IPL-VII ENDS TODAY

Cricket fans across the country will be hoping that it will be a mesmerising pot-boiler with all the Bollywood inspired doses of entertainment intervened to box-office proportions when the Shahrukh Khan and Priety Zinta owned teams take on each other in the IPL VII battle royale in Bangalore on Super Sunday.

Of course, it will not have a Veer-Zaara climax because there can only be one winner and there is no room for filmy histrionics or tear-jerkers when professional cricketers take to the middle where the margin of errors is razor-thin and there is no scope for retakes, whatsoever.

After weeks of fluctuating fortunes, the championship clash features a rather unexpected showdown considering that when the toss for the opener was called in the Middle East 46 days back none, (not even their steadfast fans) dared to imagine that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) would be battling it out against Kings XI Punjab on June 1. The 2012 champion has kept tryst with destiny with rare regality given the fact that till the climatic stages of the League structure it was presumed that they stood only an outside chance of making it to the playoffs.

Irrespective of the eventual outcome, the KKR comeback saga will surely mark as the high point of the seventh edition of the tournament. Their remarkable progress has been in stark contrast to the consistency with which the Punjab outfit fared, inarguably, its finest showing in the IPL, since inception. It was a resurgence that was unheard of because they were never expected to make it to the last four at the commencement of the championship. As always, Punjab was expected to be the journeyman it has been for six straight seasons.

If rejuvenation works wonders, the Punjab story stands testimony to what team-spirit can do when all eyes are focussed on the proven big guns and former champions. Perhaps, that was one of the most crucial aspects to the game-plan of the team, which is eager to add its name to the IPL champion’s roll of honours.

The final showdown will be a repeat of Wednesday’s first qualifier between the two which the Gautam Gambhir gladiators won at Eden Gardens with a convincing 28 runs. The equations amid the surcharge atmosphere will alter dramatically on Sunday, though. KKR goes with a high as it presently enjoys a seven-match win streak while Punjab will be out on ‘mission vengeance’ with their win-spree having been broken by Kolkata, which stormed to the title clash with gay abandon.

On the morale front both will be at the peak-KKR bludgeoned Punjab to make it to D-Day while Punjab, on its part, thwarted the aspirations of two-time champion, Chennai Super Kings their dreams of a fifth consecutive final, thanks to Punjab’s new boy, Virender Sehwag, at his vintage best.

It will no more be a tie between this batsman and that bowler or a battle of nerves and the deft handling of the boys by the respective captains but will all boil down to who possesses the better temperament to go for the kill and executes it with destructive purposefulness. Rather than hazard guesses on the potential winner, it is better to sit back and enjoy the ‘fireworks’ and ‘destructive spells’ hoping that cricket, after the previous edition’s nightmare, will be the winner.