Commonwealth Games Calling

The Fan’s Eye has always been about cricket, however I intend to write about other sports as well during the course of the next few days. The Commonwealth Games have finally kicked off in the capital New Delhi. After all the controversies the real business end has come and the talk of the town are the events on the field.
Running the Baton Relay in Jodhpur was great fun. The twenty five students from our college had a really good time being around the baton as it was being carried through the sun city. It was an honour being a small part of the relay but I feel even more privileged being in the bride like decked up capital of India to witness the largest (by participation) Commonwealth Games ever in history. As I made my way from Old Delhi to Noida, the sight of the city was amazing. The posters of the Games Mascot Sheru are everywhere reminding people that they are in the presence of a huge international event. I was only able to glance at one venue. It looked truly amazing. The grass was really green and the stands looked magnificent.
Getting tickets for many events is very difficult as most of them are sold out, although the stands don’t look full on television. There are rumours here that school and college students would be allowed to enter such empty venues (free of cost) if they produce their college ID cards. If this scheme is approved it would be fantastic as I have got my NLU card here. We were looking to book a few tickets for the cycling events to be held at the Indira Gandhi National Stadium. We had hardly waited for an hour before making the final decision but by then the tickets were sold out. It was a sensible decision on our part to book the India vs Pakistan hockey match in advance as all the hockey matches are sold out, no seats are available.
I am off to the track and field events to be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Thus I would be able to elaborate on the extravaganza better after I attend it. Until then….Adios

Cricket in NLU--- The Real 22 Yards

(This is the real article on cricket in NLU I wrote for RAET…not the 1 paragraph that was published)
It has been almost a year since we won the Yuvardha Cricket Cup. A lot has changed on the cricket front in NLU since then. We have new faces in contention, and some good old player have left the university.
The team that won Yuvardha had players like Tony, Musa, Raj among others. They occupied the top three positions in our batting line up for the crucial semi finals and the finals. They made very important contributions in all the matches and people like Surya Prakash, Dheeraj and myself weren’t required to bat in the competition at all. The good start they gave was complemented well by the likes of Vikram and Samudra who finished the innings with huge hits. In the bowling department we had Nagauri who gave us the early breakthroughs and then Deepak, Samudra, Tony and Musa kept it tight in the middle to restrict the runs and also took wickets. So all in all it was a combined effort that won us the trophy then.
When I look at the team today, we are in a rebuilding phase. Tony, Musa, Raj and Deepak have all passed out and we are looking to find a new composition. They were the four main contributors in our win last year and it will be very difficult to emulate what they did. Still, we have new faces this year. Priyank Mangal is an able batsman and a good wicket keeper, and this allows Kapoor to concentrate on his batting and also gives us a good fielder in the outfield. Siddharth Mishra is a good all rounder. He can open the bowling and batting with good effect and has a very safe pair of hands in the outfield. What is good to see is the emergence of the second year’s(who were in the first year when we won Yuvardha). Alok, Niket, Atanu have really worked over the last year and have emerged as good players.
Thus, in this rebuilding phase we have good options before us but we have to really work hard to match the success of Yuvardha. We will start by playing a few matched against the local teams and will look to learn a lot from them. We may win or we may not, but we will continue to fight and improve so that we can try to get close to the Yuvardha success. The Yuvardha win is a kind of a benchmark for us. We had won all the games convincingly without any worries. To reach that level, the current team will have to work really hard. Luckily for us, most of the other players of that team are still there. Nagauri, Kapoor, Samudra and Vikram’s presence will certainly boost our team and to go with them we also have Virender who has emerged as a good all rounder. In our endeavor to win, anything may happen, we may win or lose but that wouldn’t stop us from trying, after all sports teach us how to live. All we need is focus and hard work.

