IPL 8 - CSK turning out to be Srilanka of IPL

IPL 8 is over, once again it was CSK in the finals and once again they lost it. The new Champions are MI and now they have done it twice now. CSK is making this as a habit, losing in the finals. But, they were very inconsistent and it was a surprise to see them play in the finals. It's all Dhoni's fault I would say, persisting with out-of-form players like Jadeja, reluctant to change the combination and trying out new players like Pathan or Abott. And, Raina was not in his usual touch, he usually transforms into a superman once he wears the yellow this was very off season. But, Nehra ji surprised everyone with some inspiring performances.

MI on the other hand, started with 4 consecutive defeats just like last year, they were at the bottom of the table for sometime. To everyone's surprise they were the first team to reach the finals and to win it. Simmons and the pace attack Malinga and McClenaghan played a big part in their revival.

Some good moments in this IPL for me,

As usual CSK starts with a thriller in their very first game against DD, where Albie ex-CSKian almost pulled this for DD. With 6 to win he hits a four which lands few inches inside to give CSK a winning start and they were unbeaten for first 4 games until they met RR.

And, CSK's big hitter was Mac's this season and they depended on him heavily. In the match against SRH he hit a brilliant  100 and Dhoni in that match zoomed from 0 to 49, when Mac at the other end scored just four more runs (81 to 85). That was the best of Dhoni we saw this season.

There were many spectacular catches this season as well especially from Bravo, Simmons and Warner. The best one belongs to Southee and K Nair's catch against KXIP to get rid of Bailey, followed by Bravo's one-handed leap at the boundary to get rid of Watson.

MI was playing bad when CSK were at their best. Mac and Smith hammered MI at their home ground and chased their target 183 in just 100 balls. Wish, CSK have played similar to this in the finals as well.

MI's first win came against RCB, in that match when umpire warned Pollard not to talk too much with the opposite team he came with a plaster on his mouth. And, Gayle played an un-Gayle like innings which worked in MI's favor. Then, came ABD towards the end and who almost took the away from MI with a sensational 43 from 11 deliveries.

Bravo, apart from winning purple cap, he was brilliant in the field for CSK who took many unbelievable catches, but his ran-out Kohli during his own bowling was fantastic which was the turning point of that match. He showed unbelievable reflex just like the other day when he took Watson's catch near the boundary rope which was a turning point in that match.

This year's find of the IPL is Shreyas Iyer, kid who opened for DD and played fearless cricket who scored bulk of the runs for their team. I just hope he continues to play the same way in the next season as well and not a one-season-wonder like many others we have seen in the past years.

Sarfaraz Khan, another lucky kid who was 9 or 10 years old when IPL begun now shares the dressing room with the likes of ABD, Kohli and Gayle, with ABD walking off the pitch with his hand around this kid's shoulder. He played on good innings against RR, looking forward to this kid's batting next season.

CSK's biggest flop of this season must be our Sir Jaddu except for one good game with the ball and Negi played much better than him. He batted and bowled before Jaddu in most of the games.

Just like list of spectacular catches we saw too many dropped catches as well. That too from the fielders who took many blinders. Bravo, ABD, Duplessis, Mac, all these players dropped atleast one catch.

RCB's biggest enemy of this season was Rain, which affected most of their games. And, KX1 took advantage of it in a 10 over game and won it which was only their second victory also many games washed out which costs RCB second spot in the table.

Defending champions KKR was knocked out from the first round itself. And, in their match against MI which they choked in the last over. It was a surprise move from MI to bowl Pollard to defend 12 runs who haven't bowled any over in that match. He took the wicket of Yusuf in the very first ball who was playing well and bowled three dot balls to Piyush to win the game for MI.

Among the seniors Shewag and Yuvi continue to flop and Zak after missing most of the games he came back good. Among the foreign players Maxwell was biggest flop of the season along with his team.

Before the start of the IPL, I have predicted the top four teams and to my surprise the same top four teams qualified exactly in same order.

And, this time played some game online in twitter called vetti-betting. It started with 100 players and people get eliminated and I managed to play till the end. Look forward to playing and win some prizes next year. The thing is, I don't even any one of those 100 players, but many funny tweets in this hashtag #smk_betting.

I hope at least next year CSK wins the IPL, just reaching the finals is really not enough. Dhoni must not be too reluctant to change the combination and they must pick some fresh players in the auction.