We’re now engrossed in the third World T20 tournament and three IPL seasons have been completed so it's worth looking for trends and trendsetters in the shortest version of the game.
Ian Chappell writes.
The venue was buzzing with support for Tendulkar as the great man chose to disregard injury and make himself available. The cameras kept panning at him — it was meant to be his night. Ravi Shastri writes.
Chennai Super Kings have an odd-pair in Doug Bollinger and R. Ashwin to share the new ball. One, a left-arm paceman the other, an off-spinner. Their sizes differ as much as their field of skills, writes Ravi Shastri.
It is infantilised sport; it is shorn of the maturity that ought to appeal to adults. Ought to… Well, onwards… Soumya Bhattacharya writes.
The Deccan Chargers are again looking at Andrew Symonds to deliver in the second semifinal on Thursday. Symonds has been the all-rounder of the tournament, be it with the bat, ball or on the field, writes Ravi Shastri.
The pressure will be on them as they will be playing in front of their home crowd, and as you can imagine, the expectations are huge, writes Anil Kumble.
Yet, if there is a team which can play spoilsport, it is Bangalore. Anil Kumble’s men might have scraped through to the semifinals, but man-for-man, pound-for-pound, they measure up to the Mumbai Indians, writes Ravi Shastri.
All these years of watching Tendulkar tackle and destroy the best bowlers, made it appear that he was indestructible. The manner in which he would toy with the bowlers and then hammer them was mind-boggling and worth going around the world to see.
Sunil Gavaskar writes.
As the league stage draws to a close, a few surprises deserve to be listed. The biggest has been the success of Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis. The men at the other side of 30s are now the poster boys of Twenty20 cricket, writes Ravi Shastri.
As I write this column, none of the two matches slated for Sunday have got going, but I have to live up to the time frame set for my write-up, writes Sourav Ganguly.
There was never a question of ‘would they’ or ‘wouldn’t they’. Right from the onset, the Mumbai Indians looked a unit on a mission. Those daunting 20 points on the rank table tell a story that perhaps unfolded a few months ago, writes Aakash Chopra.
The Chennai Super Kings have only themselves to blame for their sorry state. Despite such a good batting line-up, they have failed on crucial occasions. Sunil Gavaskar writes.
This IPL has been the story of spinners. The format was supposed to put them in an endangered category. They are now being seen as belonging to a privileged club. Captains are turning to them be it the first or the final over of the innings. Ravi Shastri writes.
It's time for us to get back on the ground after a gap of three days. We got some time to ourselves, to look back hard at the last two games, which didn't go our way, writes Sourav Ganguly.
Those who thought that India had turned a new leaf and stories of sleaze and corruption were things of the past must be stunned by the latest revelations that are threatening to expose the underbelly of Indian cricket, writes Pradeep Magazine.