Lights, action, music and upsets in IPL openers

The Indian Premier League started on foreign soil with an explosion of entertainment and two cricket upsets at Newlands Saturday.

A sell-out crowd - although there were gaps in the IPL hospitality area - saw both last year's finalists defeated at the start of the five-week tournament moved from India because of security concerns.

The Rajasthan Royals, the defending champions, crashed to a 75-run defeat against the Bangalore Royal Challengers, while the Chennai Super Kings were beaten by 19 runs by the Mumbai Indians.

For the entertainment gurus, though, that was just the prelude to a spectacular opening ceremony.

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Kolkata Knight Riders finally end farcical rotating captaincy

By BL Nguyen
Finally, the Kolkata Knight Riders have ended the madness surrounding the concept of multiple captains. And not before time either.

The idea was always a recipe for disaster, and coming from anyone other than John Buchanan, would not have been entertained for a minute. However, with such a successful record in international cricket, Buchanan's theories have always carried more weight because of Australia's dominant run in the last decade, no matter how preposterous. Clearly, the pundits of the cricket world have not given enough consideration to the fact that Buchanan's arrival as coach also coincided with the arrival of Adam Gilchrist and the destruction he wrought on opposition attacks, particularly in his first 30 months, when his Test average hovered at 60, as well as the decline of the opposition bowling, while Warne and McGrath continued as strong as ever.

While some Australian football teams have had multiple captains, it is a sport in which the players all move at high speed and cannot give directions to many others at the same time. Instead, the coach orders a staff member to run onto the field while play is proceeding to instruct individual players, making the captain tactically obsolete. On the other hand, the exact opposite applies in cricket. For those who believe that the coach is more important than the captain, ask the plethora of players who have played under the leadership of Shane Warne and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
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Match Preview of Kings XI Punjab & Delhi Daredevils'

Preview by Saurabh Somani

Ground Reality and Pitch:
The ground will be the same as the one used for the first two matches of the IPL that took place yesterday. As picturesque as ever, it might not look too inviting for the batsmen now!

The pitch was very different from the slam bang variety one gets in the subcontinent. Runs were earned, not available for free. However, with proper application the batting team can hope to put up a decent score. The form book for the ground was turned on its head when the Mumbai Indians and the Bangalore Royal Challengers won after batting first, which indicated that it's how you bat that counts, not which innings you bat in.

Team News:
Delhi Daredevils: Last year's semifinalists look like a good bet this year too. Their only real weakness is an iffy middle order, but with the inclusion of Collingwood, Owais Shah and David Warner - one or two of whom will surely play - that looks to be taken care of. With a top order of Sehwag, Gambhir and A B de Villiers, and the miserly McGrath to open the bowling, they have a solid look overall. It helps that they have decent Indian players in both bowling and batting departments.

King's XI Punjab: They were losing semi-finalists too last year, but the contrast with Delhi couldn't be greater. Their bowling cupboard looks bare - no Lee, no Sreesanth, no Hopes and no Jerome Taylor. Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla have by default become their main bowlers. Their batting is overly dependent on the blow-hot, blow-cold Yuvraj and Sangakarra. Another blow they have faced is the unavailability of Shaun Marsh. It will need a stand-out performance from one of their players to put it across Delhi.

Players to Watch:
Yuvraj Singh: If ever Yuvraj needed a stage to show the world that he does not repeatedly crack under pressure, that he has the mental fortitude to take his career to the next level - this is it. That he has it in him to turn a match on its head single-handedly has never been in doubt. That he implodes as often as he explodes has also never been in doubt.

Virender Sehwag: The man who plays Test cricket in T20 mode, the man with the highest strike rate in last year's IPL (among batsmen who had at least 200 runs), and the man responsible for most bowlers' sleepless nights. If Viru can reign in the madness that sometimes makes him think every ball should be hit into a neighbouring country, he can have a sumptuous feast off the Punjab attack.
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Spirited RCB embarrass defending champs

Pietersen: The boys played fantastic cricket, Rahul was outstanding, Jesse was fantastic. Real good team effort and the boys are happy. We just wanted to hit it hard, take wickets and see where we would end up. Praveen is a very clever bowler and Dale Steyn was bowling very fast from the other end. You cant buy Kumble's experience in any shop he is a legend, a genius and I am really happy for the boys.

