Rohit Sharma couldn't do it twice in two days, could he.

After leading the Chargers to an improbable victory last night against the Knight Riders, Rohit Sharma was in the same position again.

Only this time he needed to get 10 runs less than the 21 he got managed last night.

Yet he couldn't do it.

Almost, but not there.

I wonder what it is about the bowlers that they end up bowling no balls and wides when up against Rohit Sharma.

Can't be just luck.

I also wonder what the result would have been had the 3rd umpire been awake and not drunk when he gave Andrew Symonds out.

That was such a BIG NOT OUT!

How did he not see the bail drop before Sanga got the ball?

Thanks to the 3rd ump, whoever he was, the Kings XI are still in it.

The IPL race to the semis is still wide open!

Which two out of Deccan, Rajasthan, Kings XI, and Bangalore?

Pragyan Ojha (centre) looks the happiest of the lot. Maybe he sees their fortunes changing this season.

Rohit Sharma (2nd from left) looks very unamused. Probably missing being in New Zealand.

RP Singh (left) looks away probably thinking how within a few months he went from being Zak's attacking partner to not even a support bowler.

Shoaib Ahmed (right) looks like a younger and more doped out Shoaib Akhtar. Wrong example to follow son!

Ravi Teja (the one's thats left) looks like he should be in school.

Someone needs to tell the Deccan Chargers that changing their outfits will not change their fortunes in the IPL.

The team ended last in the first season. Will this season be any different?

I tuned into one of the Indian news channels on the 3rd day of the match between Australia and the Board President's XI.

Those who watch these news channels would know how dramatic these reporters are. The way they describe an event or a person it seems like a Bollywood movie is playing and the reporter is narrating the drama unfolding in the background.

One such reporter was doing just that when he started about how Australia was playing mind games with India.

And what was the mind game?

Playing below their best against the BP XI.

The reporter suggested that it was the Australians way of making the Indians over confident.

He questioned the Australians' below par performance and spoke of how the Aussies were doing it deliberately to make Kumble & Co. over confident before the 1st test.

He seemed so serious in his accusations that it looked like he was sitting in Australia's dressing room the night before.

The news report kept playing clips of Rohit and Kohli smashing Krejza to all parts of the park and continuously showed Chawla break through Ponting's defences. They even showed Chawla trapping Clarke in front.

The reporter questioned Ponting's and Clarke's technique and wondered why Krejza was given so many overs.

Now for my questions to this Indian reporter.

Do you have no faith in India's cricketing talent and ability?

Do you not think that Piyush Chawla has a tremendous future as India's leggie?

Do you not think that this is the weakest Australian side to tour India in over a decade?

Do you not think that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have it in them to play for India for the next 15 years?

Do you really think Kumble & Co. will be over confident going into the 1st test?

Do you really?

Ramadan and the Eid break are over and life has finally returned to some normalcy after 2 months of vacationing, fasting, and feasts.

Cricket is coming back to life gradually as well with the India vs Australia series about to kick off.

There has been a lot of speculation regarding the Indian seniors and their future and the lack of experience in the Australian ranks but come Thursday and everyone will be glued to watch the mother of all test series.

Whether the series will be bigger and better than the previous ones between these 2 sides, I don't know but I think it will be very closely fought.

Both, India and Australia, are weaker than they have been in the past. India's middle order is not as powerful as it once was, while Australia's bowling lacks the potency it once had.

Keeping this in mind, it should be an interesing contest.

I feel bad for Bryce McGain, who has had to go back without playing for Australia, and I feel worse for this man who has been rooting McGain's case for a year now - how close!

The fact that a Victorian replaced McGain might be some justice for the JRod but McGain missing out on a test debut in India is probably too big a let down.

Even for me it is and I have only read about him!

The spinner is going to be a big problem for Australia.

From what I saw of Krejza in the match against the Board President's XI, it doesn't look like he'll be playing much test cricket in India.

Cameron White, from what I hear, has become more of a batsman then a leg spinner, so I doubt he would pose a threat to the Indian batting line up.

But then, no Aussie spinner has ever troubled the Indians, not even the best spinner in the world, so I guess it doesn't really matter then does it?

Lee, Clarke, and Johnson / Siddle don't look like troubling the Indian batsmen either. No matter how old they're getting.

The Aussies will have to bat out of their skins I feel because the bowling doesn't look like taking 20 Indian wickets.

If Kumble and Bhajji are in their stride, the Aussies will find it tough.

India look more settled going into the 1st test.

The change of guard at the board level hasn't changed much in the team, and despite a loss to Sri Lanka over the summer, India has done very well at the test level under Kumble.

One question though to the Indian readers - why was Rohit Sharma dropped?

I have read about Badrinath in almost all of the Indian blogs doing the rounds and everyone has a good thing or two to say about him.

But wasn't Rohit in the test squad that went to Sri Lanka? He didn't get a test match there and now he finds himself dropped without getting a chance.

