Rolling heads

Yet another "icon" of the IPL has given way. This time it's at Punjab. Yuvraj Singh's reign as KXIP captain is officially over. Lankan skipper Sangakkara has taken over. The reason that has been cited for this change is that coach Tom Moody felt that Yuvi was arrogant and never listened to the management. Now here is my question - How is this decision going to change matters?
Yuvi meanwhile joins Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman on the list of Indians who have been axed after being at the helm for the inaugural event.

Will IPL fizzle out?

The Congress-BJP cat fight seems to have caught up with the IPL also. Lalit Modi's self created role - IPL Commissioner - now seems heading towards extinction. After having tried to take control of the Rajasthan Cricket Board in vain - a fight in which he took on the Congress government that runs the state with the support of the opposition BJP - Modi now faces the danger of his wings being clipped as the BCCI, which is run by another Congress man, looks to take him out of the IPL equation. The question now is, if Modi goes how much of the IPL will he take along with him? I can already imagine Subash Chandra of the ICL smiling wickedly.
Meanwhile, Modi hasn't been sitting silently and waiting for things to happen. Remember how they brought Captain Barbosa back to life to rescue Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie? On the same scale, Modi is now planning to bring Jagmohan Dalmiya back into the frame!!!

Another roadblock, India on top, but for how long and Vasthu in cricket

After crossing a number of hurdles the Pakistani IPL contingent has hit a "visa deadline" road block. Having not obtained a visa for the Pakistani players, the PCB has again ensured that the current T20 champs will not have any representation in the IPL. I suppose that the frustration of not being able to play in the IPL will drive the PCB to start their own PPL.
Finally, after a 8 year wait, India are atop the Test rankings - at a time when the world was lamenting that India was spoiling test cricket's reach with the IPL. But unfortunately, due to circumstances completely out of their hands, the Indians might find themselves going down the ladder if Australia and South Africa win their respective test series against West Indies and England. Cruel, but that's indicative of BCCI's greed. Would you believe that India will play only 2 test matches in the next 12 months - and that too against Bangladesh? The rest are ODIs and T20s. Baffling!!!!
Here is something interesting. The Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Hyderabad has seen the home teams lose all the matches they have played there so far. That has prompted the authorities to seek ways to ward off the ill luck.

Being Rahul Dravid

If ever you needed proof that being a cricketer other than Sachin Tendulkar in India is not such a thankful job, try being in the shoes of Rahul Dravid once and you will get the proof. For years, the "Wall" (which to my mind is probably the only form of recognition he's got from Indian cricket fans) has had to be at the receiving end of ridicule right from the pundits to the common fan. Take for example the plaudits Dravid has received after the innings of 177 he made in the first test against Sri Lanka yesterday. Compare that with what Sachin Tendulkar received after scoring 175 against Australia at Hyderabad a few days ago. Alright, I agree that it was fantastic from Sachin. But the 177 made yesterday at Ahmedabad at least deserves to be treated on par with the 175 at Hyderabad. I open the cricinfo website to see what Sanjay Manjrekar has said about the knock and his commentary is more concentrated on Murali losing his magic than on Dravid's knock. And former cricketers like Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Bishen Bedi who have one view or other about cricket published by the media every day do not have anything to say about Dravid. Compare that with the views and coverage after the 175 at Hyderabad. I must say that being Rahul Dravid is quite thankless.
Coz when the day breaks today, the media will suddenly have more important news than cricket to cover. The pundits will have something else to analyze. The fans will have another Tendulkar feat to wait and cheer for. All the while, the Wall would just defend with a straight bat and wait for the bowler to bowl the next ball with all concentration. Because when he walks back into the field today, none of these thoughts of mine would have even come to his mind. He'd just go in and sweat all over the pitch and add to that 177 while we sit and contemplate what Sachin would do in the second innings.

IPL 3 - new stuff

Finally, cricket is coming to the multiplexes. This is good news for both multiplexes and audience alike. While the owners need not worry about burning their hands by buying silly stuff, the audience can come out of a movie theater without having to go through torrid times that they are put through by some movies.
Staying with IPL, the PCB which was going hammer and tongs against the BCCI for being anti-Pakistan has already announced that its players will be allowed to play in IPL3 - proof of the depths to which money can flow. Or was it a fear of backlash from its players if they were refused permission to play?
This post cannot end without a mention of India's disintegration at Hyderabad yesterday. Indiscretion can be so cruel - most of the batsmen (yes and it includes Sachin Tendulkar despite the 175) found that out yesterday. The height of it all was Ravindra Jadeja's magnificent madness! Let's hope that before 2011 the selectors realize that players like Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina must learn or give way to others.

Truth is out

They may have the money. They may have the stars. They may have glamor. But the first matches of the CLT20 for the teams of the IPL have proved that the real talent still lies elsewhere. DD looked like an indomitable force during IPL2 before that loss to RCB in the semifinals. But the other day against the Victorians (VB), they showed how weak they were. One thing the CL has already thrown into the open is the fact that IPL still has a long way to go in terms of being a competitive league.
Staying on the same topic, NSW Blues (NSWB) and Cape Cobras (CC) seem the strongest teams in the fray now. They will probably be the teams that will be contesting the final on Oct 23. That would be a telling blow to ticket sales at the grounds - Unless DD, DC and RCB bring about a whirlwind turnaround.
By the way... I am still rooting for my team though - Go Chargers Go!!

History repeats for fourth time

It is not unfamiliar territory for the Indians. First it was Sri Lanka, then England came twice and now it is Australia - for the 4th time in 4 successive ICC events India stand on the brink of elimination from an ICC event. And things have been complicated this time. Yuvraj and Veeru have been sorely missed. And without them (and with Dravid) the Indian team looks the weakest of the 4 different teams that took the challenge. The only time Team India overcame they challenge (2007 T20 World Cup v England Group match) they went on to win the tournament. Incidentally, that happened in South Africa too. Fingers crossed!! Will history repeat on that front?

Of bungee jumps and contract refusals

Cricket seems to have entered a new phase. The advent of T20 has now resulted in a new business terminology - freelance cricketer*. After Andrew Symonds, its not the turn of Andrew Flintoff to turn a freelance cricketer. Freedy went to the extend of rejecting a contract offered by the ECB stating that he had to take a bungee jump in a television program as the reason for rejection. Undoubtedly it's the lucrative money from the IPL that must have prompted this decision. But just as players tend to be clever when it comes to earning money, the IPL has gone a step further. They have ruled that a player can play in the IPL only if he has received clearance from his national board. Now that's a case of the snake eating itself - How is it going to end?

* A freelance cricketer is someone who doesn't have a contract with his national team board and is available to play domestic cricket (especially T20 cricket) at his will for teams in any country.

IPL 3.0 - dying already?

It looks like the IPL and KBC have so much in common. After taking India by storm with KBC 1 and KBC 2, KBC3 bored the Indian audience because of the lack of novelty in its concept.
Now IPL 3.0 seems set to run into the same fate - something aggravated by other reasons also. A similar fate struck the Premier Hockey League a few years back. Looks like IPL could go that way. So much for a "cricket crazy" nation.

The new Pakistan

When Pakistan lost the Test and ODI series against Sri Lanka, just as every Indian would be, I was pleased. It always gives me (and every Indian) that wicked pleasure to see Pakistan lose. But last night, when I saw the news flash on TV - the news that Australia have lost the Ashes once again - I was ecstatic. The joy was even more. Now that makes me think - at least in cricketing terms is Australia India's new Pakistan?

The magic of 194

10 years after Saeed Anwar limped and thrashed 194 runs against India in a ODI, the record has been equaled. But quite unfortunately, there seems to be absolutely no coverage on this. That left me wondering - what if Sachin Tendulkar had achieved this? Another interesting point to note was that the 194 runs record set by Anwar was not eclipsed but only equaled - what is it with 194? Sadly for the record breaker - Chris Coventry of Zimbabwe - the match ended in the favor of the opposition. But still kudos to the unknown hero.
As expected Rahul Dravid has driven his way back into the Indian team - a selection that has come in for some harsh criticism. But let's face it. The Champions Trophy is just a month away and India cannot afford another embarrassing exit from another tournament. So this is probably the only worthwhile solution for the issue. Give him a chance - after all, he has a better record in South Africa than the special one.

What's the fuss?

I am completely unable to understand why some of the Indian players talk of security concerns as the reason for not signing the 'where about clause' of the World Anti Doping Agency. Agreed that they are popular in India. Agreed that they are icons. But that does not warrant their argument! Does it mean that WADA will disclose to every Tom Dick and Harry? Come on cricketers - don't be so childish!! What indeed is the fuss?
There is a saying - if your name is tarnished once, there is no way it can be restored. Ask Manoj Prabhakar and he will say. Cricket South Africa did just that to Dale Steyn. Why did they jump the gun in announcing that the player failed a drug test only to retract it a day later? Poor Dale, even if he has been proved innocent now, there will always be a suspecting eye at him now!
Speaking of keeping a suspecting eye, the hasty decision of the IPL authorities to induct ICL escapees into IPL 3.0 (yeah there is a techno name for the next IPL) makes me suspect something fishy. After all, the BCCI had announced that there will be a 1 year period in which they willl still not be entertained! Now the fringe players in the current IPL teams will face the heat of this move!
Also evincing interest was the move by certain Kiwi players. They were daring enough to delay signing their official contracts because they wanted to put IPL before their country. Looks like the IPL's cash is quite some money for the Kiwis.
And by the way. Here is a funny parting shot. Read it and laugh out loud.

