THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

The Indian Premier League,which has captivated the cricketing world for the past month,will come to an end today as the Mumbai Indians take on the Chennai Super Kings in the final. Supporters of the teams,eager to sport their enthusiasm and affection for their favourite players are all set to head to Mumbai to catch the action live.

Chinmay Rao,finance professional has chalked out a perfect weekend,as he will be leaving for Mumbai today morning. “I am a Mumbai Indians fan and am going there to see them win. While watching Tendulkar live in action is a dream that is about to come true,the second half of the day depends completely upon the result of the match. If Mumbai Indians win,we’ll have a blast,else,come back and face the boring week that is filled with work,” says Rao.

Another one to join the league of Mumbai goers is Manish Dhar,service engineer who says,”I am from Jammu and the only reason I like the Mumbai Indians team is because of the czar of cricket- Sachin Tendulkar. The organisation I work with had rolled out this offer under which I got the ticket at a cheaper rate. I have bought Rs 700 ticket. This is the first time I am going to watch a cricket match live and the fact that it is an IPL final is sure to make the experience even more exciting.”

The enthusiasm of Yuvraj Nuste,engineer,knows no limit as this is going to be the second match that Nuste is watching. “The first match that I watched was Mumbai Indians versus Deccan Chargers. It was a memorable experience and that’s when I decided to go back again. Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar are my all time favourites and this is a rare opportunity to watch the two play against each other,” says Nuste.

The league of controversies

* Season kicked off in January with the auction for players. Surprisingly no player from Pakistan was selected,leading to a political conflict with Pakistan minister Rehman Malik suggesting that the Pakistani players had been insulted.

* Deccan Chargers could not play at Hyderabad,their preferred home ground or Visakhapatnam due to the ongoing political crisis in the region.

* The buzz of KXIP co-owner Ness Wadia’s plan to take the exit route remained news for some time.

* On April 11 more controversy built up when the rumours were on high about KXIP icon Yuvraj Singh’s possibility of leaving the team. However,on the very next day he ruled out the news.

* The semi-finals were shifted to Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil stadium from Bangalore,following the two blasts outside the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

* The Shashi Tharoor- Lalit Modi spat has rocked the entire tournament. It all started with Lalit Modi,tweeting about the stakeholders of the recently created Kochi team that involved free equity of Rs 70 crore to Sunanda Pushkar,Shashi Tharoor’s close aid. While the minister had to step down,Lalit Modi is waiting for the D day which is expected to be April 26.

* On April 21 Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray demanded a ban on the IPL to save cricket.

* If Sunanda Pushkar was starring in a Himesh Reshamiya film,what would be the name of the film?

Answer- Aapka Tharoor

* Lalit Modi surrounded by Preity,Shilpa,Katrina- The Axe effect.

Lalit Modi is surrounded by the IT officials- The ‘Tax’ effect

* What does IPL mean to Sachin?

Injured Players League

* Next year IPL has been shifted to Pakistan with special facilities by Pak government—

– security by Al-Queida and Taliban.

– Bomb blast after every sixer.

* If engineers started to buy IPL teams they might sound like-

Cochi Compressors,Pune Projections,Rajasthan Rectifires,Kolkata Fuse Wires,Mumbai Inductors,Delhi Ball Bearings,Deccan Capacitors

Chennai Super Conductors,Bangalore Backloggers