Sachin Tendulkar at the receiving end

This was one last chance for Sachin Tendulkar to showcase his talent as a captain and would have been great when he was captaining a side where he not only was born and bought up but also learnt how to play cricket. But, when he once again lost in the finals of the IPL, he would be considered as one of the worst captains India has ever seen though that is not really the case. Sachin was successful in winning 10 out of the 14 13 games he featured in, if the encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders is omitted from the list in this year's IPL.

Sachin Tendulkar was responsible for 5 of the 10 wins which constitute 50% of the wins that the Mumbai Indians had and then for a team with just one international batsman to make it to the top of the table is really something great. However, his dropping of Sanath Jayasuriya would always go down as a bad or ugly decision as far as critics go. Jayasuriya would have played a role as a hard hitting batsmen who would have taken the number of international batsmen in the side to two. Added to that would have been is left arm orthodox which is better than someone like Kieron Pollard's medium fast.

Any captain who is set to face the team to which he has lost earlier and that too in the knock out stages of the tournament is indeed unlucky. And, Sachin Tendulkar is one such unlucky chap and more so when he lost in front of his own people. The Mumbai Indians faced the RCB in the semis and the Chennai Superkings in the finals, both of whom had beaten them earlier in the league stages. I remember the Pakistan team in the 2^nd world T20 last year where it faced Sri Lanka against whom they had suffered a defeat in the super eights but won the finals convincingly.

Sachin Tendulkar was the captain of the Titan cup in 1996 which India won after beating a South African team which until then had remained unbeaten in the tournament. South Africa had won three games each against India & Australia before losing to India in the finals. Similarly, Sachin Tendulkar was a part and the architect of the Indian team that beat Australia in the Sharjah cup in 1998 after Australia had won all of its league stage games against the Kiwis and India. Though Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians didn't win all the matches in the league stage, they were the table toppers and losing out in the finals really hurts not only Sachin Tendulkar and Mumbai but also to all cricket fans.

Unlike our prediction, the winning team this time neither had a player wearing the Purple cap not the orange cap. Apologies for that.

Bad scheduling of the IPL finals

The finals of this year's Indian Premier League was scheduled as though the authorities involved had previously known that the Sachin Tendulkar led Mumbai Indians would surely make it to the finals this time, if the scheduling of the finals is seen which is held at Mumbai from where Sachin Tendulkar hails. Relax! this has got nothing to do with match fixing and related other stuff. However, when the other side of the coin in given a close look at, it is a bad scheduling when the finals should have been held on Saturday which would have coincided with Sachin Tendulkar's 37^th birthday.

People still remember the way Sachin Tendulkar smashed all the Aussie bowlers that included the likes of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath on this day exactly 12 years ago when he celebrated his 25^th birthday. That was the finals of the tri nation tournament in which Australia had never lost a single ODI after winning both the games against India and New Zealand at Sharjah. Of course, India would have won that game prior to the finals had there been no interruption by dust which reduced the required target by just 10 runs and the number of balls by 24.

Now, there could have been yet another occasion had the IPL authorities scheduled the finals of the tournament today rather than on Sunday. Well, I'm aware of the fact that there is the stand off for the third place to be held between Deccan Chargers and the Royal Challengers Bangalore that will decide the team that will make it to the champions league T20 tournament. But, even that could have been settled by having the match played on Sunday or on Friday. It shouldn't matter in case the Deccan Chargers would be playing games back to back with the 2nd semi finals held on Thursday.

However, coming to Sachin Tendulkar's 37^th birthday, I would like to bring it to everyone's notice that Sachin Tendulkar is the only batsman in the history of the game to have at present scored more number of centuries in both forms of the game which is more than his age. This record may not last for long with his age bound to go on as long as the earth exists and the number of hundreds scored to be terminated one fine day when he retires. And with Sachin Tendulkar confirming his presence in the upcoming world cup in 2011 due in the sub continent minus Pakistan, he is likely to become the 2^nd player after Pakistan's Javed Miandad to play in 6 world cups.

