What IPL can do without in 2009

1. So what was it about Rajastan that intimidated their opponents? Shane Warne's captaincy? Sohail Tanveer's bowling action? Yusuf Pathan's belligerence? Shane Watson's sixes, which were smacked with arrogance? Warne's womanizing skills? While all of the above may have contributed to the Royale finish of the IPL, what surely gave our icons from the other teams a nightmare was Ila Arun's war-cry for her "mera walla pink" city franchise. The catchiest tune brought fear in the minds of the opposition, who continued to drop matches against Rajastan the way Indian fielders were reputed to drop catches.May be we should let the cricketers' skills do the talking, you know. "Balla" Bol!

2. 59 matches are way to many and at the end of the tournament, the ones who showed maximum fatigue were the commentators. Arun Lal never stopped talking about "Momentum" like it was the latest fad in the world of cricket, while Fernando advertised the "Key to the Sri Lankan Success" with loyalty, every time a lankan roared or even purred. This would have been a fantastic platform for Siddhu, if it was not for the fateful day when the sardonic sardar spelt his "luck" with an F.

3. Articles about "Cheerleaders". Well, I'm hoping the mere mention of them in this piece will earn me some hits.

4. Product Placement Overdose(PPO). I mean "That is a DLF maximum six!", " This is surely a Citi moment of success!". What happened to the good old figures of speech , gentlemen? " Magnificent Shot! Absolutely Majestic! That'll clear the side-screen! Wonderful, wonderful shot!" Now even this, repeated a million times will do. Lets not relive the Pepsi Huddle experience! It could get worse,Itch guard "lets start from scratch" contest or Sreeshant dancing to " Hit me baby, one more time" with a pepsi.

5. Focus on the owners of the franchise rather than the cricket their teams play. Thanks to SRK,Preity, Ambani, Katrina, Akshay Kumar and the likes, fans were denied some precious action replay of some flashbulb moments( or "citi moments of success" if you insist)!Dont we get enough of dope on these eminent personalities even otherwise? I mean, isn't a copy of Deccan Chronicle enough?

To be continued...