• It's not usual for a 33-year-old to feel nervous, but I did have a few butterflies when I went out to make my IPL debut, against Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday. It was spectacular to walk into a ground with thousands of Indian fans cheering for you. I am glad I made a contribution by keeping one end up, but truth be told, David Warner won the game for us with a spectacular knock on a difficult track.

     

    Scoring on the Kotla track was not easy but you would not have guessed if you were watching Warner. It was a slow track and the ball was gripping the surface but Warner played some amazing shots. The result was that we got off to an explosive start, so there was no real need to accelerate in the middle, and we decided to go for broke only in the last five overs.

     

    It was wonderful to see Warner batting, not only for his range of shots, but also for the way he handled the loss of quick wickets at the other end. The fact that he could score on a slightly difficult surface shows that he

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  • Season III of the IPL is now half-way through and Mumbai Indians are on top, and that gives me a good feeling. After average displays over the last two seasons it is nice to see us heading the chart and inching closer to a semi-final berth. This does not mean we will take things easy: rather we will be wanting a win every time we go out into the middle as there are other very good teams snapping at our heels.

     

    Just behind us are last year's runners-up Bangalore Royal Challengers, and they seem to have taken up where they left off last year. They are led by the very experienced, and ever-wily, Anil Kumble, and he has players like Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Dale Steyn, and a talented bunch of youngsters like Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey and Vinay Kumar at his disposal.

     

    Next are Rajasthan Royals, who started off poorly, but have now won four matches on the trot. One has to attribute this to Shane Warne, who I think is a really a master strategist. He

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  • Clearly, it was a forgettable home game for us in Mohali on Saturday, when we lost to Kolkata Knight Riders. Besides the loss, it was also disappointing for me because I now have to sit out of Tuesday's game due to a one-game ban for a slow over rate.

     

    Many sides have been struggling with bowling their overs on time, but we all know the rules and have to accept responsibility for any delays. I have full faith that Mahela Jayawardene will stand in efficiently. He is a very experienced leader and one of the best captains I have come across. I am sure there will be no problems on that score, so that's a small consolation.

     

    We have just not been able to get all departments of the game in order, and this has cost us on more than one occasion. A lot of people are placing the entire blame on Yuvraj Singh's shoulders, but I don't think that is very fair. He cannot be expected to single-handedly take us over the line every time, and the whole team has to play as a unit if we are to turn the

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