Yesterday, i ate no food and almost all my words.

I chewed my left pinkie right down to the stub last night. It was the DLF IPL Finals between the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings that made me. What a match! This one was as nail-biting to the last ball as the semi-finals were completely lukewarm efforts from the two competing teams of the finalists. Although, if you had to ask me, the Rajasthan Royals match with Mumbai Indians was more a BP-shooter than this one.

Ravi Shastri was a drag on the stage prior to the awards ceremony, asking some very silly questions and insisting on answers to them when it was pretty evident that some of the players didn't understand what he was asking ("So, that was some script you wrote out there"; "Nai, main yeh pooch raha tha ki aapne kaafi achchi script likhi field mein" and nonsense). Not to forget the whole thing about Ntini "adding colour to the game". Oh boy, what a goofer that one. Bet we'll be reading the papers pretty soon about Ravi Shastri being sued for racist remarks.

Although i was rooting for the Royals, i preferred to side with the Super kings post the award ceremony. Dhoni was so dignified about it, but what really did it for me was that bit about "we lost as a team today, and that's what i'm happy about". Completely contrary vibes to what i sort of felt from the Royals - they seemed to be so individual-focussed: example, Sohail Tanvir himself saying that he had played very well throughout the match, and that 50% of the effort of winning came from Shane Warne and his captaincy. Come on, you're a team, why would you put yourself before it? Which is why i really liked Dhoni and his team's attitude. Somehow they seemed less money-grubbing and more i-play-for-the-love-of-the-game than the Royals at the award ceremony.

So as we finish the first of DLF IPL season, the next year's T20 is on my mind already and i can't wait for it to happen. It's made me think of cricket like i never did before. And that brings me to the next thing on my mind: Dear god, you really should stop making me eat my own words. I mean, i know i hated cricket and all that but my hatred was doing nobody any harm that you had to take it upon yourself and make me like it so much! I hope you'll only restrict this exercise to the T20 matches!