IPL- Underdogs Roaring?

The Indian Premier League(IPL) is everywhere. On the television, radio, internet and newspapers. Its in your face with its loud music, louder crowds, explosive cricket and not forgetting those gyrating cheerleaders, all packed into a three hour neat package with a hint of Bollywood. All this making it a full on entertainer.

But the main thing here apart from glamour, glitz and Shahrukh Khan, is of course, the cricket. The IPL brings to the front a never before seen side of cricket, with its highly publicised player auctions, the snazzy promotion campaigns of both the teams and the league and the grand opening ceremony at Bangalore, the cost of which ran into a few crores.

Talking about cricket, the teams throw up an interesting mix of both Indian and International players. It has players of great renown to players mired in obscurity and players retired from international cricket to those who are at the peak of their careers.

After the initial few matches, a clear picture had emerged as to who are the contenders for the league cup and who are destined to languish at the bottom of the points table. The Kolkata Knight Riders, the Delhi Daredevils and the Chennai Super Kings were touted to be the main contenders for league cup, while the rest were to compete among themselves to salvage some pride. Even the costliest team in the league the Mumbai Indians(the team cost around 111bn dollars) failed to make any impact..

But cricket is a notoriously unpredictable game. After about 10-12 matches, the so-called 'Underdogs' started scoring victories against the stronger teams. The first 'upset' was the defeat of the Delhi Daredevils, who until now seemed quite invincible, by Kings XI Punjab by 4 wickets. Next the Kolkata Knight Riders, a much fancied team, suffered a string of losses at the hands of teams from Mumbai, Rajasthan and Punjab. Delhi again suffered at the hands of Mumbai succumbing to them by 29 runs. But the biggest shocker was the defeat of table leaders Chennai to the Deccan Chargers who were languishing at the bottom of the table.

Many claim this is a result of exodus of many players from the stronger teams, going to fulfil their national duties. But at this level of the game, these reasons wouldn't hold strong. To win this league, teams will have to make best with what they have and coming together as a unit to defeat the opposition. A great example is that of Rajasthan Royals, who after initial defeats pulled up their socks and defeated stronger teams to become the leaders at the points table, without any star players except Shane Warne and Graeme Smith.

After about 25-odd matches it has become clear that having big players does not ensure victories and lesser known players do not mean big losses. As the league draws near to its 5th week, teams won't be taking the oppositions lightly and the term Underdogs will mean nothing in a game where every single ball and every single shot holds a surprise of its own.