Shane Warne: Look it was pretty disappointing as champions we wanted to impose ourselves,on the competition. I thought with the ball and field we were excellent. RCB bowled well, nipped it around a bit, we were not just good enough, pretty embarrassing really. We were not smart enough, the shot selection and the thinking was pretty disappointing really. We have to show some common sense and sensibility and shot selection which was missing today. we expect better from ourselves. We will work on it and promise to come back stronger.

Rahul Dravid is the Man of the Match for his fine fifty that helped Bangalore shrug off the poor start and post a decent total on the board.

Shane Warne: Look it was pretty disappointing as champions we wanted to impose ourselves,on the competition. I thought with the ball and in the field we were excellent. RCB bowled well, nipped it around a bit, we were not just good enough, pretty embarrassing really. We were not smart enough, the shot selection and the thinking was pretty disappointing really. We have to show some common sense and sensibility and shot selection which was missing today. we expect better from ourselves as champions. We will work on it and promise to come back stronger.
Rahul Dravid is the Man of the Match for his fine fifty that helped Bangalore shrug off the poor start and post a decent total on the board.

What a fine effort that was from the Bangalore Royal Challengers! They overcame a bad start with the bat thanks to a spirited effort of their ex skipper. But even then, 134 was never going to be a challenge for an explosive batting side like the Royals. However, Praveen Kumar and Steyn got off to a good start with the ball and pushed Royals on the backfoot straightaway. Then, Ryder made up for his failure with the bat with some superb bowling and Kumble joined the party big time. He ended up with the second best bowling figures in the IPL so far and finished the Rajasthan innings in a hurry. So, both the teams who started with defeats in the first season, have started this year's campaign with comfortable wins and the two finalists have been humbled.

Disciplined Mumbai Indians seal opener Mach of IPL 2009

by Saurabh Somani

The opening match of the IPL got underway after some anxious moments of gray clouds and rain - but nothing, not even the weather gods it seems - could thwart Lalit Modi's pet project, and the sun came out in the nick of the time to allow the match to proceed as scheduled.

It couldn't have been a better match up on paper. Two well-balanced teams, both fancied for the title, with two iconic leaders.

MS Dhoni won the toss and had no hesitation in putting Mumbai in, on a pitch that was expected to have something for the bowlers, especially early on.

Mumbai started off well enough, although a bit cautiously, with the experienced duo of Jayasuriya and Tendulkar having to negotiate movement and variable bounce off the pitch.

Tendulkar benefitted when Hayden dropped a sitter with the little master on 10, and Jayasuriya found the boundary with his trademark cuts and pulls.

It was Jayasuriya's Sri Lankan team-mate, Thilan Thushara, who provided the breakthrough for Chennai when he got Jayasuriya to chip one tamely to Hayden at midwicket, who didn't grass it this time.
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IPL cricketers dance to SA drummers' tunes!

Shilpa Shetty, Khan and Zinta give boost to IPL

IPL Predictions

by Saurabh Somani

With IPL version 2.0 all set to dazzle its audience in the same manner that IPL 1.0 did, it's time to stick one's neck out and jump into astrologer territory and make predictions for what will unfold. There is the risk of ending up with egg on my face, but there is also the infinitely satisfying reward of having an 'I-told-you-so' smirk on my face to consider. So here goes (drumrolls reaching a crescendo) - Ladies, Gentlemen and those who merely watch the cricket to ogle at the cheerleaders - the predictions for how teams will fare.

The four semi-finalists this year are likely to be the following:

Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.

Here is why:

Both Chennai and Delhi have used a smart buying strategy and built a very good core of Indian players. Bearing in mind that of the playing XI, seven have to be Indians, this is a hugely important fact.
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IPL Rocked the Twitter! Dhoni-Tendulkar battle of wits will be great to watch

Two of Indian cricket's biggest draws will be lining up against one other to kickstart the excitement in DLF IPL II. Make no mistake, the world will be watching Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar clash..

Latest Update....IPL is now the trending topic which will continue to rock the world during the IPL 2.