The Rajasthan Royals, which had already proved itself the best team over the length of the qualifying tournament, showed that it was also the best in the clutch as it took the inaugural Indian Premier League title in Mumbai.
It beat the Chennai Super Kings in a desperately tense final on Sunday, reaching its target of 164 to win from the final ball of its innings of 20 six-ball overs when Sohail Tanvir struck the single run it needed.
As in last year's first-ever World Cup in the Twenty20 format - when India's victory created the excitement that led to the creation of, first, the rebel India Cricket League, and then the officially backed the IPL - the organizers were treated to a final that was everything they could have asked for. Chennai battled to its limit. Rajasthan won because Tanvir and its captain, Shane Warne, both chiefly bowlers, kept their nerve when asked to score the final 21 runs from 14 balls.
It could hardly have been represented by more appropriate men at the end. Tanvir was the best bowler in the eight-team tournament, leading the wicket-takers with 22 and conceding fewer runs per over than any other regular bowler. Warne was an inspiring, innovative and nurturing captain and coach, as well as bowling beautifully to take 19 wickets.
Either might reasonably have been chosen as Man of the Tournament. Instead that prize went to a third Royal, the Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, who finished fourth among both the run-scorers and the wicket-takers. In the final itself he was outshone by his Indian teammate Yusuf Pathan, who scored 56 rapid runs and took three wickets in his four overs.
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Having so many standout performers epitomizes Rajasthan's style - this was, above all, a team success. In a competition whose every aspect seemed accompanied by a mind-boggling price tag, it is refreshing to report that the dominant team represented the least expensive franchise. The IPL boss, Lalit Modi, had rebuked its owners for underspending in the rotisserie-style player auction, saying: "I don't know what they are doing."
They knew, much better than the other seven franchises put together. Rajasthan's owners have business links with Leicestershire, the team that dominated the first English Twenty20 tournaments. They drew on Leicestershire's experience and expertise to decide which players to draft, and employed its most successful player, Jeremy Snape, as assistant coach and psychologist.
Rajasthan won 11 of its 14 group stage matches, vastly outshining the expensively assembled teams from the metropolises of Mumbai and Kolkata, neither of which made the quarterfinals.
Chennai only just made the final four, but played superbly in its semifinal before finding Rajasthan, for the third time, just too much for it. Its skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was only narrowly denied the achievement of leading winners in both the World Cup and the IPL.
The brilliant end matched an epic beginning six weeks earlier when the New Zealander Brendan McCullum smashed 158 not, easily the highest-ever score in a Twenty20 match, for Kolkata against Bangalore. No other batsman got within 40 of that. All five subsequent individual scores of more than 100 were made by Australians - one of whom, the previously little-known Shaun Marsh, was the leading batsman with 616 runs.
There was, though, after initial concern about dominance by overseas stars, plenty of home-based achievement to celebrate. Gautam Gambhir, India's Man of the Match in the World Cup final, was the second most successful batsman in IPL, and two young all-rounders, Piyash Chawla and Irfan Pathan, brother of Yusuf, were outstanding with bat and ball.
The tournament's impact has been felt worldwide. The cricket authorities of England, Australia and South Africa are all planning their own tournaments, realizing that if they do not respond, their best players will inevitably be drawn by the vast salaries on offer in India.
Not everything was ideal. Warne has suggested a reduction from six to four weeks. Two black English cheerleaders made complaints of racism. Pradeep Magazine, one of the most respected Indian writers, has criticized the "deathly silence" of the Indian media about cronyism and injuries to players vital to its national team.
While it was always clear that the players and the Board of Control for Cricket in India would make huge profits, it was less obvious that the franchise holders who have funded the operation would find it a paying proposition. The Times of India, though, has reported an analysis from Alchemy Shares & Stock Brokers suggesting that three of the eight franchises will break even in the first year, despite huge upfront spending, and that the rest have a positive outlook. The broadcaster Sony Max said he expected a fivefold increase in revenue market share.
Source: International Herald Tribune
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