Buck Up Mumbai

The Champions League T20 is underway and the first day produced an upset. The unfancied Highveld Lions got across the Mumbai Indians in the opener at the Wanderers in Johannesburg just going on to show the unpredictable nature of the game. Highveld Lions got everything right but the Mumbai Indians made a few mistakes which cost them the game.
T20 may be a game which is unpredictable but if you make some elementary mistakes, then you have really got yourself in a curry. Mumbai Indians made far too many mistakes on the field. They could have fielded much better. There were misfields, overthrows etc, and some of them were simple mistakes. The margin just speaks for itself, the mistakes, the difference between the two sides. The bowling is, I think is too dependent on Lasith Malinga who being human can also have an off day. Zaheer is making his comeback after an injury lay off and Harbhajan is finding his form. Malinga may have got the wickets to show but he wasn’t his usual self. He was trying to many slower ones for the liking and should have stuck to his natural slinging Yorkers. In hindsight, it wasn’t a very good decision to give Zaheer the last over. He is coming back after a long layoff and is short on match practice. He will get better as the tournament goes on but for the first match Malinga should have bolwed the final over. The over in question cost Mumbai 17 and that was just about required by them in the last over while they were batting. If Mumbai wants to bounce back, the bowlers will have to get into the act soon. McLaren should be used more as he showed during the West Indies tour that he can be very effective. He may have been a bit wayward in his first over but then he is the local man and should be given a good share in the overs. Again, Mumbai shouldn’t start the innings with McLaren, Zaheer and Malinga should share the new ball and McLaren should bowl first change.
The batting was satisfactory. Dhawan gave a decent start but Sachin was simply brilliant. Some of the shots he played were out of the world. The chip over point and the sweep to fine leg stood out. Duminy and Pollard reduced the pressure but then Pollard got out and the wrong time and as Harsha Bhogle pointed out in commentary that Duminy isn’t a natural slogger but will hit it when it is in the slot. For a start I think Dhawan can be a little quicker. He may have hit the boundaries but I think he played to many dot balls for the liking. Sachin plays the anchor role and still manages to maintain a fantastic strike rate but if Dhawan too joins in then it will really ease the pressure of Tendulkar and will certainly help Mumbai’s cause. Rayadu is a good choice for number 3 and maybe if the situation requires then Pollard can be sent for that role. This team really requires another batsman. Tiwary when fit will walk in and Mumbai will hope for his quick recovery.
There is still a lot of time but Mumbai has to sort these problems out soon to help their case for qualification to the semis. Hopefully they get it right and we also hope to see more sparkling innings from the Master Sachin Tendulkar.

