The IPL-3 final -- Post Mortem.

MumbaiIndians v/s Chennai Super Kings



Location: D.Y.Patil, Navi Mumbai.





It was the last match of the maddening IPL -3 season. The MI blondie's were goin to dance & blowkisses at the camera for one last tym. Sivamani was goin to irritate for one last tym. It was the last of many things & beginnings of some new careers, TV soaps, movies & a lyf apart IPL.




It was a perfect day for cricket. Being a Sunday the final was sure to attract some seriouscricket fans, some bored public, some Tendulkar(read: me) & Dhoni fans, some people who juswanted to watch a cricket match live & some stayin close to D.Y.Patil.



Although the first ball was to be bowled at 20:30, spectators began to thong the stadium
from 17: onwards or even before. The show started with some interviews of cricketing experts all dressedin classic black. Then there was performance of Bipasha Basu a.k.a kaali-billi. Bips, I loveyou. I love your hot-bod more but enough of that xposure, it's tym to wear some clothes,darling. Jus for a change. A.R.Rahman sung a few notes that were apparently live & Shahid danced later.If you ask me.. all these weren't required.

I was lookin out if my Zinta babe had turned up.Sadly, she din't. She was required.




It was 19:30 then. I got a call from a friend. He wanted me to join him at a sports bar to
watch the final there. This completely disrupted my plans f wearing shorts, sittin with a
bowl f chips & watching the match at home.

We arrived at the bar. That friend f mine invited two other friends f his who were unknown to me. Since Im a non-drinker(yes, Im proud to be a non-drinker & yes, Im a self-confessed health-freak), there i was sitting with an orange juice surrounded by delightfully high crowd. By ordering an orange juice I managed to invite a few surprised stares towards me.I dint bother as Im used to this, now.




The toss happened. Tendulkar lost the toss. I got a bad feeling right there & i was not
alone. Dhoni decided to bat first. He thinks lyk a fox, Im tellin you.



It was good start. Vijay & the mighty Hayden fallin cheaply. Hayden failed in this year's IPL.Later, Raina dropped. Ball fell in between Fernando & Nayar both f whom thought the other would take the catch. Fernando was the culprit.I got a feelin Raina would make this count. I was wrong.Raina gave a nother chance. This tym, Zaheer dropped. Butter fingers, eh, i thought.I think it was a keeper's catch. Ambati Raydu, if only he were a
lil more xperienced he would have known that it was his catch. It's usually easy for
keepers to take a catch running backwards. Ultimately, I seemed lyk I wasn't wrong.
Raina made MI pay for their sloppy efforts on the field. C'mon now, you can't
drop a man-in-form catch twice in a same match.




I dint not quite understand Tendulkar's bowling changes. I mean, giving Bhajji the 1st overwas understood. But why slinga-Malinga was given the next one. When slinga-Malinga is so, so good at the death & Zaheer's so good with the new ball why Slinga instead f Zaheer. Zaheerwas given the 3rd over. Bhajji was taken outta attack followed by Malinga bowlin the 4th.I dint understand this. Tendulkar wasn't allowing his bowlers to settle. Even if its a 20over match, bowlers need to settle.




Dhoni opted to start the bowling with R.Ashwin, understandably, as the guy is in tremendous form & has the guts to bowl at the start. Chubby-Bowlinger bowled the 2nd. Tendulkar played xtra cautiously.Shikar Dhawan forward defencing Ashwin. I mean, the guy's good but man, its a T20. 3 overs for 7runs. Shikar Dhawan played a careless shot thus giving chubby his 1st wicket. Big-eyed Murli bowled well. Jakarti was courageous. Sending in Bhajji to accelerate the innings was a good move. Bhajji failed. Raydu replaced him.Tendulkar had just hit a six in the over in which he got out why was there a need for him to play the half-hearted shot. Another bad decision. Following this came a nother one when he sent Duminy before Pollard. Duminy is a good batsman but he wasn't required at that stage of the match. What was required was a hard-hittin batsman who cared a damn for the bowler's reputation.


Sometyms you don't need Stewards, you need alsatians. This was jus that moment. Tendulkar failed to read this opportunity & consequently MI lost the finals & won a huge disapointed crowd.




Mistakes was all MI committed during the final but it was the brilliant mind f MS Dhoni
that capitalised on those opportunities. Bowling changes, field placements were jus great.

Dhoni is a good skipper.




And in the end.. it was all yellow.




Mistakes:
1. Malinga not bowling in the death overs.

2. Zaheer not given the new ball.

3. Raina dropped twice.

4. Slow-start.

5. Failin to convert 1's to 2's by Tendulkar & Nayar.

6. Tendulkar playing a careless shot

7. Pickin Nayar instead of Bravo.

8. Duminy sent instead f Pollard.

9. Ambati Rayudu wanting the strike when he has someone lyk Pollard at the other end.

10. Brilliant captaincy by Dhoni.





.. all this forces me to think -- was the match fixed?