Why?

The way he batted for his 105 against the Aussies made me think that India's new selectors made a mistake.

Badrinath maybe a domestic champion but Rohit Sharma is India's middle order's future.

And Virat Kohli - I think we will hear this name for a long time to come.

As for Sachin, Saurav, Rahul, VVS - Good luck. Stretch those ageing legs as far as you can because if you fail India this time it will be very hard to keep the Sharmas, Yuvrajs, Kohlis, Badris, Kaifs, and Rainas on the bench.

International cricket is back and I can't wait for the action to begin.

The 3rd Quarter of the Indian Premier League is over. In 30 days, 42 matches have been played.

Initially, when I started doing these quarterly reports (Q1, Q2), I did not know that the matches were evenly distributed with 14 games over every 10 days. But thats how it has perfectly panned out and it only seems logical to compare how each of these 10 days were.

RR, RCB, and DC have had consistent quarters in the IPL, while the fortunes of the other teams have fluctuated throughout. KXI and CSK strenghtened their positions during Q3, while MI continued its strong resurgence by becoming the only team to win 6 consecutive games in the IPL.

KKR and DDD who began their campaigns strongly are dangerously lingering in the 5th and 6th positions, yet the RACE to the Final Four remains open. S. Rajesh of Cricinfo pointed out a possibility that even at this stage, RR can miss out.

Thats how open and unpredictable this tournament has been and thats why the viewers have been hooked.

Some people questioned that the length of the tournament, 45 days to be exact, would be taxing on the viewers who would lose interest. Nothing like that has happened and Q3 was witnessed with the same packed crowds and large number of TV viewers as Q1 and Q2.

With Q4 expected to be the most exciting quarter of the IPL, and the RACE to the Final Four in its concluding stages, expect the interest of the viewers to remain high, if not higher than the preceding quarters.

Here's a look at the top performers of the IPL at the end of Q3.

Leading Batsmen
1. Gautam Gambhir (DDD) - 465 runs in 11 innings at 46.50
2. Virender Sehwag (DDD) - 338 runs in 11 innings at 37.55
3. Rohit Sharma (DC) - 337 runs in 10 innings at 37.44
4. Sanath Jayasuriya (MI) - 336 runs in 10 innings at 42.00
5. Adam Gilchrist (DC) - 335 in 11 innings at 33.50

The top 3 batsmen remain the same as Q2, however Gambhir and Sharma exchange places. Gambhir has looked impressive throughout the tournament and now has over a 100 run lead over Sehwag, the 2nd highest run scorer in the IPL.

Jayasuriya breaks into the top 5 for the first time, while Gilchrist drops from 4 at the end of Q2 to 5. I reckon Jayasuriya in the last 3 games has batted the way he did in 1996, which by far was his best cricketing year with the bat.

Its interesting to note that only a single run separate each of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th ranked batsmen. And only 2 runs separate the 5th from the 6th (Shane Watson, 333), which is separated by only a run with the 7th (MS Dhoni, 332).

Graeme Smith, Shaun Marsh, and David Hussey make up the top 10. Marsh has batted only 6 times for his 297 runs, which is quite remarkable.

While Gambhir is leading by quite a big margin, there isn't much difference between the other batsmen in the top 10.

Leading Bowlers
1. RP Singh (DC) - 15 wickets in 11 matches at 23.86
2. Shane Warne (RR) - 14 wickets in 10 matches at 18.78
3. Irfan Pathan (KXIP) - 13 wickets in 10 matches at 18.69
4. Sreesanth (KXIP) - 13 wickets in 10 matches at 22.61
5. Zaheer Khan (RCB) - 13 wickets in 10 matches at 24.61

Irfan Pathan, who topped the charts at the end of Q1 and Q2 drops from the top spot down to number 3, which he shares with team mate Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan.

The Indians continue to dominate the bowling list as they did in Q1 and Q2, with RP Singh over taking his Indian team mates to the number 1 spot at the end of Q3.

From the list at the end of Q2, Ashish Nehra drops out, while Sreesanth breaks into the top 5 for the first time. The slap has definitely done him a lot of good.

Shane Warne, who had dropped from 3rd to 5th between Q1 and Q2, is now in the 2nd spot. My bets are on him topping the charts at the end of Q4.

The 6th in the list, Watson has 12 wickets, while the bowlers from 7th to 11th (Tanvir, Kulkarni, Bravo, Chawla) each have 11 wickets apiece.

Other Stats
Highest Team Score: 240-5, CSK vs KXIP.
Highest Individual Score: 158*, Brendon McCullum (KKR) vs RCB.
Best Strike Rate (min 100 runs): 204.34, Brendon McCullum (KKR).
Most Sixes: 20, Sanath Jayasuriya (MI)
Best Bowling Performance: 6-14, Sohail Tanvir (RR) vs CSK.
Best Economy Rate (min 10 overs): 5.77, Saurav Ganguly (KKR).

