Sehwag out for a duck! India celebrates. Zaheer Khan hoisted for a six over long on! India celebrates. Virat Kohli hammered for 28 runs in 1 over by a South African! India celebrates.
Finally, here is a format that no Indian can really lose. The Indian Premier League is now proving to be a welcome break for the beleaguered and humiliated Indian fan, who has seen his cricketing heroes fail repeatedly, and his team hit new lows in their bid for world glory over the last year.
It is that time of the year when a Sachin failure could mean a Dhoni success, an Ashwin-bashing could mean a Pathan-blitzkrieg. No doubt, a true Chennaiite will celebrate a Chennai victory, yet, even in defeat, he will take joy from his favourite hero, Sehwag’s signature stroke play, powering Delhi to an emphatic win. It seems that Indian cricket fan has finally founds his salvation, where in the last year, test cricket has completely failed him.
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| Virat Kohli hammered for 28 runs in 1 over by a South African! India celebrates. |
Into the second week, and no team having played more than four matches, there is no clear leader yet. Mumbai are playing well; and Delhi too. Delhi could well be the dark-horses of the tournament, with Mahela and Pietersen adding great strength to the middle-order. Bangalore’s Challengers are not playing to potential, while Kolkatta is staging a comeback from two games down. Sangakkara’s Chargers are well and truly struggling, along with Punjab at the bottom of the table. Champions, Chennai have had an up-and-down tournament, with two great batting performances interspaced with two highly forgettable ones. Their match against Bangalore will go down as the most memorable yet of this edition, with Chennai hunting down 206, including the 43 runs required of the last two overs.
While the high scoring games with their tailor-made tracks make for a great draw both for spectators and TV-viewer ship, while seemingly defining the essence of the T-20 format, there is no denying the excitement of closely fought games even in low scoring ones. And Dayle Steyn’s exhibition of class has exemplified the beauty, joy and contextual relevance of great fast bowling in T20 cricket.
With little or no qualitative difference between teams, and given the unpredictability of this short format, all of India can now look forward to their heroes performing, for one team or another, one way or another, and Indian cricket always emerging victorious – now that this Spring of therapy has come back into their lives in the guise of IPL 5.
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