I know it's not my favourite competition - give me the County Championship any day, even with Somerset's dreadful run! - but the IPL is worth following just to see how the world's best cricketers fare against each other in the biff-bang game. Chris Gayle is the king of Twenty20 but even his sixes couldn't drag RCB into the top four. Not only that, but the Chennai Super Kings feature batsmen who have outperformed the West Indian opener.
Surely CSK should have the firepower in depth to win the final this weekend, whoever the opposition. Mike Hussey has played the same number of games as Gayle, yet has accumulated 24 more runs, featuring six half-centuries in the 16 innings. His 58-ball 86 not out against the Indians was superb and it took an even more ferocious performance by team-mate Suresh Raina to steal the headlines, though not the Man of the Match award.
Of the top players, Gayle doesn't even boast the best strike rate. That belongs to another CSK stalwart, their irrepressible skipper MS Dhoni. He may have endured considerable criticism since India slipped off their perch as number one Test nation but in the short formats, MS is as good as anyone. A strike rate of more than 167, with just the final to come, is phenomenal. Needless to say, he has also made more dismissals behind the stumps (15) than anyone else in this year's competition.
With the ball, CSK also field the highest wicket-taker, Darren Bravo. His 28 scalps often seem to come at the death, with a soaring economy rate to match, but his contribution to the Chennai cause cannot be overlooked. Lasith Malinga has been eclipsed at last! He wasn't even the best fast bowler in Mumbai's side; that is Mitch Johnson. Mean bowling is usually the preserve of the spinners such as Harbjajan Singh, Mishra and the excellent Sunil Narine, but Dale Steyn's 19 wickets at under a run a ball have taken the Sunrisers to touching distance of the final. James Faulkner has snared an impressive 27 IPL victims this year, making him the star of the Royals' march to the final eliminator. I hadn't realised what a fine all-round record he has in first-class cricket, too, so could a Test call-up be far away?
So will Chennai Super Kings claim their third title in four years? Even if they don't, their ace performers have lit up the tournament. Mike Hussey may have retired from Test cricket but his class in all cricket remains undimmed. The lights may have gone out on Tendulkar and Ponting this Spring but Mr Cricket, about to reach his 38th birthday, shines as brightly as ever.
