The final match of this year’s IPL is just getting underway in its temporary home of Johannesburg. Much to everyone’s surprise, the two teams are last year’s whipping boys, the Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers. The Chargers are perhaps less of a shock, as they have always had a decent team. Adam Gilchrist has finally got into the Twenty20 groove and is leading from the front. The Royal Challengers, on the other hand, have not only recovered from their disastrous form last season, they have survived a dreadful start to this year under an out-of-form Kevin Pietersen. Huge kudos is due to Anil Kumble for getting the team back on track.

Spare a thought, though for Vijay Mallya. It is a tough life being a sports-mad billionaire, especially when your Formula 1 team is always at the back of the grid. The one consolation of this embarrassing life style is that you get to go to Monaco once a year and swan around in the harbor on your yacht. This year, however, Mallya can’t go. He has to be in South Africa to watch his cricket team in the IPL final. What a terrible state of affairs.