IPL HANGAMA 10 th Edition 2017

The enthusiastic cricket fans were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their favourite HANGAMA of IPL 2017. Finally their expectation turned into reality on the night of 5th April 2017.The very first match between the winners of last year The Sunrisers of Hyderabad & Royal Challengers was a thriller in which Sunrisers batting first scored over 200 runs usually considered as a land mark.Their hero was none other than Yuvaraj Singh the highest paid player of last year.Once again we got an opportunity to watch the old self of Yuvaraj Singh who used to score sixes at his will and pleasure. he scored a match winning score of 65 from 23 balls studded with sixes and fours.Eventually they won the thriller. Royal Challengers Bangalore was without de Villiers and Virat Kohli.Chris Gail with his super hits gave a good beginning for the Bangalore innings but could not continue for long to reach the formidable target fixed by the Sunrisers. The second match on 6th Night between Mumbai Indians and Rising Super Giants Pune.This match was also a thriller .Stevens Smith the captain of Pune won the toss but selected to take the field first.Although they started slowly towards the end in the last couple of overs HHPande score 35 runs from 15 balls with 4 hits over the fence and one a four. This enabled them to post a reasonably good score of 184 on the board. In reply Pune Giants began their innings fairy well.Rehane did a good job seemingly the role of acting Captain has taught him a few good lessons as a bats man.He kept the run rate under control.After he lost his wicket Ben Stokes the highest paid player of this season began well but lost rhythm and got out.This was a big blow for Pune.However Steve Smith kept his cool and went on scoring .Then Dhoni joined Smith .Although Dhoni could not contribute much to the score as expected ,he kept his wicket in tact until Smith in the final over dispatched the ball twice over the fence to win at 187/4 with a ball to spare. It was a spectacular show from Smith from the beginning to the end. Now let us evaluate the prospects of other teams. all the other teams,Gujrat Lions,Kolkatta Night Riders,Delhi Dare Devis and Punjab Kings eleven are strong in one way or other.it is in fact very difficult to predict who is going to win the Trophy this year. However,the Rising Super Giants ,Pune seems to have an ideal combination of batsmen & Bowlers. If Dhoni also assumes his recent form ,it looks the Pune Giants are really the favourites to lift the trophy SreedharanMundanat 7th -April 2017 17-20 hrs ( IST)