The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the most awaited cricketing events, especially in 2010. This is primarily because the IPL is back in India for its third season after South Africa hosted the cash-filled event last year. As well as the hype that it has generated this time around from Pakistan’s exclusion to signing a historic deal with Google.

However, talking about cricket, there were many new players picked by the franchisees to play this season. Let’s review the prospects of the two bottom-ranked teams last season -

1) Kolkata Knight Riders

KKR is one of the most popular teams in the tournament. However, the last season was forgettable as they finished 8th.

Kolkata have a new coach in Dav Whatmore who backs Sourav Ganguly to the fullest. Who wouldn’t remember Whatmore helping an underdog Sri Lankan team to the 1996 World Cup win? Who knows, Whatmore can do the same with Kolkata by winning the IPL.

And, Ganguly, the team’s icon player, is back as captain. ‘Dada’ is a true leader as he can inspire players to give their 100% on the field and is the darling of the team. Ganguly and Whatmore’s combination would be the one to watch out for in the IPL 3.

Kolkata looks formidable with additions of England’s Owais Shah and India’s Manoj Tiwary who can add depth to the middle-order. Shane Bond, New Zealand’s fast bowler was purchased for $750,000 in the auction this year. Ganguly has the option of allowing Bond to open the bowling with Ishant Sharma, therefore making a dream opening pair. Other bowlers like Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Murali Kartik and Ajantha Mendis make Kolkata no underdogs.

Batting-wise, the Victorian duo of Brad Hodge and David Hussey can’t be sidelined. Hodge was the top-scorer for Kolkata in South Africa whereas Hussey is a good finisher. Chris Gayle and Sourav Ganguly can make a good opening pair. This provided if they are supported by Laxmi Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha and Rohan Gavaskar. Brendon McCullum is unavailable due to international commitments and Australian captain Ricky Ponting’s contract has been bought out. But this shouldn’t affect the team much.

The pattern in the IPL suggests that teams who have been considered as underdogs have gone on to win the tournament. Rajasthan Royals in the first season and then the bottom ranked team of the same season Deccan Chargers prevailed in the second season. So, Kolkata can take heart from this. They have a chance to enter the top four this season, if not win which could give them a ticket to the Champions League 2010.

2) Mumbai Indians

Despite finishing second-last in South Africa, Mumbai have shown that they are a team that deserves to be ranked in the top four. They missed out on the semi finals in the first season, as they ended at the 5th spot, which was played in India.

The franchisee captured West Indies star all-rounder Kieron Pollard for $750000 this year, making him the costliest player ever perhaps.

They have got an enviable batting line-up with captain Sachin Tendulkar opening the batting with another veteran, Sanath Jayasuriya. Followed by the West Indies duo of Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. JP Duminy is South Africa’s star with the bat as well as on the field. In bowling, Lasith Malinga was one of the highest wicket-takers last season in South Africa. Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh make Mumbai’s bowling attack threatening, as both of them are experienced and excellent T-20 bowlers.

Indian youngsters however are strength to this team. Ajinkya Rahane is Mumbai’s latest talent, Dhawal Kulkarni who is an in-form bowler who helped Mumbai win the Ranji Trophy, Abhishek Nayar who can be a real force with the bat, Harshal Patel, the U-19 player is a good pick this season. England all-rounder Graham Napier and Indian spinner Chaitanya Nanda played a few games in South Africa and represent the team’s strong bench strength.

However, Mumbai’s perennial weakness is that there have no experienced wicket-keeper. Pinal Shah and Yogesh Takawale didn’t impress in the two seasons. Luke Ronchi is more of a batsman than a wicketkeeper.

Another issue which is troubling is their peculiar ability of losing matches towards the end of the IPL. This shows that Mumbai’s performance goes down in a nervous situation. Can Tendulkar use his magical influence to make his team win? Well, he can as long as the players believe in their abilities and work as a cohesive unit, and not depend on individual success.