Freddy in Double Impact

The retirement announcement of the week - that of Freddy - may have had a telling impact on the Ashes series but for that perennial problem that dogs him - injuries. For a man who was the inspiration to England's victorious Ashes campaign in 2005 things have been on the down slide ever since. First it was the way in which the Aussies snatched the Ashes back the same year. That was followed by a spate of injuries and then the 2007 World Cup near death experience in WI. The injuries have only gotten worse and it was time that Freddy quit the scene - so the retirement is well timed and will become even better if England go on to retain the Ashes.
The retirement though will have a double impact. Firstly, England will have one less player (or nobody) to inspire them positively during a crunch - that will be a cruel impact. Secondly, CSK (yeah that team in the IPL) will now have the undivided attention and services of Freddy. Agreed that Freddy hasn't quit ODIs. But judging by what he is going through now, I think England would already be thinking of a replacement for him. Now that's a superb impact for CSK.

20 min of Ashes

Out of the 5 days of the first Ashes test, I watched the last 6 overs only, where Monty Panesar and James Anderson where trying to block out the Aussies by hook or crook and were cheered on by the capacity crowd for every single ball defended. The fours by Anderson were greeted by so much noise from the crowd that someone who had just switched on TV would have thought that was a milestone in Anderson's career. By hook or crook because there were too many visits by the 12th man to the centre in the last 3 overs and once even by the physio and neither of the batsman looked as if they needed a physio (even though they would not have minded a cardio taking care of their violently beating hearts ;))
All said and done, Australia could take only 19 wickets and the match ended in a draw. At the end of the day, it does not matter whether they deserved to win or not. Only the final scoreline matters! - Yes sometimes sports is a good leveller, sometimes, its cruel!
I am happy that England managed the draw in the first test. So now there will not be any bragging about an Aussie whitewash ;)
But on a serious note, England needs to figure out how to take 10 Aus wickets first and then move onto get 20 of them!!

Short ball.. short term solution

Having seen the Indians dance very badly to sweet chin music, the very intelligent Indian selector think tank have decided to rope in Rahul Dravid as a potential player for India in the Champions Trophy in SA this September. While the blip in the T20 WC seemed like a one-off, the scare came when the Indians came under the short ball barrage in the WI also. With the SA pitches being known for bounce, the Indians are for sure going to dance to the tune again. But is Dravid the solution for the problem? Agreed that Dravid is the best player of the short ball after Sachin. But at over 34 years of age, it doesnt look like he has much to contribute to Indian cricket. And by going in for such a short term solution, the selectors are only giving the short ball victims of the T20 WC a demoralizing shot. It's like telling Suresh Raina, "Well, we chose you to replace Dravid. But from what we have seen we guess we need to continue with Dravid until we find someone else. Goodbye son!".

Dravid back in the list of ODI probables!

Could this be the beginning of a comeback or is this the way that BCCI is forcing Dravid to retire from ODIs by giving him a farewell tournament??
A few months back, the clamour was for young legs, quick speed etc.. In that clamour, they forgot that Dravid is one of the fittest in the team. Dravid provided a stability in the middle order, which was grossly missed later. I strongly,firmly believe that Dravid has atleast 2-3 years of ODI left in him. (Pls note I am not even counting his Test years left :))
Now, BCCI usually dont think of the 'seniors' in the team in very favourable terms. So I am looking at this announcement with every bit of skepticism as is humanly possible. Is Dravid BCCI's armguard against the 'latest' rediscovered weakness of the Indian youngsters? Now that the earlier self-assured image of Dhoni is flickering, will the new slightly-imperfect Dhoni accept the presence of Dravid in the team? Will he get to play in any match even if he is selected in the final 15?
Too many questions.. I will wait till the final team is selected and till the Champions Trophy is played for finding out the answers.

What a match!

Wow!! What a match! Federer playing at around 70% of his potential and Roddick at close to 100% - and still Federer comes out as the winner! There were glimpses of the vintage Federer - much rarely than what I would have liked - and glimpses of the future Roddick - calm, composed, much toned from his aggressive posturing days and playing 'maaaaaarvellous' tennis as Vijay Amritraj puts it :)
In the first 4 sets, there are only 2 break of serves - both by Roddick taking the respective sets.. The other 2 sets are won by Federer by upping the ante during the tie-breaker. And that sets the stage for a classic fifth set. Federer serving ahead in the final set - I think that was an advantage as it was making him less tensed during the fifth set. It was almost like he was waiting for Roddick to falter and when the chance came, he pounced on that.. What a win - minus the tears this time!! Wonder how he held them back successfully this time ;) ;)
It was nice to see the greats like Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras posing with Federer, with everyone trying to get their hands on that golden trophy :)
Last word - on Mirca - Is she a superwoman - an 8-month-pregnant woman sitting thru this high tension match for 4 hrs 30 min !!

Rebel to Royal

Rajasthan Royals have roped in an ICL rebel to play the proposed exhibition match against Middlesex this Monday. This marks the beginning of a new dawn for the rebel players. Very soon the remaining 79 players will also be knocking at the doors of the franchises. What this would do is deny the current fringe players in the teams any opportunity. Hemang Badani would surely make a better player for CSK rather than Jakati just like how AT Rayudu would overtake Harmeet Singh or Ravi Teja for DC. The IPL needs to add more franchises as soon as possible. Otherwise the intention of bringing out new talent will soon die out.
As for the ICL - they must be appreciated for putting up a brave face. One just hopes that Kapil Dev doesn't get persuaded to quit ICL one day.

Invasion of cricket space by tennis

This is true with respect to this blog as well as my mind. Very sorry to say, out of the 3 Ws mentioned in the last blog - Windies has occupied the last spot. Work has forcibly climbed to number 2 spot and Wimbledon continues to rule!
What quarterfinals the William sisters played yesterday - ruthless to the core! Waiting to see if Safina's nerves will hold good in the semis. But going by the current form, it surely looks to be a Williams versus Williams finals with the younger one the favourite this year!
The mens QF line-up looks very interesting that I am hardly missing Nadal ;) Anyways, this could be the toughest challenge that Federer has faced till now in this year's Championships. When the Karlovic service game can potentially get over in 4 aces, Fedex better take whatever chance that comes his way. Roddick-Hewitt looks to be an interesting fight, with the vintage Hewitt back in action. With 'Andymonium' at its heights, Ferroro will have a tough time. But Murray being exhausted after that marathon match, Ferroro will have a small window of chance. Djokovic - Haas - nothing much in it for me :)
Now off to the second W... :)

Changing face

As I browsed through the channels yesterday, I suddenly found that India were playing cricket in the Windies. My daughter looked at Dhoni on the screen and then asked me why he had changed teams. I did not realize why she asked that question first. Then I got her message. Dhoni was wearing India's blue and she was expecting him to wear CSK's yellow. But isn't that what I was also thinking? While India were tottering at 150 for 8 with just a few overs of the 50 left, I was happy because RP Singh was still batting and pulling India out of the rut. Not because India were still putting up a fight. But because RP was from DC. And I think this will soon become common - just like in the EPL. There will be more glory in the IPL that in test and ODI series. But of course, the World Cups and Champions Trohpies will continue to hold fort - at least at the level of the IPL. These are changing days indeed!

Pakistani roller coaster

Pakistan's path to win at the T20 WC and its aftermath have indeed been of the roller coaster type. First of all, they got hammered in the buildup to the T20 WC. The hammering was even heavier in the first match of the WC. To add to that, super cap YK called T20 a "just for fun" version of cricket. It was then a wild turn around and to cap it all Shahid Afridi finally played an innings for Pakistan in the final and remained unbeaten when the match was over - a surprise indeed. Second - contrary to the day long bus top ride that the Indians had in 2007 the Pakistani players were whisked away through another terminal at the Lahore airport while fans awaited with drums and songs. Third - the clever captain that he is, YK promptly announced his decision to quit T20 cricket - give up on the fun version. Now that is exiting in glory! So many ups and downs - perfect script for another Shimit Amin movie!
All of a sudden, the cricketing world is turning its head towards the subcontinent again. With the 2011 F50 WC scheduled to be held in India, SL and Ban and with India and Pak winning the only ICC events that have been held since the 2007 F50 WC they cannot continue to ignore the subcontinent on the pretext of safety. Must be a nice predicament for the ICC to be in. How they must be cursing the Aussies for being so dumb ever since they won in 2007!

3Ws - Windies, Wimbledon, Work...

Today is a very busy day..
Starting with the first ODI in the Windies... At the same time, need to tune into the already-patchy-but-still-green lawns of Wimbledon.
In between all this, there is Work to do. But what will be the priority for the 3Ws...
No prizes for guessing which is coming in last ;) ;)

SriLanka choked or Pakistan soared??

