IPL: Day 1

What a contrasting start we had for IPL 2009 as compared to last year. If McCullum set the field ablaze to kickstart the last IPL, this time it was the calm, measured and composed innings from Sachin which gave a good account of how this year’s IPL might shape up. If day 1 is anything to go by, we are in for a real feast with a fair contest between bat and ball.

Today was an anti-thesis of most theories floated around about IPL and T-20 cricket. It was supposed to be a youngster’s game but the stars for today were Sachin, Dravid, Warne and Kumble! And the money the franchise spends determines the kind of talent at their disposal. FYI Abhishek Nayar was bought for $40k last year and revised to $100k this year! What a difference he made. In my opinion his was the innings which took the game away from CSK. It’s a delightful feeling that such a cameo was not the status quo but a special effort which tilted the balance of the match. I just hope that it continues to remain an even contest between the bat and ball throughout the tournament.

But the moment of the day belonged to that showman again – Shane Warne. The way he made Virat Kohli look like a novice was comfortably outdone by the way he mesmerised Akhil in an over of masterful leg spin. He sets him up beautifully for the flipper only for the umpire to disagree, then he bowls an absolute beauty to clean up Akhil with the ball drifting in in the air and turning away sharply after pitching to disturb the timber leaving the batsman dumbstruck.

The final word for the day has to be on Rahul Dravid. It was typically Dravid, reconstructing the innings after a top order collapse. But what was more special is that he did it at the pace that T-20 cricket demands but with all the style and grace that we generally associate with Test Cricket. It was a little funny to see Dravid getting so animated on the field. But afer all the non-sense that he went through last year, its easier to understand that he wanted to prove a point as much to himself as to the critics. And Jumbo helped himself to a 5 for. I wonder what Mr.Mallya has to say now?