Sachin Tendulkar, left, and Lasith Malinga are the IPL’s top performers and are spearheading Mumbai Indians’ challenge for the title

The orange cap, worn by the tournament’s leading run scorer, found its way onto the top of Sachin Tendulkar’s head on Sunday during the win over Deccan. On his 38th birthday the Little Master scored 28 runs, taking him eight runs clear of Kings XI Punjab’s Paul Valthaty at the top of the run scoring charts.

Tendulkar now has 269 runs in IPL 4, leading the way from Valthaty, Jacques Kallis, David Warner and teammate Ambati Rayudu – the only other players to have passed the 200 mark so far.

In the wicket taking charts it is Sri Lankan seamer Lasith Malinga who continues to be almost unplayable. His hugely impressive four over spell against Deccan yielded three wickets for the concession of just nine runs and cemented his place at the top of the wicket taking charts.

Malinga now has 16 wickets and is the only man into double figures in that regard. His closest challenger is Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne on nine.

Whilst the orange cap will doubtless sit on a few different heads throughout the remainder of IPL 4, it is difficult to envisage anyone other than Malinga wearing the purple cap that is awarded to the top wicket taker.

With 29 matches now having been played, the table is starting to take its true form. Mumbai look well set at the top with 10 points, whilst Deccan Chargers have much work to do at the foot of the table on four points. They are joined by Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors, but both have a game in hand on Deccan. Royal Challengers Bangalore sit uncomfortably above this triumvirate on five points from their six games.

There is, however, still a long way to go. If Mumbai manage to keep Tendulkar and Malinga in full flow, though, they will be a very difficult to side to stop as they look to go one better on last year’s defeat to Chennai Super Kings in the final.

Another ominous fact for their rest of the sides is that IPL 4 hasn’t yet seen the best Kieron Pollard…

Sachin Tendulkar, left, and Lasith Malinga are the IPL's top performers and are spearheading Mumbai Indians' challenge for the title

With money, or lack of it, in some international cricket seen as one of the principle reasons why some players have been tempted to be sucked into the underworld of illegal betting, you may think the IPL would therefore be less prone to the illegal goings-on, considering the large sums of money offered to the players for appearances. However, it seems at the moment where there is sport there is money and where there is money, comes crime. I’m not suggesting that illegal betting is or has gone on in the IPL but administrators and management must keep an open mind if they are to stamp this problem out of the game.

We have already seen this year the departure of Lalit Modi the former IPL chief, after corruption charges were brought against him not to mention the accusations of his betting scams and match fixing in the IPL. Lets hope for the competitions sake that is the last we will see of any wrong-doings that force to bring down the dignity and spirit of the game.

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This years tournament was one of the best and heralded some great play from some of cricket’s biggest names but also some of the smaller ones too. This is a topic we will look at later.

However, while all that was going on the in-fighting and rumours of corruption continued to swell round the corridors of power at the IPL headquarters. An emergency meeting of the board has now seen Lalit Modi suspended as chairman.

After the investigation of Lalit Modi, which included alleged franchise bid rigging and broadcasting rights irregularities, the whole integrity of the IPL has been put at stake. Something tells me that this thing is going to get bigger and far worse before it gets better. There is simply too much money at stake to allow it to be swept under the carpet and sponsors and T.V companies who have paid a lot money towards the competition will undoubtedly want answers. So will the general public both in India and overseas. And that is the problem. Too much money, too much glitz with a hint of politics thrown in and you have a recipe for disaster.

This scandal, now being dubbed ‘IPL gate’ by some, will be music to the ears of the cricketing purists who believe the IPL is a threat to the origins, history and mostly the traditions of the game. While most cricket fans want to see Test Cricket upheld. those fans will also want to see this scandal resolved and the integrity of the IPL restored so we can carry on enjoying what we have witnessed over the past three years.