This is what the best graded assignment looked like:

Kolkata Knight Riders team mates Ricky Ponting and Chris Gayle walked out to the middle for the toss. Gayle won the toss and sent Australia in, a decision that soon backfired.

Just before the start of play Shahrukh Khan, owner of the Knight Riders, was seen discussing with his captain, Saurav Ganguly, about how he felt captaining 2 international captains in the IPL.

Shaun Marsh, the Kings XI opener and leading run scorer of the IPL, made his much awaited debut in Australian colors.

He opened the innings with Shane Watson, who was the IPL player of the tournament and one of the backbones of the Rajasthan Royals' successful IPL campaign.

In the absence of Matthew Hayden, who is missing the Windies tour due to an injury sustained during his stint with the Chennai Super Kings, Marsh and Watson provided Australia with a cracking start posting a run a ball 75 run opening partnership.

Watson fell in the 13th over, after scoring 31 of 27 balls, as he was trapped in front to an incoming delivery by Dwayne Bravo, the Mumbai Indians allrounder who flew in at the start of this series in Mukesh Ambani's private jet.

Marsh though continued from where he left of in the IPL scoring a 97 ball 81 on debut that had Kings XI owner Preity Zinta jumping for joy in front of her 60" Plasma screen in her Mumbai residence.

Marsh later confirmed that he had recieved hugs and kisses via SMS from Ms. Zinta and when we spoke to her she mentioned that when she saw Marsh's majestic straight drive in the 1st over and exquisite cover drive in the 3rd, she knew she was in for something special.

Marsh was unlucky to miss out on a debut 100, which would have been a first for an Australian ODI debutant, as he was caught by the Knight Riders' Gayle off Darren Sammy, who hasn't yet attracted an IPL franchise.

Ricky Ponting, who had joined Marsh at the fall of Watson's wicket, continued from where he had left the Knight Riders - with single figure scores and wretched form as he dragged Taylor on to his stumps.

His deputy, Micheal Clarke, who had given the IPL a miss so that he could spend quality family time, also failed with the bat, as Sammy had him caught behind the wicket.

At 140-4 after 30 overs with the top 4 back in the pavilion, Micheal Hussey of the Chennai Super Kings, and Brad Haddin, who has replaced the Deccan Chargers' Adam Gilchrist as Australia's #1 wicket keeper, cashed in with a 5th wicket partnership of 91 at over run a ball.

Haddin holed out to long off in the 45th over after a well made 50 off 52, while Hussey soon followed in similar fashion off Gayle for 44.

SRK was later seen pleased with Gayle's bowling and pondered how different the Knight Riders IPL campaign would have been had Gayle not been injured.

The last few overs of Australia's innings saw Preity Zinta with a lot of mixed emotions.

Initially she was joyed to see Sarwan bowl a googly cum flipper that got the wicket of Cameron White, who had had a miserable time with the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

In the same over Preity's joy for Sarwan changed to a mixed bag as Brett Lee smashed his Kings XI team mate for 6.

The joy and mixed joy soon turned into a frown as Kings XI opener James Hopes failed to accelerate at the end and fell to Mumbai Indians' Dwayne Bravo dragging the ball on to his stumps.

Australia's innings ended on 273-8 setting the West Indies an imposing target.

The West Indies' innings began in disastrous fashion with Marshall, Gayle, and Sarwan back in the pavilion within the first 10 overs.

Kings XI pacer Brett Lee bowled a hostile opening spell that rewarded him with the wickets of Marshall, caught behind by Haddin, and his Kings XI team mate Sarwan, caught at 2nd slip by the Super Kings' Micheal Hussey.

Preity Zinta was seen in a confused state yet again.

The other wicket to fall was that of the Knight Riders' Gayle who was trapped in front by Nathan Bracken, whose injury made him miss the Bangalore Royal Challengers failure in the IPL.

The West Indies innings couldn't get going as they folded for 189 in under 40 overs with Bracken picking up 4-31 in 6 overs.

Mumbai Indians' Bravo top scored with 33, while some resistance was shown by Ramdin (31) and Sammy (33) before they were bowled by IPL player of the tournament Watson and Bracken respectively.

Brett Lee's 2-37 saw him get some congratulatory SMSes from Preity Zinta, while Sarwan was sent a comisseration SMS. Hopes was told to do better in the next game, and Marsh received more hugs via SMS as he got the man of the match award.

The Kings XI from Punjab dominated the 1st ODI between Australia and the West Indies, while the Kolkata Knight Riders, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, and Mumbai Indians all had some representation.

