Bloopers & Controversies
All the on-field action is covered above. This is where the off-field action and some of the fun moments of IPL 5 will be talked about. A lot of things apart from cricket were part of the carnival. Some were quite hilarious while some were downright distasteful. Let's take a look at some of them.
Hair lot of money:
The million dollar boy let the money get to his head. Quite literally. CSK bought
Ravindra Jadeja for a whooping Rs 6.5 crores. Guess that was the exact price of his loyalty. Jadeja went ahead and engraved the letters C, S, K in his hair. It's probably true
what people say. Offer a guy a million bucks and he'll do anything for you. He may not have delivered with the bat or ball. No trademark square cuts flowed from his bat. All he
managed to deliver was a funny hair cut. Apart from one man of the match performance, Jadeja did nothing of note. Our value for money stat indicates that paying him so much was like flushing money down the drain. If CSK saw some hidden talent in Jadeja, it`s probably hidden in a chest which is buried under ground on an island far far away. They will be hoping that next season (if they retain him, which is highly doubtful) they will find this sacred island, dig the chest up and find a key to unlock this rare talent.
Mumbai Fighters:
4 of the Mumbai players were fined for indiscipline. Some fought with the umpire, some fought with the stumps while others simply spoke in a language no one else understood. Frustration was bound to creep in to a team that had so much unused talent. MI misunderstood when Pollock asked them to show a little fight. To be fair, by hook or by crook they did manage to reach the play-offs. Munaf Patel and Harbhajan got into an argument with the umpire regarding a not-out decision. Like little boys playing in a building compound, they cried and cried until the umpire reviewed the decision. The young Rayudu was angered by the opponents and Rohit by his own talent of wasting his talent.
End of an era:
Sourav Ganguly sat out for one of Pune Warriors' match leading everyone to believe he might call it quits. However he came back in the next game and captained the side. It has to be said that Ganguly just couldn’t bat at the pace at which T-20 requires him to. His captaincy was fine, but he at the top order was not. Also his hair looked like it could use a break from all the running around. He put unnecessary pressure on the other batsmen. Once he was God on the off-side, in this year’s IPL he seemed everything but that. The cover drives of B.Kumar seemed more flawless than Dada’s. It should be safe to assume he won't return as a player next season. Dada loves comebacks and comebacks too love him. However, that was not the case this time around. He looked sluggish, out of form and a pale shadow of himself. Hence, it should be safe to assume he won't return as a player next season. And if he does, Pune should be given a kick up their backside for letting him return. Neither the runs nor the wins followed him. He has been a legend of Indian Cricket. Is he dragging himself and that legendary status down?
DC duds:
The Deccan Chargers' 'bull' ran out of gas this season. Sloppy fielding, inconsistent batting and the worst luck ever accompanied them wherever they went. Nothing seemed to go right for them this season. Instead of charging, DC found themselves backed in to the corner. They had opportunities to play spoil sport to other teams. They even managed to forego those chances. They had the best fast bowler in world cricket. He was the only one who lived up to the team name. Charging in every delivery, DC does not deserve to be associated with him. It’s as if IPL requested DC to play a specific character at the carnival. If so, DC were definitely the clowns of this carnival.
SRK banned:
The badshaah of Bollywood has transcended himself to badshaah of brawls it seems. First he fought with Salman Khan, and then very recently he had beaten certain Mr.Kunder at a night club. If that was not enough, now he was in a slugfest at MCA involving a security guard. The 'baadshah' of Bollywood was outcast from the Wankhede stadium thanks to his altercation with a security guard. Trying to get onto the field like a disobedient child, SRK was warned by the security personnel. Shah Rukh Khan loves cameras and action no matter what the stage is. "Well this ain't Bollywood mister" is what the BCCI and MCA officials clarified to SRK by quietly banning him from the stadium. Being the master of disguise that he is, he will surely find a way in. He seems to be making sure he remains in action and camera gets the does not miss out on SRK’s bites oooops bytes.
Delhi dares to lose:
Virender Sehwag came up with the ingenious plan of dropping Morne Morkel in the
semi-final against CSK. It seemed like the perfect ploy to lose. To make things worse, he
pushed himself down to no. 3. It felt like he had come with the perfect strategy, except
he forgot that it was a must win game. After being the strongest team in the league
stages, DD strategized their way to a loss in the semis. What a dampener!!