IPL Buzz !!!

1. Jacques Kallis (Bangalore)
2. Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai)
3. Suresh Raina (Chennai)
4. Ambati Rayudu (Mumbai)
5. MS Dhoni (capt & wk) (Chennai)
6. Robin Uthappa (Bangalore)
7. Kieron Pollard (Mumbai)
8. R Ashwin (Chennai)
9. Anil Kumble (Bangalore)
10. Lasith Malinga (Mumbai)
11. Doug Bollinger (Chennai)

Source: cricinfo.com - IPL XI, and it's a Chennai-Mumbai-Bangalore oligopoly

After 4 weeks the league table has become pretty close, one team with 14 points, two with 12 points and four with 10 points. Anyone of these teams can make it for four slots of semi-final.

• Kings XI two wins against Mumbai and KKR made has made the tournament interesting.
• Deccan chargers revived themselves by winning handsomely against RCB.
• The major upset match was KKR beating Delhi on account of superlative performance by Ganguly.
• Shane Warne was back in inspiring form when he executed the turnaround against DC when the latter was in comfortable winning position.
• It was week to forget for RCB, looks like they peaked early in the tournament. Mumbai Indians are also tending to similar situation.
• Off the field, Preity Zinta had a holy bath in Ganga to wash off sins. Is it too late for IPL 3.0 or too early for IPL 4.0
• Kochi franchise is in sort of trouble as BCCI objected for not declaring details about ownership.

In week-three of the league there were a few upsets and turnarounds but Mumbai remained at top and Punjab at bottom with their only super-over win in week-2.

• Chennai Superking made a remarkable comeback after beating RCB and RR in their home turf. Murali Vijay came to the party at right time.
• All izz bad for Kings XI, even Jayawardane’s temporary captaincy could not change their fortune. Their strike bowler of previous season Brett Lee is out of shape from every angle.
• Mumbai continued their juggernaut and still remained the only team to be bowled out in the competition.
• Prince of Kolkata came back to his form of yesteryears as see at his best against Deccan’s “left arm spinner” Pragyan Ojha.
• Match of week was the close match between Kings XI and Mumbai. In which Punjab gave too many runs in the penultimate over.
• One of the expensive players Kevin Pietersen of RCB is back and proved his price by match winning knock against Kings XI.
• Knock of the week was by Murali Vijay and the other best knock was century by David Warner. Who in the subsequent match made sure to contribute in the field also by being responsible for five dismissals ( 4 catches and 1 direct-hit runout).
• All the teams are now in full strength with the conclusion of Aus-NZ series. And needless to stay every team is in spot of bother that whom to select for the slots of four international players.

• Aankhon-Dekha (Be)haal: The pathetic hinglish commentary by Arun Lal, Atul Wassan, Saba Karim and Co.
• Environmental Tokenism: Double standards indeed telling green-green before start of the match and pumping huge volumes of smokes by bursting fireworks after the match
• Karbonn Footprints: DLF Maximum, Citi moment of success, Karbonn kamal catch .. not sure how many are in the pipeline.
• Lalit 'I Am Everywhere' Modi: over-enthusiastic single parent who won't take his eye off his child even for a nanosecond
• Dugout Blues: franchise owners have no business sitting in the dugout
• Aggrieved Party: Players have to now compulsorily attend after-parties in the company of some dishy women and, of course, ubiquitous team owners.

• The match of the week, and so far of the tournament was the tied match between Kings XI and Chennai Super Kings. The latter choked horribly and screwed up the proceedings in the super over.
• The battle of toppers Mumbai v/s Bangalore the latter emerged as winners steered by good performances of Kallis and Vinay Kumar.
• Rajasthan Royals were back in limelight with hat-trick wins. They are still in the contest. With yesterday’s victory over Deccan Chargers they have definitely made a statement to their critics.
• Preity Zinta turns philosophical and says “It’s the journey that matters not the destination”. Looks like she’s already given up hopes of her struggling team making into semi-finals.
• The team to beat Bangalore Royal Challengers were beaten convincingly by rejuvenated Delhi Dare Devils.
• Jacques Kallis finally got his average as he was dismissed for the first time CSK’s bowler Laxmipati Balaji.
• It was a hopeless week for KKR and CSK as they failed to win even a single match.
• The Karbon kamal catch of the week was by DDR’s AB de Villiers. It was absolute stunner when caught Praveen Kumar attempted ‘DLF maximum’ just feets away from long-on boundary.
• The daemon of ‘team-selection” for T-20 was running over everyone’s head. Robin Utthappa was unfortunate to miss the bus but the biggest gainer was Vinay Kumar after his back to back good performances against Mumbai and Chennai. The 3-wicket over against MI, which in fact turned the match would have brought him under selectors microscope.
• The other talking point of week was auction two new teams for season-4. Pune(Sahara group) and Kochi(Rendezvous Group) emerged as winners

• Defending champions lost the inaugural match .. following the usual trend in major sporting events.
• Mumbai Indians is the only unbeaten team so far. They have kept their feet on the ground so far along with their captain who has done the same throughout the career. Many people say this IPL belongs to Mumbai as Tendulkar is not only top of his batting form but also cricketing form,
• The team which finished on top of the league table RR and Kings XI are on bottom of the table by losing their all their matches. Preity Zinta’s change-the-fortune salwar-kameez act could not any impact.
• Warne’s intuition has gone horribly wrong. One can easily justify it after seeing RR 10 wickets loss to Bangalore.
• In the first edition of IPL people used to say – “Yusuf brother of Irfan”. Now people saw “Irfan brother of Yusuf”.
• Delhi Daredevils look to be in good form but they lost their last two matches. 2 loss and 2 wins. But lot of matches remaining.
• KKR look to be a better team with their new Coach – Dave Whatmore, new bowling coach – Wasim Akram and of course with their new purple color jersey.
• Old timers are have been best performers. Chamind Vaas with bowl and purple cap, Jacques Kallis with bat and orange cap. The latter is not yet dismissed in the tournament and hence to get an average next to his stats.
• The major setback has been series of injuries, Dhoni and Ghambir being on top of the list being captains of their respective sides.
• The major player missing in 3.0 is FakeIPLPlayer. Not sure what is he doing all this day.
• After all speculations the revolutionary mongoose bat was put into act by Mathew Hayden and utilizing it effectively to win match for his team.