The winning mantra that CSK, RCB and Mumbai Indians knew all along

Two play-offs,and the entire season seems totally worth it.Two matches-one a short-cut to the final.

By Tejaswini Tirta

To be honest, I skipped almost all the matches in the initial stages of this year’s IPL. I never thought I’ll suffer from cricket fatigue, but the World Cup was just too big an event and I, for one, needed time to get over the euphoria of India emerging as champions. Moreover, the results of matches I did tune into were quite predictable. Until this week!

Two play-offs, and the entire season seems totally worth it. Two matches – one a short-cut to the final. The other, a knock-out game! Result? One team advances to Q3 stage having won a nail-biter, the other having lost it! I’m now eagerly waiting for Friday’s game; Chris Gayle vs Adien Blizzard/ Sachin Tendulkar vs Daniel Vettori, the stage is set for a fabulous pre-final!

Not surprisingly, the three teams qualifying for the Champions League are the same as the previous edition – Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore. Despite Mumbai winning both its matches against Kolkata, if there was any team that deserved the fourth place in the play-offs, it was Kolkata Knight Riders. Despite the rumors of fans not supporting the team for not finding a place for Sourav Ganguly, this time around KKR team got it right – and how! Shah Rukh Khan and Gautam Gambhir will be a happy duo, eagerly and confidently looking forward to IPL 5.

While winning has become a habit for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team (be it India or Chennai Super Kings), it was all about consistency for the Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers – and recovering quickly from a string of losses – that helped them get this far, yet again.

The trick that the top three teams have always known and KKR only recently grasped is in carefully and calculatedly picking a squad that has a good mix of experience and youth. This way, you can count on a senior player to anchor any innings and ensure a win. At the same time you can stand by youngsters, instilling confidence in them that they can hit a bowler like Bret Lee to a six and stop someone like Sachin Tendulkar from cutting loose. So, while a Gayle entertained the crowd every time he walked out, Virat Kohli proved to be the face of Team India’s vibrant future. When a Dhoni got out early, a Wriddhiman Saha delivered a match-winning knock.

If teams like the Delhi Daredevils and the two new entries – Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers – failed to make any mark this year, it is because they couldn’t crack this very puzzle. Delhi simply couldn’t look beyond Virender Sehwag. Great names featured in the Kochi line-up that did not translate into great performances. The rest simply did not impress, barring a few solo acts of valor.

It’s all coming to an end now. Torn between adoring Tendulkar and Dhoni and being a Bangalorean, I’d just like to sit back and enjoy some good games, like the last two and make a patronizing statement like: May the best team win. Even as I say this, I’m aware that the Indian tour to the West Indies is going to be an interesting one, since it will be a very young team.

That’s right, the cricket fatigue’s gone. The craze is back on!

(Bangalore-based Tejaswini Tirtha spent the first eight years of her career in mainstream media, having worked with leading dailies like Times of India, The New Indian Express and Asian Age, tracking new trends in the film, fashion, theater and gaming industries. A couple of years ago, she was bitten by the corporate bug, but tried to keep the journalist in her alive by grabbing every writing opportunity that came her way. Her other interests include reading, music, watching movies, traveling, F1 racing and of course, cricket)