A man walks past a beggar every day and gives him Rs.10 and that Continues for a year. Then suddenly the daily donation changes to Rs. 7.50

“Well,” the beggar thinks, “it’s still better than nothing.”

A year passes in this way until the man’s daily donation suddenly becomes Rs. 5.

“What’s going on now?” the beggar asks his donor.

“First you give me Rs. 10 every day, then Rs. 7,50 and now only Rs. 5. What’s the problem?”

“Well,” the man says, “last year my eldest son went to university. It’s very expensive, so I had to cut costs. This year my eldest daughter also went to university, so I had to cut my expenses even further.”

“And how many children do you have?” the beggar asks.

“Four,” the man replies.

“Well,” says the beggar, “I hope you don’t plan to educate them all at my expense.”

It is only in the fitness of things that a team - in fact the only one in the tournament - without a celebrity mascot, an anthem or a plethora of merchandise should go on to win IPL 2 in a stunning recovery from the rock bottom it had hit in the earlier version of the tournament.
It just goes on to show how even in its most advertisement-friendly (read trivial) form, cricket, the sport, manages to hold its own. Kudos to Rami Reddy - probably the only owner apart from Preity Zinta who shared the dugout with players throughout the tournament and (thankfully) did not leap into players’ arms or (allegedly) inform them about personal breakups in the middle of the tourney - for understanding the value of on-field performances in the middle of all the Bollywood frenzy.
The change of captaincy was done with least fuss - a far cry from the melodramatic transition in Knightriders and the marginally less so change of guard in the Royal Challengers. Both Shahrukh Khan and Vijay Mallya - the latter foisted a non-performing and very expensive captain on his team in the form of the revered KP - may take lessons from him. Shahrukh in particular is in dire need of understanding that showmanship may win superstar status but does not win cricket matches. Neither do abrasive blogs and potshots at living legends.
The winning formula Reddy devised for his team was a winner in its sheer simplicity and back-to-basics attitude. He understood the good old cricketing wisdom of runs, catches and wickets winning matches and thus started the system of incentives for fastest runs, maximum runs, most wickets etc.
Incidentally Chargers have also had probably the widest range of man of the matches. The depth of the team and its sense of purpose is evident from the fact that each of Adam Gilchrist - second highest run-getter of the tournament and also the player of the tournament, Andew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, Dwayne Smith, Fidel Edwards, Herschelle Gibbs, R P Singh - owner of the purple cap - Pragyan Ojha have one or more man of the match awards.
And of course for understanding the value of Darren Lehmann - the only man (or woman) in the two versions of IPL to have been a part of the winning side twice over. The erstwhile member of the Rajasthan Royals coaching staff shifted to the Chargers this season and seemed to have brought the luck of one set of blues to the other. So much for Shilpa Shetty’s song and dance - beau and sister in tow - and prayers since the beginning of the tournament.
Cricket reigns supreme even in 20-20.