What hapnd on Sunday? Was it the case of Srilanka choking or did Pakistan soar above all?
But didnt Pakistan play truly inspired cricket? It was good to see the team enjoying the success 'as a team', rather than busy fighting the internal team wars. Its going to back to almost a decade, when Shahid Afridi burst upon the international scene. Its back to the stage when Afridi clicks, Pakistan wins. And Welcome back Razzaq!! What a comeback!

I saw an interesting placard during the match. 'Be Afridi, very Afridi!' Very interesting! Please dont get me wrong. I am no Afridi fan!! :)

Regarding strategy and the likes, I liked the way they bounced out Dilshan. That demoralized / derailed Srilanka terribly. My heart went out to Sangakkara who was fighting a lone battle. But talking about lone battles, nothing can beat Gayle's lonely fight till the finish in the semi.

For someone who stopped watching matches after India's exit, the semis and finals were too much of a magnet to stay away ;)

Now that T20 is over.. Full attention to the lush green lawns of Wimbledon.

Hail Federer!! What a way to start reclaiming your personal trophy!! Did you know that Federer has a trophy room in his house!! I would love to see that room once :) :)
Anyways, wishing and hoping that one more gets added to that trophy room by the end of this fortnight. Fingers crossed :) :) Yes, I am an unabashed Federer fan ;)

4M Vs 4A @ the LORDS

Poor Gayle...Those who closely watched the match should have really felt it.It was a batting without (cricketing) brain from the fellow windies making the score board look like a international phone number.

Wickets fell on at regular intervals cornering Gayle left, right and center not allowing him to play his shots. Result - Gayle joined the privilege club of watching all 10 wickets falling at the other end. Formers being McCullum, Smith and Gibbs.

They made Gayle appear like a 'Circus' lion, with pressure being the ring master for him. He managed to keep the match winning hopes ON for the spectatos. Not sure what really went in the minds of other batsmen and at many instances they scored a single at the last ball blocking Gayle a chance for a strike.

Finally it was Mathews who joined the party promoting the 3M bowling squad to 4. As predicted the Grand Finale should be a match for spinners and middle order playing a big role. Literally a contest between 4M's and 4A's(Akmal, Afridi, Ajmal & Abdul razzaq)

Going by law of averages will Dilshan's honeymoon with bat get over? Coming to the Middle order - Mahila Jayawardene / Misbah ul haq could become very critical.

Smart stumpings and run outs are also going to be a key. Both the teams have the calibre to make it from no where. It should be just the team that sticks to the cricketing basics.

A sensational mind game with lots of twists and turns just await @ LORDS

T20 Cup likely to arrive to Subcontinent

Usually luck doesn't favor SA in big and crucial matches, and so was the case from 1999 in England when they tied with Australia in the World Cup semi-final after panicking in the final over. Yesterday it was much better, but they missed the stiff to just cross over the line.

Chasing a target of 150 appeared comfortable for SA by the way they reacted and bowled in the last 5 over’s, containing PAK. But boom boom Afridi and Gul completely spoiled their party.

In spite of a straining head collision in the field, the way Gul came back was awesome.With the reverse swings and consistent Yorkers in place, SA couldn’t really do much with the bat. Having a mighty row of batting order they could do nothing except to rotate the strike and get the odd boundaries.

As a team PAK were quite upright with the spirit in their play rising to the occasion, much needed aspect for this format.

With Fidel Edwards likely to miss the match today for fitness, if pinch hitting doesn't come fluent from Gayle's, Bravo's or Sarwan's it should be a tight final between SL and PAK at the Lords. Apparently it is high on cards for the cup to come to the Subcontinent.

For Women’s T20 it was a dream run for NZ and the way Watkins played was quite amazing. 89 in 58 with 10 fours and 2 sixes...they scored 17 runs in the last over which is quite rare now even in the men’s T20...Neither channels showcase these matches nor there is a live streaming web link...this is very much biased and too bad

Nothing much to write.. Only some scattered thoughts..

Its a clean slate.. not watching matches, not reading about them..
Consequentially, nothing to write about the non-Indian matches.

But one point about India's last match - I wonder what was Dhoni trying to prove by making Ravindra Jadeja come into bat AFTER Harbhajan!!! Come on, Dhoni!!! Jadeja is a batsman.. Maybe pressure got to him in the England match. One failure does not mean that you drop him waaaay down the batting order like this.. He is your team mate. No matter what the media writes about Jadeja, you protect him, you be there for him.. Thats why you are the captain. You assign a role and give him a free hand for a specific number of matches - the same that you have done for Sehwag and Yuvraj at the start of your career as captain. You enjoyed their success.
One big failure should not mean that Dhoni has forgotten his man-management skills.

Before this note turns out to be like an open letter to Dhoni, I will move on...

Disappointing that India finished the T20 worldcup with NO wins in the Super8!! The only team in the same boat is Ireland! Frank, as you said, what an absolute leveller!!!

Looking ahead.. Need to see what the team will do in Windies, now that WI have figured out that this Indian team does not like to dance to chin music.. But Nayar, Nehra getting a much delayed call into the team - Yes, thats good. Bhadrinath & Vijay - hmm.. I will reserve my comments for now.

The fallout

The debacle in England has taken its toll already. The squad for the ridiculous 4 ODI tour of West Indies (can you think of anything else but money as motive for this series?) does not have Raina and Zaheer. Zaheer must not have been at the T20 WC also being not 100% fit - tell you what Zak? Please retire from the short versions and concentrate on becoming a frontline test bowler. For Raina, this is a great opportunity. Sourav Ganguly proved that it would not take more than a few weeks of practice to overcome the short ball syndrome. Raina should take this setback as the inspiration. Hope he does that.
The selectors have decided to rope in Abhishek Nayar and Asish Nehra in the squad - a move that was warranted for the T20 WC. I hope they will be in the team for the next T20 WC.

Where do we Stand?

Making up the mind not to watch the last game was too hard a decision for an ardent cricket fan like me.
It became so mundane and switching on the Televsion set made me watch yet another defeat.
T20 is not only about hard hitting and smart bowling, but is a mind game.It's not so easy to retain the cup in this format and for men in blue it turned out as a nightmare. It was almost the same situation and pitch conditions for Windies against England.When Sarwan and Chanderpaul could do it with such a passion and confidence, why not Men in blue?
If we call it as pressure, it has nothing to do yesterday since we are already out of the tourney and could have managed to beat SA at least for pride chasing 130, being defending champions.
Yelling on Dhoni's strategies,decisions and selection...bla bla bla..are not going to help.For any team performing on the D-day and raising to the occasion is necesscary.
Last match Yuvi came on no.4 and Jadeja was sent at last...did it serve the purpose..?Where could one account the shot played by Yusuf Pathan and earlier from Raina..?We got beaten up in our core strength area...Indian players are the best in taking up spin bowling...ek!
Most worrying factor is the intensity level and contribution of Indian players was very low and the play was not to international standards in key matches. But this was not the case, with IPL.
In all those close IPL matches until the last ball, the commitment and seriousness was very high,and so was the case with all Indian players that represented their club teams. But in the match against ENG when Dhoni/Ypathan was struggling for the 19 in last over,commentators were speaking about a disappointed Indian dugout and turning aside the camera witnessed Rohit sharma and Ojha having a much lighter moment with big laugh.
Why? Feel there should be real honor and pride between a match you play for the country and to a club.Where do we stand really?
Just merely living with IPL victories have proved costly and we lost the series.Hope the individual brillance will come together as a team effort in the forthcoming Caribbean series.
With the fall out of Adam's it's the turn of Eve's and the good news is we are in the semis.
All those IBN's and Headlines...stop thrashing your hard comments on the loss of Mens T20 and focus on the game of Womens T20. Chances are very high on the cards they can clench the cup to make us proud.
With crossed fingers and renewed vigor let us hope we get the cup in Womens T20.
Common ...Chak de India....!!!

Blame it on the IPL

Yeah right. I watched MSD speaking on all news channel today morning and the one bush he kept beating around was the fact that the Indians were tired after the IPL. Well Mr. Dhoni, how intelligent! May be you should rewind your memory back to the IPL and look at who performed well at the IPL - ABD, Dilshan, Sangakara, Fidel Edwards, Bravo, Duminy, Van der Merwe, Jayawardene, Murali... Now does it come as a surprise to you that their teams are in the semifinals? How is it that fatigue affects one team and not the rest? Rather than say "fatigue from the IPL" you could have said "demoralization from the bad stint at the IPL".
How many from your team left an impact on the IPL? You made the best Indian bowler of the IPL - RPS - sit out of the opening matches of the IPL. You demoted India's best batsman from the IPL - Raina - to a slot in which he had no clue. The other success of the IPL - Rohit - was also slotted in at an uncomfortable postion. And finally, you left India's best spinner - Ojha - out of the playing 11 just to add another failure to the batting order! Come on. Be like a man and deny any attempt to blame it on the IPL!
By the way, the Indian eves have compensated a little for the huge dent disappointment created by the men by reaching the semis of the Ladies T20 WC. Unfortunately for women's cricket in India, it would not serve as anything to anyone. The BCCI would not even want to mention a word of praise from any quarters while the media that is quite busy bashing the men's team (who must thank Shiney Ahuja for taking the spotlight off them) probably doesn't even know that the women have done India proud.

