Last hurrah for quite a few players at the 2010 IPL?
When the
Indian Premier League started
in 2008, the likes of Hayden, Gilchrist, Kumble, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid, Murali, etc. were eagerly sought after for being famous [then] current international cricketers. Warne had only recently retired.
In 2011, there will be a new fresh player auction and it is quite likely that the likes of Hayden, Gilchrist, Kumble, Warne, Murali and Ganguly would not be purchased at the auction, especially if they don't perform too well in this year's tournament.
While a Kolkata Knight Riders side sans Sourav Ganguly (or indeed a Rajasthan Royals minus Shane Warne) seems unthinkable, the whole point of organizing a tournament on this scale, with title sponsorship sold for 5 years, mobile rights sold for 8 years and TV broadcast rights sold for 10 years, is to ensure that the tournament outlasts individuals.
Hopefully from next year, the IPL will
trim down the number of games by splitting the 10 teams into 2 groups. A 45 day tournament to decide the best T20 side from among 8 is around 15-20 days too long! Having 2 groups, and sticking to the current play-each-other-home-and-away formula would mean a total of 44 games (20 league games per group, 2 semis, 1 wooden spoon game and 1 final) and we could be done with the tournament a month!
The quality of cricket so far has been excellent. While seamers have actually made a mark (Vaas, Angelo Mathews, Malinga and Sreesanth), they'll find it tougher as the pitches ease out over the next 40 days. The fielding has largely been really good and
all evidence points to R Sathish as being one of the fielding stars of the tournament. For further evidence of his skills, see
one of his catches in the 2008 Indian Cricket League tournament.
While we're at it, why don't you take a shot at
who will lose the most matches at the 2010 IPL?
Labels: fielding, indian premier league, ipl 2010, twenty20
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