[pratyush6]

Most of the matches are going to be held in SA, they just are not the same. They might make for better cricket but the vibe is so very different. This one's not going to be very exciting.

I think with elections poised every 5 years (mostly), why can't the IPL Fixing (or governing as they are called) Council come up with a new season for those years? Have them either early or late? I understand it may clash with quite a few international teams, but I would rather watch IPL with a few international players in India rather than with all Intl. players outside of India.

[TorqueyTechie]

So the new season of IPL has started with the first half of the season to be played in UAE and returning back to the India for the business end. So this time which team are you putting the money on?

For me the top teams are KKR (no real superstars except Kallis) , Kings XI Punjab and again the dark horse Rajasthan royals.

RCB is batting heavy with no quality bowlers and same goes for CSK. DD do have a good side but am not sure if they will have the quality to go all the way. Hyd again has a good top order with warner, dhawan , finch, taylor and sammy but I think bowling is pretty dependent on Steyn.

Three matches done and we already have RCB doing what they do best (bat out the opposition), MI suffering defeat and Punjab defeating Chennai albeit a beauty from Miller.

[TorqueyTechie]

IPL points table so far.

Kings XI punjab on top and its all because of one Mr Maxwell!!
MI and SRH deservedly being in the last. Lets wait and watch for some more matches to finish and see how the points table pans out.

# IPL M W L T NRR Pts

1 KXIP 3 3 0 0 1.68 6

2 RCB 2 2 0 0 1.17 4

3 CSK 2 1 1 0 2.08 2

4 KKR 2 1 1 0 0.91 2

5 RR 2 1 1 0 -0.18 2

6 DD 3 1 2 0 -1.97 2

7 MI 2 0 2 0 -1.52 0

8 SRH 2 0 2 0 -1.95 0

[harry10]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

IPL points table so far.

Kings XI punjab on top and its all because of one Mr Maxwell!!
MI and SRH deservedly being in the last. Lets wait and watch for some more matches to finish and see how the points table pans out.

# IPL M W L T NRR Pts

1 KXIP 3 3 0 0 1.68 6

2 RCB 2 2 0 0 1.17 4

3 CSK 2 1 1 0 2.08 2

4 KKR 2 1 1 0 0.91 2

5 RR 2 1 1 0 -0.18 2

6 DD 3 1 2 0 -1.97 2

7 MI 2 0 2 0 -1.52 0

8 SRH 2 0 2 0 -1.95 0

Punjab are series contender for the title first time in history of ipl and am so glad to see that. It's not just cos of Maxwell. Miller is contributing. Viru and Pujara are giving decent starts. And now even there bowling is coming good.

[Karthik Mathur]

When Maxwell plays it is almost as if a robot is playing which is programmed to hit every ball. If he goes on playing the way he is, no chance of Punjab not winning this IPL.

[pratyush6]

Maxwell is absolutely killing it so far. It's just not the strike rate he achieves but 'how' he gets it. No fear whatsoever - Brutal hitting! Boy, he has turned me a fan of the KXIP.
Mumbai Indians management would be the one who would be the most worried lot though and not the bowlers - how could they let him slip away?

Good to see Pujara trying hard, always been impressed with the guys work ethic.
Top Picks so far: 1.KXIP 2.CSK 3.KKR 4.RCB

The one thing that bothers me while watching the IPL is the absolutely pathetic hosts and the cameramen who keep focusing on the team owners rather than the reaction of the fans!

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

MI and SRH deservedly being in the last.

The IPL *star* has not yet shined for MI. RS is the backbone of Mumbai batting. Till he fires, MI will be in the bottom half.

SRH & DD has 1 or atmost 2 star players and the whole batting depends on them. If they don't fire, they will lose. I had made these comments after IPL auction:

Originally Posted by msdivy

Media has usually number of articles by GMR patting themselves for excellent picks in IPL for their team DD. Actually they have blown their 60 crores. Probably that explain the PR exercise. Except Pietersen none of their batman have any record in T20, say Murli Vijay, Dinesh Karthick, Ross Taylor, Duminy. Also they haven't picked any good bowlers. They start as the weakest team.

