Adonis rises, Delhi falls. OR Can Yusuf Pathan be the next Andrew Symonds?

Embarassing. McGrath got himself a pasting from Yusuf Pathan celebrating his ODI squad call-up, and Jellybean Adonis Watson played an innings to remember. Delhi started the tournament relying too much on their top order. Towards the end, they relied too much on the lower middle. After the Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhavan failed, there was no question that Dilshan and Karthik would too. Royals are deserving finalists. In fact they're deserving winners. No one deserves to win as much as them. Give them the trophy already.

Can Yusuf Pathan do what Andrew Symonds has done? i.e. Convert a fantastic eye and an uncluttered mind into a Test cricketer capable of scoring big hundreds and getting wickets against good batting sides? I think it is a gamble more than worth taking. Australian cricket persevered with Symonds for a long, long time, and there were times it looked a dodgy investment, but it paid off in the end - Ponting's captaincy contributing in no small measure, aparently.

Ponting forgot he was nearing 10000 runs. That is a lie. I have always hated the way he bats, but 10000 is a lot of runs. I might just consider trying to appreciate his game a little more.

Kaif is now a biffer also

Mohammed Kaif, after being dropped from the national team and consciousness, went below raar and set about playing cricket quietly. What soon became a murmur is now a buzz - never din-clang-drumroll. There were reports of heavy domestic scoring, but never quite enough to dislodge someone - ODIs or Tests. Once tipped as a future captain, the Kaifmachine had a problem with whacking the lofted shot out of the ground, though he was a master at working the angles to run, run, run. Not that it would have really mattered - his last Test innings, a classic in resistance against England at Nagpur, barely permitting India to escape with a draw, was ignored and he was dropped. So Kaif went back to the "provinces" and improved his hitting ability. And that was evident yesterday.

Another reason to like the IPL

Yesterday's match featured two legspinners. One, the undisputed master of the art. Another, a babyface with promise - an obvious worshipper of the former. The first split the game open with his guile. The other got a pasting he is unlikely to forget.
Men and women much wiser than myself keep repeating that it is in the most of trying of circumstances that the improvement of the self happens. Some call it the transition from boy to man. Steve Waugh made reference to being 'out of the comfort zone', and there are innumerable phrases that will convey the same meaning. Yesterday, Piyush Chawla had the opportunity to analyze the chasm that lies between himself and Warne. And if he is honest, he can only be the better for it.

Legacy in a royal mess

Without Smith, Yousuf and Kamran, the Royals will rely on the combined might of Warne, Lehman, Kaif and Yusuf Pathan to win matches. Pitted against the megawatt stardom in all other teams, they look like domestic goat that wandered into the forest. At night. After a bath in chicken blood, wearing neon signs that say "Red Meat".

But one man, known as the Best Captain Australia Never Had, can change all that. On his day, and there are several of them, all he needs is four overs, to reduce grown men to tears. And that has nothing to do with their wives, or daughters. Or mothers. It will help if Warne came into bowl with a few wickets down. Where's Morne Morkel? Sohail Tanvir should be here soon as well.

And Dmitri? The Royals don't need others to gain what might turn out to be an unassailable lead.