The seasonal reviews...

Two very engrossing events ended on the very day, the 24^th of May. One, a nine month long, emotional, at times excruciatingly so, journey of the EPL. The other, a less emotional, but enchanting for various reasons, the IPL. Was wondering what to write on first, settled for the IPL for no other reason than that soon the hue and cry of the impending T20 WC is going to fade the IPL in the dusk. On the other hand, the EPL never really loses its charm, does it? So I thought the EPL review could wait, so here I am with the IPL review J

 This IPL didn’t spring too many surprises in my opinion. What I felt was, it were the usual suspects that came to the party. Well, usual suspects not in the sense of their international stature, but in the sense of what was expected of them based on their previous year’s showing. For all you can say, there were surprises in the other sense of the word in some glaring failures. Be it the destructive Albie Morkel, the cavalier Piertersen, or in my opinion, the much hyped Jesse Ryder. Even the likes of Yusuf , Jayasurya and the opening duo of Delhi didn’t perform as well as they would’ve liked to do.

 You go down the list of teams and players and may be you’ll find a Kamran Khan or a Manish Pandey in the latter stages of the tourney and may be a Shadab Jakati, but other than them, you can hardly point a finger to any player and say, ‘Boy, he was the surprise package this year’. People are going gung ho about Rohit Sharma, but I’m sure he’ll tell you that his last season was much better than this one.

 People will say DC were the surprise package this year, but not according to me. Last year they were the bottom placed team, mainly because their big guns in Gibbs, Symmo, Afridi failed miserably. But you’d got to feel that the law of averages would ensure that they perform well this year, and when it’s the averages of the likes of Gibbs and Symmonds, its got to be sooner rather than later. The best part of DC was their application, which lacked last year. Sambit Bal in an article pointed it out beautifully that Deccan lost a bit of flair to gain some discipline and on the other hand, Challangers lost a bit of their discipline to add some flair.

 And I think this write up will be incomplete without a tribute to the old warhorse, Anil Kumble. If Andy Gray would’ve been commentating, he would’ve surely said ‘What a player. WHAT A PLAYER’ J. Indeed, what a player. Not many gave him a chance this year, and it was no different than almost his entire career. He always had critics behind him that he was no longer good enough. And he always showed mettle to fight back and show that T20 may be a fast paced game, but there is always a place for the astute thinker. Watching him you got a feeling that he was there to prove a point. He wouldn’t have forgotten the rough treatment he received from his franchisee last season. And boy he proved it. Pipped for the purple cap only by RP, Anil was the best spinner on show. He never was one to shy away from a challenge, and he took this one, and lived it as no one expected him to. He took a second from the bottom team to just a hit away from winning the IPL, amazing turnaround. And even the most ignorant man would notice who was behind this.

 The worrying thing from India’s perspective is that most of their stars failed to deliver. Be it Veeru, Gauti, Yuvi or the bowling attack of Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma, all failed to make an impact on this season of the IPL. All Indians though would be hoping that the old adage of form being temporary and class permanent will hold good.

 Will finish this off with a slight preview of the upcoming T20 WC. In everyone’s eyes, India are hot favorites to hold on to their title. But while curiosity killed the cat, complacency wouldn’t let her live either. This is what Indians have to be wary of. One might even say that the failures of these stalwarts in the IPL might be a blessing in disguise as they now will be there to prove their mettle.

 We’re in for a good show people.

 Adios till the EPL review J.