Champions League 2010: Any Real Takers??

So the Chennai Super Kings have won the second edition of the Champions League but I still cannot get my head around the reason for hosting such tournaments. Just looking around, it seems that no one was really interested in whatever happened in South Africa, not at least in my part of the world. The matches had no build-up in terms of team rivalries or anything significant, there were no special players who have emerged from the tournament and apart from Dhoni who seemed pretty happy to add another trophy in 2010, no one really seemed really interested or desperate enough to put-in blood and sweat to win the matches. The regional players of  T20 teams from around the world were overshadowed by the three Indian teams
that participated. That is another question I had in mind: how come three IPL teams get to qualify as against just one each from the rest of cricket-playing nations? Does this mean that IPL teams are superior to the runners-up in the English county league or for that matter, other T20 teams that finished second and third in their respective national leagues?? Just doesn't make any sense to me...well anyways, as Ravi Shastri said recently, in his typically mundane style of commentating that the "sponsors" are beginning to understand the worth of such tournaments....well, that is all that seems to matter in the world of cricket these days. You should confirm that with an individual called Salman Butt!!

Indian vs Pakistan: Still the same flavor??

I would guess not considering that the number of matches played between 2004 and 2007 entered the zone of being excessive. Further, the kind of tension that used to exist at Sharjah matches seems to have disappeared. Yes, the last match played at the Asia Cup was still enthralling and I was glad to see Gautam Gambhir give a verbal thrashing to Kamran Akmal. However, I still feel that the passion of such clashes has somewhat diminished….or it could be that the alternative means of entertainment has made us a bit immune to what such matches offer.