Brilliant Final - A grand finale for IPL really

It was a final and sunday morning in Dallas. I woke up and checked some free p2p options for the IPL channel, none were working. It was a great stage set for the grand finale but after lack luster semi-finals, I was skeptical about the finals also. I still took the gamble and bought a 10 dollar pass at willow.tv to get the access to the finals - un-interrupted. I remember a lot of instances where my investments of both time and money have gone into the ditch through poor finals/crunch matches. But since it was 20-20 and IPL finals, I was hoping for at least one good innings from either of the teams. Well what we all witnessed was a great great game of cricket where both the teams were inseparable in terms of their performances. 163 was a good score set by Dhoni's team but yet again Yusuf Pathan played one of those camios. Cannot discuss about match and analyze what went right or wrong for the two teams because it was a final ball cliffhanger. Rajasthan Royals were predicted to be the winners by many and they were most deserving of all. I am glad that they won in the end. Thankfully I saw the game undisturbed and enjoyed every moment of it with my family. It was time and money well spent in the end.

Photos from Timesofindia.com

Absolute carnage - First Semi final

There were a lot of expectations before the semi-final between Royals and Daredevils. Everybody was looking forward to a contest between an explosive batting side versus simple the best side in IPL. In the end, Royals showed that their consistency is just no fluke. First scoring 192 against the likes of McGrath and Asif and then bundling Delhi out for 80 odd runs, proved that they thoroughly deserved this victory.
There are a couple of points I want to mention before we forget about this very forgettable match (for Delhi fans atleast). Why did Sehwag chose to ball after winning the toss? I always thought, on a good batting track, in a knock-out game, one should always bat. Asif came in after injury/rest so the bowling was always going to be tough. I know it could have gone either way and Warne admitted in the end about his bowling decision, had he won the toss but it is just that defensive frame of mind that allows you to send opposition in and make total mess of it. Batting second is never easy in a pressure situation. The other thing was the bowling changes. Mahroof was first change but could have been used as the opening bowler. He had the best chance to rattle top order of Royals. In the end, opening stand made a lot of difference. Veeru himself did not bowl a single ball in the match. What is the use of his huge experience. As far as I am concerned, its the bowling that let Delhi down and not the batting. In a semi-final like this, 160 would have been enough leave alone 190 plus. Well its all over for Delhi now. They can take rest, play international cricket and come back strong next time. Till then, good bye to them.

Cruel game of cricket

Symonds gave away the fate stealing 17 runs of the last over to fellow Australian that included 2 6's and a 4. The other night, Sehwag clobbered him for 30 in one over. Cruel isn't it. Cricket has always been like that. A great leveler. In the same match, a player becoming a hero and a villane is seldom seen though. This match was a perfect example. Symonds is going to leave at the end of the month for Australian tour of West Indies. There is nothing much left for him to redeem. His pride and image of a great player has been dented a little bit. Good luck fella, for the next IPL series.