The much-awaited finals came to an end with KKR winning the trophy. SRH failed to live up to their batting strength – Travis, Abhishek, Tripathi, Markram, Klassen…, all making it a near cakewalk for KKR. No less keen, Venkatesh Iyer made a mockery of the total, and simultaneously reminded BCCI not to write him off. Truth be told, it was a tame end to a stormy start made on 22 March.
Some observations:
Everyone was pleased to see Rishab Pant back in one piece. There was no trace of his just having recovered from a major accident. He played his part well to be picked up for World Cup.
Among the 10 IPL teams, RR and KKR appealed to me the most, though I was apprehensive that SRH might walk away with the trophy. Special compliments to RCB for having risen from the bottom to the playoff stage. Indomitable Kohli. Sorry, CSK you missed the bus. Never expected MI to go down to 10.
Among the captains, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer and Gaekwad impressed me. All had the makings of Dhoni – calm and composed. K L Rahul continued to look Lord Budha incarnate. Faf du Plessis was no doubt the captain for RCB, but I found Kohli directing more often. No harm. Too bad that Hardik Pandya who came with a bang last year as captain of Gujrat Titans and walked away with the trophy, could not repeat his performance. As MI captain, he failed the owners miserably. All in the game.
Among openers Kohli proved what he is made up of. Consistency. Jaiswal’s erratic performance proved that every day is not Sunday. Gaekwad could have done better. Watch out Abhishek Sharma. Padikkal can settle down to playing for something less than national level.
Down the order, Suryakumar and Shubam Dube though have earned their berth in the WC squad, should make sure not to lose it. Their performances were wobbly. There can be exceptions to not doing well in a particular game, but not the other way round. Beware of complacency.
Among all-rounders personally I find nothing to write home about. I was pinning hopes on Jadeja. Quite a few in this category might qualify for retirement and possible commentator’s job.
Among bowlers, Bhuvaneswar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma, erstwhile members of Indian squad in some format or the other, can still harbour hopes on getting a berth. Both Avesh and Chahal might seem good at taking wickets but not by giving runs from right, left and centre.
Ground umpires did their jobs as usual – not without their usual quota of human errors. But such an error on the part of a third umpire may not be excusable. They have umpteen opportunities to check and re-check before giving their final verdict. Many viewers felt some of their verdicts were not beyond question.
The commentators did their job. Run of the mill. I would rate it at 3 out of 5. Though not a fan of Ravi Sashtri, he made some pertinent comments occasionally.
Among coaches, Ponting seemed watchful. Gautam Gambhir, not known for controlling temper, was at his calm self all through. Sangakkara was vibrant, not failing to take up with umpires whenever a decision was in doubt.
Kavya Maran, owner of SRH, probably in her twenties, was seen in tears when her team lost in the finals. But she never failed to applaud or cheer her team. I would give a special prize to her.
Now, on to the lighter side. Advertisements featuring film celebrities far exceeded the ads by sports celebrities. Some of them have begun picking up the nuances. However, these two groups put together have deprived the professional ad-men of their roti, kapada aur makan. But survival of the fittest is the name of the game.
The pan masala ad appeared the maximum number of times. But the airconditioning ad wherein Kohli freezes his unwelcome visitors at the click of his remote control, while himself remaining unaffected in the same room, opens new vistas of airconditioning possibility in just one part of a room.
One for the road. The prize money came up for discussion in the morning walk. Twenty crores to the winning team, and 13 crores to losers, clarified one. How will it be divided, asked another. “In whatever format they do, rest assured, sir, you won’t get a penny out of it,” added the third.
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