Indian Premier League 2009: Teams, summary, winner, most runs and wickets

By the second edition of the IPL, everyone involved with the tournament, from the BCCI to the franchises to the players, thought they had a better understanding of how to go about the T20 game.

The first IPL was a hit. But there was plenty about it that didn’t seem right. By the second edition, efforts were made to right some of the not-so-rights, and to an extent, it worked. For starters, the tournament took place in South Africa – the first and so far only edition to be wholly held overseas.

Some things remained the same though. The earnings of the players went through the roof, the tournament increasingly resembled a party, and players were enamoured enough to their backs on their countries.

As far as the cricket was concerned, it was Deccan Chargers who triumphed, led by the Australian veteran Adam Gilchrist. The IPL table after the league stages looked vastly different to how it would seem these days – Delhi Daredevils topped the table, Royal Challengers Bangalore made it through, and Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders brought up the rear.

Deccan then beat Delhi in the fist semi-final, easing through by six wickets to undo all of Delhi’s good work till that point. Bangalore, meanwhile, saw off Chennai Super Kings in the other semi-final, with a young Virat Kohli seeing Bangalore’s chase through with a 17-ball 24* after Rahul Dravid had set things up with a 39-ball 44.

The final was a closely-fought affair. Deccan posted a 144-run target, with Herchelle Gibbs scoring a 48-ball 53* and Andrew Symonds blasting a 21-ball 33. Bangalore kept losing wickets, but Roelof van der Merwe (32), Ross Taylor (27), and Robin Uthappa (17) kept them in the chase till late. Eventually, they fell short by six runs, finishing on 137/9.

Semi-final 1, Centurion, May 22: Delhi Daredevils 153/8 in 20 overs (Virender Sehwag 39, Tillakaratne Dilshan 65; Ryan Harris 3/27) lost to Deccan Chargers 154/4 in 17.4 overs (Adam Gilchrist 85; Amit Mishra 3/19) by 6 wickets. Player of the Match: Adam Gilchrist.

Semi-final 2, Johannesburg, May 23: Chennai Super Kings 146/5 in 20 overs (Parthiv Patel 36, MS Dhoni 28; R Vinay Kumar 2/38) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 149/4 in 18.5 over (Manish Pandey 48, Rahul Dravid 44; M Muralitharan 1/15) by 6 wickets. Player of the Match: Manish Pandey.

Final, Johannesburg, May 24: Deccan Chargers 143/6 in 20 overs (Herschelle Gibbs 53, Andrew Symonds 33; Anil Kumble 4/16) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 137/9 in 20 overs (Roelof van der Merwe 32, Ross Taylor 27; Pragyan Ojha 3/28) by 6 runs. Player of the Match: Anil Kumble.

Orange Cap: Matthew Hayden (Chennai Super Kings) – 572 runs, 12 matches
Purple Cap: RP Singh (Deccan Chargers) – 23 wickets, 16 matches
MVP: Adam Gilchrist