IPL 2011

As the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings took the field for a warm-up session before the closing ceremony commenced there was no sign of Sachin Tendulkar.
It sent panic waves among the packed stands. Even though they incessantly chanted his name, there was no sign of him. Was a hand injury going to force Tendulkar to miss the all-important final?...

"Anil got a five for?" V.V.S. Laxman couldn't help wondering looking at the TV screen in the press box of the Newlands Stadium the day IPL II began. On Sunday, there was no way of knowing know how Laxman reacted as Kumble was at it against the Chargers. But even marvelling at Kumble's success must have given way to unbridled happiness as Deccan Chargers literally rose...

For more than an hour, the most prized assets of the IPL, the players, must have felt like unwanted children whose thunder was not as much stolen as snatched away.
At a ceremony more befitting a rock concert than a cricket final, actors, politicians, dancers, cheerleaders and celebrities indulged as players from both sides stood transfixed, witnessing lights, lasers...