A six used to be a rare commodity in cricket, hence it was always met with a lot of excitement.

Sixes in the IPL, however, have come in abundance, which has to a certain extent taken away the excitement that used to be associated with a six.

Moreover, commentators screaming "DLF Maximum", coupled with a six being hit every other ball, have collectively played a part in taking away the excitement of a six.

Despite this, I have seen some amazing hits for six throughout this year's IPL.

Matthew Hayden has shown why he was considered a bully by bowlers around the world. During the IPL, he has hit some of the best sixes that I have ever seen.

Adam Gilchrist hasn't been far behind his former opening partner. Some of his flicks over deep square leg have been awesome to watch.

As I write this, Adam Gilchrist has played two great shots, sending the ball high over mid wicket for 2 consecutive sixes! What hits!

I thought of the awesome sixes I have seen this year in the IPL after watching Kolkata Knight Riders' innings against the Deccan Chargers.

Brendon McCullum today played one of the fiercest pull shots I have ever seen, pulling RP Singh out of the ground. What a hit for six that was!

And David Hussey! Boy, he can hit them far!

Hussey hit a few good sixes today, but none better than his shot over extra cover off Andrew Symonds.

That was one of the best sixes I have ever seen.

So the excitement over seeing a six being hit may have been taken away from us, but the IPL has definitely shown us a few great hits for six.

If it isn't today then it should have been.

The Husseys did it for the Aussies, while the Pathans did it for the Indians.

From 101-3, the Husseys took the Australians to 216 leaving them less than 30 to get off the next 34 deliveries.

The Pathans bettered that.

Chasing 172 in 20 overs, India looked down and out at 115-7 in 15.1 overs.

But such is the confidence of this Indian team that despite losing Jadeja on the 1st ball of the 16th over, Yusuf Pathan smashed 17 off the next 5 deliveries.

Imagine that.

The Pathans added 59 off only 25 deliveries to take India home with 4 balls to spare.

A day for the Husseys. A day for the Pathans.

A day for the Brothers!

Not the test team.

Atleast not till they find someone with even quarter of the magic that Warne had and an opening pair to match the Hayden & Langer of old.

Its their ODI team that excites me.

Shaun Marsh is one of the reasons but there are more.

They have a series coming up against South Africa and recently announced their squad.

And unlike their test cricketers, their ODI cricketers seem to have a buzz around them.

In Shaun Marsh at the top of the order they have one of the most exciting batsmen in world cricket today.

With Hayden's ODI career coming to a halt and Shane Watson out with yet another injury, I'm not sure who will partner Marsh.

Marsh and Watson, in my view, formed a great combination at the top and they could be the openers to look out for in the future if Watson can get some more cow blood into his body.

Looking at Australia's squad, James Hopes seems like the most likely option.

Marsh & Hopes did the job in the 1st ODI against Bangladesh in August last year.

And they did so during the IPL as well for the Kings XI.

We know what another IPL opening pair has done last year - that too in all forms of the game.

Brad Haddin has done the job as well in the past, not so successfully though.

However, with the form he is in these days, it might be the perfect opportunity to send him at the top of the innings with Marsh.

Nevertheless, whether its Marsh & Hopes or Marsh & Haddin, fireworks will be the order of the day.

Good attacking cricket will be on view.

And for some reason, I feel it will be better than watching the Australian test team of late.

These guys are not the only ones that get me excited.

Cameron White is another.

I have a thing for leggies. But more than that its White's power hitting that makes him what he is.

I'm glad the Aussie selectors have ignored their blunder of playing him as a leg spinner in the tests against India and have stuck with him for the ODIs.

The usual suspects - Ponting, Clarke, and Hussey - are there, but they're hardly exciting.

Actually Hussey is in ODIs. Ignore his test style. In ODIs he can be brutal and has been.

And then there's another Hussey.

David Hussey.

Now thats a player you don't want to miss.

He can hit and he can hit hard and far.

We saw glimpses of what he can do in the IPL and then in the West Indies.

But I'm sure there's more to come from him.

He's been in smashing form in the ongoing 20-20 Big Bash.

How can anyone not be excited about him.

So while Australia's test batsmen seem lost in time and don't seem all that threatening anymore, the ODI batting line up seems to be a fine one.