Indian Cricket Calling Kartik

There have always been good players who haven’t got the chance to play at the highest level. The coveted test cap has always evaded them due to many reasons. In one of my earlier posts I had written about the likes of Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar, who never got a chance to play Test cricket because of the presence of the famous spin quartet. But, today’s post is about a man who in his limited chances at the highest level has performed well but still doesn’t find a place in Team India. The man I am talking about is Murali Kartik. I first saw him play (live) against Australia at Mumbai in 2004. This test match is infamous for its square turner. What struck you most about him was his high arm action and classical loop. I later saw him bowl a very economical spell against the same opposition in a T20 international at Brabourne. This always made me wonder as to why he didn’t have a regular place in the team.
Murali Kartik made his Test Debut for India in the year 2000 against the touring South Africans. He was left in wilderness for quite sometime due to the emergence of Harbhajan Singh, who for a brief moment even kept Anil Kumble on the sidelines. Kartik played his first full series against the West Indians in 2002. He has always been in and out of the side since then. He toured Australia and Pakistan in 2003-04 mainly a replacement for the injured Harbhajan Singh. The same year came one of his finest moments when he helped India to a dramatic victory at Mumbai against Australia on a square turner. He has just played 1 test match since. He continued to play ODI’s scattered over period of three years in which he again demolished the Australians at Mumbai in an ODI with a six for. He played just one more series against the touring Pakistanis. What strikes me the most is that he has found himself dropped from the side at the wrong time. He played just one test after his man of the match performance at Mumbai in 2004. That test match was anyways a “Five-day Bat-athon” as described by Wisden Asia that year. No bowler got any returns from that track at Kanpur. The next match India went in with two spinners so that meant he would make way for Kumble and Harbhajan. This is where the Indian selectors failed. He should have been in the squad in the long run but was instead dropped. If he had been kept in the squad, he could have been groomed to be a successor to Anil Kumble. Indian selectors were chopping and changing got in the likes of Piyush Chawla etc. In trying to keep the youngsters they have failed to keep a world class bowler in the squad. It was heartening to see him back in India colours in October 2007 but he was again left out for younger choices for the tour of Australia. It has to be seen that he had performed well on his recall in 2007 but he again found himself dropped. What more can a player do but perform to keep his place in the squad.
Currently he is playing county cricket for Somerset and has performed admirably. As I write he is playing his sixth match of the season and has already taken 34 wickets. He has taken 5 wickets five times already and has taken ten in a match twice. The fact that these have been taken on tracks that support seamers just speaks of his class. The Indian spinners are currently struggling to get wickets in Sri Lanka. Harbhajan, Ojha and Mishra haven’t had much success on this tour. The form that Kartik is showing should automatically make him a candidate for a spot in the Indian team. Somerset have already realised his worth and have extended his contract by a year. My point is that he should be given another run in international cricket. He is in form and might just be the answer to India’s bowling woes. He was once quoted “The Holdings and the Athertons say I am one of the top three left-arm spinners in the world... People say I am the best left-arm spinner in India, but I am not playing for India.” He has a point. In the process of trying youngsters India is probably missing a very good match winner and a consistent performer. It is time to get him back. If he performs, who knows, he may be a good option for the World Cup next year as well.

Sach is the Man

(I took this picture during the 3rd test between India and Sri Lanka at Brabourne Stadium Mumbai, December 4th 2009. Sachin is walking out to bat in this picture)
I may have been about 2 years old when my dad gave me my first cricket bat. It was a small plastic bat with the word “Thunder” written on it, but before I could say the word bat, I learnt to say “Sachin Tendulkar”. As a toddler, one of the first things I learnt about cricket was Sachin Tendulkar. Still in his teens then, he had taken the cricket world by storm. All the other kids in my locality would get their bats and we used to make our nannies bowl to us. Almost every kid in the colony wanted to be like Sachin. The image of him striking the ball came to our minds the moment we picked up out little bats. Sachin had mesmerized the entire nation, young and old alike.
I write today, a day before he would become the highest capped test cricketer in the history of the game. This is another record that is going to be added to his already huge kit of milestones. Over 600 international matches and number of milestones, but his hunger and enthusiasm for the game is the same since the day he first walked out to play for India. There are no more words to describe the man, no more words to appreciate his achievements. All we can do is to sit back and take pride in the fact that we have been witnesses to a great career. We have shared his good times and bad. We have always wanted him to perform as he symbolised the hope of Team India.
There are many moments in his career that symbolise the great man. As 16 year old, playing his fourth test against Pakistan, he got hit on his nose by a Waqar Younis bouncer. He told his partner Navjot Singh Siddhu “Main Khelega” when asked if he wanted to go back to the dressing room. The net ball he faced was carted to the boundary. On the same tour he took on Abdul Qadir’s challenge and hit him for four sixes in an over. I wasn’t born that time, but from what I have heard and read, people were saying “This kid can not only bat, but can dominate bowlers.” At 16 he had shoed the maturity and determination we have seen for the past 20 years. In these 20 years there have been many successes, and along with them come heartbreaks. Heartbreaks at Chennai in 1999 and Hyderabad in 2009 got tears to our eyes and made us feel that we should have won those matches atleast for him. I was too young when the Chennai incident took place, but I remember the Hyderabad match distinctly. The last ball of the Ausralian innings, Sachin had taken a great catch in the outfield to dismiss Cameron White. He threw the ball back in anger, which is uncharacteristic of him. This just gave me the feeling that we were in for a special. When he got out on 175 there was still hope of a win but the Indian tail fell short by 3 runs. This was a huge heartbreak and I remember it took me three days to get over it. What I am trying to say is that we have always shared his feelings. His father passed away during the middle of the 1999 World Cup. He rushed back to be with his family and returned to play for India immediately. The entire nation felt his pain when he walked out to bat against Kenya. The hundred he got that day won’t be forgotten by anybody considering the loss he has suffered. When there were protests against the team during the 2003 World Cup, it was Sachin who delivered a message to the nation promising better performance. This instantly calmed people down and the next day people were on the streets with his posters shouting “Sachin, hum tumhare saath hai”(Sachin, we are with you). Whenever he got injured, almost the entire nation would get worried and pray for his quick recovery. John Wright wrote in his book that whenever Sachin gets injured, the whole of India gets an anatomy lesson. He has always spoken of his pride of being an Indian and this has appealed to everyone in the country. He is one man who can unite the nation. His aura transcends the boundaries of the cricket field and enters into the hearts of every cricket fan, not just Indian cricket fans. Whenever he walked out to bat in Australia, the crowds would give him a standing ovation. His hundred were cheered with similar enthusiasm. Last week, when he scored his 48th test hundred, I distinctly remember the Sri Lankan supporters chanting his name when he was on 98. Such or should I say Sach is the man.
There are many great moments in his career but if I have to pick one that would sum him up, it would be the moment he got his one day double hundred earlier this year. He just took his helmet off, waved his bat to the heavens and the crowd. There was no fist pumping, no aggressive celebration, but a humble acknowledgment. This just shows the man’s humility. In spite of achieving almost everything there is, he is as humble as ever. This is what I learn from him. No matter what you do, where you reach, always be humble. No matter the time is good or bad, always do your best, the bad times will go away and the good times will become better. Sachin, you just taught us how to live.