The highest team and individual scores, and the highest strike rate have remain unchanged since Q1. Plus it took 2 quarters for someone to surpass McCullum's number of sixes, all of which were hit during Q1.

Sohail Tanvir's figures remain untouched, even though Balaji, Mishra, Ntini, and Shoaib Akhtar have come close. Overall there was better bowling on display during Q3 than the preceding quarters.

Ganguly is a surprise with the best economy rate - he has bowled 17 overs for only 104 runs, and he's picked up 5 wickets as well.

Another 10 days to go for the group stage. Another 14 matches, which will not only decide the RACE, but also the top performers.

Stay tuned for Q4 results.

27 matches of the Indian Premier League have been completed in 20 days. Every team has played the other team apart from KKR vs DD - apart from these 2, all teams have played 7 matches each.

Match 28 and 29 are today and another 29 matches will be played over the next 20 days before the knock outs.

The results have been unpredictable as I highlighted in the post below.

Here's a look at the top performers of the first half of the IPL.

Leading Batsmen
1. Rohit Sharma (DC) - 258 runs in 6 innings at 51.60
2. Virender Sehwag (DDD) - 247 runs in 6 innings at 49.40
3. Gautam Gambhir (DDD) - 225 runs in 6 innings at 45.00
4. Adam Gilchrist (DC) - 223 runs in 7 innings at 37.16
5. Robhin Uthappa (MI) - 211 runs in 7 innings at 42.20

At the end of Q1 there were no Indians in the top 5, however now 4 of the top 5 run scorers are Indians. Moreover, all of them who are part of the international ODI and 20-20 side.

At the end of Q1 results, I pointed out that Sehwag, R. Sharma, and Uthappa have done well in bursts but haven't been consistent to be in the top 5. Now they are all there.

Interesting to note that 2 of the top 5 are from a team who have won only 2 matches out of 7 in the 1st half of the group stages.

Brendon Mcullum and Matthew Hayden who topped the charts during Q1 have since left the IPL, as has Symonds who was in 5th place at the time. Kumar Sangakkara and Shane Watson who were at 3rd and 4th at the end of Q1, have dropped to 7th and 6th respectively.

Despite not having played the last 3 matches, Hayden and McCullum remain in the top 10 highlighting the lack of runs from other big names still playing.

Leading Bowlers
1. Irfan Pathan (KXIP) - 12 wickets in 7 matches at 14.50
2. Zaheer Khan (RCB) - 12 wickets in 7 matches at 17.66
3. Ashish Nehra (MI) - 10 wickets in 7 matches at 16.80
4. RP Singh (DC) - 10 wickets in 7 matches at 19.00
5. Shane Warne (RR) - 9 wickets in 7 matches at 19.22


Just like the batting, the bowling charts are also dominated by Indians with the top 4 wicket takers all Indian internationals. What more they are all left arm pacers!

Irfan Pathan continues his run at the top at the end of Q2 - he was there at the end of Q1 as well. And you can't leave Shane Warne out of any top 5 bowling list, however he drops from 3 at the end of Q1 to 5.

Ajit Agarkar, Shahid Afridi, and Harbhajan Singh who were 2, 4, and 5 at the end of Q1 are now at 10, 15, and sitting at home respectively. Agarkar was definitely not going to continue his run at the top, while Afridi has just taken 2 wickets during Q2 compared to his 5 in Q1.

There are another 2 Indians in the top 10 in Manpreet Gony and DS Kulkarni. And there's another left armer as well in Sohail Tanvir sitting at number 8. Shane Watson at 6 makes up the top 10.

Shane Watson at number 6 in the run charts and the bowling charts! Who would have thought. Surprising some part of his body hasn't twisted, torn, pulled, or broken yet.

Other Stats
Highest Team Score: 240-5, CSK vs KXIP.
Highest Individual Score: 158*, Brendon McCullum (KKR) vs RCB.
Best Strike Rate (min 100 runs): 204.34, Brendon McCullum (KKR).
Most Sixes: 15, Brendon McCullum (KKR) / Adam Gilchrist (DC).
Best Bowling Performance: 6-14, Sohail Tanvir (RR) vs CSK.
Best Economy Rate (min 10 overs): 5.80, Sohail Tanvir (RR).

I don't see these lists changing much between now and Q3 or even Q4, but stranger things have happened. Maybe Misbah will score a 150 or David Hussey will hit 2 back to back centuries and show the world what he is capable of. Maybe Cameron White will score a run too.

Steyn could pick up a 5 wicket haul, maybe batsmen will start going after McGrath and he'll pick up a bunch of wickets. Umar Gul has played only 2 matches for his 5 wickets so his next 8 could produce another 20 or so. And Shoaib Akhtar will start his campaign soon.

Here are the end of Q1 results. I'll be back with an update at the end of Q3 in another 10 days.

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.