IPL Buzz !!!

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.

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After all hype and dramas the third edition of the IPL was kicked off at the DY Patil stadium Navi Mumbai.
Following are the a few highlights.

• 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.

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The complaint of IPL being a lengthy tournament is getting erased with each of these nail biting and hair plucking matches. After 45 games we just have one of the fantastic four, Delhi Dare Devils heading the table with 16 points. If things go as expected Chennai Super Kings stand in with close second. Third and Fourth spot is still up for grabs, Deccan, Royals, Mumbai, Kings and Challengers are in the hunt. Mumbai’s chances look bleak after today’s hair plucking loss and Challengers chances look good after sneaking a low scoring nail biting thriller.

Captain Kumble has shown the world what it means leading from the front; he literally bowled the first over of the match. Chennai looked puzzled like Abhimanyu of Mahabharata failing to come out of chakra view ha once Hayden departed. Take away Hayden’s 60 from a total of 129, Chennai’s score looks as bad as a sari clad bikini model.
[image source http://iplt20.com/]
Me, My Readers and The World must have been fed up with Bangalore’s opening combination and my ramblings on it, so let’s leave it alone. Dravid was caught between hitting the ball and tapping it, ended up placing it to point. 30 for 3 and you have the two most unreliable batsmen at the crease; this time both had a point to prove. Murli continues to show that he is still a Fattu, who can only bowl between 8th and 16th over. Merwe’s match fees should be docked off for not grounding his bat; that’s basics mait. In the end madness prevails as both the batsmen watch the ball sail towards third man boundary despite a dive from the fielder without bothering to run. Umpire waves his hand in the end to save the blemishes as Bangalore win this tight nail biter.

The saying “The captain is as good a team” is being proven wrong again and again by Warne, as he continues to get best out of his mediocre troop. Who would have thought that Munaf would bowl the last over and pull off a sensational victory for the Royals? Royals have a different hero with the bat every day, today it was Quiney and Jadeja taking them to a defendable 145. Mumbai seem to have followed Bangalore’s failed strategy of trying different openers every time. Sanath and Sachin found themselves battling against the guile of Warne; who eventually out played both of them. Few nasty blows from Nayar saw Mumbai in striking distance and that back away DLF maximum towards covers was simply sensational.

At this point it was a contest between Mumbai Gods Vs Rajasthan Gods as prayers from Shilpa Shetty and Nita Ambani grew deeper and deeper. Bouncer followed with a leg stump Yorker saw the end of Dhaval, direct hit from Pathan sent Nanda back to the where he belonged. A dive and good throw at the stumps from Warne sealed the deal for Royals, which left Mumbai Indians plucking their hair in despair.

In the end faces of silent Nita Ambani and Jumping Shilpa Shetty told the entire story.

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