Australia leads the 5-match series 1-0, with the next match on Friday at St. George's.

Today, Manpreet Gony became the latest international recruit on the back of a strong IPL performance.

One man hasn't made his international debut yet, while the other is barely 8 months old in international cricket.

Yet Shaun Marsh and Sohail Tanvir are at the top of the leading run scorers and leading wicket takers at the end of the group stages of the Indian Premier League.

41 days and 56 games of cricket later, the IPL is now at its business end. The Final Four have been decided and are gearing up for the semis over the next 2 days.

Here is a look at the top performers of the group stages - the end of Q4 of the IPL.

(Go here for previous quarter results: Q1, Q2, Q3)

Leading Batsmen1. Shaun Marsh (KXIP) - 593 runs in 10 innings at 74.12
2. Gautam Gambhir (DDD) - 523 runs in 13 innings at 43.58
3. Sanath Jayasuriya (MI) - 514 runs in 14 innings at 42.83
4. Adam Gilchrist (DC) - 436 runs in 14 innings at 33.53
5. Graeme Smith (RR) - 416 runs in 10 innings at 52.00

Since the middle of Q3, Gautam Gambhir had led the IPL batting charts.

But it all changed last night with Marsh's majestic knock of 115 off a mere 69 deliveries against the Rajasthan Royals.

What a glorious innings that was!

Shaun Marsh has been simply outstanding. Apart from that 1 innings in the 8 over match against the Daredevils, Marsh has delivered every single time.

He has played an instrumental part in Kings XI's successful IPL campaign. At the top of the order he has been absolutely magic.

These Aussies just don't stop producing talents.

I didn't see much of Goeff Marsh. The only glimpses I remember are from he 1992 World Cup and I think that was the fag end of his career.

But if he was anything like his son, I definitely missed out on a great batsman.

Its been wonderful watching Shaun Marsh bat. He makes it look so easy.

With Matthew Hayden ruled out of the Windies tour, Marsh will surely get his chance in the ODIs.

Whoever thought the Aussies won't be the same without the might of Hayden at the top of the order. Think again.

Will Marsh be Australia's next big thing?

Leading Bowlers
1. Sohail Tanvir (RR) - 21 wickets in 9 matches at 10.00
2. Sreesanth (KXIP) - 19 wickets in 14 matches at 22.89
3. Shane Warne (RR) - 17 wickets in 13 matches at 20.52
4. Piyush Chawla (KXIP) - 17 wickets in 14 matches at 21.52
5. RP Singh (DC) - 15 wickets in 14 matches at 29.46

RP Singh was leading the charts with 15 wickets in 11 games at the end of Q3. 3 wicketless matches later he finds himself at number 5 as another left armer replaces him at the top.

Sohail Tanvir's 21 wickets have come in only 9 matches - 5 fewer than the next man on the list!

He's been the only Pakistani who has consistently performed in the IPL, and boy has he performed.

His yorkers from around the wicket have reminded every Pakistani of the Wasim Akram days.

His whirlwind windmill roller coaster of an action puts Paul Adams to shame.

His ability to move the ball both ways from over or around the wicket with a left arm has caught all the batsmen off guard.

Tanvir showed the world what he was capable of when he was drafted into Pakistan's squad for the T20 World Cup last year. He followed that up with impressive performances in ODIs and a couple of tests.

He has impressed one and all in the IPL, except Wasim Akram, whom he calls his idol.

Wasim Akram, who discovered Tanvir at a fast bowlers camp last year, has said that IPL performances don't count for much and that Tanvir will have to do well in test matches.

Will Sohail Tanvir be the next big thing in the world of Pakistani pacers?
Its interesting to note the similarity between Warne's and Chawla's figures - same number of wickets, similar average, a similar economy rate (7.9 and 8.3 respectively), and exactly the same strike rate of 15.5!

One is the master leg spinner, arguably the best bowler ever to play test cricket. While the other is trying to cement his place in international cricket.

Yuvraj recently said that Chawla has always delivered when asked to.

England successfully chased 294 against Kiwis.

Australia successfully defended 286 against the Windies.

I was wrong.

But I was right about this - The 2009 Ashes are going to be very competitive!

And I was also right about England, Ross Taylor, Tim Ambrose, and Monty Panesar in Sportsfreak's tipping competition for bloggers.

As a result of which the Orange Cap remains with me for this week as well.

Thank you again Sportsfreak.

Thank you Daniel.

