EDEN Gardens once again proved its love for the game. It was terrific to see a packed house for Team Kolkata's first game of IPL 2012. Also admirable was the patience shown by the crowd when the rains came and once the rain stopped to wait for the ground staff to get the ground ready. Twenty-odd years ago once the rain had stopped, the public would have expected the game to start in 15 minutes and if it hadn't happened, there would have been ugly scenes. The fact that nothing of this sort happened, is also an indication of the maturity of the Eden crowd.
The match itself was a close encounter and it was touch and go till Irfan Pathan hit those big shots to win the match for Team Delhi.
What we have seen in the three matches so far is that the visitors have won the matches - Team Mumbai beat the defending champions Team Chennai in the inaugural match of the tournament, while Team Delhi beat Team Kolkata at the Eden Gardens and Team Pune beat Team Mumbai at Wankhede.
The value of good captaincy was seen straightaway in the Pune vs Mumbai game when Sourav Ganguly marshalled his resources superbly to defend a smallish total. It is important for Pune to win their first few matches and get their momentum going because their's is a new team and in such a situation it does take time to find the right combination. Mumbai will be disappointed with not being able to chase 129. But it could also be just the result that they needed to guard against complacency.
- Sunil Gavaskar