Double Whammy for Punjab

By Gulu Ezekiel

Considering the way the weather has been playing havoc with the IPL, perhaps next year the organizers could look into staging the tournament indoors!
Seriously though, it has been done before. The Telstra Dome in Melbourne with a capacity of 74,000 and a retractable roof has staged One-day Internationals.
But then part of the charm of cricket has always been the way the unpredictable elements play such a big part in deciding the pattern of play. Matches indoors cut out that element and bring a sameness that takes some of the joy and uncertainty out of cricket.
In the inaugural season in India there was just one match (out of a total of 59) which was completely washed out while only two were decided by the dreaded Duckworth/Lewis method.
Now with the second edition just four days old we already have seen one match abandoned without a ball being bowled and the D/L method coming into play in two others.
It is just bad luck for Kings XI Punjab that on both occasions they were at the receiving end with the side batting second gaining the advantage under such circumstances.
It could not have improved the mood of the players to have received the news—finally official—that owner Preity Zinta has split with Ness Wadia who bought the franchise as a gift for his (now ex) girlfriend.
Considering his team has been under a cloud even before the tournament began and their woeful display in the opener against last year’s bottom placed Deccan Chargers, KKR team owner Shah Rukh Khan was naturally a relieved man when they closed out the opening match on Tuesday.
Still to make comments like ”the nightmare is over” and telling his critics “to go suck on this” shows a streak of immaturity and lack of understanding of cricket’s inherent unpredictability.
The biggest let-down for the fans on Tuesday was that they were deprived of a dream clash between Mumbai Indians Sachin Tendulkar and Rajasthan Royals Shane Warne due to the rain.
They will now have to await the re-match—weather permitting of course.

www.sportshero.com (22/4/09)