The saga comes to an end. Yes, I am talking about the Indian Premier League 2011. After 51 days of hectic entertainment and, yes, definitely cricket, the viewers, more than the players, are relieved. It has been a big huge season for the fans of world cricket since the beginning of 2011. And definitely they have thoroughly enjoyed. It is clearly evident from the Q4 results of most companies and will be clearer from the Q1 results of 2011,how much productivity has been hit.Let us ,in this article, go beyond the actual cricketing aspect and see what people across the globe,lost and gained from this mega extravaganza, IPL 2011.
West Indies tour selection
Most of the cricket boards request India to tour their country not just because they could play against the world’s numero uno test team, but more so because they could generate a lot of income from the grounds and the television world. And with India winning the 2011 world cup still fresh in mind,the West Indies Cricket Board could not have asked for a better itinerary. But little did they realise that IPL was going to shatter their dreams big time.
Seven members of the World Cup 2011 winning 2011 are not in the squad to the West Indies tour. Out of which only Santhakumaran Sreesanth has been dropped. The remaining 6 have either been injured, fallen sick or have requested rest.Surprisingly, all the 6 played the lucrative IPL, and have sat out of the National team selection. I thought domestic tournaments were played to get selected to the National team,whilst,this one is being a complete opposite.India is now sending a second string to the West Indies tour and it is going to be more like a West Indies team against India ‘A’ or Board President’s XI. Probably with the state of affairs in the Carribean cricket not being great,this tour will be one to watch.
International players
The Orange cap holder of this season’s IPL is Christopher Henry Gayle(Oh! i don’t know, I just love writing the full names of the players). He tormented the oppositions in most of the matches he played and won his franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore,many matches single handedly. Gayle played just 5 matches out of their 7 outings in the Cricket World Cup 2011. He was dropped,apparently without being told,after the tournament for the home series against Pakistan and again now for the home series against the Indians.The loss of the WICB from the Pakistan’s series selection was the gain of the beer baron’s outfit.Now lets wait and watch who is going to be the beneficiary.
Little did the Sri Lanka board know when they sent their contingent to play the IPL about the retirement of their huge match winner. In the middle of the IPL,when the SLC requested their players to return,to practice, for the upcoming England series,they were in for a body blow,when Lasith Malinga, retired from the longest form of cricket(nowadays ODIs have become the longer form of the game). The board could do nothing but start their own T-20 league and invite cricketers from India to participate in it.
This has been a long standing doubt for me and I still have not got it clarified. He is the only overseas player to have been retained by the franchise,which did not even bother retaining Mr.Cricket. Yes I am here talking about Albie Morkel. He has been dropped from the Chennai side only in a couple of matches,because that is the potential and talent that this Protea brings to the plate. Its surprising that he has not played an international match in the last 7 months and was not even their in the World Cup squad. In fact has it been the way Dhoni has handled it or is it just mere coincidence, Faf du Pleesis who made his debut in the WC for his nation,could not make his debut for his franchise this year.
The Invincibles – II
Oh, this is not yet another sequel, that is hitting the theaters this summer. It did hit the television set for more than 6 weeks now. Yes, I am here referring to the unstoppable Chennai Super Kings. This team seems to be more stronger than the World Cup 2007 Australian side. There was just one question in that tournament, who would play Aussies in the finals, and of course lose. This is how it was in this year’s IPL. CSK was simply superb throughout the tournament. They did not a single thing wrong in the finals. I wished Dhoni had held back Ashwin from bowling the first over,at least we would have had a match on hands. There was a huge outbreak of the yellow fever in the Marina beach city.
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