Prediction reversed

If one could go through the post "beware orange cap holders", cricket avatar had predicted a loss in the semifinals of the Indian Premier League this year in case Sachin Tendulkar retains the orange cap awarded for scoring the maximum number of runs in an IPL tournament. This was done taking into consideration the previous two editions of the IPL wherein the teams which had players wearing the orange cap had to come out of the tournament in the semis itself. One can recall the way the Kings XI Punjab in 2008 and the Chennai Superkings in 2009 breathed last in the semis of the trophy.

This despite having players like Mathew Hayden in 2009 and Shaun Marsh in 2008 who wore the orange cap in that particular editions of the IPL. And then, coming to the purple cap episode that is awarded to the player with the highest wickets in the tournament, coincidentally, in both the editions of the IPL teams having a player wearing the purple ended up victorious. It was the Rajasthan Royals in 2008 and the Deccan Chargers in 2009 who not only won the tournament but also had players wearing the purple cap namely Sohail Tanvir and R P Singh respectively.

However, this prediction not only went wrong this time but also got reversed, after the Mumbai Indians reached the finals of the tournament despite having an orange cap holder in Sachin Tendulkar and, added to that the Deccan Chargers lost the semis to the Chennai Superkings though having Pragyan Ojha who was the purple cap holder in this year's IPL. This has not made me feel sad for my prediction getting wrong but on the other hand has delighted me for the prediction getting reversed exactly. If one goes by the new theory, it should be the Mumbai Indians who should walk away with the trophy.

And this is more likely to happen for reasons needless to be said. However, if the other side of the coin is considered, there was every chance of a team containing a player wearing the orange cap making it t the finals of this year's IPL. Even if the Royal Challengers Bangalore had made it to the finals, Jacques Kallis had every chance to make the orange cap his, with the difference in the runs scored by the two differing by a small margin. Moreover, Sachin Tendulkar had got out scoring just 9 runs in the semi finals, which bought the difference to just 28. However, in case the Deccan Chargers had won yesterday, there would have been a contest between the teams who had an orange cap holder and a purple cap holder in them.

Amazing!

Well at one stage in the tournament, even though the Mumbai Indians were on a run, winning most of the games they came across, most of them were Sachin Tendulkar oriented who scored most of the runs for the Mumbai Indians, having the man of the match in 4 matches out of the 13 games he played and 10 which his team won. Moreover, if not for Sachin Tendulkar, there was not even a single international batsman in the Mumbai Indians squad after Sanath Jayasuriya was shown the benches to warm despite the fact that it is summer in India. Just joking!

When the West Indian 22 year old fresh face was purchased in this year's IPL auction, most of them thought that to be a bad investment and would harldy make it to the playing XI only to be deceived. For the second time in a row, this 22 year old was solely responsible for his team's success and this matterred more in the semis which didn't halt the Mumbai Indians' run in the tournament. Much to everyone's surprise, when Sachin Tendulkar wanted to lose the match against KKR, he rested Kieron Pollard who would have otherwise seen his team end up victorious.

Unlike Sachin Tendulkar, Kieron Pollard's contribution didn't last only with the bat but also with the ball when he had 3 wickets against his name in the semi finals yesterday giving away just 17 runs at over 4 runs an over. Regular bowlers like Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan conceded more runs and took less number of wickets compared to this part time fast bowler. Perhabs! He was the only West Indian who shone in this year's IPL second to not even Chris Gayle. Of course, hardly any players from the West Indies have made it, with Chanderapaul, Sarwan opting otherwise.

When it came to nig hitting for the Mumbai Indians this season, one and the only player who comes to people's minds would obviously be Kieron Pollard though there was Harbhajan Singh who had an innings of 49 runs from 18 balls. But, this was nothing when compared to Pollard's 13 ball 45 runs against the Delhi Daredevils at Mumbai. With the West Indian team losing out on many occasions owing to lack of performance by most of its players, Kieron Pollard can be of some delight watching him in the upcoming T20 world cup and that too at Caribbean. Wonderful!

