Anil Kumble's forlorn walk back to the pavilion was in contrast to the scenes after bowling his counterpart Adam Gilchrist in the first over of the game. Is there anything more that he could have done? Is there anything that can get more heartbreakingly cruel than sport, wonders Ayaz Memon in Daily News and Analysis.
Indeed, the topsy-turvy nature of sport serves as a microcosm of life itself. The lesson in this -- for players, franchise owners, all of us -- is that success and failure are transitory, but hope must be eternal.
The big question before the organisers is not whether they can sustain the IPL’s insistent excessiveness to squeeze in two tournaments a year. It is whether they can prove the maturing of the IPL by showing that it adheres to sport’s pervasive norms. The Indian Express has this editorial.
Neil Manthorp says the IPL administrators have to be congratulated on their success in organising the tournament at such short notice. The Pro20 in South Africa can pick up a lot of tips from the IPL and if all goes well, South Africa can not only lead the way in 'crickertainment' domestically, but make a brilliant reality of the Southern Premier League (SPL) involving teams from Australia and perhaps New Zealand. Read on in Supercricket.
If the ability to market a sports tournament is usually a science, then the IPL and its South African partners raised it to art. The people saw IPL, they heard IPL and they read IPL - and they bought tickets and came to the IPL. Crowd figures exceeded all expectations and then exceeded all pre-tournament hopes, too.
Arthur Turner, on the Sport24 website, writes that though the IPL was a big success, there is room for improvement. He says organisers need to improve the way it is marketed, tackle problems related to scheduling and increase the quota of foreign stars in the playing XI.
In a more critical vein, Stuart Hess, in his article in the Sunday Independent, writes that the IPL, despite its popularity, has also been a terrible inconvenience for South Africa.
Anil Kumble, in his syndicated newspaper column, looks back at Royal Challengers Bangalore's amazing turnaround this season and the lessons learnt after a forgettable 2008 campaign. Read on in the Hindu.
This season we decided to bring in a couple of extra hitters, but more importantly, all of us from last year had evolved more in terms of the Twenty20 game. There was more experience, individuals were more aware of the possibilities of what could be done in a short time. Naturally, the results were better and we ensured that no one could have any complaints of us as a team.
The decision to shift the IPL to South Africa hasn't turned out to be a loss-making venture as feared by all the franchises. In fact, all are expected to make healthy profits, thanks to the jump in the share of revenues from broadcasting. Prabhakar Sinha finds out in Times of India.
According to a report by equity research firm IIFL, Team Jaipur will make the highest profit of Rs 35.1 crore in the group matches of the second edition of the tournament. Jaipur had also made the second-highest profit of Rs 14.50 crore in 2008, including the Rs 4.50 crore ($1 million) prize money. Knight Riders, which finished lowest in the league table during the qualifying round in South Africa, will nevertheless end up with the third-highest profit of Rs 25.8 crore in the second edition of IPL.
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