Michael Hussey will not be available for the Twenty20 Champions League due to Australian National Schedule. This saves him from a situation where he might have to play against his home team in the said League.
Though Michael Hussey initially preferred to play for his Native state of Western Australia in the upcoming Twenty20 Champions League, IPL Chief Lalit Modi insisted that IPL Franchisees will have the first choice for Players.
As both Western Australia and Chennai Super Kings have qualified for the Champions League it was a definite embarrassment for Hussey as he would have to play against his home team if Chennai Super Kings claimed him for their team. However, he himself was quoted saying that rules were rules and even if he considered himself a native, born and bred ‘Western Australia Boy’ he will go with the rules and play happily for Chennai.
Asstralia will be playing a four test series in India immediately after the champions trophy.
“Once upon a time a war was called between eight kingdoms. All the kingdoms had to build their armies with very less time in their hands, an army that could stand the test of put up by others with their strength and the test of time with their endurance.
One of the kingdoms which lie in a desert had all odds in front of it and was counted out by all means and by all people. They were searching for a General when a senior man with golden hair volunteered. Everybody doubted him, not his abilities but because he had not entered the battle field for a long time now.
The people of the kingdom silently prayed for the success of this brave man. He went about preparing his army for the battles ahead and tried to find out the special abilities of his men.
The underdogs, Rajasthan Royals clinched the first IPL Final and emerged as the winner after a memorable run throughout the tournament under the most able Captainship of Shane Warne in an exciting finish on Sunday at Mumbai. After two dull and one-sided semifinals this was a great match with the luck swinging from one side to the other in equal measures.
The Indian Premier League dropped the curtain today after 44 days of cricket extravaganza. The Final started after some extra ordinary entertainment dished out by the organizers in the form of Indian Movie Stars, Music, Laser Shows and to end with para-gliders descending on the Stadium with individual team flags. And just before the finals began the entire crowd was held breathless by an awesome performance by Cirque du Soleil.
Indian Premier League (IPL) Match Preview – The Grand Finale
The Armies – Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings
Rajasthan Royals made brief work of it with an emphatic 105 run win over the Delhi Daredevils on Friday. Chennai Super Kings, the firm non-favorites beat Kings XI Punjab by 9
wickets with overs to spare.
The Battleground – DY Patil Cricket Stadium, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai
While the pitch at Wankhede had help for spinners, the pitch at this ground has more pace and bounce. Rajasthan bowlers have bowled well on most pitches. Chennai with Ntini, Morkel and Gony will be happier to play on this sort of pitch and absence of Graeme Smith on this sort of pitch will be a factor. Rajasthan have played a match at this ground. Although they were shot out here by Mumbai but Warne would surely have picked a point or two.
South African batsman Graeme Smith, opener for Rajasthan Royals has been ruled out of the Final on Sunday due to a hamstring injury. Smith who was quite fit on the field was injured during the semi-finals with Delhi Daredevils yesterday.
Shane Warne is considering either Yunus Khan or Kamran Akmal to open in the finals with Swapnil Asnodkar. However, Khan with only one IPL match in which he scored three runs and Akmal with five matches (avg 30) is no match to Smith but everyone is aware how Warney handles his players and install confidence in them.
Shane also acknowledged Smith’s role in shaping up the teams success. Smith has scored a total of 441 runs (11 matches) with an average close to 49 and is considered as one of the strongest opening pair along with Swapnil.