Did Mumbai try to spoil Bangalore's chances?

Last night, the Kolkata Knight Riders became the fourth team in the tournament to beat the Mumbai Indians after they won the match by 9 wickets. Prior to the match between the aforementioned teams, the Kolkata Knight Riders had a last opportunity to make it to the last four atleast this time especially when they were playing in Kolkata. Had the Kolkata team been able to overcome the Mumbai Indians in the last match of the league stage, by a good run rate, the Royal Challengers Bangalore would have been knocked out and there would have been yet another encounter between both the teams.

The Mumbai Indians gave the Kolkata Knight Riders every opportunity possible so that they make the better of them first with their usual captain Sachin Tendulkar opting to rest himself and then choosing Dwayne Bravo to captain his side. If at all Schin Tendulkar was supposed to rest himself for a match, he would have done it in any of the earlier games which his team played after making it to the semi finals of the tournament long back. But, that was never to be the case. One suggestion might be that Sachin Tendulkar would have wanted to confirm the orange cap so that it is not taken away once again by Kallis.

And, if at all Sachin Tendulkar wanted to give chance to some players who have so far never seen playing in the IPL, still that could have been done long back and not in just one game. Dilhara Fernando would have been handy even in the earlier games as well and Lasith Malinga need not have been dropped or rested. In one way, it is good for the Mumbai Indians in case the Kolkata Knight Riders replace the Royal Challengers for, the Kolkata team are better for the Mumbai team if compared to Bangalore. If Kolkata get through to the semis, then Mumbai can think of a final berth more probably than it would be the case of RCB qualifies.

If the match was followed closely, the Mumbai Indians, despite winning the toss and choosing to bat first neither lost wickets, neither showed any sort of discomfort nor put up a decent total. They were in the 14^th over found at 85/4 with a run rate of less than 6 an over. Their total towards the end also didn't sound so appealing and it was thought that the Kolkata would sneak into the semis after the match was gifted to them by Mumbai. Had the Kolkata team went in for a brutal chase, by getting to the target in say 13 overs, they could have got into the last four. But. sad that the Kolkata couldn't do even that despite the cooperation.

Of course, no one takes an inconsequential game seriously and the Mumbai Indians are no exception. And experimenting in such games is welcome by anyone but, losing with an intention that a strong team gets knocked out is unethical though not illegal.

Do the RCB deserve to move to the semis?

Yesterday, the Royal Challengers Bangalore not only ended up on the losing side but also welcomed defeat with both hands when they dropped catches at will, with a couple of leg before decisions going the Mumbai Indians' way. One can never forgive the two catches dropped by Dale Steyn off one over bowled by Anil Kumble. The first catch can be given a pass but not the second which landed safely in Steyn's hands only to be dropped seconds later. This was not the first time the RCB were found dropping catches. Prior to this, the RCB were found dropping catches against the Deccan Chargers as well.

After yesterday's match against the Mumbai Indians, the Royal Challengers had equal number of wins as that of the defeats. If the Royal Challengers' campaign in this tournament is given a close look at, their wins and the way they have been achieved give a different picture of the team that is now placed in the second position of the points table. The entire RCB campaign shows only their wins against Mumbai Indians in the first round to be the most impressive win. Then, comes the win against the Kings XI Punjab where RCB chased down 200+ total at Bangalore.

And the only victory that is worth rejoicing for the RCB was the one against the Chennai Superkings which they won by 36 runs once again at Bangalore. Out of the 7 games which the RCB won, 4 of them were won at Bangalore which constitutes for more than 50% of their wins. Also, they have lost 3 games at Bangalore. Even if that is to be given a pass for theuir wins against Mumbai Indians at Mumbai and Chennai Superkings at Chennai, the other side of the coin also suggests that four of their wins have come against Punjab and Rajasthan who are placed in the bottom of the points table.