Lowering the interest rate

India's exit from the T20 WC seems like a weird experience. Over the past two and a half months I have always been on the greener side of victorious runs. And the sudden change of events over the weekend has left me very frustrated - so much so that I have unsubscribed to Star Cricket on my DTH bouquet. I suppose a lowering of the interest rate in this game would make it better. But anyway, the next T20 WC is just 10 months away. So the wounds are not going to stay long like the wounds of the 2007 F50 WC debacle.
One thing that Dhoni should learn from his Pakistani counterpart would be to play T20 just for fun. Younis Khan's fun mantra has propelled them to their second succesive T20 WC semifinal. From now on, with the miracle still on, I can see only one team holding the WC trophy - Pakistan***.

*** - Sincerely hoping that the curse of my prediction derails Pakistan :-)

Depressed or relieved - Is it a toss up? or Have i decided?

Am I Depressed???
1. Passion with which I was following up on the matches - on the net, on paper, on TV - has vanished.. If I put that in percentage terms, from 120%, its now at around 10%!
2. The constant feeling that 'whoever wins, whats there in it for me'!
3. The pessimistic outlook that 'Its all fixed. Whoever is being offered more money by the bookies, will do according to the bookies' script'.

Am I relieved??
1. I can sleep more!!!!! (WOW!! I think I know the answer to the title question already! ;))
2. I have more time on my hands now that I dont need to read up all the articles written on cricinfo, espnstar, rediff (all online) and the Times of India newspaper.
3. This is better for my life as a wife and mother. My husband and kid get shouted-at less now as I am more relaxed, i am sleeping well and there is no tensed feeling as if an elephant is standing on my stomach during the match days!
4. Its good for my vocal cords as I am not screaming at anyone anymore.. Until 3 days back, even if the channel was getting changed for one second during the irritably long commercial breaks, the window panes in my house used to rattle with the resonance effect!!
5. Realisation has dawned that this team who cannot hit sixes cannot be the world champions in a format where hitting-sixes matters the most (Proof - There is a counter of tournament sixes during the match and nothing on fours or wickets or number of cheerleaders or anything else!!)

By the look of this analysis, its proven beyond doubt that I am more relaxed than anything else.
Thanks Team India.. for letting the normal-me come back to life!! :) :)

The great leveller

My prophecy has come true. Even though I still feel the team should not be criticized on the back of one blip, the pathetic performances force me to do so. The Indians had indeed peaked too early. Too many false signals gave the Indians too much hope. Such were the expectations that even when they lost to the West Indies on Friday they were still considered favorites!! Rohit Sharma at best in a decent middle order batsman. But just 2 innings in practice matches and a 50 against Ireland made the think tank believe he was India's best opener. Bowlers at the IPL had forgotten that Suresh Raina was too short and would certainly have problems with the short stuff. Gambhir is best only when playing second foil - not as the lead opener. Yuvraj had to fail at least once. In the matter of 40 overs, two teams that didnt seem to stand a chance against the Indias blew the Indian mirage away - what a leveller for the Indians. As Nasser Insane put it, India were caught out technically.
It's got to come as an eye opener for the Indians though. The board needs to deal with players who cover up injury with an iron hand. How on earth could India dare to come to a tournament with their opening batsman and their opening bowler carrying serious injuries? Ridiculous. And it does seem like the Dhoni-BCCI honeymoon is over. Now the hypocrites from the board will start looking (and in most cases lobbying) for a new skipper.
Hope that when this is all over the Indians are prepared enough for the longer version. No, not the very long one - I mean the longer version of the shorter version - the F50 Champions trophy tournament that's coming up in September.
As for the rest of the tournament - I am happy to be the neutral observer. Now I feel Pakistan are the team to look out for. The miracle that I mentioned previously has indeed happened - India have gone out.
BTW. Did anyone notice something fishy at the toss on Sunday? MSD won the toss and did not even tell Colly what he was going to do. Colly had to find out from the commentator that they were going to bat. But here is the highlight. MSD had a strange explanation why he picked Ravi Jadeja in the team. He said because they were going to chase he picked Jadeja in the team. Now what was that supposed to mean? Was he stupid and did he give it away?
It's obvious what "it" means here.

What a sinking feeling!

After the high of the first blog, came the down of the Indian defeat!!! What a downer it was!!
The less said of the Indian batting the better.. Why do so many of them get out by playing the pull shot?? Are we really suspect against some good short bowling?? Whats Dhoni doing - nudging, scratching, fishing, doing everything possible which is not there in any cricket book to get runs?? Has he forgotten how to score runs??
Hmm.. many questions.. no answers.. Hoping that Dhoni and his men will come up with some nice answers by the time they play the next match..

What a heady feeling!!!

Thanks Frank.. Its really a heady feeling to be invited by you to take part in this blog.. Simger, Projects fan ;) - pls join in the party....

Today's first match is already underway.. At the start of the innings, SL seems to be giving Pakistan a lesson on how the T20 match should be played.. Waiting to see who will teach who, what by the end of the game :)

India's match is sooo late in the day.. Working mother like me find it difficult to keep the eyelids from shutting down till 1.30 a.m... :( :(

The real test

Even as I write this, India are hours away from their first real test in the T20 WC. Even though they beat Bangladesh and Ireland in the league games (dare I say) comfortably, nobody was stretched at any point. All the stretching only happened off the field. But even in these not so tough days, MSD has somehow tried to rope himself into some controversy or other starting with the "feud with Sehwag" drama. That was followed by the "show of unity" press conference. And as if that was not enough we had the "what is going on with Sehwag's injury" press meet couple of days later. The latest bullet to join the list is the No. 3 spot in the batting order. After having been captain of CSK team in the IPL where he watched Suresh Raina take control of the spot, MSD has suddenly hada bout of amnesia. He has pushed himself into the No. 3 spot for no obvious reason and has been ambigous about why he chose to play himself. Let us hope that, as he mentions, the decision is only temporary. It will be an important day for Zak - whether or not Chris Gayle can be contained depends completely on him.
Pakistan put NL out of the tournament and entered the Super 8 at the cost of the only team in their pool that deserved to be in the Super 8 - NL. But then that seems to have made one less tought team in Group D. Seeing what transpired in the game between SA and England that point became obvious. What were the Englishmen even thinking? I could imagine a few Dutchmen saying "Come on, We would have done a lot better than that".
NZ and SL seem determined to progress. Pak and Ireland need miracles.

The strange case of the second game

It's quite a strange phenomenon. Even though England lost the first game to Netherlands, by beating Pakistan they booked a spot in the Super 8. And guess who they might end up throwing out of the tournament - Netherlands!! Pakistan have the not so tough task of beating Netherlands today by about 25 runs (if they set the target) or with about 3 or 4 overs to spare (if they chase) to knock them out of the tournament. It would be an undeserving spot in the Super 8 for both England and Pakistan then.
That led me to a thought about the other groups too. Except for Pool B, all other pools have had the team playing their second successive match lose their second successive match and thereby getting eliminated. So, by the time teams go on the field to play the third game of the pool, we already know who has qualified. That makes the format of the game very less interesting. May be they should have thought of having two league games for every team against each other. That would have made it absorbing.
Theories aside, like every other WC this one also has its share of surprises. Australia have not been able to do what Ireland and Netherlands have done and that is to win a match at the WC. Chris Gayle, Brendon Macullum, Ishant Sharma, Ajanta Mendis - they were down in the drains a month back and suddenly in just in the matter of one match have become one of the major factors for their team's progress in the tournament.
Headlines Today threw up a huge load of shit by "breaking" the story of the rift in the Indian team just before the WC began. And they were taken aback by the response of MSD and tried to delve further into mocking the Indian team. Unfortunately for them, nobody seemed to notice them after that fracas. HT, I have a suggestion for you - stop your sensationalism with bollywood. Venturing out of that small circle is a big risk considering the potential of your anchors and producers.
ESPN Star must soon realize that this is T20 cricket. It is not enough if they cover the T20 tournament. They should change their outlook also to suit the format. Alan Wilkins and Harasha Bhogle are still in the test mode - time to switch please!!

Deja vu..

Everything about the T20 WC seems kind of deja vu to me. Back in the 2003 WC, when world cups used to be played only as 50 over games, the Indians almost reached the pinnacle. But the fall in 2007 was so huge that it left the entire team in disarray. And the fall was weird because, even before the 2007 WC began the Indians were shining in the practice games and in the build up tours. The same is the case now. The build up tours, IPL and the warm ups are giving such a positive feeling. And that is the scary part - even so when their first opponent is Bangladesh. I sincerely hope that the Indians prove me wrong.

