The most incongruous sight in cricket

Notes from the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

1. The pitch is a beauty. It gives the lie to excuses that India can’t produce tracks with pace and bounce. Dale Steyn’s opening overs were electrifying. Albie Morkel got the ball to zip and even Sudeep Tyagi made a few fly. Chennai batted poorly so the game became a mismatch, but ten times out of ten, I would take a pitch that tests the batsmen, even in Twenty20. If India want to stay at the top to the Test table, their young batsmen need to bat on pitches like this.

2. Matthew Hayden and the Mongoose are the most incongruous sight in cricket. It makes him look like he's batting with his son’s bat. In fact, when he is walking with it, the bat looks like a little child holding his fingers. He did play one pull with it against Jacques Kallis, but I was keen to see if he’d keep it on if Steyn came back into the attack. But he ran himself out.

3. Without drama, Bangalore have become the most clinically efficient team in the competition. The Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers have, on paper, far more explosive batting casts, but Bangalore have the most varied bowling attack in the competition, along with the Mumbai Indians.

4. It’s hardly a surprise that Anil Kumble is the most economical bowler in the tournament so far (min 10 overs). I’d even suggest that in short bursts, his bowling is sharper than it was in the last year of his international career. The shoulder has been well-rested. Behind him in the list is Muttiah Muralitharan. And Murali has got more wickets. All the tournament is lacking is a bit of magic from Shane Warne.

5. You know that fan loyalties are taking root when the crowd starts cheering wide balls from the opposition. I was there at this ground at the first match of the IPL in 2008, and the crowd lustily cheered Brendon McCullum who blew Bangalore out. Every time Vijay Mallya appeared on the big screen, he was cheered, but booing Krish Srikkanth, in the Chennai yellow, was taking it a bit too far.