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Now that we are just almost 5 matches short of having a new IPL Champion we have all the statistics available to show us that the second edition of the tournament is a success. There is no doubt about it. Looking at the games played in the past, though some of the games were abandoned by the rains, we can say that a world class cricket was played at the stadiums of South Africa. The IPL management can pat its back for conducting the tournament in time though outside India, and making it such a big success, however if we look at the present and the future it does not look so promising for the game of Cricket in India.  The tournament which is Indian was a success but the players, the Indian players were not.

Looking at the statistics that have come up in this tournament, we will find a few Indians in the table talleys which is not very heartening news. On the batting front, we have no Indian player on the top. Even if we take into consideration the team performance we will find a few Indian with some outstanding positions. In Bangalore Royal Challengers, the batsman with maximum runs is Jacques Kallis, form Chennai Super Kings, it is Mathew Hayden, Adam Gil Christ is from the Deccan Chargers, AB de Villers from Delhi Daredevils, Jean Paul Duminy form Mumbai Indians,  Brad Hodge from Kolkata Knight Riders. The only two exceptions that we have from the Indian squad are Yuvraj Singh of Kings XI Punjab and Ravinder Jadeja from Rajasthan Royals. However, if you compare their scores with all the above mentioned players, you would not find them in first five places. The only player that we have in the first five places is Suresh Raina.

Taking about the best average, we have only MS Dhoni who stands at #4 in the top 5 best averaged batsmen in the tournament. When it comes to hitting maximum sixes the Indian players find their place after #3. Though out of 5 we have 3 players.  We do not have any of our Indian players for in the top five players who have scored fifties. Manpreet Goni from Chennai tops the list of striking rate. It is not necessary for me to tell you what exactly it means for Team India. Other than him there is no other Indian player in top 5 slots.  Only Suresh Raina is there in the top 5 slots for maximum runs in a match who is at 2^nd place out of top 5.

Let’s talk about bowling now. RP Singh is the leading wicket taker in the tournament followed by Ashish Nehra. In fact this is the field where we have only one foreign player at #3 out of top five who happens to be Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka. For the most economical bowler category we have Anjikya Rahane at #3 in the top 5. In the field of ground Fielding, we have at #2 Dinesh Kartik for taking maximum catches following AB de Villers and in stumping he follows Adam Gilchrist.

There are other statistics as well which require deep plunge before we could come up with some result. I would prefer we should ignore that area. The question that we have in front of us is that is this the performance that we are going to show in the T20 World cup which would start in less than two weeks once IPL finishes?  Are we equipped enough to defend out title of World leaders in T20 format of the game.  The questions are many and the answer that we get looking at the current performance is not every encouraging. Except Suresh Raina, there is no other player in the list of Indian players discussed about who was consistent. Thus the net result that we have after this IPL is that the league is successful  but the Players of India have a lot to do to ensure they return home with the world championship in their hands………..

India witnessed many important changes during the Gupta Vardhana age in almost every aspect of life of people- political, social, religious, literary and economic. This period was a germinal period which apart from its own notable achievements in every field sowed the seeds of later development.

In was divided into numerous petty states during the Gupta Age, kingdoms as well republics. The kingdoms were generally ruled by the princes of foreign origin, while the republics were ruled by local tribal chiefs. None of these states were strong enough to build itself into an empire. Most of these states owed allegiance to the Gupta Empire of Magadha which retained its sovereignty over them till about the close of the 5^th century. About this time, the Hunas swooped down on the North West Indian and established their supremacy over Kashmir, Punjab and western India from about 500 AD onwards. North and Western India passed under the control of about half a dozen feudatories who parceled out Gupta Empire among themselves. After a span of about half a century, one of these dynasties ruling at Thaneshwar in modern Haryana extended its rule over all other feudatories and established a large empire in north India. The ruler who established this empire was Harshavardhan. During the period of instability and political confusion, the administrative system received setbacks but it did not collapse altogether.

The Gupta emperors set up an efficient system of administration both at the center and in the provinces. The central government consisted of the king and a council of ministers which included civil and military officers such as the commander in chief of the army, the generals in command of elephantry, cavalry and infantry., the chief warden of the royal court etc. the framework of the government and the titles of officials at the center were mainly borrowed from the administrative set up of the Maurya. The Gupta Empire was divided into a number of provinces known as the Desas. The governor of a Desa was called by various names such as Uparika, Bhogika etc. the province was divided into bhuktis which were further subdivided into districts called Vishyas. The lowest unit of administration was the village called Grama. It seems that the Gupta rulers did not interfere with the autonomy of the village community. Town administration was carried out by a Pusapala who generally belong to the class of high officers called Kumaramatyas. The Shrenis or guilds of traders and artisans also participated  in the management of urban administration.

The government under the Vardhana was efficient, though strong organistion of the Maurya and Gupta days seems to have weakened as a result of the confusion created by the invasion s of the Huna and internal dissentions after the collapse of the Gupta Empire. The king was probably assisted by a council of ministers. The outlying provinces were governed by princes of feudatory chiefs. A number of new functionaries also emerged during the reign of Harsha. The Provinces or Bhuktis were divided into districts or Vishyas. The districts were divided into Pathaks equivalent to perhaps present day Tehsils. The village was as usual the lowest unit of administration. Taxation was light.  The chief source of the income of the state was land revenue which was generally one-sixth of the total produce. Harsha’s military strength was impressive. He maintained a large standing army- 60 000 elephants, 100,000 horses and 60,000 foot soldiers. It was divided into four branches cavalry, infantry, elephants and chariots. Recruitment was made by beat of drums.