15 days to go...

We've not entered the last lap of the elections. The voting process for 438 constituencies was accomplished by last evening, and 105 are in balance.

Sixty four in seven states on May 7 and 41 in three states on May 12. At the time of writing, the 20th match of the Indian Premier League was in progress.

According to mid-day astrologer Ganeshaspeaks.com's predictions on its site, "Mumbai Indians may win the match".

Looked tough, given the stiff target, but you never know in cricket. Forty more matches are due to take place, including the two qualifiers, one eliminator and the finale on June 1.

What's more interesting is that the action is set to shift to India, with the first encounter between KKR and CSK tomorrow (May 2) at Ranchi. Surely this is going to ease the stress from the political arena, though I wonder if IPL will take centrestage on the nightlies as it did last year.

Guess we'll see it star on the news channels only after the government is formed, for, in the early days of the new disposition, channels are certain to be busy tracking the first few weeks of the government. On days like last evening, when none of the primetime shows excited me, I turned to the live telecast of the Mumbai-Sunrisers match.

Of the two feeds the Hindi on Max and the English on Sony Six my preference is to tune into Hindi commentary. It's good to hear former mid-day editor Ayaz Memon on air, as also various others. The star of the show is decidedly Navjot Singh Sidhu. Ever since he entered the scene, he revved up the otherwise staid commentary.

Given that the IPL isn't what grabs my attention these days, I haven't heard enough of his ball-by-balls yet, but he's a delight on ‘Extraaa Innings'. The BJP, Congress and AAP should be happy there is not much buzz around the IPL this year so far. But the next 40 matches and if they end up with a super over as #19 did on Tuesday with Rajasthan beating Kolkata in a thrilling finish IPL ka bulaawa aaya hai. Indeed.

Pradyuman Maheshwari is a senior journalist and editor. When he's not chasing news, he's watching it.
Twitter: @pmahesh
E: noose@pman.in