Ah! The Wanderers!!

Johannesburg slept late last night. And the reason, an absolute humdinger, the grand finale of IPL T 20 at the Wanderers Stadium, between Deccan Chargers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore. A nail-biter that went right down to the wire. Wow ! what a match!!

It was such a close encounter till the end. Boy! It was crazy out there.The boyz from Hyderabad were absolutely fired -up when they bowled to defend a modest total. I love this guy, Andrew Symonds,a typical Aussie. He started the verbal assault right from the word go, sparring no one. I don't blame him, cricket nowadays has become a mind game. As a batsman you have to insulate yourself from all the non sense that's being thrown at you. You need to watch out for players like Symo who will try to derail your concentration by dragging you away from the game. Mental toughness is the key in crunch matches like this one.

Kudos! to Adam Gilchrist & mates for coming out trumps in this edition of IPL.

STAND N DELIVER.! ...GO FETCH!!

"A NIGHT TO REMEMBER"! that's how I want to describe , last nights killer assault by one of my all time favorite cricketer ADAM " THE BEAST" GILCHRIST. Team Delhi was sent on a leather hunt right from the word go. I haven't seen a more brutal knock than what was on display at Centurion yesterday, in a long time.

At times, I am amazed at the quality of some of these guys. I think they still have lot of cricket left in them. Adam is such a sweet timer of the ball. I can pay an arm and a leg to watch him wield that willow, anytime, anywhere.

THANKS GILLY FOR YET ANOTHER HISTORIC KNOCK. I don't think Deccan Chargers could have asked for a better Skip. YOU ARE SPECIAL!

HAMMER N TONGS !!.... THE MODI WAY !!!

Take a bow Mr. Modi, you've done it again. Second Edition of IPL - T 20 in South Africa is proving to be another humdinger. And who says you have to be a Springbok who can talk Afrikaans to pull the crowds in this part of the world. The response has been overwhelming, the atmosphere at the venues absolutely electrifying. It's been raining sixers n fours at every match and the spectators are craving for more.

Kudos to the organizing party for a stellar performance. Though I am not a staunch supporter of the format( a purist to the core, to be honest) , but nonetheless I am all for the decision of taking the domestic action to the foreign soil. I am sure the Indian players and especially the new kid's on the block will benefit immensely from this exposure on fast and bouncy pitches.

I have been voicing my opinion to my close friends who understand the game, and follow it with lot of passion, regarding the possibility of Indian Cricket Board trying to experiment by taking some of the domestic tournaments to foreign venues, especially down under Australia and England. I don't think finance is really an issue with the richest board. I am sure it will provide a whole new impetus to our search for discovering new talent in the country. Bowling department to my mind is a big concern. And has been for quite some time now.We keep getting few sparks in the middle but they tend to fizzle out too soon.

I miss those fabulous sultans of swing..Kapil Dev, Michael Holding, Sir Richard Hadlee, Dennis Lillee, Malcom Marshall, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan, Ian Botham, Glenn McGrath . Each one of them had such a huge repertoire. They could make the ball talk at will and mesmerize any batsman in the world with their armoury. Simply in a class beyond compare......in a class of their own.