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Boucher finally retires. Dilshan, who was signed for a bargain
                                                                                                         $250,000,  was  equally  lithe  and  athletic,  as  he  has  shown  on
                                                                                                         numerous occasions for Sri Lanka. Squeezing the ball between
                                                                                                         these two was often as risky as piloting a course between Scylla
                                                                                                         and Charibdis.


                                                                                                         In  the  event,  other  players  came  to  the  fore  too,  not  least
                                                                                                         Sehwag’s opening partner and fellow local boy Gautam Gambhir.
                                                                                                         If Sehwag scored lots of runs very quickly – his eye-watering
                                                                                                         tournament strike-rate of 184 was highest of any batsman who
                                                                                                         played  more  than  five  innings  –  than  Gambhir  scored  even

                                                                                                         more heavily. It did not matter that he couldn’t always live with
                                                                                                         Sehwag’s phenomenal hitting. No one caressed more fours than
                                                                                                         the 68 hit by Gambhir during the competition and his overall
                                                                                                         tally of 534 runs was second only to the Australian Shaun Marsh,
                                                                                                         who was representing Kings XI Punjab. Perhaps we shouldn’t
                                                                                                         have been surprised: Gambhir had just scored 440 runs at an
                                                                                                         average  of  55  during  India’s  one-day  series  in  Australia,  and
                                                                                                         his guile, versatility and sheer invention had been underlined
                                                                                                         during  India’s  successful  World  Twenty20  campaign  in  South
                                                                                                         Africa the previous September, when only Australia’s Matthew
                                                                                                         Hayden outscored him. Gambhir began the DLF IPL as something
                                                                                                         of a hidden treasure in the eyes of many Indian fans used to
                                                                                                         worshipping at the altar of more household names, he ended up
                                                                                                         with a justifiably enhanced profile. Even less expected was the
                                                                                                         success  of  the  22-year-old  Shikhar  Dhawan,  yet  another  local
                                                                                                         boy, who batted at No. 3, scored an unbeaten half-century in his
                                                                                                         side’s opening game against Rajasthan Royals and never looked
                                                                                                         back.  An  undefeated  68  off  52  balls  later  in  the  tournament
                                                                                                         against Deccan Chargers was a reminder of his potential. Look
                                                                                                         out for his name in the future.


                                                                                                         If there was a distinctly homegrown flavour to Delhi’s prolific top
                                                                                                         order, their bowling had a foreign feel to it. Few seam bowlers
                                                                                                         were more impressive than McGrath, now 38 but still the miserly
                                                                                                         metronome  who  had  made  life  so  difficult  for  international
                                                                                                         batsmen the world over during a 14-year Test career that had
                                                                                                         brought him 563 wickets at an average of 21. Not until his 10th
                                                                                                         game of the tournament did McGrath concede more than 30 runs

                                                                                                         in his four-over stint, despite the fact that he always bowled at
                                                                                                         least two of his overs during the first six overs of every game,












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