Chennai has won the IPL this year, and all credit goes to Dhoni's astute leadership.
The memorable moments this year:
Bollinger, who announced his arrival with a stupendous effort. His catch was the breakthrough moment for Chennai: it was the turning point in Chennai's game, and his bowling transformed a team that looked very much ordinary and hopeless into a sprightly unit.
Ashwin. I remember Dhoni saying that Chennai's weakness was that it lacked a local pace bowler. It was a desperate move on part of the captain to bring Ashwin to bowl the opening spell, and what a revelation he was. Gilchrist went on record that he felt Ashwin was a dangerous player to take on in the opening overs, and had to change his gameplan, not with much success.
Raina. He was everywhere, and could do anything: he was the man to turn to when Chennai needed to be bailed out of trouble. In my team, he will replace Yuvraj Singh in every game.
Tendulkar. What I'll say here is likely to be unpopular, but why not? God does have clay feet: in the semi-finals, he claimed Dravid's catch on the bounce, and rightly, Dravid refused to go. And then in the final, he edged a catch to Dhoni, and showed no reaction when the appeal was made and the umpire turned it down.
What is the big deal, you'd say, every cricketer has the right to stand his ground, but then, when you are an elder statesman of the game, you are expected to play fair. May be Sachin is an exception, because I don't remember anyone writing anything about this: think how horrified we would all be, and how acerbic we would sound, if Ponting, as the captain of Australia, had done this.Sangakkara, very much a lightweight when compared with Sachin, walks. Not to mention of Gilchrist. Or Lara.
Delhi. On paper, they were the best team (Mumbai and Bangaluru were equally good, but with a batting that boasted of Sehwag, Gambhir, Warner, Dilshan, AB Devilliers, Collingwood, Karthick, Maharoof and more- they should have won the cup. But 20-20, contrary to expectations, did not live upto its tag as a batsman's game.
Bollinger and Steyn bowled some destructive spells, Bond was a disappointment, Mumbai's pace trio of Zaheer, Malinga and Fernando were tight-fisted, but it was the spinners- Kumble, Ojha, Mishra, Ashwin and Harbhajan-that sent shivers down the spine of batsmen.
The much vaunted Mangoose bat was displayed in two big innings, but Gilchrist and Hayden, who used it, went off the boil soon, and I am sure we won't see much of it for some time to come.
And finally, Pollard, he turned the match on its head, didn't he? He nearly did: may be if Rayudu had come one down (how daft to send Harbhajan up from where he belongs), or may be if Pollard hadn't run Rayudu out.
There were some great games, and several extraordinary performances- but they was all overshadowed by what happened off the field. One got the impression, looking at the news channels, that the final to watch was not on Sunday, but the showdown slated for Monday.
