Each apparently content in their post-international careers, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Chaminda Vaas still have the ability and sheer presence to turn a team's mood upside down in one evening, proving that the IPL is as much about cool heads and years of experience as it is about youthful exuberance. Gilchrist began by winning the toss and larruping 38 from 17 balls, becoming the first batsman in the IPL to reach 1000 runs, Symonds overcame a sluggish start to slam the game's only half-century, and Vaas snuffed out Chennai Super Kings' chase with three wickets in his opening burst. The result was that the defending champions Deccan Chargers smoothed over their opening-day loss to Kolkata Knight Riders with a professional win
The two teams playing the first ever IPL match in Ahmedabad present a bit of a contrast. The Rajasthan Royals, even though they were champions in 2008, are perennial underdogs and seem comfortable playing that role. They're the team most fans love to support after their own. They possess the tournament's fastest bowler and perhaps its most destructive batsman but, a few overseas players apart, also a bunch of boys who aren't individually threatening. Their captain, formerly the world's greatest legspinner, is now a glamorous poker player, an expert at staying in fashion and the team's chief inspiration. He spearheads Rajasthan's PR on Twitter, engaging in entertaining and sometimes frivolous banter with his mates, and he's fashioned a team in his own image, one that in his own words "plays to entertain".
There aren't any Delhi Daredevils on Twitter, unless they've been hiding in obscurity, apart from Wayne Parnell. Their players aren't darlings of the media, their owner is in infrastructure not Bollywood, and their captain, who's got into trouble more than once for his on-field temper, is sullen compared to his larger-than-life counterpart
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