India gave a perfect Christmas gift to its cricket-loving public, with a convincing seven-wicket win at the charming Eden Gardens in Kolkata, which hosted an international game after quite a while. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kolhi were the chief architects of the win, both notching up sparkling centuries. Things weren’t all that easy for India, as they lost stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar chasing a 300-plus score. However, Gambhir batted with great gumption and Kohli provided him with excellent support. The duo went about rebuilding the innings in a highly mature fashion and, in the end, India cantered home to a series victory.

Gambhir, who was due for a big score, stood up to the challenge, like he has so often done in the last 12 months. Despite losing the openers early to the pacy Suranga Lakmal, who extracted substantial bounce from the track, the southpaw saw to it that India never fell behind the required run-rate. It helped that Lakmal did not get an inch of support from the other pacemen. Lasith Malinga bowled like a debutant while the actual debutant, Thissara Perera, had a baptism by fire. If Gambhir was excellent in constructing his innings, Kolhi was equally impressive. This writer had mentioned in his earlier piece that Kolhi needed to learn from his mistakes and convert starts into substantial scores. At the Eden Gardens he did just that as the hunger to get a hundred was evident in the manner in which he went about constructing his innings.

The best part of the Kolhi-Gambhir association was that they complemented each other perfectly during their record third-wicket partnership. Both ran brilliantly between the wickets and stole a number of twos, even when the ball had not crossed the 30-yard circle. And they rotated the strike with effervescent ease. The job was made easier for the duo, as a number of boundary balls were on offer. Just like the singles and twos, they did not allow any of the opportunities to pass by. Even so, they managed to play rather risk-free cricket.

Against spinner Suraj Randiv, who was the best bowler on show for the Lankans once more, they were prepared to deal in singles. The fact that the ball did not turn owing to the dew factor meant Gambhir could easily clip the ball on the on side, unlike at Cuttack where the stroke cost him his wicket. As for Kolhi, his tendency to move across the stumps has often led to his downfall. But, on this day, there was no stopping him as he middled everything enroute to his maiden ODI hundred. That the innings came under trying circumstances with hold him in good stead for the future games.

Unlike their batting, the bowling effort was disappointing yet again. Ishant Sharma continued to flatter and deceive, Ashish Nehra bowled well only in patches and while Zaheer Khan put up a better effort, he was still not at his best. For a change, there was a significant improvement in their fielding effort. At the end of the day though, two magnificent tons were enough for India to chinch yet another ODI series win over Lanka and set off the Christmas festivities in the country.

As if the run glutton at Rajkot wasn’t enough, the Nagpur ODI is likely to be another nightmare for the bowlers from both sides. The only silver lining for the poor bowlers is that one can’t expect another 400 plus score from both sides, but, in all probability, it will be another high-scoring encounter nonetheless. India managed to escape by the scruff of their neck at Rajkot despite posting a mammoth 414 on the board. Still, a win is a win and they would thus go in as slight favourites to clinch the Nagpur ODI. The Lankans on the other hand would be keen to put the disappointment of the ‘so near yet so far’ loss behind them and start afresh in the day-night game.

Sadly for the visitors, they will be handicapped by the loss of ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who missed the opening one-dayer, and pacer Dilhara Fernando. Both of them have been ruled out of the series which means Sri Lanka will be forced field some rookies in this crucial match. That said they would do well to exhibit some faith in the other spinner in the side, Ajantha Mendis. Agreed, he has been a shadow of the sensation that spun world cricket upside down last year, but the team managed needs to show faith in him and back his ability to deliver. Furthermore, the Lankans would be praying for the eccentric Lasith Malinga to be fit for the game as his return would add some much-needed teeth to the visitors’ bowling line-up even on benign Indian pitches.

Rajkot may have been a batsman’s paradise. Still, one has to accept that there was some sensational display from both sides. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar set the tone for the ODI series with a blistering opening salvo, while MS Dhoni delivered the backup punch with such alacrity that the Lankan bowlers were made to look absolutely prosaic.

