Monday, June 02, 2008

The Royal Champions



So the fairytale continued in the IPL finals! The most inexpensive team turned out to be the side with a lot of character and talent.

Shane Warne showed once again what a cricketer he is. It was his leadership skills which inspired the Rajasthan Royals and turned the tide in it's favour. There were some individual performances that stood out. Shane Watson produced an amazing all round effort throughout the tournament, his 472 runs and 17 wickets bear testimony to the fact. And one player finally come of age with some extrordinary hitting of the cricket ball, Yusuf Pathan! Long living under the shadows of his more famous younger brother, Yusuf, finally caught a nation's imagination during the inaugral IPL. His 15 innings produced 435 runs at a strike rate of 179, and included 25 6s and 43 4s. The selectors, too, were impressed. Selected for the national squad he's destined to be a great one-day player.

As for the losing side, Mahendra Singh Dhoni should have some words of praise for his opponents rather than talk about his team failures in all three playing departments during the cup ceremony. At this level, and with such huge investments there's no excuse for failure. His side was beaten by an inspired and talented opposition.

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