Marsh, Hopes, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Hussey, White, Haddin

Read that again.

Marsh, Hopes, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Hussey, White, Haddin

Thats why the Australian ODI team excites me.

Steyn & Co. - watch out!

The Twenty20 Big Bash, Australia's domestic 20-20 competition got underway a few days back.

Now normally I would not be covering an Australian domestic competition and would be relying on Jrod to hear about how Victoria is fairing, what David Hussey is doing, how Bryce McGain is shaping up, and the other happenings down under.

But this season has been quite different in Australia.

Different for us atleast.

As many as 3 Pakistani internationals have turned out for Australian states in their domestic competitions this season.

First Younis Khan played a few One-dayers and first class games for South Australia.

And now Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir are playing for Western Australia and South Australia respectively in the Twenty20 Big Bash.

Both the Pakistanis went up against each other 2 days ago as WA took on SA.

Umar Gul even snared up Tanvir's wicket. First ball!

Gul made an impressive debut for his Australian state team picking up 4-15 in 3.2 overs.

His effort though could not help WA to victory who lost by the D/L method.

Tanvir picked up only 1 wicket nd had a forgetful debut with the bat.

I'll be following these 2 down under.

Elsewhere David Hussey continued business as usual smashing a 47 ball unbeaten 100. He even picked up 2 wickets.

Well he's not the future PM for nothing.

Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils.

The only 2 teams with comic book inspired names.

The only 2 teams with 8 points from 8 matches.

The only 2 teams that haven't played each other yet.

Only 0.045 separates them (Net Run Rate).

2 of the 3 teams fighting for the 4th Semi-Final berth.

All that will change today.

After 25 days and 34 matches of the Indian Premier League, the Knight Riders and the Daredevils come face to face TODAY!

How apt is it that they meet when there is little separating the two and the winner will go ahead in the race for the semi finals.

Perfect setting for a potentially cracking match.

Whats more, its at the Eden Gardens where you can expect over a 100,000 capacity crowd.

Its Saurav Ganguly's home crowd and he's up against a man who has always supported him - Virender Sehwag. Both have played for India, both have opened together, today they will be captaining 2 opposing teams.

If the Daredevil's ambassador Akshay Kumar turns up, it will be 2 of Bollywood's biggest superstars up against each other: Shahrukh Khan vs Akshay Kumar.

Ishant Sharma is from Delhi. He plays under Sehwag for Delhi. Today he turns out for Kolkata and will bowl at his Delhi team mate and openers - Sehwag and Gambhir. Some match up this is.

David Hussey has been in prime form and with every game he is showing the world why this man sang so many praises about him. Watch out for another cracking innings.

Shoaib Akhtar is expected to make his IPL debut today and if that happens and the Daredevils play Mohammad Asif, its going to be Pakistan's new ball attack on opposing ends. The organizers will do well by keeping bats away from Shoaib's sight.

If Ganguly continues his form of the past few days, the Daredevils will find it difficult to stop the Riders. But the Riders have only beaten RCB and DC, twice each. Those 2 are the bottom 2 teams on the table.

Delhi have lost their last 2. But they are one of the strongest sides in the IPL.

Whose going to take the lead in the points table?

If Shoaib Akhtar plays, I say go KKR!!!

A potential cracker tonight. 230pm GMT!

Or is it?

Lancashire have lost Brad Hodge for 5 weeks to the Kolkata Knight Riders. But they have managed to procure the services of Mohammad Yousuf for that period since he's not eligible to play in the Indian Premier League.

Till only last year cricketers used to jump at the opportunity to play country cricket, not only for excercising their sport during the off season but also for those extra dollars, or rather pounds to be economically correct.

Today, however, with the emergence of the IPL and top notch dollars associated with it, playing county cricket has become the 2nd best option.

Would Yousuf have been available for Lancashire had one of the francises roped him in? Obviously not.

Hodge is going to miss 5 weeks to play in the IPL. David Hussey is already missing the county season. Shane Warne announced his retirement from county cricket despite being under contract to Hampshire for another year or two.

Moreover, this doesn't apply to international players alone. England and Hampshire's own Dmitri Mascharenas has joined the Rajhastan Royals for 5 weeks giving his home county season a break.