I am expanding the coverage

Now that the IPL gold dust is settling and the T20 fervor is still on I have decided to go beyond the boundaries of IPL. That means I am crossing over to Star Cricket from SET Max. The T20 WC is upon us already and I am going to broadcast a TView of the T20 WC also. Hope my favorite team wins for the second month running!!
But it looks like the hope might be dashed even before the tournament begins. Zaheer Khan has carried the IPL injury into the WC and is scheduled to sit out of the warm up games. India would have been well served with another bowler instead of having to carry this extra baggage all over England - Sudeep Tyagi for example.
NZ and Pak are scheduled for India before they begin their T20 WC campaign against T50 WC 2007 tormentors Ban - time for revenge eh? Many fancy it would be a Ind-Aus final this time round. But I smell a dark horse somewhere. Let's wait and see.
From a TV perspective one thing is for sure. In between overs and during the breaks, I will only have sports promos and not Akshay Kumar swinging to "Singh is King" promos or watch "Bhaskar" being curse-transformed to "Bharti". I still would love to see the zoo-zoos though.

And the award goes to..

Everyone news channel has an awards of IPL section. So here I am with my own version of IPL Awards

Intruder of the IPL Award
The dog that held up play for more than 10 minutes during the opening match of the IPL

Rat out of the hat Award
Tie
KKR decide to go with Mendis for the super over against RR
Sachin's over against DD during the league game

What a wide Award
Lasith Malinga

What is going on Award
DC throw away match against DC courtesy of a cricket suicide

Shiverer of the IPL Award
Gaurav Kapoor

Foot in the mouth Award
Robin Jackman's famous "Citi moment of disaster" comment on air - didn't get to see him on air after that

Change the name Award
Tie
The sixer will henceforth be called the DLFer
ODIs will now be called 50-50 cricket or F50 cricket

Fake of the IPL Award
No.. not the idiot FIP
Akon during the closing ceremony

Come never back Award
SRK

Question of the IPL Award
Sameer Kochar to some in the audience at the final : You here to see the final?

Big time heel cooler Award
Glenn Mcgrath

A gloryfying ascent and yet another fake IPL...

What a moment it must have been. In two contrasting years of fortune, DC came from finishing last in 2008 to finish at the top in 2009 - an ascent to be proud of. It was just reward for the team's determination and in particular for one man - Adam Gilchrist. He put up incredible performances one after the other - as captain, wicket keeper, batsman and a sportsman - something that won him the Golden Player of the IPL Award. He made everyone wonder why he even retired from cricket. With the T20 World Cup just round the corner, Australia would be well served if he was in the team along with another star of the season - Mat Hayden.
As I expected and as variants of Murphy's law would project it was DC and RCB who made it to the semis. DD were too casual in assuming that they were unbeatable. But on Friday, even if they had decided to show grit, it wouldn't have mattered as Sehwag mentioned. Gilly simply decimated them. CSK made the big mistake of not taking Mike Hussey's services even though he was available. And just because Haydos returned, MSD got fooled into thinking he would win. And when RCB players decoded Murali's crypt the writing was clearly on the wall.
The final was the icing on the cake. The match swung both ways once every 5 overs. DC just hung on when the match swung its way one last time. Congrats Chargers! I am just hoping now that there were will be a parade of the Chargers with the trophy atop a bus in Hyderabad - just hoping. Ram Reddy.. are you listening?
As expected, the weight of the finals just got to the IPL. The whole closing ceremony looked very fake. Except for the Phoenix Fire Dancers performance and to a little extent Katrina Kaif's swing everything else was fake. I have heard that Britney Spears once did lip sync during an awards show. Yesterday it was that "international singer" Akon failing miserably in trying to do the lip sync. And that was just not the end - there was another drums show that was fake followed by a really fake fashion show. In the end the show dragged too long and almost shadowed the glory of the evening. And what were the organizers thinking when they just handed over the medals in a bunch to the dignitaries for the presentation. It was so funny watching them (and it included the President of South Africa also) trying to unwrangle the medals that were wound up. And there was more to come - as the players kept coming to collect the medals, the presenters ran out of medals - even Anil Kumble did not have one. And whom did they give the Fairplay award to? KXIP!!! Now that must be a joke considering who they have in the team - Appam.. err... I mean Super Sree.

Some fine bloopers at the final

Mandira Bedi to Gilchrist : "RP Singh has proved to be good at taking wickets for Deccan Chargers and (pause)... in general
Glichrist : ????????? (thinks) in general????

Sameer Kochar to a few people in the audience before the match : Are you here to see the final?
Spectators : ???????? (thinking) no we will leave shortly

Danny Morrison from the dugout to Ravi Shastri : I want Deccan to win keeping in mind my Aussie connection.
Shastri : Aussie connection Danny?
Danny : (embarassed) Well, you know Scotty Styris the Kiwi, he is not playing but... blah blah blah

And finally it was hilarious to see Sameer trying to liven up the post match interview with Symonds and failing miserably.

A blessing probably

In most tournaments, matches played on the last day always have some impact on the knock out stage. But there was nothing at stake on Thursday. While DD-MI had absolutely no impact, the DC-RCB match lost its impact when it was mentioned that DC have to lose by about 195 runs to get eliminated or win inside 11.2 overs to eliminate RCB. So it was just a fight to decide who will face DD in today's semifinal. And by losing the match DC took the honors. I feel this could be a blessing in disguise - they have a better chance to upstage DD than CSK - who now have Mike Hussey also in their ranks as if the current line up wasn't enough.
What the teams need to do now
KKR had the same fortune of DC from last year - losing a few close ones and looking out of sort in other matches. They will probably bounce back like DC. For MI it looks like Sachin must think again about captaincy. Nothing seems to be working for him. Bhajii would make a better captain provided he keeps his slapper.. err.. his hand in control. RR must start thinking now. Their ploy of bringing in the surprise factor by throwing totally unknown players into the fray worked for a season and half. But now they need to bring in real talent. KXIP will do better with some spirit. Yuvraj seems a bit lazy and it catches up with the team.
The semifinalists
DD have been making a march on the opposition through the tournament. But they have a lot of potential banana skins within their team - the form of Gambhir and Sehwag the most important of them. One off day for AB and Dilshan could spell disaster and that was exposed by RCB. So DD beware.
CSK have a lots of factors going their way but the same factors might backfire. Brilliant starts from Hayden have kept them competitive throughout. Raina's bowling has supported Dhoni very well. Hayden's injury might play a big part if it is serious. Hussey's return is a plus provided he is not very rusty. Murali can go for 8 runs off 4 overs on one day and 55 runs off 4 the next day. So CSK has to tread carefully.
RCB have been the dark horse. With the same "test team" from last year they have gone as high as 3rd in the league - thanks to the resurgence of Ross Taylor once KP left the scene. Kumble's captaincy hasn't been good or bad. Kallis and Taylor are very important to them now. But RCB haven't been involved in pressure chases for some time. Can they perform then?
DC must look to reverse the pattern that is emerging in their matches in today's semifinal. They begin their bowling very tightly - there is always a wicket or two to RP. There is discipline until about the 16 overs - except for the odd misfield or dropped catch. Over the next 4 overs, they lose their way. Too many runs are conceded and suddenly a decent total becomes a huge total.
While they bat, the pattern looks similar. Gilly begins in cracking fashion. Gibbs or someone in the top order too compliments the start. By the strategy break, the situation looks very bright. And then the slide begins. Barring Rohit, nobody seems to have any clue as to what to do and they finally capitulate. Hope this doesn't repeat today.

Bye bye bollywood

It was a memorable evening for me. Whatever was left of Bollywood was packed off in spectacular fashion. Four teams competed with each other in trying to lose as much as possible. But in the end, only the biggest losers could lose heavily. And the icing on the cake was that PZ's KXIP and SS's RR were ejected out of the IPL. RR can have further humiliation for having been the defending champs. If Mumbai win today's inconsequential (depends on the perspective) match, RR will end up 7th - certainly not what Shilpa would have expected when she acquired the 11% stake. But then RR played that way. The batsmen were looking to score 300 in 20 overs and humiliate KKR but failed. But that didn't prevent KKR from offering to get humiliated and only a miracle saved them - you have to call it a miracle because Ajit Agarkar finally played a role in a winning cause for any team that he has played. The second match was supposed to throw the semifinal spots wide open. But KXIP were not ready to oblige. They took 38 runs from 3 spinners in 12 overs and gifted the entire top order to CSK who were too casual to be serious but suddenly ended up winning the match. The moment of the match though was when Sreesanth castled Dhoni and ran all over the field celebrating.
At this juncture, as we look back at the IPL, there seems to be a really bad example being set by the players - a very bad one. Everyone must have noticed that. Whenever a bowler picks a wicket or a batsman gets dismissed under embarassing circumstances or a fielder finally takes a catch to dismiss a batsman or there is a misfield or.. and the list goes on, we see players badmouthing each other. Even though the TV people mute it off or we don't hear it we know what is being spoken - a direct vulgar attack at the other player's family. Not one player shows restraint. Don't they know they will be in focus of the cameras under such circumstances? Somebody has to take serious actions.
Suresh Raina was in focus during yesterday's match. Having hit Sreesanth for a 4 he found himself being abused by the over rated bowler. He calmly responded (and was heard on the stump microphone) saying that Sree could sledge him but not be abusive - now that's a cool head.
DC and RCB meet in today's match to decide who will face whom in the semis - a mighty turnaround for them after they finished at the bottom during the inaugural season. But then the semis are not going to be easy pickings. The winner will have to face CSK and the loser will have to face DD. But the losing team should be careful enough not to lose heavily. Because that will chuck them out of contention and let KXIP sneak in through the backdoor. As I always mention - anything can happen in T20. It's all about chances.
By the way, fake IPL player has "revealed" himself. But when you look at the revelation, all you can think of is - what a coward!!

