2011 Indian Premier League Cricket Season Under Way

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

The fourth season of Indian Premier League cricket kicked off on Friday April 8th. And through ten matches thus far, the Mumbai Indians and the Rajasthan Royals have jumped to the early lead in the standings. Those two teams are the only undefeated clubs remaining with identical 2-0 records. Rajasthan started their season with an eight wicket victory over the Deccan Chargers. They followed that up with a six wicket victory over the Delhi Daredevils.

Mumbai were finalists in last season’s IPL, so their thirst for the cup is great, knowing that they were within a whisker of the title last year. They opened their season this year with an eight wicket victory over the Delhi Daredevils. In that match, Muslim bowlers Ali Murtaza and Munaf Patel were a big part of the victory. The left-handed Murtaza bowled four overs, giving up only 21 runs, and grabbing one wicket. His right-handed Muslim counterpart, Patel, completed three overs, giving up only 20 runs, without any wickets.

In their second match, Mumbai demolished the Royal Challengers Bangalore by nine wickets. Murtaza and Patel proved quite dependable in that match as well. Murtaza tossed a steady four overs, giving up 26 runs without any wickets. Patel, meanwhile, bowled three overs and gave up a miniscule 10 runs, without any wickets. It appears that if Mumbai are to take that next step and win the 2011 IPL title, this lefty-righty Muslim tandem will definitely play a role.

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