The third edition of the Indian Premier League has certainly lived up to its hype and expectations. Some of the additions to the second edition were the initiation of the two-and-a-half-minute strategic timeouts for the teams, which had a very good effect on the game and also with the live broadcast of all the games on the popular video sharing website YouTube, the Indian Premier League enjoys the privilege of being the first sporting event to do so. From the start of this season, all teams scurried to collect valuable points. However, the teams which qualified for the semi-finals were Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Semi-finalists
The Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians had a very strong start winning their first two games against Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils. After losing a game against Royal Challengers, Tendulkar played a blazing knock of 71, getting the Mumbai Indians back to winning ways. They were truly unstoppable from there and went on to extend their winning streak, getting five victories in a row to finish with 20 points at the end of the league stage and they became the first side to book a semifinal berth. Excellent batting efforts from Tendulkar, Tiwary and occasional lusty blows from Pollard and Rayudu saw their team build good totals while Malinga and Zaheer were the pick of the bowlers.
The Champions of the 2009 season, Deccan Chargers led by Adam Gilchrist started off with a loss against Kolkata Knight Riders. However they were quick enough to bounce back with 3 wins against Chennai, Punjab and Delhi. But, they lost their momentum losing two games to Rajasthan and again to Mumbai and Kolkata. When nobody thought that Deccan would make it, we saw some stunning consistent performances from Suman, Symonds and Rohit Sharma in spite of a let down by their out-of-form skipper. Winning five games in a row and making 16 points at the end of the league stage, Deccan Chargers made its way into the semi-finals. Outstanding bowling efforts from Harris and Vaas, while the player who surprised everybody was Harmeet, who did a wonderful job varying the pace every time he came to bowl, leaving us confused of what his real pace is.
The most consistent team across all editions of the IPL so far has been the men in yellow, the Chennai Super Kings. The Super Kings led by ‘Captain Courageous' Dhoni were on and off in the league stages. The loss against Kings XI Punjab in the super over hurt them hard, especially after scores were level, they couldn't take it, their fans felt it hard to digest. It was then a big leap by the Chennai Super Kings where the local players, Badrinath and Vijay won crucial games for their side almost single handedly.
And it was then their champion player Suresh Raina who took over from there and amassed runs on the board in no time. He has had an outstanding IPL this season and he has regained his form perfectly at the right time ahead of the T20 World Cup. In the bowling department, Morkel and Bollinger's ability to hit the deck hard and also swing the ball away from the batsmen has been outstanding. The find of the season, Ashwin has clearly delivered his goods upfront for the Super Kings. His bowling in the initial overs is very crucial and he is getting the wickets too.Full marks to Dhoni for his excellent captaincy and his valuable knock against Kings XI Punjab in a do or die game, which fetched them a berth in the semifinals. Chennai with that emotional win booked a semifinal berth with 14 points
The Royal Challengers Bangalore led by the old fox Anil Kumble was very impressive in the initial stages of the tournament getting four wins in a row. And then as the season progressed, they began to face the bitter part of cricket losing some games in the middle. But, Kallis slowly began to unfold scoring runs at a brisk rate.
The win against Rajasthan Royals, where Pietersen quick-fired 62 of just 29 balls gave them a much needed victory and put them into the semi-finals. While skipper Kumble and Vinay Kumar swung it for them in the bowling department very consistently. So, with wins here and there they managed to sneak into the top four. But with the start they made, they should have certainly landed just after Mumbai and they certainly are a well deserved lot. So, Kumble's men take spot four in the points table with 14 points.
The first semi-final saw the clash of Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Mumbai Indians initially rode on the good knocks of Tiwary and Rayudu. Tiwary was certainly at his best and played his shots to near perfection and Rayudu showed us glimpses of some hard hitting. Later, Pollard came down firing on all cylinders scoring 33 of just 13 balls. The Royal Challengers after an initial setback saw a good partnership between Uthappa and Ross Taylor, however Pollard came back scalping 3 wickets while Harbhajan and Malinga grabbed two wickets each to give Mumbai by 35 runs.
The second semi-final at the low bounce wicket in D.Y. Patil stadium between Chennai Super Kings and Deccan Chargers was a low scoring game. The Super Kings batting first scored 142 in their 20 overs which saw a patient innings from Badrinath and Dhoni. While a good effort by Aniruddha in the end did give the Super Kings some runs on the board for them to defend. The Deccan Chargers batting second lost wickets at regular intervals while only Symonds managed to get some runs, the other players disappointed. Doughy Bollinger was the man who made all the damage getting 4 wickets giving away just 13 runs from his 4 overs. This game saw the Super Kings win by 38 runs.
Exciting finale
The closing ceremony kick started with an awesome performance from the Oscar-man A.R. Rahman while dance performances by Bipasha Basu and Shahid Kapur added some glitz and glamour to the ceremony ahead of the game.
The finals of the third edition of the Indian Premier League between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings witnessed an outstanding game and saw both the teams putting up a tough fight for the trophy. Super Kings winning the toss, started off slowly but steadily, getting some runs from Vijay and Raina on the other end provided with the much needed fire works scoring runs at a rapid pace. Dhoni too chipped in with a timely knock and the Super Kings finished with 168 in their 20 overs. The Mumbai Indians too started slowly with Tendulkar playing an anchor innings and Dhoni rotated his spinners too well, which saw the dismissals of the Mumbai Indians batsman notwithstanding pressure. At one stage, it looked as though Pollard will take them home, but again Dhoni's non-theoretic field placements did the trick. The Mumbai Indians finally fell short by 22 runs. The Chennai Super Kings had been very consistent with their performance in the first and second editions of the Indian Premier League but missed the title. But this time, they have done it beating the Mumbai Indians in the finals of the third edition by 22 runs lifting the trophy for the first time. After the Super Kings' win, it's all party time here in Chennai, and we are very much waiting for the trophy to come home! In the local language and to all the Chennaites out there “Namma Chennai Super Kings ku PeriyaWhistla Podu”!
The Third Edition of the Indian Premier League has been a huge success and with the addition of two more teams in IPL 4, we are looking forward for a bigger event next year. As Lalit Modi said, there have been some off field mishaps, but the respect for the game and the excitement never fades out. It would have been better without them, but the intensity and entertainment never went down !! IPL is just getting bigger and bigger!
Praveen is a III Year Information Technology student at Rajalakshmi Engineering College.
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