At the end of Round 2 - IPL

At the end of round 2 in IPL, one man stole the show. Paul Valthaty. His pulsating 120 against Chennai Super Kings is no way inferior to Kevin O Brien or Strauss century that we just witnessed in the recently concluded World Cup. His knock set the redemption of Kings XI Punjab and I wish this does not go as a one match wonder.

It is just not Paul Valthaty, the other third tier cricketers like Mayank Agarwal (RCB), Mithun Manhas (PWI), Monish Mishra (PWI), Sunny Singh (Kings XI), Rayudu (MI), Wagh (PWI), Menaria (RR), Srikanth (CSK) are quickly making a name for themselves.

But the surprise package is the veteran Rahul Dravid. He looks like a man on the mission to make a statement. Don’t be surprised if he ends up to be the leading run scorer of the tournament only to hurt Bangalore badly.

Once again Shane Warne turned to be the pick of captains as he dropped Oram for Tait to crucify Delhi, after witnessing how Delhi performed against Lasith Malinga.

Definitely Rajasthan Royals are cruising along with Mumbai Indians. There is hardly a team that actually tested Mumbai till date. At this stage I could only feel sorry for Chennai for losing to Paul Valthaty. Otherwise these three teams look few steps ahead of the rest of the folks. Games between them should reveal who is better of the lot.

Bangalore, Pune and Kolkatta look like evenly matched teams at the next level.  These teams should also be creating more exciting contests between themselves in the days ahead.

That leaves to say Punjab, Kochi, Deccan and Delhi as the underdogs.

With the Lankan player’s bound to go back for national duty, fortune change await few teams. Wonder if that turns good or bad.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover