Last year, they missed it by whisker; this year they were all set to go that extra mile to finish off the best. With Dhoni making it big one after another in the international cricket circuit, the CSK fans were almost certain that Dhoni magic will click off in the Indian Premier League too and the captain cool will give them the taste of what they missed last year by chance. But as the tournament rolled into its second week, things were not looking that bright.

From the very beginning, the games were not nearly as interesting as last year’s. Barring a century from De Villiers, audiences in South Africa were not getting the flashing cricket that was so characteristic of twenty-20 format. The brilliant, high paced cricket that kept on setting the Indian pitches on fire throughout last year’s tournament was grossly absent from South African fields. And the trend was clear: down with two/three wickets before the tenth over and teams will find it difficult to make a reasonable score unless there is a batsman waiting down the line who can hit it real big.

And there is at least one team that does not lack in this trait and it is consistently doing well this season. This is the team from Hyderabad that happens to be fuelled by quite a large number of hard hitters throughout their batting order. And this is what worked to their advantage and there is no reason why they would not continue with their winning spree in the upcoming cricket matches. With the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs and Rohit Sharma taking the charge of batting and with talented Pragyan Ojha with ball, the team from Hyderabad is likely to make the things really interesting for the audience in South Africa as well for the television audiences back home.

While it’s a forward march for Deccan Chargers, things did not quite work the team Punjab’s way. Twice they had to bend down before the whims of rain God, while D/L method decided their fate. With Yuvraj in top form, Mohali was also a strong side, but if the rain God has chosen them as ones to play his tricks upon, then they have nothing to be blamed for. We can only borrow words from Pietersen to cheer up Preity’s team that, it is going to be a long tournament and if you can just make a habit of winning the upcoming cricket matches, a rewarding finish awaits you in the end.

And the same is true of the Mumbai Indians, who also did not have the luck quite on their side as they have lost close games. But a team spearheaded by such an explosive opening partners as Sachin and Jayasuriya, and a strong bowling line with Bhajji and Zaheer Khan, you can never say when they would rebound with renewed vigor. The good deal of thrashing that they belted out to their Kolkata opponents are sure to work as best tonic for keep up the momentum. While Deccan Chargers are on the top of the table, Sehwag’s Daredevils are not far behind. Expectedly, the third week will go little better for the Mumbai Indians as well as Kings XI and then the fight will reach its peak.

However, for Royal Challengers, IPL Season 2 remained as disappointing as IPL Season 1. With Dravid rushing back home after becoming the father of his second son, and captain Pietersen scheduled to return early May to join his national team, the team will be severely lacking on experience. However, the RCB fans are surely not going to miss their million dollar English captain who failed to impress both as a captain and as a team member.

Comments

Add New RSS

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Newer news items:

Older news items: