The Twenty20 cricket was at its best on Sunday night when Mumbai Indians won their first IPl title beating the most consistent and two-time champions Chennai Super Kings in an entertaining final encounter at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. The way the two sides fought on the field was a befitting end to the 54-day-long annual T20 extravaganza.
A huge distraction came in form of spot-fixing but for real cricket fans, people who love to watch a good contest between bat and ball, it was a heartening experience to see teams fighting tooth and nail, mind-boggling hits and breathtaking catches throughout the tournament — essentially the good part of controversy-ridden IPl.
Mumbai champ-ians: The fact that it took them six years to get hold of the trophy makes it a special occasion for everyone who have been following the team. What made watching Mumbai Indians play a good experience was their continuous effort to improve and bring the best cricketers from all over the world under one banner. With Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Anil Kumble, Jonty Rhodes and John Wright (in various capacity) in one dressing room, there couldn't have been a better combination.
Underdogs to Superdogs (Hyderabad and Rajasthan): Sport is about pushing yourself beyond your limits and these two teams exemplified that for close to two months, continuously punching above their weight en route to their appearance in knock-out rounds. While Sunrisers, the newest of all the franchises, lost in the eliminator, Rajasthan finished a step higher with a qualifier appearance, where they lost to eventual champions Mumbai. But most importantly, their fairytale-like show gave viewers the joy of unexpected.
Opening delight (Chris Gayle and David Hussey): There is nothing one can find to put these batsmen together. If Gayle is an extravagant hitter; Hussey is a cautious run accumulator. But when it comes to scoring runs, they are right at the top. With over 700 runs (Gayle 708 and Hussey 733) in the tournament, they gave two distinct but effective theories for opening the batting in T20s - bat long and hit hard. Either way it was a delight to watch these two.
Young guns (Sanju Samson and Mohit Sharma): IPl has always provided a good platform for young and upcoming players to get noticed with their performances. This season several youngsters tried to impress but the most impressive were 18-year-old Samson and 24-year-old Mohit. If Samson shone with the bat in Rajasthan's fairytale, Mohit did the same for Chennai with the ball. It's a different feeling altogether to see young guns outplay the top guns.
Bowlers take centrestage: Despite being unfairly skewed in favour of batsmen, the bowlers outdid batsmen this season. Success of Sunrisers is a prime example of bowlers take centrestage with Dale Steyn bowling 219 dot balls in the tournament. Even the final match was decided on the might of bowling. What gave even more pleasure was to see leg-spinner Amit Mishra flighting the ball and getting wickets.
Flying machines: The jaws dropped when Gurkeerat Mann of KXIP in a superhuman effort pulled off an impossible looking catch during their match against PWI. It's no surprise that it was adjudged the best catch of the season. The overall standard of fielding has been excellent throughout. No one can forget Ricky Ponting's catch that he took against Delhi Daredevils. The presence of Jonty Rhodes in the Mumbai Indians' supporting staff emphasises the amount of importance being given to fielding these days.