One of the best batsmen on display
As the cricket fans around the world brace themselves for the third season of the Indian Premier League, the little known Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament got underway last month in India. The league stage of the tournament ended with ten teams making it to the second stage. The second round of the tournament will be played next year from the 12th of March – coincidentally, the same day as the third edition of the Indian Premier League!
The Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament is an inter-state, domestic T20 tournament in India. The first season was supposed to happen last season, but did not take off due to the lack of dates in the calendar! The format of the trophy is based on that of the Ranji trophy, where teams from every zone in the country – North, East, West, South and Central – play against sides from their own zone. The top two sides from every zone at the end of the round robin qualify for the second stage with six of the those ten getting a bye into the quarter-finals, while the remaining four fighting it out in the pre-quarter-final knock-out.
The biggest news of the tournament came in the form of Rajasthan not being allowed to play in the tournament because of the issues within the state association. This meant that the Central Zone had only four sides vying for the two slots for the next round. Madhya Pradesh won all their three games, while Railways won two of theirs to qualify for the next round.
Both North Zone and South Zone were expected to be the toughest groups given that each of them had six teams each. This would have made qualification for the two sides even more difficult. As it turned out, the South Zone games were badly hit by rain as nine out of the 15 were declared no-result. Amidst this, Tamil Nadu won the two games it managed to play – with three abandoned – against lowly Kerala and Goa, while Hyderabad needed only one. The Hyderabad side had four of its matches rained off and still managed to get through to the next round! The only match it won had Ambati Rayadu score a half century – a joyous moment for the ICL-return youngster. Karnataka shot itself in the foot as they lost to Goa, thanks to Swapnil Asnodkar’s 48-ball 71 and lost out on the second round.
The North Zone was keenly fought. Going into the last round of games, there were four teams which had the chance of making it to the next round; Punjab (12 points before the last game), Himachal Pradesh (12), Haryana (8), Jammu and Kashmir (4), Delhi (12), Services (0). Despite playing the bottom placed side, Delhi was stretched to the limit by Services, before winning by eight runs and going through. Himachal Pradesh then beat Punjab to get to 16 points as well and snuffed out any chances that Haryana could have had by beating J&K.
The East Zone was the closest of the lot. Three teams, Jharkhand, Assam and Orissa ended with three wins each – out of the four games played. Amongst themselves as well, Assam beat Orissa, Orissa overcame Jharkhand, whereas Jharkhand outplayed Assam! Unfortunately for the Oriyans, they finished third in the group, thanks to a lesser net run rate than the other two. In fact, they fell short of Assam’s NRR by 0.1! Saurabh Tiwary was the captain of the Jharkhand T20 side, and so impressed were the selectors with his leadership skills, that he has also been appointed as the skipper of the side for the longer format of the game – the Ranji trophy.
In the West Zone, Wasim Jaffer’s strong display with the bat ensured that Mumbai ran away to three wins in as many games before losing to Maharashtra. By that time, though, they had already qualified for the second round, while Maharashtra followed soon after with wins over Mumbai and Baroda.
Assam will now play Railways and Jharkhand will take on Himachal Pradesh in the pre-quarters, with the respective winners taking on Delhi and Tamil Nadu in the quarter finals. The other two quarter finals will have Hyderabad face Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh play Maharashtra.
Looks like the duo has been declared joint winners eh? No, that is just posing for the camera ops, but, to be frank, given the things both teams have gone through in the last couple of months, won’t it be a bad idea to do so!?
The last such major tournament which had seen the two teams being declared winners together was the Champions Trophy of 2002, when India and Sri Lanka played the same game twice over, and yet, couldn’t complete it! And no, they did not resume it from where it had been left off on the previous day, but actually went on to restart it; which clearly said that the administrators had lost their heads while framing the rules.
Had such a rule existed in the 1999 World Cup – in England – one can be rest assured that half the games would have been registered as no results through the duration of the tournament!
Coming back to the game in question, Pakistan has been quarantined in the cricketing world after being termed unsafe for travellers, while Sri Lanka had been involved in an unfortunate terrorist attack and have been no better in terms of being terrorism-ravaged.
The picture makes perfect cricket-romantic sense to me!
RP Singh celebrates in the victory in Johannesburg! Well done Deccan Chargers. 24-May-2009.
1st Semi-Final
Who: Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers
When: May 22, 2009
Where: Centurion
Winner: Deccan Chargers won by 6 wickets (with 14 balls remaining)
2nd Semi-Final
Who: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings
When: May 23, 2009
Where: Johannesburg
Winner: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 6 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
The Grand Final
Who: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers
When: May 24, 2009
Where: Johannesburg
The Winner of the Indian Premier League 2009 are the Deccan Chargers
(Deccan Chargers won by 6 runs)
Well Done Gilly!
40th Match: Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals
When: 11 May 2009
Where: Kimberly
Winner: Deccan Chargers won by 53 runs
Well Done Chargers!
41th Match: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders
When: 12 May 2009
Where: Centurion
Winner: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 6 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)
Well Done Challengers!