A "knight" to forget

Captain Cool finally had a hot night - a night to forget. It wasn't the CSK that we have seen all through IPL2. For starter, there was no Hayden (and it looks like he will miss the next match too). And then.. even though they posted 188 runs, it did not look like a convincing target. As KKR chased, the bowlers erred. Tyagi and Jakati who have successfully played second fiddle to Morkel and Murali respectively suddenly lost it completely. Balaji who has been escaping punishment somehow finally got what he deserved. While bringing on Raina against KXIP a few days ago looked like a tactical move, this time it looked more like a desperate move. And to top it all, Dhoni lost his cool. He was so stunned by the KKR assault that he let Parthiv take over wicket keeping and tried motivating his players by being on the field. Even that did not help. Macullum and Hodge were determined not to let another match slip by. And as deserving as it may be, KKR finally got to win a match off the last ball.
I had written a few blogs ago that KKR might set someone's semifinal hopes on fire. CSK could turn out to be the team that will be on the receiving end of that blaze. With 15 points and 1 game against KXIP in hand, CSK must win that match. And as fate would have it, KXIP (14 points) also have to win that match to stay alive. Imagine what could happen if CSK lose and RR (13 points but lower NRR that CSK) beat KKR. Distant possibility, but in T20 anything is possible.
What all this means is that if RCB beat DD in today's match, the final league match between RCB and DC will go on to become a virtual quarterfinal just as I prophesied yesterday.
All the off field fun from yesterday came from "what you call" Kris Srikanth as he came on as "what you call" expert commentator and shared a few "what you call" jokes with Mandira. The best "what you call" moment was when he had to refer to the IPL and put a "what you call" in front if it.

Undeserving

Much as I can acknowledge that DC did not deserve to win against KKR on Saturday night, I must say that they had to win against KXIP on Sunday. But I must also question Ryan Harris' running off the last ball against KXIP. The non striker had almost completed the third run and was indeed running to the danger end. So what was Ryan thinking as he strolled towards the dug out after completing the second run? After all T20 is all about taking your chances - even if it is non existent or slimmest. Just take Yuvraj Singh for example. Who would bet on him taking not one but two hat tricks in the same tournament? It's all about taking chances and Ryan just missed the plot. On a foot note - kudos to Rohit. He proved everyone wrong about his attitude. Despite the result, DC are still 3rd thanks to CSK and DD pulling well clear with victories. Now DC has to slug it out with RCB, KXIP and RR for the two semi final spots - something that could not have been so tough had DD not laid down for KXIP to roll over them on Friday and had DC not committed that cricket suicide. Looking at the remaining matches to be played, it looks quite absorbing.
RCB have the might of DD to face up before heading against DC in the last league match which could turn out to be a potential quarterfinal.
RR could falter if they take KKR as a sitting duck in their last match.
KXIP have to contend with CSK who have already cemented their spot in the last 4 - something that might let CSK to go with fringe players and boost KXIP.
There's a lot to joke about off the field. It was a pathetic sight yesterday to watch the RR cheerleaders dance with their most minimal clothing on when everyone else at the ground was running to cover themselves against the biting cold. Mandira Bedi finally listened to what has been said about her dress sense - but still has to improve on all other senses. Akash Chopra finally got himself convinced that he had to cheer for KKR and even that couldn't turn KKRs fortune around. Sameer Kochar made the most laughable joke. After the last ball six that won the match for DC against KKR, Sameer burst on to the screen with the hang over of the excitement still lingering. But all of it ended in anti climax when he finished saying it was a comfortable victory for the Chargers. It was also funny to watch the square leg umpire trying to stop Mortaza from bowling before that contentious no ball during the match.
The next one is something I have wanted to talk about for a long time. It's about the IPL trophy. The organizers have put in a lot of thought, money and what not into making the IPL a big success. But alas! Where were they when they designed the trophy? Every time the trophy comes on screen and the commentators start praising the trophy ravishly, I begin to think if I am the only one who feels otherwise. Just look at the trophy - does it look even slightly attractive? Alright, its replete with diamonds and rubies. But it looks like a hastily arranged India map made of some white stones from which a few stones have fallen off. Come on Modi - try finding something else. This trophy doesn't reflect the mood of the IPL!!
The joy and thrill and money in the IPL has indeed turned a few heads. While some former foreign players and foreign boards are going green with jealousy - Javed Miandad calls IPL a joke and alleges match fixing while most English commentators have blamed Chris Gayle's late arrival in England for West Indies' test loss - many of the ICL players are already quitting it - Hemang Badani is the latest in this list.

Royal thrill

RCB and RR have made it really tight at the top now. Just when I thought the pattern that would make the bottom 4 drift away from the top 4 was emerging comes two thrilling matches. But looking at how their opponents played, it must not have gotten thrilling at all. While CSK clearly looked like they underestimated RCB's late order, Sachin's MI got everything wrong with their late order.
The story of both matches looked quite similar. CSK were in the driver's seat with yet another Hayden 50. They were then pegged back spectacularly by RCB. When RCB chased, it looked like CSK had the game in their hands when they packed off the top order. But Taylor's heroics for the second game running derailed CSK. Such was their excitement that even after the last shot from Vinay Kumar went for 4, they were still running between the wickets to get the winning runs.
RR had a whirlwind start and MI stemmed the rot with a good bowling display at the end. With 145 to chase and Sachin and Sanath in their ranks, MI looked set to win home and dry. But it was yet another "rat" from the hat from Sachin when he sent in Bravo, Takawale and Rahane to bat before he and Sanath stepped in. But Warne (yeah despite an injury that threatened to take 10 days off he played with the limp) had other ideas. Not only did he marshall his troops well but he set the example by removing both the stroke makers. And then finally with 6 needed off the last over, MI conspired to lose by 2 runs - it looked like a repeat of the "cricket suicide" from the previous day. It's now 2 points separating 2nd place and 6th place - the last week is going to be very exciting.
Isn't somebody going to tell Mandira that the off shoulders that she wears only reminds people of what they see in the biology labs? Come on Mandy, you can do better. Don't get fooled into thinking that TViewers are mesmerized by your dress sense.

Suicide

What an awful night it was. It was supposed to be the glory night that catapults DC back to the peak - temporary though. But the self-triggered avalanche completely ransacked them. All they needed were 25 runs off 19 balls with 7 wickets in hand. Instead they made 12 runs of 17 balls and lost all 7 wickets. The domestic crop in DC proved to be just "weed". Not only was the batting display a dampener, equally dumb was the fielding effort. At least, if they are not able to catch high balls the fielders should refrain from converting them into sixers - pathetic sight. It was completely self inflicted and more severe because DD were not as good either. They were also suicidal with their fielding. It was just that DC proved to be more cruel to themselves than DD. And among all this catastrophe, you can also put in positives from Dinesh Karthik, Adam Gilchrist and Andy Symonds. It surely looked like there were 2 matches being played there - a more prominent scrappy game and a less effective batting cracker. But Delhi won both matches.
Rajat Bhatia became an instant hero to everyone's surprise. Everyone else was a villain - Chaminda Vaas the worst of them all.

Condemned, doomed, cursed...

Condemned, doomed, cursed, ill fated, unlucky.... any number of such adjectives would summarize KKR for this season. It was supposed to be the turning point with Brendon Mac striking form. But SRK still has to wait before he can book a flight to South Africa. And moreover, he mentioned that he would go back only if KKR "start winning matches". With just 3 more games to go, I don't think KKR will set the IPL on fire but with Hussey in and Mac in form, they might just set the hopes of some semifinal contenders on fire. Anyway SRK! See you in IPL 3 unless you decide to sell the team off. But before you wash your hands off, you better ensure that the "Phoren Babas" involved in Ajay Jadeja's spectacular racism claim are dealt with.
Let us not take away credit from Ross Taylor though. As much as KKR's luck proved to be a factor, we all know that Ajit Agarkar is not one to be trusted to bail you out when a batsman is in murderous form. Keep it going KKR. You may finish last but you can keep in mind Swami Vivekananda's philosophy about being at the bottom to console yourself. As for RCB, it looks like they might better their best performance in the IPL - finishing 7th.
MI and KXIP played a scrappy game. Off the 119 runs that KXIP made, there were 23 extras. Imagine what could have happened had this been a 50 over game. It was an eye candy to watch Sreesanth hammered all over the park. In one over bowled by Super Sree, Bravo tripled the MI score and MI never looked back after that. It was so easy that even Sachin scored a few runs. That was sarcastic but I had to make it for obvious reasons.
Bret Lee sends in a bouncer and Sivaramakrishnan the commentator says that Lee is still rusty from the injury lay-off. I cannot imagine what Lee would have done had be been in perfect condition - bounce the ball all the way to the moon?There is a saying that means it is better to remain silent than gloat and show your ignorance. Before they are picked for commentary, these commentators need to go through multiple screenings.
Sameer "Stone Cold" Kochar has replaced Gaurav Kapoor on the field. At least, he was not shivering. But in trying to be a Gaurav on the field he failed miserably - much like Sunny Deol trying to dance.

