CHENNAI SUPER KINGS!!

Only two teams retained their color and passion during this entire IPL season 4.  One was Mumbai Indians which looked more like Mumbai team and Chennai Super Kings which looked more like Chennai team.  That kept their fan base intact and they played much like a family.  No wonder, these two teams made it to the semi-finals.  Kolkata Knight Riders was the best side packed with quality spinners.  Whereas Royal Challengers Bangalore rocked due to that one man Chris Gayle.  Apart from them, only Kings XI Punjab came close.  The other teams went flat and did not perform as well as they should.  They were more of a hotch-potch kind of teams and their respective team owners made a cardinal mistake of not bidding for their players in the previous season and making wrong choices.  The most foolish choice was of Daniel Christian by Deccan Chargers.  What merit did they see in this player, who could not bat or bowl properly?

Due to this huge gap in quality between these top five teams and the rest, the long tournament did not live upto expectations, as by the half way stage of the tournament, everyone exactly knew who could make the top four and that killed the suspense.  The turning point of IPL came during the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and the Mumbai Indians.  KKR was the best team of this IPL which just did not delivered at crunch times.  Had they won that game, they could have climbed to No.2 and CSK would have dropped to No.3, which could have changed the equations in the tournament.  But, Mumbai Indians pulled of an amazing win due to the foolishness of the wicketkeeper of the KKR team.  Mumbai Indians needed 22 runs in 7 balls.  It was the last ball of the 19^th over and James Franklin, who was batting greatly, was on the other end.  In the last ball of the 19^th over, Franklin was on the other end and Ambati Rayudu who was just new to the crease was batting.  He took off for a comfortable single and there was no reason for the wicketkeeper to throw the ball wildly at the stumps which led to an overthrow.

As a result, Franklin faced the 20^th over bowled by Balaji.  The result is history.  Franklin scored the first four balls for boundaries and scored a single in the fifth ball, leaving Ambati Rayudu to score three runs off the last ball.  Rayudu hit it for a six.  As a result, KKR lost and CSK was back to No.2 and from then there was no stopping them from rolling over Royal Challengers Bangalore twice in the semi-finals and the finals and clinching the prestigious trophy.

Other teams had the batsmen with the largest score, bowlers with the maximum wickets, but CSK rocked because it was a great team.  No one will speak about the performances of Shadab Jakati, Albie Morkel, Srikkanth Anirudha, and Randiv who were the silent pillars of this great team.  The best were always Ashwin, Bollinger, Raina and Badrinath who deserves to be in World Cup 2015.  The reason why CSK is the best team is because they are an amazing fielding unit too.

Twenty 20 World Cup

IPL 2010

Challengers trophy 2010

World Cup 2010

IPL 2011

Now, please don’t say Dhoni is a fluke.  Dhoni is the best captain and deserves all the praise.

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Lastly, I also wish the other Chennai Super King Rajini a speedy recovery.  I would like him sizzle the screen again with me and Dhoni cheering him by the sidelines.