The IPL Begins

April 8, 2011. 6 days after the World Cup Finals, the 4th edition of the Indian Premier League is about to begin.  After the grand display of, umm...., "patriotism" over the past few weeks, its quite difficult to feel enthusiastic about the IPL. 

Given that there have been large scale changes in the personnel across most teams, the erstwhile player associations that I had have also disappeared. KKR without Dada, Dravid not playing for RCB, Gambhir not in DD, Yusuf Pathan in KKR colours. All this will take some time to rebuild. With the player associations gone finding a team to support has become slightly more difficult than it was earlier. (Here is a post I had written about the team I support in the IPL)

The one good thing about the IPL is that it has thrown up some new Indian talent every year. Lets see who we are going to see this year. I would certainly be following with interest the performances of a couple of Jharkhand players who won the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy. Varun Aaron, who reportedly bowled the fastest recorded ball by an Indian bowler, playing for Delhi Dareveils. Saurabh Tiwary is now a known face, while Ishank Jaggi is another one to watch. Other players to be followed Shadab Jakati, T Suman and Abhishek Nayar.

Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh playing in the same team. That would be something to be looked at.

The end of World Cup had left a void in the evening entertainment. Now the IPL is here to fill up that void.

Cheerleaders will be back :)

Unfortunately the IPL also will mark the arrival of "DLF maximums", "Citi Moments of Success" and similar other commentary tortures. Wondering if we get to see the "Marvel of Technology" the MRF Blimp this time?

So here is to the return of the cricket filled evenings.

P.S. The IPL and this post seem very trivial compared to the national movement going on right now. I support   Sh. Anna Hazare and the fight against corruption. Here is his letter to the Prime Minister of India. One man inspiring a country to stop and think. Total respect Sir.