CSK back in their elements..

Match 5 - CSK Vs BRC

MSD won the toss and elected to bat first and what a fluent start did Matt and Patel provided - a 106 run partnership in less than 10 overs.. that the game was sealed then and there.. was made simple by the fact that Muralitharan made life difficult for Bangalore batsman.. the tournament witnessed the highest total from a team for the second edition.. its going to be beaten for sure by some other teams especially Delhi or Mumai teams..

I expect that this time around the top four teams would more likely be Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and possibly Hyderabad.. Kolkata are entangled in their own debates over captaincy and similar issues.. Rajasthan too have not done a good thing by sending back 7 players.. that is sure t going create rift.. Kings do not seem to be having any problems and might surprise one of my four teams and Bangalore despite beating RR may not find the going too easy for a place in top four teams..

The most feared batsman is not going to be Sachin or Dravid despite their good knocks in their beginning games.. I feel the teams would find Sehwag the most difficult to handle and his teammante and fellow opener is not far too behind in getting much respect from opposition.. the others who might just count a lot would be Graeme Smith, Kevin Pietersen, Sangkara, McCullum, and even Yuvraj, Dhoni and Flintoff.. yes one more name to that list could be Shaun Marsh if he still is part of the outfit of KXIP, and despite his age Jayasuriya might spoil the taste of victory for many teams.. he is definitely the next most dangerous batsman after Sehwag.. if he gets going in this tournament I would not be surprised if Delhi and Mumbai lock horns for supremacy in this second edition.. that of course is stll too far off.. game of cricket is known for its uncertainty.. it could prove me entirely wrong..

More later

Abhaya India April 21 2009 12:05 PM IST

Post Script: I know it is quite dangerous to make predictions in a game of cricket.. more so i the limited overs version.. and highly unsafe for T20 game.. yet I would say that the chances are Kings XI Punjab would have an easy work against Kolkata unless Ganguly does something different with his bat.. and Mumbai should not have much stiff competition from the defending champions Rajasthan Royals.. Only Graeme Smith could revert the result in favor of Rajasthan..

Yes I forgot to mention that the most likely all rounder of the tournament could be either Abhshek Nayar or Andrew Flintoff.. If Kumar had batted at number 4 or 5 he too could have done some wonders but I do not consider Sehwag, Jayasuriya and Yuvraj or Kallis as all rounders for this format.. Joginder and Agarkar may not get enough games and also do not have same potential.. In fact Harbhajan and Zaheer could be considered but their team is less likely to be requiring them for their all round performance.. Albie Morkel and Colingwood skipped my mind.. they are indeed complete al rounders and should make top four all rounders along with Abhishek and Flintoff..