The Indian Premier League is in its 5th season. Club cricket was a new concept which was introduced. Each club was based in a city with an iconic player (not necessarily from that city). Owners auctioned for the clubs and then in turn for the players. Great excitement! Cos whoever bought Mumbai, got Sachin Tendulkar.
Anyway my boss Dr. Mallya bought the Bangalore club - The Royal Challengers. So it was but natural that I would support RCB rather than Mumbai Indians. My reasoning - I have nothing in common with the Ambanis or Reliance. And my loyalties had nothing to do with the city....afterall I was born in Bombay and do not really identify with Mumbai. ;)
I have been following the team's progress for the last 5 years. Though I am not a cricket fan, I must say I do enjoy this format of the game. The team's performance has improved over the years and last year we even reached the finals.
Some of the things I love about the current team:
- We have some super players like Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Dan Vettori, Virat Kohli, etc who are not only talented players but very good human beings.
- Dan Vettori has no hesitation in stepping down as Captain to make way for another foreign player in the interest of the team. In the IPL, a team can field only 4 foreign players. We need Murali to bowl as he is the most economical and Dan (who is also a bowler) has stepped down for the last 2 matches.
- AB de Villiers is a true gentleman. He actually shared his man of the match award for one of the matches with a bowler. Cricket is a batsman's game and very rarely does a bowler win the award or get recognition. But AB felt he had to share the stage and thus encourage the young bowler. I thought it was truly commendable.
- AB again showed that when it matters, one can win for the side. At one of the recent matches he came in at the end and saved RCB from an impossible situation. We will be talking about that innings for a very long time. He says he did it for his charity initiative "The Battle of the Bush".
- Dilshan is a quiet man but again a great team player. Yesterday, I told him that I was rooting for him to win the Man of the Match as everytime he posts a big score, someone else gets the award for their spectacular performance. Right off the bat he responded saying that it did not matter and the only thing that mattered was that the team won. He has my respect.
- Virat Kohli is turning out to be a fantastic player and I will not be surprised if he is going to be the star of the Indian team for a very long time.
- Chris Gayle is a big man but very humble at heart. At one of the matches, one of his sixes hit a little girl in the stadium. When he heard about it, he immediately rushed to visit her at the hospital post the match. He does have a large heart.
AB de Villiers with Smita and myself
Chris Gayle and myself
