Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
That cricket is a funny game is a well-known fact. That the only thing certain in cricket is uncertainty is also equally famous.
If we needed any more proof to underline the above, the Indian Premier League (IPL), which concluded on Sunday night with Deccan Chargers edging out Bangalore Royal Challengers for the title in yet another thrilling clash, provided it abundantly.
To begin with, the teams which finished at the bottom of last year's IPL exceeded expectations this year and stormed into the final. They played a refreshing brand of cricket, proved inventive and consistently overachieved much to the chagrin of many teams with better fire power and far more potential.
Take the Bangalore side for instance. This was a team written off early in the tournament for its seemingly 'excess baggage'. The senior members of this team were as much a butt of many jokes as its flamboyant owner Vijay Mallya who criss-crossed the globe only to experience failure - both on the cricket field and on the Formula One circuit.
The Deccan Chargers were equally derided and proved equally ineffective in the beginning even though they had one of the costliest players in the IPL in the form of Andrew Symonds. But with Adam Gilchrist at the helm and some young guns eager to fire on all cylinders, they turned things around at just about the right time.
In the end, it was a befitting final between two teams who played the best cricket when it mattered the most. It was as much an intriguing clash between two teams of young and old as it was an intense tussle between two wily veterans who have seen it all and done it all.
Gilchrist versus Anil Kumble was a fascinating battle within a battle and it began with the very first ball of the final and remained so till the last ball was bowled. They were like two Grand Masters playing on the top board at a Chess Olympiad.
Kumble easily won the opening with a cunning early move. The looping delivery on the leg side drew Gilchrist out of his crease but the late dip betrayed his intentions and uprooted his leg stump. It was just the second delivery of the final with the scoreboard still blank.
It was a dramatic beginning to a long and absorbing final which went to the wire. Kumble went on to have a fairy tale spell of four for 16 and in the process proved that he may have long retired but he still has the stomach for hard work, a big heart for a great battle and a strong mind for mental gymnastics.
Gilcrhist too has long retired but like Kumble proved that he is still young at heart and ever ready for a battle of attrition - both physical and mental. If Kumble was mesmerising with the ball, Gilcrhist was magical behind the wickets. Two stumpings and a catch and some astute captaincy under pressure proved decisive in the end.
At another level, Kumble and Gilchrist with Shane Warne and Mathew Hayden, all retired and on the wrong side of 30, destroyed many myths surrounding the shortest and latest version of cricket.
All four of them will not be seen in action at the Twenty20 World Cup which begins in England next week. In many ways, the IPL may have the reverse effect to whetting the appetite before the big event. If so it will indeed be sad. But then who knows, cricket after all is a funny game. A game of glorious uncertainties!
