A non-controversial IPL season

The Indian Premier League caravan, which began at the Eden Gardens with the defeat of Mumbai Indians, ended with them emerging the champions at the same venue Sunday night. The Mumbai’s title triumph after beating the Chennai Super Kings by 41 runs in the final is one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the short history of IPL. Seemingly down and out for the count after managing just one win from their first six games, the Rohit Sharma-led side slowly picked up the pieces to make the play-offs. That they weren’t even sure of making the cut for the final four till their win in the last league match of the competition against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, makes their effort that much more special. On the contrary, Kings XI Punjab’s last-place finish was a great meltdown not just because they were last year’s losing finalists but because they had such an array of quality T20 batsmen in their ranks and a more than handy bowling attack. Many in this team had an average to poor season as the Punjab outfit sank without a trace.  
 
The Kings XI’s performance may have come as a shocker but this has been one of the most keenly fought IPLs with the teams scampering for play-off berths till the final minutes of the league phase. While Super Kings ensured the top spot for themselves, Rajasthan Royals, after storming to five wins in the first six matches, tapered off and it wasn’t until the penultimate day of the league phase that the inaugural champions were confirmed a last-four place. The Royals’ win meant that defending champions Knight Riders were dumped out of the tournament. That three of the four teams – Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad – in action on the final day of the league matches were in with a chance to progress to the play-offs reflected how closely the teams were locked. Royal Challengers and Mumbai advanced at the expense of Hyderabad though all three teams ended with 16 points each. It was only fitting that after an eliminator sandwiched between two qualifiers, the two most consistent sides in the event set up a final date, a repeat of the 2013 finale.  

Apart from the number of close matches, the many individual show of brilliances from the likes of AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, David Warner, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo to mention a few, lit up the eighth edition and would have gone a long way in restoring its popularity. While there were isolated cases of arrests with regard to betting, the tournament by and large remained free of glitch.