IPL 08: A fight among equals
View(s):In the IPL world, where the willow reigns supreme and bowlers are regularly decimated, where the pitches are flat, the bounce even, and the grounds carpeted in lush-green, teams with the best batting powers are designed to call the shots. Yet, in this edition, the kings of the willow, be it a Gayle, AB De Villiers or Kohli for Bangalore, or a Rohit Sharma, Pollard or Corey Anderson for Mumbai, or a Maxwell, Miller or Marsh for Punjab, none have found their magical skills good enough to take their teams to the top half of the table. The lesser fancied teams like Delhi and Hyderabad are now serious contenders for the knockout spots, registering well-earned victories over the willow masters.
The bowlers are also fighting back. Be it a 4 for 10 by the in-rhythm Ashish Nehra for Chennai against Bangalore, or the 3-wicket burst of Michelle Starc, back from an injury,in a fiery second spell for Bangalore against Rajasthan, or the googly guiles of Delhi’s Imran Tahir, who seems determined to make the coveted purple cap his own, as the highest wicket-taker.
In reality, the difference between teams is becoming almost indistinguishable. This seems to be the distinctive feature of IPL 08. Favorites may soon be a thing of the past, as the strength of the individual teams, over the years, and through multiple auctions, begins to reach parity. The past week says it all. Chennai, won one, lost one. An ordinary performance by Chennai, losing to Rajasthan on a woeful Sunday was followed by a strong win against Bangalore, with an aggressive all-round show. Mumbai, won one, lost one. Seemingly on resurgence, through the poetry of Rohit Sharma’s bat, Mumbai set Bangalore a stiff target of 210, which was rendered near impossible, by a baffling 24 ball 10 from Bangalore’s Gayle. Yet, in their next game against Delhi, Mumbai could do very little against a strong display of batting and fielding by the Daredevils.
Kolkatta won one, lost one. Their match against Delhi was won relatively easily, with Gambhir leading from the front with a well-compiled 60. But the Warner show for Hyderabad, seemed to render Kolkatta powerless, on a match reduced to 12 overs and 117 runs, on Duckworth-Lewis. Bangalore won one, lost one. After their defeat to Chennai, they came back strongly with a comprehensive win over the table-toppers Rajasthan, with their bowlers restricting the Rajasthan batsmen to 130, with Kohli’s 62 ensuring a comfortable chase for victory.
Delhi won one, lost one. A loss to Kolkatta was duly followed up by a great game against Mumbai, led by captain Duminy’s 50-ball 78, and Iyer’s 56-ball 83, resulting in this seasons highest partnership of 154, further propped up by an all-round performance by Angelo Mathews picking up 2 wickets to add to his quick-fire 17 off 8 balls.
Rajasthan won one, lost one and tied one, leading to the Super over, the pinnacle of IPL excitement. A stiff target of 192 set-up this cliff hanger against Kings XI. With Maxwell still recovering from the euphoria of the World Cup triumph, Shaun Marsh, in place of the injured captain George Bailey, proved his mettle, with a 40 ball 64. Axar Patel’s last ball 4 made it a tie. In the Super Over, it all proved too much for Rajasthan, losing their allowed 2 wickets early, in trying to chase down 15 runs.
Into week three, evenly matched teams, nail-biting finishes, anybody’s game – eight years down, IPL seems to have been scripted to near perfection on the competitive scale.