The Warrior Called Dada

Watching Sourav Ganguly raising his bat today after he got his fifty just signified his fighting spirit. In Chennai the other day there was a placard with Sachin Tendulkar’s picture saying “The government says there are 1411 tigers, they forgot to count 1.” I think we should make that two as dada would easily come in the fold of the tigers.
What amazes me about Sourav Ganguly is his fighting spirit. Even in adversities he has never given up. I remember, when I was in 11th and had a tough time passing my mother told me “Learn from Sourav Ganguly, look how he has made a comeback.” This was just after India had toured South Africa and Dada had made a successful comeback to the Indian Team. When he was made the captain of the Indian team he brought with him a killer instinct and a never say die attitude that helped him take on the Aussies in the famous 2001 series, 2003 world cup, the tour down under etc. Under him, the younger breed of cricketers like Yuvraj Singh, Md. Kaif and Zaheer Khan became match winners as he instilled a new attitude in the team. The captaincy had to end but little did anyone think that he would be dropped from the team itself. Dada roared back hard at his detractors and returned fitter and a much better player. People said that he was suspect againt the short ball but you could make out that he had worked on it. After the bad period in 2006 you could actually see him getting behind the shorter deliveries and playing them down on the ground. There were calls for him to retire in 2008 after the Sri Lanka tour but he had a last go at the Aussies and he played some crucial knocks. If you have a look at his career you will notice that he has always fought back after being dropped. Dropped after a solitary ODI in 1991 he was back in 1996. Dropped after a horrible controversy in 2005 back again the next year. He has stood up in the face of adversities and has emerged victorious on many occasions. During the start of this year’s IPL a lot of people including myself felt that he wasn’t up to the mark for the shorter format but he has shut our mouths for good. He has taken some blinders in the field and was back hitting the spinners out of the ground.
What youngsters must learn from him is his never say die attitude. More importantly all captains should learn from him. When you have a captain with an attitude like that it helps the team. When the leader believes anything is possible, the team too can believe. Dada has set a great example in front of us and it is the duty of captains (Indian Cricket Team) to come to keep his legacy alive with the spirit that he has imbibed in Indian Cricket when he became the captain.

