Indian Premier League - IPL / Andrew Hughes / 25 May 2009 /

Andrew Hughes sums up all that was good and bad from a great second season of IPL action.

So it is finally over. After five weeks of frenetic action, the Deccan Chargers were crowned IPL Champions on Sunday in an exciting tussle with the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Though some continue to look down their noses, it is clear that, as a spectacle, IPL 2009 delivered everything that it was expected to do. There were boundaries aplenty, exciting finishes and the crowds seemed to lap it up. But as the fireworks fade and the clean up begins, there's time for one more visit to Modi World as we hand out the Betfair IPL Awards 2009.

Top Batsman
IPL 2009 was no batsman's paradise. The tired, end of season pitches made strokeplay tricky and many from the subcontinent struggled with the springy bounce. Still, class will out and two veterans showed everyone how it should be done. Adam Gilchrist didn't let captaincy cramp the freedom of his batting and his 85 from 35 balls against Delhi Daredevils in the semi-finals was the innings of the tournament. But Matthew Hayden was immense, scoring more runs than anyone else and looking back to his brutal best. He was also Mr Consistency, top scoring for Chennai Super Kings in seven of the 12 games he played.

Top Bowler
RP Singh was the tournament's top wicket taker; his mastery of swing and consistent length proving deadly in the opening overs. But his success and that of the resurgent Ashish Nehra were rare examples of quicker bowlers thriving. IPL 2009 was dominated by the spinners. Muttiah Muralitharan was particularly miserly, but Anil Kumble managed to combine economy with wicket-taking threat. He bagged 21 victims and his overs cost only 5.86 runs apiece. Time and again, he put the brakes on with the ball and got Bangalore back into the game.

Top All-Rounder
Genuine all-rounders struggled at IPL 2009. Jacques Kallis toiled away manfully but his bowling was expensive on occasions. Yusuf Pathan was tidy with the ball but didn't produce with the bat. Rohit Sharma was perhaps the ultimate part-timer, his stylish batting supplemented by taking eleven cheap wickets. But it was the newly shaven-headed Andrew Symonds who took the accolade of top all-rounder. Though he only played in eight games, his impact was immediate. He shored up the wobbly middle order and his tidy bowling enabled Deccan to strangle the opposition.

Top Fielder
Despite the presence of one or two wrinklies, the fielding was pretty good throughout, with the home players impressing the most. JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs and A B De Villiers were agile as panthers in the field and, when required, were safe pairs of hands in the deep. But the most eye-catching fielding performance was by young Roelof Van Der Merwe, who flung himself about with impressive zeal and his one-handed catch to snaffle a Mahendra Dhoni drive in game 44 was the fielding moment of the tournament.

Top Captain
Shane Warne again performed miracles to get Rajasthan within touching distance of the semi-finals and his old team-mate Gilchrist led Deccan with humility and energy. But Kumble's leadership was the most impressive. Taking over from Kevin Pietersen with the team in disarray and four defeats on the board, he also had to cope with an unbalanced squad and a demanding franchise owner. With coach Ray Jennings, he reshuffled the team and with quiet control, determination and dignity, led Bangalore from the foot of the table to the IPL final.

Top Crowd
One of the delights of the tournament was the way that the South African crowds supported it. The carnival atmosphere for the final at Johannesburg was hard to beat. But the crowd at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth were the best. The entire ground seemed to reverberate with music; a song throbbing constantly like a pulse underneath the action as the crowd banged their inflatable clappers, sang, cheered and shouted as if their lives depended on it. English supporters have a lot to live up to during the World Twenty20 starting on June 5 for which India are the current favourites at [4.5].

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