And then, the RCB had a win against the Kolkata Knightriders who have show a better performance compared to their previous two editions of the IPL when they finished in the 8th position, this time to finish 6th. Though a win against Kolkata doesn't come in for much applause, a loss against the same brings in a lot of disappointment and that was what the RCBs were upto. They had no reasons to lose to Deccan Chargers despite in both occasions having the match well in their hands. First time, the RCBs put up a total in excess of 180 to see them lose by 7 wickets on their home ground.

And then, in the 2^nd encounter, the RCBs were able to take three quick wickets which were followed by two drop catches immediate to that. And, if a team is not able to chase down 150+ total in a neutral venue, they shouldn't deserve to be in the 2^nd position.As far as the RCBs are considered, the only teams worth beating in this IPL would have been the Delhi, Mumbai & Hyderabad team. And, Bangalore has lost both their matches to Delhi and Hyderabad and one to Mumbai.

Odds favor the Deccan Chargers to win IPL3

A couple of days back, cricket avatar was found warning the Mumbai Indians' captain - Sachin Tendulkar for wearing the orange cap considering the fate of the teams that had a player wearing the orange cap namely the Kings XI Punjab in 2008 and the Chennai Super Kings in 2009. Added to that similarity, both the teams that lost the semis after having a player wearing the orange cap had the name Kings in their team name and were captained by Singhs. Anyways, with that being a different issue altogether, the story right now has got to do with the advancement of the Deccan Chargers after their win over KXIP.

The Deccan Chargers came back from nowhere to win the game yesterday against the Kings XI Punjab after the latter scored 174 runs and in the process losing just 3 wickets. This somehow has got to do with Pragyan Ojha who is wearing the purple cap this time. At one point of time in this tournament, the same Deccan Chargers were found being placed in the 7^th position with only Kings XI Punjab having a worse record compared to them. And, after yesterday's win, the Deccan Chargers are now placed in the 4^th position which is more than enough for them to make it to the knock out stage.

If the teams with orange cap holders are found choking in the semi finals of the tournament, when it comes to teams having a purple cap holder, it has always been a sign of fortune with both the teams triumphing with them having a purple cap holder in them. Though the Mumbai Indians have at present in the top most position and stand apart when compared to the other 7 teams, a loss in the semi finals is more than enough to see them ending their dreams in this edition of the IPL. Just before the match against the Kings XI Punjab, the Deccan Chargers were placed in the 6^th position.

This means that it was a matter of just one match that could make a difference for the same. If their earlier record was considered, the Deccan Chargers were thought to play a spoilsport by not making it to the semi finals of the IPL when it was placed in the 6^th position, thus turning down all the misfortune and fortune that was until the last edition bought by orange cap and purple cap holders. But, the case has changed since yesterday's match. Irrespective of who topped the rankings and who did not, semi finals is totally a different game. This was evident with the Delhi team losing in the semis last year after having 2 wins in the league stages the same edition.

And, this time, in case the Mumbai team loses either in the semis (which is evident with Sachin wearing the orange cap), one can see a glimpse of South Africa in them.

Beware orange cap holders!

All the fans of Mumbai Indians and Sachin Tendulkar in particular would have been happy when the Mumbai captain gained the orange cap from Jacques Kallis who held the same from the last 10 matches. But, if the other side of the story is to be believed, all fans of the Mumbai team would pray that Sachin Tendulkar lose the orange cap which is better than the Mumbai Indians getting knocked out from the Indian Premier League in the semi finals itself when all eyes are now on Mumbai Indians thinking them to do it big this time after they finished in the 7^th position last time.

There is also a bitter side of the orange cap which has so far been successful in restricting their teams only until the semi finals of the IPL. In the inaugural edition of the tournament way back in 2008, the orange cap was worn by Shaun Marsh who belonged to the Kings XI Punjab after the Aussie amassed a mammoth 616 runs by the end of the tournament and that too in just 11 games that he played. And, much to anyone's surprise, the team to which Shaun Marsh belonged to couldn't go past the semi finals in 2008 after losing to the CSKs.

Similarly, in the very next edition played at South Africa in 2009, the orange cap holder happened to be another Australian in Mathew Hayden after he amassed 572 runs playing just one game more than what Shaun Marsh was found playing in the earlier edition in 2008. Once again, the team to which Mathew Hayden belonged to, namely the Chennai Superkings were knocked out by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi finals of the tournament after they lost the match by 6 wickets. This has so far been the fate of the team which has a player wearing the orange cap.

This time, the orange cap was snatched by Sachin Tendulkar from Jacques Kallis after the match between Mumbai Indians and the Rajasthan Royals. Moreover, the Mumbai Indians have also confirmed their semi finals berth after their victory over the same. Likewise, purple cap holders have been lucky for their team with both editions having gone to the teams having a purple cap holder in them. In 2008, it was Sohail Tanvir who wore the purple cap and was also on the Rajasthan Royals who lifted the trophy. And, the situation was no different in 2009 as well when R P Singh - the purple cap holder in that edition belonging to the Deccan Chargers who won the title.

Unnecessary!

This is with regard to the only one dayer played between the West Indies and Canada yesterday which obviously was won by West Indies by 208 runs. No one could see this ODI between the West Indies and Canada in the ICC's FTP earlier. One has to think as to what on earth makes the ICC have such matches played and that too just one off game wherein one team or both of them are expected to fly to some other country just for that one game which is absolutely unnecessary! Is it so that the West Indies get a practice match before going into the world T20 scheduled there from April 30^th onwards?

More than half of the players from the West Indies international team are busy playing in the 3^rd edition of the Indian Premier League that includes their captain Chris Gayle. One has to indeed appreciate the West Indies Cricket Board for not forcing their players to fly back home to play this one useless one dayer against a team that is yet to attain test status in cricket. There was a match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Chennai Superkings wherein players like Chris Gayle who was playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders and on the other side, there was Kieon Pollard and Dwayne Bravo who featured in the match between the Mumbai and Delhi.

May be, this is the first time players from one particular team were playing simultaneously for three different teams and for two different tournaments though the one off match between Canada and West Indies cannot be called as a tournament. Likewise, even Chandrapaul was supposed to be playing for the Royal Challengers which forms a different issue here. This was also the first instance where two West Indian players are awarded the man of the match, first when Kieron Pollard hit a 13 ball 45 runs to see Mumbai Indians win yet another encounter against Delhi Daredevils and on the other side, Chanderpaul hit a century to see his team beat Canada.

And, if one takes pains to go through the scorecard of the match between West Indies and Canada, it was once again a combined effort of Chanderpaul, Darren Bravo and Sarwan who form the senior lot. A little bit of brains from the WICB should have seen them giving young players a chance to showcase their skills especially when they were playing Canada on their home ground. Forget that! When there were senior players in the team, the total should have gone well past 350 atleast. But no. May be the WICB was missing the services of their inform players like Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle who are playing in the IPL.

Triple treat for Mumbai Indians

At last, the Mumbai Indians became the first side in this edition of the Indian Premier League to enter the semi finals. However, they had to wait almost a week to get into there. A win against the Chenni Superkings would have assured the Mumbai Indians a berth in the semi finals which was scheduled on the 6^th of this month at Chennai. But, all that the match would be remembered for would be the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar on the field due to the scorching heat in Chennai. Mumbai lost that game to the CSK by 7 wickets which delayed their march to the semis.

Then came the match against the Kings XI Punjab where a win should have been guaranteed to the Mumbai Indians for they were facing a team which was placed at the bottom of the IPL points table. But, no one needs to be specially said regarding the result of the match. The Mumbai Indians lost yet another time in the IPL. Coincidentally, that was the 2^nd defeat that the Mumbai Indians had in this edition of the IPL and on the other side, it was the 2^nd win for the Kings XI Punjab in this year's IPL after Sangakkara's men had beaten Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets.