Clinical

Finally DC came up with a clinical performance to despatch RR. The moment Yusuf Pathan departed, there was only one team that was going to win the match. Yusuf incidentally has been the man of the match on all previous occassions the two teams met - some record this. Dwayne Smith has proved to be the trump card for DC this season. The short arm scoop he hit for six off Trivedi was a stunner. Yet another trump card would be Rohit Sharma. He seems to be the bowler to go to once the top order has been cleaned off. He takes no time to polish the middle order and the tail. And as Gilly said, he may be more off chasing the Purple cap rather than the Orange Cap. Warne's injury during the match that rules him out for 10 days means that RR have to finish among the top 4 and win the semifinals also before he can play - tough ask. By the way, did you notice Munaf sulking towards the end of the RR innings? He did not even care to run singles which were on offer. May be he was sending a message to skipper that he did not like being bowled only for 1 over when DC batted.
I've been watching with a bit of pity at the way in which Indian cricket is shaping. Even though the IPL is the opportunity for many a budding talent, it looks like they are not using it as effectively. The number of dropped catches - most of them absolute sitters, misfields, wavery bowling - all this coming from the Indian contingent in all teams point at only one thing. The first team is good - but behind them everyone is struggling.
Meiyang Chang seems to have gotten over the IPL butterfiles in the stomach. He seems the most composed of all the comperes. Robin Jackman was funny yesterday. He bent down to field a ball that was racing towards him in the boundary. And after that he was complaning of pain in the back and knee for the rest of the evening.

It looks like a curse

I thought it would turn around for KKR just to go by the law of averages. But it looks like KKR has been cursed. I can now bet on KKR not winning any of their remaining matches. Hope they don't prove me wrong against my favorite team Chargers. Dada now seems to waging a lone battle. But despite all the wrong things happening to KKR, the team still seems to be enjoying the game. It looks as if Brendon comes to the field every time just to see what fate has in store for KKR. He seems to enjoy every edge, dropped catch, wrong decision, overthrow and what not. We can expect a book on IPL 2 from him. The mystery man of KKR - yeah the FIPLP - has put up a poll on his blog now. Suddenly this guy wants to become famous. And what's more interesting is that there have been more votes registered on this blog than the number of votes in the Mumbai election.
CSK and DD are well on course to the semis. The rest of the teams are at quite a distance. My team lost to KXIP because of indiscretion during the last overs once again. MI finally won despite Sachin being their captain. With 5 teams vying for 2 remaining spots, it should be exciting.
Alright. It should be OK if Jeremy Coney or Mark Nicholas or Robin Jackman call Kigs XI Punjab as "Kings XI Poonjab". But why is Ranjith Fernando going that way? Is he trying to gel into the commentator team? More from Ranjith and the rest here. Enjoy!!
Gaurav "shiverer" Kapoor has been relegated to the studio - just punishment for all his tantrums on field. All he had to do was wear some warm clothes. If he couldn't do even that, then he doesn't deserve to be there on the field. But Mandira continues to be the joker on the field with her costumes (did you see that yellow one yesterday?) while "Changy" guy just keeps getting on my nerves with his childish behavior. Ramiz Raja seems to be the guy who has brought some fervor into the commentary team. But when you lose Toney Grieg, Dean Jones and the likes to the poor man's IPL, you have to put up with guys like Neil Mckenzie and Greg Blewett.

Thoughts

Things that I enjoyed so far in the IPL, in the weekend:

· Hayden pushing Warne out of the way to take a single

· Ramiz (or Rameeeeez ) Raja suggesting three strategy points and naming them as A. … B. … and 3… .

· The Indian idol dude commenting that, “the part-time spinners are doing really well like Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and the other day somebody from Chennai Super Kings”.

Thoughts

Chennai lost against RR in all their matches last season, and so far Chennai has won all, will there be a Chennai vs RR final and this time Chennai will lift the trophy? I hope not, since my favourite team will lose out then.

Links:

That was fast !

A glossary of nicknames by the FIP

Ah that captaincy theory again

What a way to prove me right one more time. With DD needing 43 runs in 5 overs against MI the unluckiest captain of all time picked up the ball to throw his gentle off spinners at half track. 19 runs came off that over - so much for a shot at masterstroke a-la Dhoni from the previous day. DD never looked back from there and won comfortably. I was laughing all the way to the end from that spectacular over.
DD seem to be the first team that have stamped their authority in the tournament. They are almost at the doorsteps of the semifinal. Today's matches might throw in another couple of potential semifinalists. The tournament seems to have peaked with respect to the points table. But where have all the crowds gone? It's turning out to be an eye sore to see empty stands even though the organizers and commentators still think that the crowds are adding to the excitement.
Ramiz Raja has come to join the commentary team. Now that is a valuable addition to the potential bloopers collection. He almost had a blooper yesterday. Even as Dilshan struggled for words in the post match interview, Ramiz continued to flaunt his hi-fi English. But thankfully for Dilshan, the interview got over before it got funny. SET is trying all means to make the in-studio team look better. They got Anjum Chopra instead of Arul Lal - too early to make comments now though. Will wait and watch for a couple of days and then point out the bloopers if any. Adios!!

Thrilling run fest

Same pitch, same day, different results. Hours after one Royal team gave another Royal team yet another Royal thrashing in a low scoring game, Dhoni's kings and Yuvi's kings provided a thrilling run fest as they scored 359 runs in just 36 overs. It was a treat to watch and it's quite unfortunate that such a match was not played with the stadium packed with passionate supporters. Had this match been played in Chennai or Mohali, the crowds would have certainly added to the flavor. Yuvi's kings were so hot in pursuit and it took a Dhoni masterstroke to pour cold water on it. Not in their wildest dreams would any skipper ask Suresh Raina to bowl 2 overs inside the final 4 overs when the opposition were going hammer and tongs. But then just like in the movie "Unbreakable". if there is a captain whose every stroke results in utter failure (you know who I am talking about ha ha ha) then there should be another whose every touch is Midas' touch.
It was bizzarely funny to watch Gaurav Kapoor during the innings and rain breaks. The wind was blowing hard and it looks like Gaurav hasn't learned the lesson yet. Whatever he was wearing, it was not enough to stop him from shivering like Courage the cowardly dog. It was an irony that he was advising those that were planning to visit SA to pack their woollens. Alistair Campbell's confused look when he was talking to Gaurav summed it up. He was not sure if Gaurav was mocking him or if he was indeed reacting to the cold. And by the way, as I speculated the other day, Arun Lal is back in the studio. Oh no!!

The 7 ball itch

I did not believe it could happen but it did happen. DC won a match which I thought they had lost inside the first 10 overs of their batting. All it took was just 7 balls to derail the Mumbai Indians. While RP Singh bowled 2 off them at the beginning of the innings and accounted for Tendulkar and Jayasuriya, the surprise package came from Rohit Sharma. Little did I expect that of all people it would be Rohit who would pull the plug on the Indians. But then the Indians had to do something to ensure that my theory on Sachin's bad luck with captaincy stayed intact. But let us also give credit to DC a bit - with the bowling line up they have, 10 points and 2nd position in the table is great result.
And what's it with matches involving DC? Once again there was hardly anyone in the stadium and there was hardly any soul in the commentators too. All said and done, with the South African winter biting hard, the crowds have indeed stayed indoors. Ask that to Mandira who came up with that horror costume the other day. I could hear her teeth chattering when she was on air. And yesterday it was Gaurav Kapoor shivering and chattering through the fours, sixes and wickets packages. It was also funny watching Gaurav trying to pronounce "Tirumalasetty" during the post match interview. Thank God, they didn't have any "Phoren Babas" doing that interview. Didn't see AC in the studio yesterday. So there were no serious jokes :-)

Everything royal about it

Finally the tournament had its first score above 200. It was a "Royal" smacking that the kings from Punjab got. It was all over even before the chase started. Kudos to Warne for continuing to prove everyone wrong. Without Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir the Royals are still quite a formidable line up. One the same lines, the match comes as a hard knock to Yuvi's kings - a hard Royal knock!
But all the comedy of errors were indeed reserved for the second match of the day. Having scored their highest score of the season so far, KKR played one of the most sloppy games of the season so far to lose to DD. Almost all 114 legitimate balls they bowled could have resulted in wickets but they took only 1 wicket. That was how the Delhites batted. But KKR players took turns to drop sitters, get nut megged by the ball, misfield balls on the boundary at will, effect multiple overthrows etc. etc. And to add to their woes umpire Ian Howell failed to notice the only catch the KKR took amidst the misses. Conspicuous by his muteness through all this was Dada - he effected one misfield and one overthrow and did not even come to bat or bowl. Despite all these, KKR put up a brave face to go down after 19 overs. SRK had said that he would go back to South Africa only after KKR started winning. May be his team is conspiring not to let him come. As for the Delhi batting - the lesser said the better.
On top of the TV bloopers list must be Mandira Bedi's costume yesterday. Simon Doull tried hard to contain his laughter whenever Mandira talked to him. And Mandira had further embarassment when she forgot Moises Henriques's name. Back in the studio, after 24 hours Sameer Kochar finally made Akash Chopra root for KKR. But it didn't seem to help KKR's cause.

