Australian dominance and the winning formula for the IPL.

Try to imagine a scenario which was very much possible. Indian cricketing legend Anil Kumble receiving the IPL trophy from Mr. K P Singh and Rahul Dravid animatedly joining into the celebrations. Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar and Manish Pandey spraying champagne on each other, reveling in the crackling bright fireworks behind them being cheered on by a 100,000 people present at the New Wanderers Stadium. Unfortunately, the script had an ending that slightly diferred from the one I would have ideally wished for.

But yet again the INDIAN Premier League trophy was lifted by an AUSTRALIAN. In the 2^nd edition it was Adam Gilchrist who had the privilege of being the first one to get his hands on the trophy and in the inaugural edition it was Shane Warne. Adam Gilchrist had Aussie all-rounder Andrew Symonds to help with plotting their victories while Shane Warne had the comfort of being able to rely upon Aussie revelation Shane Watson. In each of the seasons the Player of the Tournament award has been bagged by men from Down Under, Watson being succeeded by Gilchrist. Even the award for the highest run getter in both the editions was won by Australians, young Shaun Marsh springing a surprise in 2008 and then the seasoned Mathew Hayden having a great tournament in 2009. No wonder both the Australian coaches John Buchanan (KKR Coach) and Greg Shipperd (DD Coach) wanted the limit of playing only 4 foreign players at a time changed.

Before the 1^st IPL got under way, Team Rajasthan was declared least favorites to win, but the underdogs won. Coming into this year’s IPL, Deccan came in at the 8^th spot but they transformed their wooden spoon into the beautiful golden trophy. Finally, Shah Rukh has something to look forward to in the next edition of the tournament. With KKR finishing at the bottom of the table this time and news doing the rounds that Ricky Ponting will be the next captain of the franchisee and Aussies Brad Hodge and David Hussey displaying intermittent strokes of brilliance, everything seems to be in place for next season. A last place finish and a new Aussie captain backed by a couple of his own all-rounders, Shah Rukh seems to have mastered the winning formula!

To end with, I would love to see an Indian lift that trophy next.

P.S.: In no way does this post take away from the absolutely brilliant and inspiring performances by our Indian heroes in the tournament. Without them obviously this tournament wouldn’t exist.