This was not only a match for the Mumbai Indians that took them to the semi finals of the IPL but also a match where Sachin Tendulkar grabbed the orange cap from Jaques Kallis after scoring an unbeaten 89 and over taking Kallis by 11 runs with both of them having the same number of matches and the same highest score. This was also the match that saw Sachin Tendulkar hit 2 sixes which was twice of what he could in the earlier 10 matches put together. Tendulkar has so far scored 5 half centuries which is one less than Jacques Kallis (once again).

This was Sachin Tendulkar's 4^th man of the match award and a much deserving one. Mumbai Indians were facing the Rajasthan Royals on their home ground where the Rajasthan Royals were fresh from their win against Kings XI Punjab and the Mumbai Indians fresh from the loss against the same Kings XI Punjab. Once again, what a coincidence! Mumbai Indians were at one stage reeling at 93 runs on the board with the loss of 4 wickets and Sachin having scored 48 from 43 deliveries compared to the final score of 174 with Sachin's individual score being 89 meaning an additional 41 runs from 15 balls.

How has team India benefited from the IPL

One of the reasons why the Indian Premier League was launched a couple of years back was to bring out the best of the talent in domestic cricket so that the international team does not suffer due to wrong selection if the BCCI and the IPL chairman Lalit Modi are to be believed. Lalit Modi confirmed this further by making it mandatory for all teams to have not more than 4 players outside India. But, records suggest something different. If the Indian team post the inaugural edition of the IPL is given a deep look at, the players who have featured in the 15 member international squad has hardly found to vary.

The IPL has seen a batsman in V V S Laxman who features for the Deccan Chargers and was also in the elite list of icon players but has been almost ruled out when it comes to playing in the limited overs game. Of course, the senior trio of Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly were shown the gates long back which need not be an issue. In addition, there have been may batsmen like Ambati Rayudu who has shone for the Mumbai Indians with the bat. And then we have Shikar Dhawan, Chetheshwar Pujara and others who have done a satisfactory job for their team.

But, none of these players are found to make it to the selection panel's list when it comes to selecting the 15 member squad for any tour be it at home or outside. The young players in the international team is found to contain some names which are heard commonly like Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Rohith Sharma etc. And, in case anyone is injured by freak chance, their places are taken by Piyush Chawla(in place of Ravindra Jadeja), Pragyan Ojha and Sudeep Tyagi. On the other side, the BCCI has not been able to handle with the existing players itself like Robin Uttappa who has been in the international squad before.

There was no reason for someone like Abhimanyu Mithun to make it to the international 15 member squad with just 1 T20 game in the IPL behind him. So is the case with Saha. There are players like Monish Mishra, Rahul Sharma, Tirumalasetti Suman who shone with the bat for the Deccan Chargers to name a few. But, the reason behind the BCCI sticking to its old strategy of having familiar faces in the 15 member squad is somewhat confusing. Though the team has seen Pragyan Saha, Piyush Chawla and Saha, they are hardly played unless there is a freak injury to any of the familiar players.

If the BCCI doesn't want to cast its eyes on the mentioned players, the words of the same doesn't make any sense when it claims the IPL to bring in talented young players up the ladder.

Tendulkar's lone six in the IPL

The fact that Sachin Tendulkar has hit only one six in the IPL is quite hard to believe not only because it is Tendulkar who is under discussion at the moment but also due to the fact that he stands in the second position when it comes to the highest run scorers in this edition of the IPL. Sachin Tendulkar might be kicking himself when he would have learnt that a bowler in Harbhajan Singh has hit more shots out of the boundary than him. However, if the same is seen from the discipline point of view, Sachin has to be heading in the right direction.

As said earlier, Sachin Tendulkar is the second highest run scorer in the IPL second to only Jacques Kallis with 493 runs from 10 games. He has 3 scores above fifty and an equal number of man of the match awards. Sachin Tendulkar has hardly been the man to hit sixes when compared to someone like Sehwag, Gilchrist, Jayasuriya and Afridi to name a few. Big hitters like Gilchrist, Sehwag, Symonds and Jayasuriya have not been doing exactly what is expected from them and Sachin Tendulkar indeed deserves a lot of applauses for what he has been able to do.