42th Match: Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians
When: 12 May 2009
Where: Centurion
Winner: Mumbai Indians won by 8 wickets (with 22 balls remaining)
Well Done Indians!
43th Match: Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils
When: 13 May 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Daredevils won by 12 runs
Well Done Daredevils!
44th Match: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Chennai Super Kings
When: 14 May 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 2 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)
Well Done Challengers!
45th Match: Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals
When: 14 May 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Rajasthan Royals won by 2 runs
Well Done Royals!
46th Match: Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab
When: 15 May 2009
Where: Bloemfontein
Winner: King XI Punjab won by 6 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)
Well Done Kings XI Punjab!
47th Match: Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians
When: 16 May 2009
Where: Port Elizabeth
Winner: Chennai Super Kings won by 7 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)
Well Done Kings!
48th Match: Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders
When: 16 May 2009
Where: Johannesburg
Winner: Deccan Chargers won by 6 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)
Well Done Chargers!
49th Match: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab
When: 17 May 2009
Where: Johannesburg
Winner: Kings XI Punjab won by 1 run)
Well Done Kings XI Punjab!
50th Match: Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals
When: 17 May 2009
Where: Bloemfontein
Winner: Delhi Daredevils won by 14 runs
Well Done Delhi Daredevils!
51st Match: Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders
When: 18 May 2009
Where: Centurion
Winner: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)
Well Done Riders!
52nd Match: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Delhi Daredevils
When: 19 May 2009
Where: Johannesburg
Winner: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 7 wickets (with 6 balls remaining)
Well Done Challengers!
53rd Match: Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals
When: 20 May 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 4 wickets (with 3 balls remaining)
Well Done Knights!
54th Match: Chennai Super Kings v King XI Punjab
When: 20 May 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Chennai Super Kings won by 24 runs
Well Done Super Kings!
55th Match: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians
When: 21 May 2009
Where: Centurion
Winner: Delhi Daredevils won by 4 wickets (with 15 balls remaining)
Well Done Daredevils!
56th Match: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers
When: 21 May 2009
Where: Centurion
Winner: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 12 runs
Well Done Challengers!
30th Match: Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals
When: 5 May 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Rajasthan Royals by 78 runs
Well Done Royals !
31st Match: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders
When: 5 May 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Delhi Daredevils by 9 wickets (6 balls remaining)
Well Done Daredevils!
32nd Match: Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians
When: 6 May 2009
Where: Centurion
Winner: Deccan Chargers by 19 runs
Well Done Chargers!
Read the rest of this entry...
Indian Premier League 2009 (South Africa)
You can buy tickets for IPL2 online at:
CompuTicket (some later games are selling out so hurry!)
Indian Premier League 2008 (India)
You could buy tickets online for IPL1 from:
- Ticket Pro
- Bangalore (Phone: 99002 38888)
- Kolkata(Phone: 098677 48888)
- Mohali (Phone: 98768 48888)
- Jaipur(Phone: 99283 38888)
- Kyazoonga
- Bangalore
- Big bazaar
- Cafe Coffee day outlets
- E-zone
- Bangalore Central
- Pantaloons
Or buy IPL tickets from each team's respective stadiums:
ICC World Twenty20 2009 (England)
Register for Account and Buy Online (official) OR Check my post for discussions.
KFC Twenty20 International (Australia)
Buy online from Ticketmaster
23rd Match: Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians
When: 1 May 2009
Where: East London
Winner: Mumbai Indians by 9 runs
Well done Indians!
24th Match: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kings XI Punjab
When: 1 May 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 runs
Well done Challengers!
25th Match: Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals
When: 2 May 2009
Where: Port Elizabeth
Winner: Rajasthan Royals by 3 wickets (2 balls remaining)
Well Done Royals!
26th Match: Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils
When: 2 May 2009
Where: Johannesburg
Winner: Chennai Super Kings by 18 runs
Well Done Super Kings! Read the rest of this entry...
Who Does He Support? Chennai Super Kings
Who Were the Kings Playing? Deccan Chargers
What Stadium? Kingsmead @ Durban
When? 27th April 2009.
Who Won? The Chargers
Is He Biting His Nails? YOU DECIDE. Please comment below 
Image Source
Suresh Raina exults after sending back Rob Quiney, Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals, IPL, 22nd match, Centurion, April 30, 2009
© Photo with caption courtesy of Getty Images and Cricinfo.
19th Match: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders
When: 29 Apr 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Royal Challengers Bangalore by 5 wickets (1 ball remaining)
Well done Royals Challengers!
20th Match: Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians
When: 29 Apr 2009
Where: Durban
Winner: Kings XI Punjab by 3 runs
Well done Kings!
21st Match: Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils
When: 30 Apr 2009
Where: Centurion
Winner: Delhi Daredevils by 6 wickets (8 balls remaining)
Well done Daredevils!
22nd Match: Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals
When: 30 Apr 2009
Where: Centurion
Winner: Chennai Super Kings by 38 runs
Well done Super Kings!
