The Chennai Super Kings are the IPL 2010 champions. Defeating the title favorites Mumbai Indians by 22 runs in an exciting encounter, amidst the phenomenal atmosphere of the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, the Super Kings finally captured the trophy after having missed it out on the last two occasions. Chennai Super Kings is the only side to have entered the semi final stage in all the three seasons of the tournament. They were the finalists in the inaugural IPL series where they lost the title to the Rajasthan Royals and ended their IPL-2 campaign with a loss at the hands of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi-finals. For Mumbai Indians, which emerged as the strongest team this year, this was their first taste into the finals of the tournament after their lowly performances in the past two editions. The evening for the grand finale was all set on fire by the scintillating performances by the magical AR Rehman, bollywood diva Bipasha Basu and heartthrob Shahid Kapoor during the closing ceremony preceding the final match. What more was required to set the pulses thumping ahead of an interesting encounter between the teams of the two India’s most favorite cricketers! As the electrifying crowd in the stadium roared for the one and only Sachin, the toss flipped in favour of the Chennai skipper MS Dhoni who elected to bat first with the expectation of setting up a 160-plus total to put pressure on the Mumbai Indians which was already feeling the heat with the injury of their in-form captain Sachin Tendulkar. Though Mumbai put a great bowling attack in the first half of the innings by restricting Chennai to just 58 runs in the first 10 overs, it came out as a smashing performance by the southpaw, Suresh Raina, who smashed 57 runs from just 35 balls hitting three boundaries and three maximums that brought his side back into the game. He remained unbeaten till the end. Raina and Dhoni added crucial 72 runs off just 35 balls to take their side to a competitive total of 168 for five. Dhoni scored a quick 22 off 15 balls. Earlier in the innings, openers Matthew Hayden (17) and Murali Vijay (26) gave Chennai a … [Read more...]
IPL: Tales of money, politics and family
Time was when the grouses against IPL were that it resulted in players being overworked, that the cheerleaders’ costumes were against Indian culture and that the focus was on film stars instead of cricket. This was baby talk compared to the issues being raised now. Now we know that the IPL Commissioner's brother-in-law has a stake in an IPL franchise; his stepson-in-law holds the web rights for IPL. We already know that a member of the BCCI has a stake in another IPL franchise. Looks like the great men in the cricket board who rule the cricketers with an iron hand have not heard of something called 'clash of interest'. Also, a minister in the Central Government 'blesses' the formation of a new franchise and the lady who is rumoured to be his love interest gets a 'free' stake in the franchise. She of course claims that it is 'sweat equity' for advice rendered to the franchise. And as if all this was not enough, the IPL Commissioner, Mr. Lalit Modi, who seems to be greatly troubled over the allotment of the Kochi franchise, vents out his ire on Twitter. One would think that a person of his stature would use a proper forum to present this issue. It looks more like he is bent on disqualifying the Kochi franchise, Rendezvous Sports World as well as disturbing Mr. Shashi Tharoor's already fragile ministerial post. The match off the field , that is the Modi-Tharoor spat is now providing more entertainment than the actual matches. With skeletons tumbling out of various cupboards, one realises that IPL is not just about cricket and entertainment now. One can now hear about franchises routed through tax havens which obviously indicate money laundering activities and of pressures to allot franchises to particular business entities. It does look like IPL is only about money, i.e. making tons of it by hook or by crook. The day may not be far when we get to hear that IPL matches are fixed. Author: Pratibha Shenoy, Bangalore. … [Read more...]
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