It doesn't mind as to how many sixes a batsman has been able to hit when the team for which he plays is found to top the charts after ending in the second position from the last in the 2009 edition. In the 2008 edition, it was Sanath Jayasuriya who hit the maximum number of sixes when he hit 31 of them only to see his team not make it to even the semis of the same. If Sachin Tendulkar was to hit more sixes, he wouldn't have had so much success in the areas mentioned above. It is the job of a tail end batsman like Harbhajan whose sole duty with the bat is to whip it through the air and see the ball fly over the ropes.

Harbhajan is not responsible if he fails with the bat when his duty is to bowl the opposition. But, Sachin Tendulkar is gifted with the responsibility to take the batting further with no other experienced batsmen in his side. One can see signs of the great Australian captain Steve Waugh whose individual records hardly speak for him. Steve Waugh has been able to hit only three hundreds in his entire ODI career lasting 324 matches. But, all those three centuries have been referred to as "captain's knock" with the 120* against South Africa in the super sixes being the highlight of them all.

The special IPL pattern

This is needless to be said the third edition of the Indian Premier League and is more than enough to draw some pattern regarding the winners and losers of the trophy. So has been the case regarding the teams that make it to the semis and also the teams which top the ratings in every edition of the same. In its inaugural edition, the winners happened to be the Rajasthan Royals while the runners up happened to be the Chennai Superkings. And the teams that finished last were the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Deccan Chargers who finished at positions 8 and 7 respectively.

But, much to everyone's surprise, it was the same two teams that finished in the last two positions a year prior to the second edition of the IPL who ended as winners of the trophy and the runners up. Had the winners been the Royal Challengers and the runners up been the Deccan Chargers, that would have been just ideal for the team which finished last would have finished first in the second edition while the team that finished second from the last would have ended second from the top. Anyways, that is secondary at the moment. But, one would be surprised with the pattern that the IPL is found following.

It was the Mumbai Indians who finished second from the last in the second edition held at South Africa and the last position was booked long before by the Kolkata Knight Riders. But, this time, if history is anywhere to go by it has been the Mumbai Indians who are found dominating the tournament like the Deccan Chargers did in the previous edition. And, the Kolkata Knight Riders are though following slowly. they have no reason for not to do what the Royal Challengers were found doing in the second edition. Even the RCBs started their IPL campaign without any sort of initial success as long as the team was captained by KP.

It was only after Anil Kumble was made the captain that the RCBs started rocking and eventually reached the finals though there were the Delhi Daredevils who were a better team than both the RCBs and the Deccan Chargers. So, if the pattern is to be followed, it has to be Mumbai Indians beating the Kolkata Knight Riders to lift the trophy. And, if the present edition of the IPL is considered, the Kings XI Punjab are found holding onto the last position and the second from the last is held by Deccan Chargers once again after they lost it to the KKR last year. So, one can expect the KXIP team to lift the trophy next year by beating Deccan Chargers if the pattern is followed.

However, decent teams compared to the KKR have been the RCBs. But, even there were DD who topped the charts last year and their fate is well in front of us.

Sachin the lone scorer for Mumbai

One has to once again applaud Sachin Tendulkar who has made this edition of the IPL as his own. Though yesterday the Mumbai Indians team lost the game to the Chennai Superkings by a small margin of 24 runs, Sachin Tendulkar - like always never fell short of making another innings of his count. Sachin Tendulkar was there until the 7^th wicket of the Mumbai Indians fell. Of course, his dropping of the veteran Sri Lankan opener - Sanath Jayasuriya will surely be noticed by one and all. Sachin Tendulkar not only top scored with 45 but also saw his partner at the other end bat with confidence.

