The home boys come out to play

After the foreign contingent stole the limelight on the opening weekend of games, it's been the turn of the homegrown players to make an impact on the Indian Premier League. Virender Sehwag, whose Delhi Daredevils have looked a class apart so far, was in awesome form against the Deccan Chargers, creaming 94 from just 41 balls, though you wonder how different the result might have been had Chaminda Vaas's leg-before appeal been upheld in the first over.

Today, in Chennai, it was the turn of Suresh Raina to stamp his class on the proceedings. Generally, you associate a 33-ball 50 with brutal hitting. Raina's innings was anything but that, and the greatest compliment came from Matthew Hayden, man of the match after a blistering 81.

"He played the better of the two innings," said Hayden, after the two had added 104 runs for the third wicket. "He definitely hit the ball cleaner and sweeter than I did. His knock was perfect."

The best crowd in the country was treated to an enthralling game. Hayden and Raina appeared to have killed off the contest, but the dew on the ground was so heavy that Chennai's bowlers struggled just as much. Muttiah Muralitharan's first three balls were all wides down the leg side. Now, how many times have you seen that?

Crucial wickets from the impressive Manpreet Gony (1 for 18) and Joginder Sharma put Chennai firmly in control, but there was vicious sting in the tale courtesy Abhishek Nayar, the Mumbai allrounder with international ambitions. With Harbhajan Singh swinging freely down the ground in an entertaining cameo of 24, 71 came from five overs as Nayar breezed to 44 from just 18 balls.

The climax of a T20 game though is Joginder territory. Having held his nerve to clinch victories against Australia and Pakistan [in the final] at the World Cup, he was once again MS Dhoni's choice for the final six deliveries. Nayar, who's as level-headed off the field as he is flamboyant on it, smashed two fours to bring the equation down to 11 from four balls. But Joginder was ice-cool when it mattered, summoning up yorker after yorker in a superb finish.

Afterwards, Hayden was asked to compare the three formats, and his definition of T20 was the best I've heard. "It's about executing your skills with maximum skills," he said. When it's done with his power, Raina's grace and Nayar's fearlessness, it can be quite a spectacle to watch.

Comments

[SanjayN]

Dileep,
Altho there's still a long way to go, I can't help feeling that the Mumbai Indians have picked a poor squad. I fear they will be the basement team much like the ICL's Mumbai Chumps ...err Champs.

Surely, they could have done better than Ashish Nehra as their opening bowler? As Lawrence Booth points out in his latest blog, a top bowler is priceless in this format.

Seemed to me that the Indians were trying their hardest not to bid for an Australian player; the two they have on their roster (Ronchi and Thornely) were brought in post-auction.

Ronchi was unluckily run out today and hopefully we will soon find out why he's highly rated. Not sure how long Thornely will be out after his 15 stitches. After two consecutive losses, he's not the only one feeling a little groggy.