What are the consequences of the IPL for selection to the Indian ODI side? Dileep writes about the battle between youth and age in the IPL:

It's interesting to note that only Rohit Sharma of the youth brigade has scored more IPL runs [404] than Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, neither of whom played a part in the CB Series victory in Australia. Despite the Royal Challengers' dismal showing, and allegations of them being a Test side, Dravid has aggregated 360 runs at a strike-rate of 127.65. Ganguly has managed 11 runs less, though his strike-rate is nowhere near as impressive [113.68].

To get an idea of how well Dravid had adjusted to the demands of the format, just compare his numbers to those of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who succeeded him as one-day captain. Dhoni's 348 runs have come only at a marginally quicker rate [129.85].

Of the middle-order pretenders, the uncapped Shikhar Dhawan is next in the list, but his 335 runs have hardly come at breakneck speed [118.37]. The most instructive comparison though is with Uthappa, who has barely scored faster than Ganguly [298 runs and a strike-rate of 116.86] despite his reputation as a devastator of bowling attacks.

Kartikeya points out that the two Test matches going on are over-shadowing the IPL finish. Sean is looking forward to what would certainly be an historic win for the West Indies against Australia. And Kolkata pull off a good win against Kings Punjab.