Once again, there was another innings for Sachin Tendulkar which went without the batsman hitting even a single six. But, the sixes which would have been expected from the blades of Sachin Tendulkar happened to come from the blades of the tail end batsman in Harbhajan Singh when he hit three of them out of the ground. That coincidentally happened to be the highest number of sixes that were witnessed from the match. If the Mumbai Indians' squad is given a closer look, Sachin Tendulkar is the lone scorer for his team and also the lone noted batsman if Harbhajan Singh is excluded.

Harbhajan Singh has made a name for himself as a bowler while he is found sending down nightmares for the bowlers. If not for Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar, no other batsman from the Mumbai Indians' squad has made a name for himself in international cricket. Now that Sanath Jayasuriya is made to warm the benches, Sachin Tendulkar is found taking credit for whatever batting works his team is found doing. Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the man of the match on 3 out of the 9 games they have played so far against Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight riders and Chennai Superkings.

Despite winning in the first match against Rajasthan Royals, the man of the match happened to be Yousuf Pathan for his fastest IPL hundred. And then in the match against Deccan Chargers, Harbhajan Singh was awarded the man of the match for his 18 ball 49 with it being the 2^nd time a player was given the award for his batting prowess which so far has been three with Rayudu taking the honors in the match against Deccan Chargers once again. In the match against the Kings XI Punjab, it was a bowler in Lasith Malinga who was awarded the man of the match for his four wicket haul. So, till now there have been just one other batsman in Rayudu who has been awarded the man of the match if Tendulkar is sidelined.

Dropping Sanath Jayasuriya?

It is fascinating to see the Mumbai Indians and especially Sachin Tendulkar doing what they couldn't in the previous editions of the Indian Premier League. Mumbai Indians are found topping the chart in the current edition of the IPL after failing to get past the first stage on their previous two occasions. Moreover, Sachin Tendulkar is found taking the charge of his team's batting which was not the case in the previous two editions. Sachin Tendulkar stands in the second position only behind RCBs Jacques Kallis when it comes to the race for the orange cap this season. Added to this, he has had two man of the match awards as well.

But, one thing that has been noticed in this edition is dropping of the Sri Lankan veteran Sanath Jayasuriya after playing him for just 3 games against Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers. One has to think of a reason for dropping Jayasuriya when his performance in the three matches that he played was not that bad at all. Jayasuriya scored 23 runs in the 1st game against the Rajasthan Royals at a strike rate of 164 and 7 in the match against Delhi Daredevils before he was taken off by a stunner by a substitute fielder in Y Nagar.

In that game against Delhi, Jayasuriya took 2 wickets with the ball giving away just 17 runs and was the only bowler to have bowled his complete quota of 4 overs in that match. However, bad luck struck for Jayasuriya when he was a part of the Mumbai Indians' squad that lost their only encounter till date against the Royal Challengers. And, in that particular game Jayasuriya had his most miserable time with both the bat and the ball when he scored just 2 runs and bowled an equal number of overs giving away 16 runs before losing confidence in his captain's eyes.

Despite his absence, the Mumbai Indians are no doubt doing well. But, this time, another fact that is responsible for their success is that Sachin Tendulkar has adjusted himself to the T20 format of the game which has seen him score 4 half centuries out of the 7 games that he has played. And, Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the man of the match on three occasions. But, dropping someone like Jayasuriya is totally against the rule when he can be so entertaining with the bat no matter how seldom he does that. Jayasuriya has always been a crowd attractor even by non Mumbai Indians' supporters.

Jayasuriya's sixes have always been welcome no matter what the team's result at the end of the match has to say. As a matter of fact, Jayasuriya was the leading six hitter in the inaugural edition of the IPL a couple if years back. But statistics apart, it is the performance a player on that particular match that matters. And if the substitute for Jayasuriya - Shikar Dhawan is considered, Tendulkar once again is showing how bad a captain he can get. An all rounder being replaced by a under-rated batsman! Dhawan has had two half centuries so far and is not a bad choic. But in a tournament like IPL which is launched to entertain cricket lovers, having Jayasuriya would be welcomed by the fans rather than Dhawan.