ECB better hurry with that EPL or they may lose a lot more as I hear that next year's IPL is scheduled around the same time. Plus Peiterson and some others are itching to play for some Indian teams.

Well, at the end I guess Mohammad Yousuf will be happy to be playing a form of the game he's good at. But he'll still be rueing his chances of making those dollars in hundreds of thousands.

About a month and a half back Uncle J of Cricket with Balls started a petition to get David Hussey into the Australian cricket team.

The arguements were all strong since Hussey Jr. was blasting away in the domestic matches, while the Aussie's international batsmen were struggling against an overgrown Adam's apple (referring to Uncle J's reference to Ishant Sharma).

That petition attracted some 130 signatures on Uncle J's blog. The petition was also added onto a facebook group and then it was said to be doing the rounds of the streets of Australia.

I don't have the total count of how many people actually signed the petition but Cricket Australia selectors probably got hold of it and realised that they had to bow down to the demands of the Aussie public.

This morning when CA announced the squad for Australia's tour to the Windies in May, David Hussey was part of the 14 man ODI line up.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Uncle J on all his efforts to get David Hussey into Office! Your work has paid off Uncle J. I know you are mighty pissed at Bryce McGain being ignored but savour this moment of glory - David Hussey is in the team because of you.

In another expected announcement, Micheal Clarke took over as the Vice Captain of the team following Adam Gilchrist's retirement and Brad Haddin replaced him as the #1 wicket keeper.

The Aussies have been going through a transformation of sorts since the heavy load of retirements during last and this season. And this is another step within the tranformation phase.

Will they hold on to their status as the #1 team in the world? Only time will tell.

Uncle J - now I suggest a petition for the inclusion of your very own Bryce McGain.

The IPL got their 6th Millionnaire in Saurav Ganguly who joins Dhoni, Symonds, Sachin, Dravid, and Yuvraj in the elite club. Ganguly achieved the status owing to Kolkata's aggressive bid for India's latest bowling senation Ishant Sharma.

Shahrukh Khan bid aggressively for Ishant Sharma closing his bid at a whopping $950,000! Thats the highest than any Indian fast bowler has got thus far. Irfan Pathan is a 2nd close who bagged a $925,000 deal from Priety Zinta's Mohali. Ponting would not have to worry about facing Ishant now as both of them will turn out for the Kolkata team. Ishant sharing the new ball with Shoaib Akhtar - the could be hell for the opposition batsmen and a treat. RP Singh was the other most valuable Indian pacer who was bagged by Hyderabad for $875,000.

The auction has proved the most beneficial for Indian players as almost all of them have gotten deals in excess of half a million dollars. Gambhir was picked up by his home team Delhi for $725,000 while Mumbai picked up Uthappa for $800,000. Delhi also won the bid for Manoj Tiwari for a high $675,000 while Rohit Sharma ($750,000), Suresha Raina ($650,000), and Mohammad Kaif ($675,000) all got valuable deals from Hyderabad, Chennai, and Jaipur respectively.

In my view the biggest surprise of the day was David Hussey being picked up for $657,000 by Kolkata. Uncle J has been running a petition for David Hussey's inclusion in the Aussie ODI side and his case has been made stronger due to the struggling Aussie batsmen in the CB series and his most recent 113 of 64 balls, the 2nd fastest century in Australian domestic cricket. Hussey junior's bid was more surprising because his elder brother Micheal Hussey, who is a permanent member of the Aussie side, did not attract any bids.

In the most recent round of bidding the franchisees concentrated on tanking up their bowling force with Jaipur picking up Munaf Patel ($275,000), Mumbai bagging the Lankan pair of Lasith Malinga ($350,000) and Dilhara Fernando ($150,000), Bangalore hitting the jackpot with Dale Steyn ($325,000) and Nathan Bracken ($325,000), Hyderabad bidding succesfully for RP Singh and the Sri Lankan pair of Chaminda Vaas ($200,000) and Nuwan Zoysa ($110,000), Mohali settling for the spinning combo of Ramesh Power ($170,000) and Piyush Chawla ($400,000), and Kolkata smartly bagging Ishant Sharma, Murali Karthik ($425,000), and Umar Gul ($150,000).

Stay tuned for the final update.