The ‘Wizard of the Oz’ Shane Warne has always has this ability to spring a surprise from nothing. The world cricket had been a witness to this Australian leg spinner’s exploits. As a bowler Warne is a ‘matchless’. But in the ongoing Indian Professional League (IPL), this Aussie legendary leg spinner, who is hailed as the best-ever spinner to play cricket, has shown yet another trait in him –  captaincy.
Warne, despite being a worthy successor to Mark Taylor, never had an opportunity to lead the Australian side because of the controversies that surrounded him, though he led the Victorian county side with aplomb. However, in the IPL he has displayed his leadership qualities to take the lowly Rajasthan Royals to the semifinals.

A disciplined performance with the ball, followed by a counterattacking blitz from Yusuf Pathan, one of the finds of the tournament, sealed a six-wicket win at Eden Gardens for the Rajasthan Royals who, with 18 points from 11 matches, became the first team to seal a spot in the semi-finals. At the toss, Shane Warne had said his intention was to knock out the Kolkata Knight Riders and proved himself right. It is ironic that the Kolkata Knight Riders, who started as one of the tournament favourites were beaten in their own den by a side, Rajasthan Royals, for whom no gave at least an outside chance.

So, what made the Rajasthan click – nothing but the team played as a cohesive unit under Shane Warne and the Aussie showed his remarkable skills in making bowling changes at a crucial time besides his field placements were noteworthy. And as a bowler, Warne, despite coming out of the retirement, showed the world he has still has so much with him.
Warne’s team is ably assisted by Yousuf Pathan, the elder sibling of more-famous India international Irfan Pathan, who is making good use of height to send the bowler to all parts of the ground. While Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir, with his unorthodox bowling style, has been very impressive to emerge as the most economical bowler in this tournament so far.

Washout ends Kolkata’s hopes: The Kolkata Knight Riders became the third team to be eliminated from the race for a semi-final spot after persistent rain caused their match against the Delhi Daredevils to be abandoned without a ball being bowled. The result was good news for the Kings XI Punjab, though, as it guarantees them a berth in the final four.  The match left Kolkata, with 11 points from 13 matches, and were relegated to third position from the bottom of the table with the Deccan Chargers (last in the table with 4 points from 11 matches) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore  (6 points from 12 matches). 

The Mumbai Indians, who were strengthened by the return of the ‘Little Master’ Sachin Tendulkar, had a heart-breaking loss against the Rajasthan Royals in the crucial league encounter, which put their semifinal chances in a balanced state and the Chennai Super Kings did no good for themselves as they lost low-scoring match to Bangalore Royal Challengers, who were out of reckoning as they are playing for redeeming their pride. 

The tournament so far has been a mixed bag so far. But the most underlying fact is class is permanent and the form is temporary. Some of the best players in the world cricket came up with masterly performance. Australian legendary pace bowler Glenn McGrath, coming out of retirement, proved that he sill has so much left in him, with his trademark nagging line. Sri Lanka’s Sannath Jayasuriya, demonstrated his hard-hitting skills to keep Mumbai Indians’ semifinal chances alive. And, India’s Little Master Sachin Tendulkar, who almost single-handedly led his side to victory against the Rajasthan Royals with a masterly 65 off 45 balls which included 12 boundaries.

Hat-trick by Balaji, Amit Mishra
It is always a tough job for bowlers to prove themselves in the slam-bang version of the game. But, bowlers like Shane Warne, McGrath, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock showed why they are called the best in the world as they showed their wicket-taking abilities at a crucial stage in almost every
game they had played so far.

The comeback man, Lakshmipathy Balaji became the first player to take a hat-trick in the Indian Premier League. The Indian, who is making a comeback after injury lay-off took 5/24, including a hat-trick to steer Chennai Super Kings to an 18-run win over Kings XI Punjab at Chennai. Balaji, 26 and who last played Test and one-day cricket for India in 2005, then created history in the final over by removing Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla and Vikram Singh in successive deliveries.

Promising spinner Amit Mishra recorded the second hat-trick in the IPL to guide his side, Delhi Daredevils, to a thrilling 12-run win over Deccan Chargers. Mishra picked up five for 17 and became the third bowler after Sohail Tanvir (6/14) and Lakshmipathy Balaji (5/24) to claim five wickets or more in an IPL innings. Mishra picked up the wickets of D Ravi Teja  (9), Pragyan Ojha (0) and RP Singh (1) to clinch the victory for his side.