Originally Posted by harry10

It's not just cos of Maxwell. Miller is contributing.

They have 3 match winners in their middle order - Maxwell, Miller & Bailey - who can turn the course of *any* match. Adding Sehwag to the mix, they have explosive batting combination. All these guys are in form. As long as they keep their nerves, they are going to rake up close to 200 scores.

Originally Posted by pratyush6

Maxwell is absolutely killing it so far.

After 3 matches, these are the stats for Maxwell:
Inns: 3
Runs: 279
Ball: 131
HS: 95
Ave: 93.00
SR: 212.97
4s: 28
6s: 17

[harry10]

MI won't qualify for play offs this year. I said that when auction took place. They don't have the team to do so. Their big buy Anderson can't play spin so he is useless.
I see RCB and Kings in playoffs easily. With Gayle returning for tomorrow match RCB will be formidable.
KP returning for next match will strengthen Delhi.
Except for MI all teams looks good to win.

[iliketurtles]

I too feel that MI won't make the playoffs, but to just write off the team completely is silly. Consider this: Hussey has retired and will be a bit rusty until he gets a few games under his belt. Pollard and Anderson are coming off injuries and need game time to get back in the groove too.

Their balance is woefully off though, with the entire balance going for a toss if one of Pollard/Anderson can't play. I still feel they'll improve this season, but won't make the playoffs. The comparisons with the earliest MI teams would be a valid one, where you can see they have the makings of a great side. I think they made a huge mistake passing up DK, Johnson, Smith and Maxwell (:() in favor of Rayudu and it will take a season or two before they become a big force again. Punjab will win it in my opinion, their batting firepower is just too strong.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by harry10

Punjab are series contender for the title first time in history of ipl and am so glad to see that. It's not just cos of Maxwell. Miller is contributing. Viru and Pujara are giving decent starts. And now even there bowling is coming good.

Punjab are serious contenders no doubt but in such a long tournament which ends in June its all about peaking at the right time! Just hope they haven't peaked too early.
Maxwell's innings itself is like watching the highlights package, i seriously wonder what the channel must be showing in the highlights later on.

[PPS]

Why doesn't Vinay Kumar bowl like this when he plays for India! OK, he was fortunate since most of those balls were hittable but that catch by Chris Lynn was stupendous.
And another game which Yuvraj has lost for his team! Certainly not what you expect from the most expensive player.
Ex-employees of Kingfisher must be celebrating somewhere!

[//M]

Truly the maddest and the baddest catch IPL has seen, that catch by Chris Lynn was just amazing. Perfect example of Catches win Matches.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by PPS

Why doesn't Vinay Kumar bowl like this when he plays for India! OK, he was fortunate since most of those balls were hittable but that catch by Chris Lynn was stupendous.
And another game which Yuvraj has lost for his team! Certainly not what you expect from the most expensive player.
Ex-employees of Kingfisher must be celebrating somewhere!

Over confidence. That's what brought RCB down. True, the catch was brilliant and that sealed the match but innings of Yuvi was the biggest reason they lost. Hopefully now they can get down from their high horse and realize winning matches won't be a walk in the park.

[TorqueyTechie]

The ghost of T20 WC seems to have come back and haunt yuvi. Mr.Mallya would have been very happy to have had the auction after the world cup.

Jokes apart, its high time that yuvi is benched and opportunities given to others.
RR seemed to have the match in their grasp until they exploded against CSK. They made the pitch look like a demon. Slowly the matches are turning out to be close enough and not one sided which is good to watch.

[rsjaurr]

Not sure why everyone is blaming Yuvi again. When he got out RCB needed 10 in 8 deliveries with ABD and Albie at the crease. Now it should be a cakewalk for someone of the caliber of these two. Even tailenders like no. 9/10/11 will fancy their chances of scoring 10 in 8 but both these batsmen could not hit the deliveries which were quite hittable.

I saw the whole match and even I could not believe why they could not score these runs with so many wickets in hand. It looked to me that the likes of ABD/Albie got panicked and could not hit poor deliveries dished out by Vinay Kumar.