Five things we learned from the IPL weekend

Nothing can be quite as enlightening as a weekend filled with IPL action. Of course, the ‘big’ league faced stuff competition from the English Premier League, the Australia-West Indies Test series and the Augusta Masters but it easily beat all comers. Here’s what we managed to learn from the IPL weekend. And that’s a Volkswagen! Well, that’s not exactly what Danny Morrison said. But he was close. The former New Zealand bowler didn’t think twice before calling a six a ‘DLF.’ In many ways, it might be a peek at the future. We just might see a good drive being called a ‘Volkswagen’ or a quick single being called a ‘Hero’ or a good catch being called a ‘Mirinda.’ That’s when we’ll know that the IPL has even managed to sell cricket’s soul. It’s a whole new vocabulary and it’ll take some getting used to… unless, of course, you decide to hit the mute button before that. Commentators make bad salesmen We’ve seen it happen before but the IPL has a way of making things even more crass than imaginable. Sunil Gavaskar – the same one who harps about technique at other times – has been reduced to telling us about the Citi Moment of Success. Ravi Shastri never stops telling us how great the IPL or the stadium is but what about the cricket? Morrison tries to be funny but he ends up well short of the mark. And Rameez Raja, well… he’s so bad that words won’t do him justice. Commentators are supposed to enhance our understanding of the game and not our understanding of the sponsors. [caption id=“attachment_270379” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“File photo of Ashish Nehra. Reuters”]  [/caption] Discards no more It was strangely exciting to watch Nehra bowl. Not because we kept wondering when he would break down again but also because one wanted to see just how far he had fallen since he last played for India in March 2011. It turns out, not too much. Sourav Ganguly has a special ability to make players believe in themselves and it’s nice to see Nehra responding in kind. The selectors, however, might not be very happy with that considering what the left-armer had to say about them . Munaf Patel, another discard, will be looking to pretty much do the same thing in Mumbai Indians colours. The 2 million man Ravindra Jadeja’s numbers while playing for India in ODIs are very average. He has a batting average of 28.66 (with 5 fifities) and a bowling average of 38.42. In T20s, a strike-rate of 85.71 has not made him stand out and but his economy rate of 7.00 is quite decent. But in no way did he look like the player worth spending 2 million dollars on. However, in the second match – he turned in a superb all-round show (5 for 16 and a 29-ball 48) to help CSK get their first win of IPL 5. But given what they’ve paid for him, his journey to prove his worth is just beginning. The wooden spoon contenders We need to look no further than the Kings XI Punjab and the Deccan Chargers. The presence of these two teams has bashed the IPL’s claim of unpredictability to smithereens. These teams are expected to lose and they do exactly that. Deccan Chargers simply don’t have enough class in their batting line-up and one Kumar Sangakkara isn’t going to change that. Kings XI, on the other hand, need to realise that if they keep playing the way they are then they won’t get any hugs from Preity. Hopefully, that’ll inspire them to turn up for the matches. So tell us what you learned from the IPL weekend?