Thank you Andrew.

Thank you Ross.

Thank you Monty.

& Thank you fellow bloggers.

Strauss took the game away from the Kiwis, while the Windies blew their only chance of beating Australia at home.

I really doubt the Aussies will give the hosts another sniff.

It has been quite a come back for Andrew Strauss. His last few tests innings over 2 tests, all against the Kiwis at home and away, have produced 50+ scores. That includes 2 match winning centuries.

Vettori, for some odd reason, couldn't repeat his 1st innings heroics and allowed England to reach the score for the loss of only 4 wickets.

Sportsfreak tells me that Vettori isn't as effective in the 4th innings of matches. Thats quite surprising for a spinner.

The Windies batting line up folded in front of Stuart Clark and Co.

Those Glenn McGrath video tapes that Clark has been studying have proved to be quite helpful. A 5-for in the 2nd innings and 8 in the match for a man of the match performance.

He looks like a duck running up to bowl - I have no idea how he picks up all these wickets.

The Aussies will run away to a 3-0 victory now. They usually give the opposition a chance once in an entire series. If you miss that you can be sure of a handful mauling.

With Hayden and Clarke returning, its going to be tough for the Windies.

For the sake of my Orange Cap, I hope the Kiwis can turn the tables as I have predicted a 1-1 result for the series in the overall tipping competition.

Till then, I will march around cricket blogs wearing my Orange Cap.

England are chasing 294 against the Kiwis.

Australia are defending 286 against the Windies.

The 2009 Ashes are going to be very competitive!

With the way the English have batted during this series, they can probably play out the 180 overs over the next 2 days and draw the match.

They have been quite abysmal thus far and will do well to chase down that score against Vettori, who already has 6 wickets in the match, on a turning wicket.

Ross Taylor top scored in the match for the Kiwis earning me a point in Sportsfreak's tipping competition for bloggers for the 2nd test.

If England win and Vettori doesn't take anymore wickets I'll get a few more points for predicting the right winner and Panesar picking up the most wickets in the match.

But I don't see that happening. I see another Vettori 5-for and the Kiwis going 1 up with 1 to play.

The Aussies got to 431 in their 1st innings, which was more than what I thought they would get considering there was no Hayden, no Clarke, no Gilchrist.

In the 2nd innings the Aussies were bowled out for 167 a few moments back. That was lower than what I thought they would get.

The Windies must fancy their chances of chasing down 287 in a day and a half. If they can play out McGill, I think they should be able to get there.

Chanderpaul is in outstanding form, while Sarwan is, more often than not, at his best when chasing a total.

An exciting day and a half of test cricket awaits us. And the results of the 2 matches could surprise us all.

And then they said no one will watch the tests because of the 20-20 popularity.

Initially Bravo was to fly back on the 15th, a day after MI's Indian Premier League match against the Super Kings.

Considering that MI had another 2 matches in 4 days, the franchise owners requested Bravo to stay back till the 18th and leave after their match against the Deccan Chargers.

Bravo was provided motivation as well for staying back.

The motivating force was a flight back to the West Indies in a Private Jet.

Bravo stayed back. Played the matches on the 16th and 18th. Picked up 2-13 against the Riders. Picked up 3-24 against the Chargers after scoring a 17 ball 30, which also earned him a man of the match award. And left for the Windies in a Private Jet!

How much can a ride on a Private Jet make you do one wonders.

If only our bosses offered such incentives. We would be the most efficient employees day in day out.

This news piece mentions that Bravo joined the Windies camp on the 19th after landing in the city on a Private Jet provided by his IPL franchise.

Reliance Industries is the franchisee of the Mumbai Indians.

Reliance Industries is owned by Mukesh Ambani who is one of the richest men in the world. In fact last October when the Indian Sensex rallied to its peaks, Mr. Ambani was declared THE Richest Man in the World.

Celebrating his status as the richest man in the world and his wife's birthday simultaneously, Mr. Ambani gifted Mrs. Nita Ambani, a Private Jet worth US$ 60 million.

The same Private Jet that Bravo travelled in.

The article describes the jet as an "Airbus 319 Corporate luxury jet with entertainment cabins, a sky bar and fancy showers".

Thats one entertaining flight Bravo must have had. That too after a man of the match performance!

Just for the record, Mukesh Ambani is worth US$ 60 billion. He spent 0.1% of his net worth on a Private Jet. 0.2% on a cricket team. And 0.00025% on Dwayne Bravo's services for the Mumbai Indians!