"Dis"charged

It was not good viewing at all. Last evening I watched the whole match on TV without moving an inch away from the screen. I went from hopeful to desperate to devastated as I watched CSK systematically discharge the Chargers. But then after 3 wickets for 1 run, it had to happen that way. It's time for a revamp of the team. With Symmo coming in soon and Vaas still warming the bench some kind of change is required. With Fidel gone, the sting is also gone. Come on Chargers! Stop the discharge!!
I suppose that from next season onwards (or may be already in this season) teams need to start speculating about whom they will try to pry away from other teams. For example, Suresh Raina would certainly be on the radar of all clubs. That way, there will be additional excitement angle to the IPL.
Finally Mandira re appeared on TV but still - she's better in the studio. Why don't Sameer and Mandira switch roles? Alright, now to the TV goof of the day. It was a very dull day at the IPL. There was hardly any crowd and the commentators were talking as if they were watching a test match. Suresh Raina hoicked a ball with all power out of the ground and Harsha Bhogle who is normally animated responded with a simple and monotonous "Nice shot. Where is it going?". It was almost becoming a day without the bloopers when at the end of proceedings, "expert analyst" Akash Chopra came up with a stunner. Sameer Kochar prompted Akash to spell out today's (tomorrow's for yesterday) schedule. Sameer's vision in asking Akash to do it was because Akash's own club KKR was to play today against DD. When Akash did not catch the "vision" in the move, Sameer tried to rev it up by telling Akash that his team was in action. Out came a thunderbolt from Akash - "I am a Delhite and my heart is still with the Delhi Daredevils". And as usual Sameer was lost for words after that.
The IPL has indeed come as a blessing for many players. Praghyan Ojha and RP Singh have forced their way into the T20 WC squad on the back of some wonderful performances. Yusuf Abdullah, the South African who plays for KXIP and Lasith Malinga (MI) have also seen their IPL stints fructify into a WC squad spot. So the seeds are starting to bear fruit.

The veil is coming off soon.. or is it?

It looks like the Fake IPL player has not been able to stand the excitement and the suspense. He has decided to unravel his identity once the IPL season is over. I only hope it is the real fake IPL player who is now doing the blogging. I think the blog has been hacked over and over and there are too many of them blogging there.
Staying with what happened on TV over the past 3 days. My favorite team the Chargers have lost 2 in 2. Gilly seems to place too much confidence in Venugopal Rao and VR has repaid the confidence by promptly handing over the initiative to opponents. KKR have lost to the only team that they haven't lost to in the IPL. Now they are in the tournament just for the sake of the fake IPL player. Sachin's "ill luck with captaincy" theory still continues to hold good and as I said, KP's exit has only made RCB a better team.
There was yet another "controversy triggering" moment on TV. Danny Morrison was on the field reporting in one of the matches and guess what was sitting on his lap - a cheerleader. Even as the shocked commentators struggled for words and Danny continued to coochie-coochie with the girl the television decided to stop right there. Fortunately, the netas back home were too busy with the elections and it looks like they have not taken notice of what happened.
There is good news and bad news from the studio though. First the good one - Arun Lal is gone (is it temporary??). Now the bad news - Saba Karim has replaced him. Period. No more comments. By the way, where is Mandira? Has she gone into hiding because she fears the fake IPL player. It looks like most of the off-field stars have disappeared (they might attribute it to the elections) because they are scared the fake IPL player would expose them.

Tougher times ahead

The one shining beacon on the KKR ship - Chris Gayle - will depart from the IPL this week. It's going to be really tough times. Brendon Macullum has said that he will quit captaincy if KKR do not make it to the semis while owner SRK has said that he will go back to South Africa only if KKR start winning again. So, Mac will quit captaincy and SRK will not even be there in SA when Mac does it. May be, like how it happens in football, sacking the coach might bring things back on track. KKR were horrible yesterday against RCB. They made RCB look so strong. Looks like these two teams will fight it out for the wooden spoon.
Staying with RCB, they finally won a game - largely attributed to the absence of Robin Uthappa and presence of a new keeper in the line up. Skipper KP will be leaving this week but I don't think that is going to weaken RCB - one thing it might do it make RCB a better team.
There was also another match - a match that continues to prove that Sachin Tendulkar as captain will continue to be a failure. After all, this was one match in which the chasing team required 120 runs off 120 balls and still fell short!! Change of captaincy might just make it work for the Indians.
And no day is complete without the regular commentator goof ups. Firstly, SET pulled off a coup by bringing in Akash Chopra (yeah he played a game for KKR) to review games along with Arun Lal. Now we have one more reason to turn off the TV when it goes back to the studio. Secondly, what is wrong with Sunil Gavaskar? May be his favorite team lost the match? He looked like he was almost crying in the presentation ceremony.
Sree"Slapgate"santh was there at the end of the match to confront the opponents in the post match hand shake. This time he was prepared - he was seen hugging Bhajji tight and thus escaping a repeat of last year's episode. And then that famous "Changy" - a jealous pervert - one could feel the smoke coming out of his ears when he mentioned that "jappis" and "pappis" the Kings XI would get because they won the match. Poor Piyush Chawla did not even understand what he meant ;-)
BTW - the BCCI gave the ICL players amnesty - is this good or bad for cricket? One thing is sure though. The only India captain (and that will continue to remain so for some time to come) who has won a Cricket World Cup will go further down into isolation (unless he also decides to ditch Subash Chandra).

Nail the fake IPL player

I have a wonderful advice for the KKR team owners to nail the fake IPL player who is now almost creating a ruckus. Why not send 2 players back to India next week and get in Akash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar now that we know those two are not the FIPLP. By doing this every week or day or two days or three days they can surely find out the fake IPL player before the tournament ends.

Cool as cucumber

What is it that brings the best out of Yusuf Pathan on T20 games? When he walked in the Royals were in a slightly precarious position. Shane Warne's experiment of playing himself ahead of Pathan had just been proved ineffective. Over the next 8 overs he was simply ruthless. Nothing seemed to scare him. Even as Shane bit off every nail and Graeme Smith huffed and puffed Pathan never flinched. He kept putting the ball out of the park at will. Every time Graeme Smith came up to ask him to "watch the ball" and "play safe" he would respond by taking an almighty crack at the ball. Just what is making him do this? That would be a Royal secret...
Speaking of secrets it was Deccan's Glichrist dodging Pommie Mbwangwa at the presentation interview on Monday. Having acknowledged that he made a mistake in not bowling Praghyan Ojha through his quota of 4 overs against Chennai, Gilly attributed it to a "theory" he had in mind. The curious Mbwangwa then asked Gilly about the "theory" to which there was a diplomatic reply that meant "no way I am gonna disclose that". Way to go Gilly - a lesson to the others to speak in interviews. But then, the "theory" was just an open secret wasn't it? Ojha is a leftie and his spin doesn't work against left handers. Isn't that the theory Adam?
And finally, speaking of the crowd at the stadiums, it was another embarassing moment for IPL yesterday. During the "strategy break", Ravi Shastri the commentator asked the roving reporter Simon Doull about the crowd. Even as Simon started speaking (it always looks like the commentators speak out from a pre-written script when talking of crowds) the camera went round showing am empty stand behind Doull. Not knowing what was on TV, Simon went ahead and completed his "dialogue" about the packed stadium and the enthusiasm.
And btw.. did you notice Lalit Modi signing autographs and tapping arms of spectators as he walked up the stairs? The WWE effect.

Are they really full?

Are the grounds really full for all IPL games. Even during yesterday's interview Lalit Modi mentioned that some other venues were sold out. But when we see the games on TV all we see are empty stands and all we hear are a few raptures that echo around the grounds. So are the grounds really full?
Staying with yesterday, isn't that "Chang" guy getting on your nerves. He is so stupid with his questions. Yesterday he asked Danny Morrison whom he supported. When Danny mentioned that he was Kiwi and supported Macullum prompt came the next question, "Are you looking forward to seeing Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya bat?" It was like Austin Powers saying "Zip it" to his son.
And what's with the two stone statues in the studio - Sameer Kochar and Arun Lal? Whenever they come on screen and discuss what happens (I don't think Arun Lal must even be allowed to say a word about a format of cricket in which he would make a total of 15 runs over 2 seasons if he plays 28 games) I tend to switch channels. Even the reviews on the news channels are a lot better - take for example Boria Majumdar shouting in the company of Charu Sharma on Times Now.
And yeah.. Mandira - you'd be better off sitting in the studio and asking questions to Tony Greig and Ravi Shastri rather than be on the field and come a huge cropper. Come on SET - throw that "Stone Cold" Sameer out and get "Giggly buggly" Mandira on.

On behalf of...

There have been too many things said by fake and real IPL players out on this forum. So I thought there should be one that represents the spectator. After all, it's the spectator who is putting up with these people as they come at them. And by people I mean everyone involved - from Lalit Modi to the players on the field to the TV presenters to the cheering squads and the clowns who call themselves fake players on blogspot. So here we go...

There will be nothing sensational here. No nick names. No fake news. No gossip. Just plain views of the previous day's action.