The Deccan Chargers won the IPL

I have always found cricket engulfingly boring, but I actually got quite into the IPL.

As you may know, it was held in South Africa this year to avoid clashes with the elections.

The IPL (Indian Premier League) is like cricket that has been pumped with stimulants. 8 teams (I think) represent the major Indian cities. The best players from around the world are auctioned for by super rich owners, a lot of whom are Bollywood stars. The man of the match wins a motorbike. The advertising companies go nuts.

Instead of saying "six" when the ball crosses the boundary, the comentators have to say "AFL maximum," after an Indian insurance company. So replays of all the sixes sound like:

"And it's gone out for another AFL maximum"

"And that is a classic AFL maximum"

"And that is the 37th AFL maximum of the tournament."

It's quite funny listening to the commentators trying harder and harder to find new ways of using AFL maximum in a sentence as the match goes on.

It is twenty-twenty cricket so there are loads of boundaries and loads of wickets, which is why I can watch it.

Cricket purists do not approve of the IPL, but cricket purists can stuff themselves because India LOVES cricket and India, especially the kids, love the big names; and the IPL, for the few weeks it is on, is brilliant.