indian spectators. The bidding process started, where Kieron Pollard and Shane Bond rocked the show. Both of them performed well for their team, but were not so good enough. The Hero of Rajasthan Royals roared only once by scoring 100 runs out of 37 balls, but lost that match against Mumbai. The jersey color of Kolkata Knight Riders got changed from Black to Purple. KKR started off with a great win, but failed to maintain the consistency. Delhi Daredevils started their campaign like real devils, but lost their energy in the middle, and at the end, it was too late for them. Punjab Kings XI played like the coward courtyards. They lost those matches, where they ruled from the beginning and won those matches, where they were never in control. Deccan Chargers were a balanced side, but their middle order flopped in several times. Royal Challengers of Bangalore never looked like a solid team, if you ignore Jacques Kallis and Robin Uthappa. Vinay Kumar was their surprise package. Someone did a hat-trick with the ball for Royal Challengers. Chennai Super Kings was a team, which used to take some big breathe before roaring. But, when they started roaring, it was a very tough task for them, but was not so impossible. Mumbai Indians played like the real professional cricket team. Their key weapon was consistent individual performances. If one failed, the other one performed.
‘Old is Gold’. The IPL-3 has proved that. Maybe, Adam Gilchrist, Muthaia Muralidaran, Shane Warne and Mathew Hayden (The Mongoose Man) have failed, but there are some cricketers, who just played their innings like an under-19 cricketer. The older they get, the younger they become. The sportsman spirit, the zeal to win, the passion to rule the world and the classic charismatic talented skills always help them to emerge as champions. Sachin Tendulkar at the age of 37, snatched the Orange Cap from another great old batsman, whose name is Jacques Kallis. Saurav Ganguly was also chasing them, but ended at 493 runs. As a captain of KKR Team, Saurav Ganguly was leading from the front, and while doing that, his fielding improved to such an extent, that the Royal Bengal Tiger started diving in the air like Jonty Rhodes of South Africa. How can you forget Rahul Dravid? He is still the best batsman of India in terms of sound techniques. He added the old spicy masala in the middle order of the Royal Challengers Team, which brought consistency in their batting line-up.
T-20 Cricket is such a format, where bowlers get no respect at all, unless he maintains his basics. Ashok Dinda bowled better than Shane Bond. Dale Steyn always came back, whenever he got the opportunity. Lasith Malinga never forgot to bowl good length Yorkers at the slog overs. Yusuf Pathan started off well, but lacked confidence due to poor captaincy by Kumara Sangakkara. Murali of KKR was better than Muralitharan of CSK. Doug Bollinger became a Weapon of Dhoni. Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla were expert in deceiving the batsmen. Pragyan Ojha grabbed the Purple Cap. There were some batsmen in IPL-3, who swung their bat at everything. Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa thrashed at the last 5 overs. Chris Gayle, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Mahela Jayawardene pounced on the initial overs. But, you can never forget the batsmen like Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen, T Suman, Angelo Mathews, Saurabh Tiwary, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma, who took their time to settle down in the middle overs, and then played the winning knock.
In IPL-3, Mumbai Indians ruled the show from the very beginning and Punjab Kings XI surrendered in front of everyone. The other 6 teams were fighting for the next 3 spots to reach the semi-final. The drama was on and at the end of the day; the net run-rate became a crucial factor. The League got transformed into Quarter-Finals. Temperament and correct strategy became the key factor. Winning the toss became deceptive as the pitch behaved just opposite to the expectation. Jayawardene stunned Saurav Ganguly at Eden Gardens. Gambhir forgot his captaincy. Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers luckily cruised into the semis. The 14th Dalai Lama, that is the 75 year old Mr. Tenzin Gyatso, gave his blessing to Mahendra Singh Dhoni at Dharmasala and Dhoni shattered the Priety Zinta’s team in great style.
All was going well, but suddenly, the game of mud-throwing began outside the stadium. BCCI, Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor started playing rugby. They could have made a reform, where no franchisee can buy a team for more than 500 crore. No team should have more than 3 stakeholders, where no stakeholder can have more than 51% stake. Players should be given the same salary as per their rating, devoid of any team. There should be no bidding system, but lottery system. Domestic players will play for their own region only. Whoever is left out, will be selected by lottery system in presence of everyone. Luck is ruled by your performance and Chennai Super Kings played like underdogs to win the IPL-3 as Dark Horses, to snatch the cup from the Cricket Wizard’s injured right hand.
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