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.