Kings win the battle of queens

Priety has the last laugh

It was supposed to be the most intensely fought match yet of the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Making it even more romantic was the overly fact that it was Super Sunday.

What transpired at the Wankhede Stadium stands testimony and also comes off as the electrifying endorsement of the cricketainment that comes along with the world’s most popular T20 championship.

If IPL is a razzmatazz of the game’s finest of contemporary talent, then it also brings together the best of celebrated names, including from tinsel town and industry captains, as the co-owners of one franchise or the other.

Sunday’s showdown between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) was a virtual final before the final for the simple reason that only one could make it to the climatic stage. That it went to the wire must come as champagne stuff to the Governing Council of IPL.

If it was an indirect showdown between Nita Ambani (MI) and Shilpa Shetty (RR), a more defying moment comes in making a case study of the latter with her Bollywood colleague, Preity Zinta, co-owner of Kings XI Punjab. With pride and women ego at stake, IPLVII saw the battle between two of the most adorable silver screen stars reach flashpoint.

Come match day and they were out in team colours, waving the flag, cheering every boundary and every wicket and boosting the morale of the team at every on-field failure.

Talking of lady-luck, it all boils down to who enjoyed a better deal from dame-luck, this time round. It deserted Shilpa while it was more than generous on Priety, whose investments produced emphatic results for the first time in the championship’s seven-year history.

It boasts of this season’s biggest sensation- Glenn Maxwell, who single handedly took the team to the top of the charts and, in a way, restored Zinta’s trademark dimple.

Shilpa’s Royals, on the other hand, have officially had the most dramatic fall in IPL history. From being in a position to ending in the top two, to not even making it to the play-offs, the humiliation was complete and melodramatic. If the off-field scam of last edition hit her hard, this was equally terrible. To rub salt to their wounds, they were knocked out by arch rivals Mumbai Indians, who chased down a 190-run target in 87 astounding balls.

The tears in Shilpa’s eyes after Aditya Tare hit the final six on Sunday said it all. The champions of the inaugural season were knocked out despite being in the best positions to win the league. It would not be wrong to say that luck just wasn’t on her side.

There were no such hiccups for an inspired Punjab outfit. If Zinta held centre-stage in the stands, the mantle was taken over by Maxwell’s histrionics, which actually evoked the biggest applause even form the die-hard fans of the opponents.

Luck smiled on Zinta so much that it seems to have rubbed on to the entire team. If one individual failed in any one match, another emerged from nowhere to script phenomenal wins.

Coming after six long years of utter disappointments, many might say that Priety’s team deserves to take home their first IPL trophy. With luck on their side, it looks pretty much possible. The Kings might have won the battle of the queens but the war is far from over.

Her side now takes on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), which is owned by her co-star from several blockbusters, Shahrukh Khan in the first play-offs. The very thought of the high-flying Kings taking on Knights, making a determined comeback, is in itself an exciting proposition.