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.

Now that the inaugural IPL series is over and the victorious Rajasthan Royals, led by their Captain and Coach, Shane Warne, are still celebrating. The least expensive team in the series ( $3 million) showed all others how to play the game. A great victory.
What next ? There is a lot of talk around about who will be starting 2020 teams and who will be playing where, but it seems that nothing is settled. The West Indies, backed by billionaire,Allen Stanford, is well on it’s way to get 2020 up and running. It has been reported that he has proposed a competition between West Indies and a side from Great Britain.
Is the future 2020WI or 2020GB ? Whatever happens this form of cricket is here to stay. With great cricketers like Shane Warne leading the way, it looks like a long and profitable future.

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.

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.

There has been a lot of discussion in Australia about the TV coverage of IPL cricket, the time of the coverage, the commentators and no real description of the rules. Why not get channel 10 to put on highlights of the previous nights cricket on at say 6pm. I think that the cricket is very good entertainment and IPL has done a good job. Like all new ventures there is bound to be hiccups, but overall I think that it has been a success. It would appear that there are a lot of viewers in the USA, so maybe that is what the IPL are looking at as the future market !! There is the UK market to consider also.

A new twenty20 competition worldwide proposed by Texan philanthropist.
Allen Stanford a sponsor of professional sports is pushing ahead with the idea of making the Twenty20 competition the most popular sport in the world. With the concept of a 20-20-20 winner take all version of the game the first step in that direction. This is Twenty20 cricket with a 20 million dollar reward to the winner. Stamford is an American billionaire now living in the West Indies where he is a very generous benefactor to the much loved game. According to news reports he has already had talks with the England and Wales Cricket Board and these talks have been very well received.

Swapnil Asnodkar, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja are the players of the future. These young Rajasthan Royals players have been given a great chance by Shane Warne, captain coach of the team, to compete against the best, including Sourav Ganguly in the IPL competition. He was very happy with the enthusiasm and willingness to learn that they showed. They are credit to cricket and will most likely be around in International cricket for a long time. Keep up the good work.

The suspension of match referee Pratap Kumar for one match and Shane Warne and Sourav Ganguly each being fined 10 per cent of their match fees for undisciplined conduct on the field makes you wonder how far this type of big stick attitude will go. Does this mean that you cannot question decisions ? I think that he was out !!

With the Australian Cricket Team preparing for the up coming tour of the West Indies the IPL will be without some of their top players returning home to Australia, this will mean many of their positions are being filled by up and coming young Indian players who are not very well known or unknown on the International cricket scene. Twenty 20 has given these players the chance to play with or against the worlds best, the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Virender Sehwag. This opportunity will give them the chance that would probably take years to get if it was not for the IPL.
For this I think that the IPL has been a great success.