A current Indian batsman watched some of the most lauded of young Indian batsmen hopping against Shaun Tait and Kemar Roche. What surprised most Indians was that Gautam Gambhir, ICC's award-winner, ICC No.1 etc etc, couldn't produce the assured pull shot when he needed to. That Suresh Raina's improvement over the past year had not involved getting better against the bouncer. That Murali Vijay, dazzling as a makeshift Test opener and impressive IPL improviser, just dropped points after two innings in the West Indies.

Their teammate wasn't surprised saying the world has been swapping those notes for a while now. Being in an IPL dressing room had made him (and others) listen to what the overseas players thought of his Indian mates, particularly the next generation that India wants to take over the top order after its greats are gone.

Like Rohit Sharma, the right-hander Ian Chappell once said could take over after Tendulkar. His rivals think of him as "talented but compulsive." So give him the short stuff and he can be lulled into a flashy stroke. Sharma then, the verdict is, can face the short ball, but can't resist it.

The most common idea put out by the foreign players, regardless of the Indian tyro being discussed was, "Push them back, make them play". This one's a story of two halves.

The first would make India weep; only after 2000, has its cricket team been able to win Tests and series overseas regularly, thanks to batsman who could do a few things on that backfoot and bowlers who could get 20 wickets. That tale will turn on its own in the next decade.

The second half of this story, though, is that the IPL, beyond its financial scandal and monstrous egos, offers cricketing tales like few other event. It turns teammates into competitors and competitors into allies. In the IPL's first year, Shane Warne shared a dressing room with Graeme Smith and won the first event. Matthew Hayden took a while to understand the exuberant reactions of his Indian teammates every time a wicket fell.  (We're an emotional nation, Haydos, that's the only frequency we operate on).

Kevin Pietersen gave his batting partner Virat Kohli a mouthful after he ran KP out in a thunderous innings. In the second innings KP joshed with Kohli, arm around shoulder, strangling him with affection.

During Kolkata Knight Riders' meetings in Season 1, Sourav Ganguly would always want to know what "Ricky" had to say. Yuvraj Singh enjoyed being around the quiet family-centric Sri Lankans and spending a few evenings with Brett Lee & co, going out, with them he said with a grin, "only to make sure that they were okay". It was these teammates he says who had kept him calm, on the field and off it, when the franchise owners got grumpy.

When flights from Dharamsala were cancelled this year, Indian, Kiwi, Aussie, South African, and Lankan shared a meal at a trucker's café on the road to Chandigarh, as part of the Chennai Super Kings.

All we need to see now is Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh walking off into the sunset.