The DLF Indian Premier League:All surprises,all the time

Ok,its time for the final.After watching both teams during their run,one would have been more than just disappointed to not see the Rajasthan Royals in the finals.As for the other team,well going by the fact that the Kings XI Punjab had a much more ferocious batting line-up,one would think that it was their complacency more than the bowling attack of the Chennai Super Kings that got the latter through.

But what about the other teams?Well no doubt that the teams that made it to the semis deserved to be there(although I would have preferred the Mumbai Indians to go through rather than the Daredevils.And I'm a Delhi boy).But,why on earth did the Deccan Chargers lose out?Initially,when I saw their batting line-up,I wouldn't have been able to imagine a more destructive one.Just imagine the havoc that the 'big 4 of the big hits'(Adam Gilchrist,Herschelle Gibbs,Shahid Afridi and Rohit Sharma) could have wreaked.Throw Andrew Symonds into the mix and you have 'total annihilation'.Even the bowling,though not a very impressive line-up,WAS led by R.P Singh and Chaminda Vaas after all.But I guess this boon turned out to be their bane as well.Since there were so many world class players,everyone just ended up playing for his own personal records.Throughout the series you could see that they weren't really gelling together.And with a TEST player as captain (V.V.S Laxman),that about drove the final nail into their coffin.

The other 'hahafest' were the Bangalore Royal Challengers.Poor Mr. Mallya.Apart from Misbah-ul-Haq and Cameron White,everyone else was a test player.This was a bunch of geriatrix caught in the wrong job.And the reason for this was 'cricket expert' Charu Sharma who thought he had got it all covered.Well,Vijay Mallya will need to get some pull to work in his favour if he wants to entertain ANY hopes of reaching the semis in the next season.

So,all said and done,the IPL was a ROARING success.For those 2 months nearly,it became a way of life for India AND the rest of the world.May the Force be with you,Mr. Modi.