A cricket final that had everything. The very last ball required to decide the winner, a crowd
on the edge of their seats and two teams determined to win. This form of cricket is exciting
and very popular and has everything for the sports fans. Big sixes, run outs, great bowling and great fielding. The entertainment provided at the venues stirred the crowds and had them fully involved in every game, no matter which side was on the field.
The final started with fireworks and finished that way, a fabulous night.
The royals have proved that they knew what they were doing when it came to buying talented cricketers. Shane Warne and Shane Watson proved to be exceptional buys, not to mention the young talent that has emerged because of IPL 2020. Cast as walkovers and chastised by officials for not spending enough on players, look who’s smiling now. GO ROYALS !!
What happens next season ? With talk of more and more money to spend, will teams be able to retain their players?
Once again congratulations to the Rajasthan Royals and Shane Warne, great win.

It’s the Warne and Watson show.
Both these players have been stars of the IPL tournament.
Playing in tonight’s final they will be a great inspiration to the Rajasthan Royals.
Best luck to the both teams.

Rajasthan Royals win Indian Premier League final by three wickets.
Their victory in the inaugural IPL series, after being considered as underdogs prior to the
start of this revolutionary new form of cricket, must go down to the leadership of Shane Warne.
Many thought that this form of cricket would be a “Bollywood Spectacle” and not succeed, but
it has been a huge success, giving young unknown players a chance to play against some of the best
in the cricketing world. It also proved that these players could do the job. Not all the million of dollars
spent at auction on big name players could secure the final victory.

Shane Warne won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Chennai Super Kings could only reach a modest total 163 for five. The Royals were inspired by a
brilliant all round display by Yusuf Pathan who took three wickets and top scored with 56 runs off
39 balls. Sohail Tanvir hit the winning run, with Shane Warne at the other end. The Royals finished
with 164 for seven to take home the trophy and $1.2 million. The Kings as runner-ups take home
$600,000.

It was a great final, going down to the last over, before a great crowd. A lot of money has been
spent on players, but I think the huge tv audiences, the way the crowds have responded to players
from other countries has made IPL a fantastic success.

Image via Wikipedia

“We can play even better” Shane Warne stated this after booking a place in the final of the IPL.
After an absolutely brilliant display by all rounder Shane Watson the Rajasthan Royals went on to easily
defeat the Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs. You also must give huge credit to the captaincy of Shane Warne, who has taken,
what most people thought at the start of the tournament would be easy beats, into the finals. He has shown great
leadership, as well as his own contributions, with the bat and ball.
Now it all comes down to the final on 6th June at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai. The ground has
a capacity of 55,000 people all seated. It is the home ground of the Mumbai Indians.
I feel that after the way the Royals have played over the past couple of months that they will be very hard to beat.
Most experts believe the Rajasthan Royals will be too good on the day.

It would seem that the bad boy of cricket, Shane Warne, has at last settled down.

Everyone remembers his infamous exploits of a few years back when he was either sending lewd text messages, having sex on the bonnet of a car or helping out bookmakers , not to mention his mum’s tablets. These exploits were hard to miss as they were on the front page of every newspaper and on every tv channel. Where are all these women now, have they found a new world famous celebrity to sleep with, or have they vanished into a mundane home life and not spending their time on car bonnets ? His bad boy life style has led to his break-up from his wife Simone and his kids, Brooke, Summer and Jackson. A reconciliation was on the cards, but a text message or two ended that. I hope those beautiful young “Bollywood” stars are not receiving too many text messages !!! Are there any BMW’s in India ?

During his Captaincy of English Team Hampshire he was described by his neighbours at “Ocean Village”, a Southampton waterfront condos and townhouse complex , where Shane paid $930,000 for a four bedroom three story attached townhouse, as quiet and private and a “bit of a hunk” by others. You can probably work out which comments were by the local ladies. He was also described as having a 52 inch plasma tv, the only one around. Before settling down in the old dart he had received some bad press in Australia and was probably looking to a not so high profile life.

Now that Shane , it would seem, has settled down to a new life as an Indian celebrity as captain-coach of the Rajasthan Royals in the Twenty 20 I.P.L. competition, where he has had a very positive affect on the young players under his guidance. The competition seems to have so far been a great success and now destined for a long term form of cricket. Shane has been engaged to coach young up and coming Indian players, so his involvement in cricket will continue well into the future. He has now signed up for the new competition of “isixes World Series” ( see www.isixesworldseries.com ) which is due to start in July 2008 in Singapore. This new form of cricket has signed some of the world’s big names such asAnil Kumble,Heath Streak and New Zealander Craig McMillan and is sure to make an impact. Isixes is a six a side game that is sure to be a fast and dynamic tournament.

American billionaire Allen Stanford has also been in the cricket news, wanting to finance a new twenty20 competition between the West Indies and UK teams, with a winner take all prize of $20 million. All good for the world of cricket, as it will gain more and more popularity in more and more countries.

Always in the headlines, Shane Warne, is a great cricketer, one of the best the world has ever seen and maybe the best the world will ever see. His off field antics have created a notoriety that takes away from his on field brilliance. The former International “king of spin” is a genius of spin bowling as many of his victims will tell you.

I wish him all the best in his future adventures.

Match 24 in the Indian Premier League between the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings has ended in a big victory for the Royals. The best ever bowling figures in Twenty 20 cricket were achieved when left arm Pakistan seam bowler Sohail Tanvir finished with the figures of 6-14 this paved the way for a eight wicket win to the Rajasthan Royals. Munaf Patel also contributed with the figures of 2-16. With the Graeme Smith finished 35 not out and Swapnil Asnodkar hit 32 off 30 balls that included 5 fours. This takes the Royals to the top of the League with 10 points.

The top teams in the IPL would appear to be the Delhi Daredevils, Chennai Superkings and Rajasthan Royals each with eight points each after four games each. The Punjab Kings also have eight points, but they have played six games. The Deccan Chargers and the Mumbai Indians have only won one game each and are on two points each. At this stage the Daredevils look the team to beat with the highest net run rate of 1.263.

New Delhi, May 5 : Rajasthan Royals moved to the top spot in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after beating Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in Jaipur Sunday night.

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Jaipur: Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to take guard first in their IPL league tie against Jaipur Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Sunday night.

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Jaipur, May 4 (IANS) Following is the scoreboard of Chennai Super Kings’ innings against Rajasthan Royals in an Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match here Sunday:

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Jaipur, May 4 (IANS) Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here Sunday.

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