However, if one thought India had done enough to seal the deal, it was a not to be. What Indians did well, Sri Lanka did equally well, even better at the start to be honest. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga matched Sehwag and Tendulkar stroke for stroke and went on to outdo them. The skipper Kumar Sangakkara then joined in the fun and cleared the fence with such unhurried ease that the target looked well within reach. Bizarre as it may sound, one has got to say that the Lankans should have achieved the target rather easily considering the position they were in at the end of 35 overs. But, the pressure got to them and eventually they let India get out of jail.

While the batters will head into Nagpur high on confidence, the same cannot be said about the bowlers. The pacers from both sides were slammed for plenty and the spinners only did slightly better, Harbhajan Singh being the sole exception. He was the best bowler on display from either side. Additionally, the fielding performance of both sides is also a major worry, with catches being dropped left, right and centre. And with another run feast on the cards, the Nagpur tussle might well be decided on the basis of which side bowls and fields better.

On, 19 June 2009 in second semifinal of ICC World T20 at Kennington Oval, we saw tremendous expertise from Lankans side and insensibility and spiritlessness from Indies. Opening batsman Dilshan played like a maestro and mesmerized whole audience with his unbeaten innings of 96 runs coming off just 57 balls. Dilshan is high scorer from Lankans side in ICC World T20, led Lankans to the truly deserved victory over uninspiring Indies.

Sri Lankan innings was fluctuating, in 15th over Lankans were at 98 runs off 3 wickets, reaching above 150 runs total was somewhat difficult on slower and bowler friendly pitch of Oval. But in the last five overs with the DIlshan on the field Lankans knocked whopping 60 runs, taking total to 158 runs off 5 wickets. Dilshan innings was the major contribution to the total, rest the Lankans batsmen were not able to put up better support. Sanath Jayasuriya (24), Kumar Sangakkara (0), Mahela Jayawardena (2), Chamara Silva (11) and Jehan Mubarak (7) were not able to sustain on field and support to Dilshan. Even though Dilshan remain consistent without any support from other teammates throughout the innings and aggregated challenging score of 158 runs on slower pitch like Oval.

As the Gayle’s bowler were being attributed mystique and powerful mix of spinners and pacers, all proved futile in front of Dilshan. Gayle’s bowlers were not able to confine Dilshan and still the bowling was commendable, every boundary was tough though but Dilshan knocks showed it lot easier. Tight field by Gayle’s company was commendable and fielders were diving for every single shoot to prevent boundaries even two’s. Jerome Taylor, Sulleman Benn , and Kieron Pollard took 1-1 wicket and Dwayne Bravo expensive though took 2 wickets.

West Indians came to bat to face 159 runs target; 159 runs target was pretty much tough on the slower pitch of Oval still it was expected from Indies, they would be tough competition. But the disaster happened Angelo Mathews took 3 wickets in very first over, Indies were dumbfounded. Roaring audience in support of Lankans with uninterrupted commentary started coming from commentary box of Lankans making it to the finals. Gayle (63) was the only batsman to sustain on the pitch rest batting line up of Indies felled like the stock rates on the Wall Street.

Sri Lankans bowlers and Dilshan were remarkable and outstanding in the last semifinal, purely out doing Indies in every aspect of the game. Angelo Mathews and Star Player Muttiah Muralidaran took 3-3 wickets, Ajantha Mendis took 2 wickets and Isuru Udana and Lasith Malinga took 1-1 wicket. Lankans jamboree of bowlers were superb and astounding; Lankans bowlers bowled every type of bowling with Yorkers to off spin, leg spin and short balls with the better line and length gave no room to Indies to go for the shoots.

Malinga taking the last wicket in the 17th over Indies were all out on 101 runs and Lankans winning the match by big margin of 57 runs.