IPL talk is all around the place.

I read a Q&A on cricinfo with Jacob Oram who recently completed his short stint with Chennai team. There were interesting things for him to share. I have started getting clearer perspective of what players think about IPL. I used to wonder if players really care about all that money or it is just being the best in the business that is pulling them into IPL. Looks like players do care about financial security. After being asked if IPL has changed his life in the long term. He said - "Financially speaking, most definitely. What you can earn over there in a year is a career - or at least a good three or four years - for New Zealand, so it's certainly security for my future and my family."

So players are clear about the financial aspect of IPL. Oram however repeatedly stated that playing for NZ is the numero uno priority. He understands that injury can hamper chances to play for the country and earn livelyhood. "It(playing in IPL) might ease the pressures, especially surrounding injury and selection. Say, if playing for New Zealand is your only source of income and you are in and out of the team because of injury or form, then most definitely, if you have that security behind you from India then I can only see it easing a bit of that stress on you."

Here is an interesting perspective of a blogger with lot of Pakistani talk(whine) in it. The blogger tracks how many Pakistani players were selected viz-a-viz players from other nations. Here is the post.
There are lot of numbers there to talk about, but in this short version of the game numbers hardly matter. What matters the most is - whether your contribution was match winning or not. Lets say if Shoaib Malik had managed to restrict Punjab in that final over, I am sure he would have been a hero by now. Same with Asif too. He is completely out of steam right now. He is trying too many things. He numbers are still looking OK. But he has never been a match winner for Delhi after first couple of games. Afridi is not a bowling all rounder but a batting all rounder. If he is not doing good for Deccan with the bat, people are going to notice that. Again not a match winning innings.