Indian Premier League - IPL / Andrew Hughes / 02 June 2008 / 2 Comments

From Rajasthan rags to Royal riches, Andrew Hughes gives out the gongs in the inaugural IPL Awards...

After 44 days, 59 matches, 1702 fours and 622 sixes the IPL came down to the last ball of the final game. Sohail Tanvir pulled a short ball through mid-on and the Rajasthan Royals celebrated as fireworks went off around the DY Patil Stadium. Along the way, there have been slaps, bans, tiffs and sackings but above all, some thrilling contests in which bat has not dominated ball and high-class stroke play has prevailed over hopeful slogging. In purely cricketing terms, the competition has been a resounding success. But before the dust settles on the tournament's inaugural year, there is just time to hand out the Betfair IPL Awards.

Team: Rajasthan Royals

Everyone's idea of the wooden spoon candidates, they were the cut-price franchise who spent peanuts at the player auction and had no specialist coach. That they went on to win the thing was just the kind of rags to riches story that the tournament needed. They did it through intelligent cricket, team spirit and positive endeavour. Graeme Smith led the batting with Yusuf Pathan and Shane Watson contributing with bat and ball and Sohail Tanvir and Warne providing the spearhead. Innovative and positive in the field, they thoroughly deserved to lift the jewel-encrusted trophy.

Batsman: Shaun Marsh

Opener Marsh scored more runs than anyone else (616) at an average of 68.44. Not picked for the first four games, he was ever present after that, anchoring the Kings XI Punjab with astonishing consistency, failing only twice and earning man of the match in five of the 11 games he played. His clean, straight stroke play and solid technique were so effective that the likes of Yuvraj, Jayawardene and Sangakkara were completely overshadowed.

Bowler: Sohail Tanvir

Tanvir's wrong footed left-arm bowling continues to puzzle the world's best batsmen. Top wicket taker with 22 victims, nothing better demonstrates his value to Rajasthan than his performance in a league game against Chennai. Removing Fleming and Patel for ducks to reduce the visitors to 12-3, he returned to polish off the tail and finish with figures of 4-0-14-6. He swung the ball both ways and was metronomically accurate in the final overs.

All Rounder: Shane Watson

Shane Watson was the lynch pin of Rajasthan's middle order, guiding run-chases and accelerating the scoring, an intelligent batsman in an intelligent team, picking which bowlers to hit and where. His bowling was similarly crafty, exploiting weaknesses, varying his pace and length and doing it all with admirable accuracy.

Newcomer: Manpreet Gony

Manpreet Gony's debut first-class season for Punjab had been an ordinary one and, ignored by his home franchise, he was picked up cheaply by Chennai. But his muscular pace bowling came back to haunt Punjab in the semi-final when he removed Yuvraj and Sangakkara and bowled a priceless maiden. The only bowler to feature in all of Chennai's matches, he took 17 wickets with surprising bounce and accuracy and was just about the pick of a number of promising young Indian players.

Captain: Shane Warne

The old master gave us a glimpse of what might have been if he'd been trusted with the Australian captaincy. That Rajasthan were a relaxed, united team was largely down to Warne whose efforts to ensure the team bonded even extended to learning Hindi. On the field, his belief that they could win from any position was infectious and he backed it up with tactical surprises in every game. His gambler's instinct led him to attack and if he got lucky sometimes, few could begrudge him that. It almost goes without saying that he bowled impeccably, finishing as second highest wicket taker.

Performance: Brendon McCullum

With the smoke from the opening ceremony still lingering, what the first game needed was a show stopping performance. Enter McCullum. As the floodlights blazed from his golden headgear, he plundered 158 undefeated runs including ten fours and 13 sixes. For what was decried as a Mickey Mouse tournament, this was a Tom and Jerry opening, with the hapless Bangalore bowlers on the receiving end of one painful blow after another. McCullum played only four matches and contributed 30 more runs but he got the tournament off to an astonishing beginning and though there were five other centuries, none passed the foothills of his mountainous effort.

Tags: Brendon McCullum, Manpreet Gony, Rajasthan Royals, Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir