There is no doubt in anybody's mind that while IPL 2009 has been a success, it has not been able to match IPL 2008 either in terms of Eyeballs watching TV or sheer buzz. The din created by all the on-ground events in the big cities (Where the major 8 teams are based) created huge chatter which IPL 2009 has struggled to re-create. We are all set for the last weekend of this year's IPL and the TRPs might not be able to rival the 2008 levels. But there were quite a few reasons why I think IPL 2009 has been more fun:
- All the 3 South Indian teams made it to the last four (For all of us clannish folks from the Sunny South!)
- All the 3 Bollywood teams - (Read Shilpa Shetty, SRK and the not so Preity Zinta) eliminated. Bollywood and cricket may be intertwined but....
- TV News Anchors tried to simplify the teams for the viewers with headlines like - "Shilpa's team will play Preity's team this evening"
- A lot of intellectually stimulating discussions - Where else in world can you find Katrina Kaif and Mandira Bedi analysing a game of cricket!
- The South African pitches ensured that the bowlers had their say - not all games were run fests where mediocre batsmen could torment world-class bowlers.
- All discussions about T20 and the age factor went out of the window. Mathew Hayden, Sachin Tendulkar (!!), Anil Kumble, Shane Warne, Herschelle Gibbs, Adam Gilchrist were among those who had a successful tournament proving that 'Age aint nothing but a number'!
- A bookie's nightmare - Seven out of eight teams were in contention for a semi-final berth till a week before the final and fortunes of teams kept fluctuating.
- And maybe there will be over over these last three days of IPL 2009
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