IPL 2: The hits and misses

The hit:  Adam Gilchrist anchored the innings of Deccan Chargers most of the times during the league matches. Under his guidance, the team won all the first four matches. Gilly's 85 of 35 balls in the semi final against Delhi had helped Hyderabad to reserve a place in the final.

The miss: Mahendra Singh Dhoni could not find his form for most part of the tournament and he himself agreed to it.

The miss: Long before Bangalore's Manish Pandey struck the maiden IPL century by an Indian, Suresh Raina missed his century by just 2 runs due to a scorecard error on the ground which showed that he had struck a century when he was 2 runs short of it. After thinking that he had made a century, Raina lofted the next ball and was caught on 98 runs.

The miss: Sourav Ganguly failed to click like his team Kolkata Knight Riders. He scored 189 runs in the 13 matches that he played in IPL 2009 as compared to 349 that he made in the previous season in the same number of matches.

The hit: Ashish Nehra took 19 wickets in the second season of IPL and was only third in the list of most wicket-taking bowlers.

The hit: Andrew Symonds became an integral part of the Deccan Chargers side even as he joined the team in the later half of the tournament. 

The miss: Ishant Sharma missed the bus of being the best bowler of the tournament.

The miss: Glenn McGrath did not play a single match in the second edition of IPL. Things got worse when Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag said that McGrath was not in his form.

The hit: Matthew Hayden (572) became the highest run-getter of the tournament but he could not take his team to the finals of IPL.

The hit: Anil Kumble's wicket taking ability still remains intact and he has proved that he is as good a captain by taking his team to the finals of IPL.

The hit: Shane Warne's beer-sipping act could not deter his performance on the field. His team could not clinch the cup in 2009 but he remained the true champion and a leader both off and on the field. Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne gestures to crowd during the IPL Gala Parade in Cape Town before the start of second season of IPL. 

The hit: Shane Warne made full utilisation of the resource named Yusuf Pathan. He came in the middle order for Rajasthan Royals and under crunch situations and destroyed the bowling attack of the opposing teams with towering sixes and fours.

The hit: Vijjay Mallya wanted Kevin Pietersen to be the skipper and he honoured the post . He seldom disappointed his team and was a true leader till the time he was a part of the team.

The miss: Termed as one of the 'explosive' opening pairs,  Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya could not click as many times as they wanted. The fall of the top order of the Mumbai Indians was the major reason the team could not reach the semi-finals of the tournament.

The hit: Rohit Sharma performed with the ball more than he destroyed his opponents' bowling attack with the bat.  He took a hat-trick against Mumbai Indians. 

The miss: Due to Jesse Ryder's first ball ducks, Bangalore Royal Challengers often started their innings on a poor note. In the first three matches that he played for Bangalore, Ryder scored a lowly 0, 1, 0.

The miss:  Andrew Flintoff was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury.

The miss: Kings XI Punjab missed Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach for most part of the tournament. But they also lacked a good bowling attack. Team Mohali could not reach the semi-finals of the tournament largely due to the absence of injury hit Brett Lee and S Sreesanth.