Oh! No! Almost everyone was disappointed after seeing the IPL-5 Inauguration in Chennai. More or less, the inauguration looked like any Bollywood film award ceremony. In earlier versions of the IPL, there were so much FEMA dramas, kissing activities, victory hugs and late night parties’ controversies that all the Cricket lovers always used to ask the question, ‘Is it Indian Premier League or Indian Paisa League?’ No matter, how much you criticize Lalit Modi, the mastermind behind the idea of IPL, but, he really had the marketing skills to attract spectators for the IPL matches. So after the exit of Lalit Modi, somehow, BCCI was under a tremendous pressure to increase the viewers and spectators of IPL-5.
Subrato Roy, the owner of Sahara Company recruited Saurav Ganguly as the captain of Pune Warriors India and also inaugurated the Subrato Roy Stadium in Pune with some hot Bollywood stars. Inclusion of Ganguly in IPL-5 was an automatic attraction for the people of Bengal. The match of 5th May 2012 at Eden Gardens became a very popular match for the spectators. Mumbai Indians started the IPL-5 by defeating the defending champion team. Pune Warriors India started getting successive victories. Deccan Chargers started losing matches after matches. Ajinkya Rahane scored a terrific century to come to the limelight. The team under Adam Gilchrist won a match from the jaws of defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders.
After the 1st leg of IPL-5, all the teams were almost neck and neck to each other except the Deccan Chargers. The open competition of IPL-5 made it more interesting. IPL-5 is all about Cricket, Cricket and Cricket; that’s why; slowly and steadily, the numbers of spectators or viewers of IPL-5 matches started increasing. In the 2nd leg matches, Pune Warriors India started slipping away from the rat race. Rajasthan Royals under Rahul Dravid lost some close matches, though their low profile players played some excellent cricket. On the other hand, Delhi Daredevils were playing fabulous cricket to remain at the top of their table. Kolkata Knight Riders discovered a Dark Knight in their team.
The cyclonic batting of A B De Villiers was enough to outplay Dale Steyn and the Deccan Chargers. That match gave the Royal Challengers Bangalore a chance to stay in the hunt for the Play-Offs. But, in the later stage, the Deccan Chargers proved themselves to be the Demon Destroyers or Giant Killers. Rajasthan Royals slipped. Sachin Tendulkar was honored in Eden Gardens for his 100th 100. Not only have that; on that very same day, Mumbai Indians regained some form against the Kolkata Knight Riders to win it and revive their chance to qualify for the Play-offs. Kings XI Punjab lost an important match. Deccan Chargers won a match in Hyderabad after a long gap and that too against the Royal Challengers to deny them a place in the Play-Offs.
Dhoni and his team watched three important matches on the television set. Luckily, the results of all the three matches went into their favor and Chennai Super Kings qualified for the Play-Offs. In the first qualifier match, the power-packed batting line-up of Delhi Daredevils failed to deliver up to the mark. Kolkata Knight Riders went straight into the final. Morne Morkel turned out to be a good wicket-taker, but Sunil Narine was a good economical bowler with superb strike rate of getting wickets. Many fans of the Bangalore team were missing Chris Gayle, the Orange Cap holder in the Play-Offs. Anyway, in the Bangalore Pitch, the aggression of Harbhajan Singh’s team was not enough to beat the Captain Cool’s team.
In the 2nd Qualifier match of IPL-5 in Chennai, Virender Sehwag kept out Morne Morkel and decided to field first after winning the toss. Umesh Yadav of Delhi Daredevils did not bowl the first over of that match and as a result, the Murali Vijay of Chennai Super Kings tasted the first blood to score the fastest century of IPL-5 in his home ground. Sehwag did not open the batting for his team and Delhi Daredevils failed to reach the final. In the IPL-5, some impressive players were Steve Smith, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Dwayne Smith, Mahela Jaywardene, Shane Watson and Umesh Yadav who remained as unsung heroes. Ravinder Jadeja of Chennai Super Kings was just a waste of too much money. How he got the highest bid amount?
On 27th May 2012, Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and went for batting first. All the astrologers already predicted that Dhoni will lift the IPL trophy for the third time as he has a very good luck in his favor. Narine Magic did not work on that day. All the bowlers were almost punished by the batsmen of Chennai Super Kings to score 190. Gambhir got bowled. The match was not over yet. Bisla played his natural cricket and Kallis played the sheet anchor role. Manoj and Shakib handled the pressure well at the end. With 2 balls to spare, the Kolkata Knight Riders won the final match. At the end, good and excellent Cricket have entertained everyone and the team which played better cricket than other teams surely won the “IPL-5 OF 2012.”
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