By Sunil Sarpal

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) led by MS Dhoni and Gujarat Titans (GT) led by Hardik Pandya were pitted against each other to play for IPL 2023 Final. The venue of the match was Ahmedabad but the match on Sunday was washed out due to incessant rain and re-scheduled for play on Monday.

It was a belter of a pitch but for initial seam movement that provided little spin.

Dhoni, after winning the toss elected to bowl first, considering that in the event of intervening rain, the contest shall be reduced in target and number of overs. It will benefit the team batting second. In the ultimate analysis his prediction proved right and CSK lifted the IPL 2023 trophy for the 5th time.

A few salient features emerged from the match. They are enumerated below :-

1) The stumping effected by Dhoni of in-form Shubham Gill off the bowling of Ravinder Jadeja was a mercurial work behind the stump. Mind you Gill notched up 3 centuries on the trot before this match. and was a hot favourite facilitating GT to lift the trophy.

2) For Gujarat Titans the stand-out performers with the bat were Sai Sudershan and Saha. They both batted brilliantly and posted a formidable total of 200 +.

3) With the intervention of, rain after the first inning, the contest was limited by a reduction in overs and scaling down of the target.

4) The relatively disappointing factor was that the match could not be decided in a 20-over contest.

5) Even though MS Dhoni was not fully fit and one of his knees not taking the rigorous of running between the wicket, he has not called it quit from IPL and shall appear in the next year’s IPL too for CSK.

In conclusion, as per the post tournament analysis, some of the batters have performed exceptionally well.

1) To start with, Shubham Gill has notched up three tons.

2) Followed by Virat Kohli who posted two back to back hundreds with a fifty.

3) Batters like Ishan Kishan, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Surya Kr Yadav stole the show exhibiting T-20 style of shots. They redefined the game of cricket by introducing the formula – throwing caution to the wind.

WHAT A TOURNAMENT CALLED IPL

By Sunil Sarpal

Indian Cricket is on a high these days.  Winning one tournament after another has now become a routine feature for India.   Bringing in just the bench strength to take on the likes of New Zealand team is a milestone that the world is watching with total disbelief.  The just concluded 3-match series in 50-over format against New Zealand has left them shaken and outclassed.  

The highlight of the Indian Team is that we have discovered one Surya Kumar Yadav whose range of shots takes the game to a altogether different level.  As if he just descended from MARS.  The short form of his name too is SKY.  He hits good balls disdainly  and one can imagine the treatment meted out to bad balls.  He plays all over with straight bat, horizontal bat, scoop, lap shot and what not.  It is just amazing to see the range of shots he has in his arsenal.  Bowlers are often left in a mad like situation when up against SKY.

We consider the other legends too, but he is the greatest, head and shoulders above them.  His heroics are unparalleled and the whole cricket fraternity is singing his songs. 

Opposition too is applauding his batting feat and some kind of relief rends the air when he departs.  Then the contest between bat and ball starts anew.

The ‘rotation policy’ has brought in all the bench strength into play, particularly bowlers.  

India’s fast bowling strength is unbelievably amazing.  We have Bhuvi, Arshdweep, Siraj, Bumrah, Shami, Pandya.  They certainly have an edge over Umran Mallik and many more.  

In batting, the resurgence of Virat Kohli has given new dimension to batting as well.  With the likes of Rohit, Ishaan Kishan, Surya, Gill, Rahul, Iyer are all in-form batters and rarin-to-go.  

Amongst allrounders,  Hardik, Ravinder Jadeja, Ashwin, Shardur Thakur, Axar Patel, to name a few.  

Among spinners, Kuldeep Yadav, Ashwin, Chchahal and many more. 

Indian fielding standard is second to none.  With the intro of YOYO test as pre-requisite, every player has to maintain high-class fitness so as to survive and establish his position in the side.  

We, in cricket, has reached a stage when others look up to us to emulate the feat and plan their own cricket strategy.