IPL MANIA

Glamour and fervour are an all time high as the battle between the leather and the willow get past the half way mark. The slam-bang game stirs up the heat further, as some teams to blow up the storm while others get blown over.
While the Deccan 'unstoppables' Chargers get stuck in the quicksand of uncertainity and seem to have no charge left in them, especially, after losing seven games on a trot, the Royal Challengers are also losing its royality as their challenge continues to sizzle out with each day.
Then there are the knight Riders, who went under the shadow of many a gloomy nights after their initial gallantry. But the riders claimed their knighthood with two straight wins riding on Saurav Ganguly's blitzkrieg batting and brisk bowling. The Knight in shinning arms backed by his 'too hot too cool' guys have once again lighted their charge brigade.
The Daredevils should take a piece of advice from these guys as their daredevilry have fallen straight on their face with they now being pushed on their backfoot after they vowed to be on 'front foot' always.
Close on their heels are the Mumbai indians, who lost first four matches amidst a lot of Bollywood tamasha, which left their non-mumbai Indian Harbhajan Singh cooling his heels after being slapped an 11 match ban by IPL. But the 'world shakers', although they themselves are on a shaky ground, have done some damage control winning three consecutive matches and now with the true mumbaikar Sachin making a comeback, they can hope to shake the world in the truest sense of the term this time.
However, the Kings XI, which is on a 'Chak de' mode winning five matches on a trot have high hopes. With the priety-Ness's team wriggling out of their initial mess, it seems they are really emmerging as the real kings.
But one team which really raised the 'clarion call' are the underdogs Rajasthan Royals. While MSD's Chennai super kings became the first team in the tournament to win four matches on a trot, they were pooh poohed by the Hollywood's Royals who are now placed on the top of the table claiming five wins on a trot. A bunch of unheralded players, groomed and nicely shaped together by their Coach and captain Shane Warne, Rajasthan royals has really been the highlight of this IPL.
And not only this, MSD who was considered to be the best captain in the IPL also bowed out as Royal's skipper shane shinned his way to clinch that title. Something which left MSD crying 'mind it! on national channels.
Well, with so much drama, including the cheers and leers, and the controversies it has been a fantastic first half so far, and if this is anything to go by then the second half, unlike a bollywood potboiler which disappoints in the second half, will hopefully have much more in store for the masses. However, one note of caution: Don't follow the cliches coz its IPL...MIND IT!