Can old men river scoop IPL again?

In 2008 it was Shane Warne who dominated the Indian Premier League (IPL) to help Rajasthan Royals to the inaugural title. In 2009, Adam Gilchrist carried Deccan Chargers to victory in South Africa. Will 2010 be the year of Damien Martyn?

The third edition of the IPL buzzes into life on Friday night with the meeting of the Deccan Chargers and the Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai.

And among the chief questions – apart from that of security – is how much age has wearied the tournament’s most bankable Australian assets.

Warne is now 40 years old and more poker player than cricketer, while Gilchrist is 38 and a commentator as much as opening batsman/’keeper.

Chennai’s Matthew Hayden sits on the board of Cricket Australia when he’s not writing cook books and Martyn hadn’t picked up a bat in anger for around 18 months before he joined the Royals as a speculative pick by the ever-creative Warne.

As in previous years, the tournament offers rich early opportunities for teams that have sculpted a squad not dependant on fulltime internationals, as players from Australia, New Zealand and England in particular will be late arrivals due to prior engagements for their states, clubs and countries.

Gilchrist’s Chargers have much to live up to after rising from the cellar in IPL year one to the penthouse in its sophomore season and the relationships forged in 2009 will be the cornerstone of whatever they can achieve third time around.

“We’ve got a great bond that is a legacy of last year’s victory,” Gilchrist told the Deccan Chronicle.

“It’s certainly something that will be an asset for us.”

West Indian speedster Kemar Roach looms as a key inclusion for the Chargers, while Mitchell Marsh, younger brother of Shaun and an extremely likely prospect for higher honours in later years, has the potential to be a matchwinner.

“We are very excited about the new players,” said Gilchrist.

“I am looking forward to playing positive and entertaining cricket again.

“We’ve made up for the loss of Fidel Edwards with the inclusion of Kemar Roach – he was very impressive during West Indies’ series in Australia.

“Then there is young Mitchell Marsh, an exciting talent, a hard-hitting batsman and a good bowler.”

Rajasthan will miss Shane Watson after his herculean efforts in year one, but Shaun Tait will give Warne the sort of bowling firepower most sides would covet.

Martyn’s role will unfold as the tournament progresses, but the team’s director of coaching Darren Berry has candidly admitted his selection will prove either “a masterstroke or a miscalculated disaster”.

The threat of terrorism that dogged the lead-in to the event has had the offshoot of meticulous security preparations, as Martyn related in his blog.

“Our home base has been a fortress,” Martyn wrote.

“From outside the hotel to inside the grounds, there are police everywhere even to the extent that on each of our floors there are guards and scanners.”

A significant handicap to Deccan is their inability to play at home in Hyderabad due to instances of separatist violence in the region, although Gilchrist is unperturbed.

AUSTRALIAN PLAYERS IN THE 2010 INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE:

Bangalore Royal Challengers – Steven Smith, Cameron White.

Chennai Super Kings – George Bailey, Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey.

Deccan Chargers – Adam Gilchrist, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Marsh, Andrew Symonds.

Delhi Daredevils – Moises Henriques, Andrew McDonald, Dirk Nannes, Dave Warner.

Kings XI Punjab – James Hopes, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh.

Kolkata Knight Riders – Brad Hodge.

Mumbai Indians – Nil.

Rajasthan Royals – Damien Martyn, Shaun Tait, Shane Warne.

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© 2010 AAP