A Table Wide Open

We are down to the last two weeks of the Indian Premier League and we still aren’t able to pick atleast 3 teams who will definitely make it to the knock out phase of the tournament. Mumbai have made amends from the previous two seasons and have booked their place in the semis with a win over Rajasthan on Sunday. The other three teams that will be a part of the semi final line-up are uncertain. All the teams except Punjab have a realistic chance of making the semis. Punjab has a slight mathematical chance but they need lady luck to shine on them big time and also influence the results of the other games.
When I have a look at the IPL table, it reminds me of a gate that is wide open. There is enough chance for a lot of teams to get through. With Deccan winning over Bangalore we have four teams with 12 points namely, Deccan, Bangalore, Rajasthan and Delhi. Chennai and Kolkata have 10 points to their name and they also have a chance to make it to the semis if they win all their matches. Even two wins may do it for them but they wouldn’t like to leave it to a net run rate situation. Bangalore are still second and they should qualify easily if they win their next two games. This is because they have a healthy net run rate. At +0.34 they should try to wrap up their next two games which are against Rajasthan at Jaipur and Mumbai at Bangalore. The game against Rajasthan will decide the fate of the two teams. Both teams have to win to book their places in the semis and not leave it to net run rates. The game is even more important for Rajasthan as they do not have a very good net run rate. Rajasthan have to win this game more than Bangalore. Bangalore can still make it to the semis by winning their last game against Mumbai but they wouldn’t like to leave it too late. Tomorrow we will come to know if Rajasthan are still alive in the tournament. If they lose tomorrow then they are all but knocked out unless results of other games affect their fate.
Kolkata take on Chennai in Chennai tomorrow. Both teams are on 10 points but Chennai are ahead with a positive net run rate. If Chennai looses, they would have to win their next two games handsomely to have a chance to make it to the semis. If Kolkata loses then they have to win their two games even more comprehensively. Tomorrow’s game is very crucial for both teams but I think Chennai will fancy their chances as Kolkata have struggled a little and public comments by Ganguly and Whatmore will not help their confidence. We have to see if the KKR players get motivated by these comments and put up a commendable performance. Their line up looks strong but I think their bowling needs more attentions. Karthik is doing well and Dinda was good in the game against Delhi but they need a combined effort from their bowlers. Their first task would be to keep Vijay and Hayden quiet and then take on the rest of the batting order. Kolkata’s top order looks strong but I think Ganguly should play a little faster. We have seen that he can turn it on in this format and if he does so then Kolkata will feel confident. Chennai too have to worry about their bowling. Bollinger has strengthened the attack but yet again he needs more support from the other bowlers. Their batting line up is strong and shouldn’t be a worry.
Delhi will take on Mumbai tomorrow at Brabourne. It will be interesting to see if Mumbai make any changes to their line up. I think Graham Napier should get a game. The all rounder has shown his talent in New Zealand and England and certainly deserves a look in before the semi finals. An area of concern for Mumbai has been the keeping. Tare was dropped after inconsistent performances with the bat and he should get a look in again as Rayadu doesn’t look very comfortable doing the job. Tare can bat well as we saw in the first few games so it may not be a bad idea to give him another go. Delhi on the other hand will be glad to be away from Kotla. The Brabourne pitch will provide them a good chance with both bat and ball. Delhi can make one change by bringing in Dilshan instead of Warner. I think they should open with Sehwag and Gambhir and Dilshan should come at No.3. Dilshan is a game changer and he can strike form anytime. He may have had a bad outing but if Delhi are to ensure a semi final spot, this is a gamble they have to take.
That’s it from me now but all I have to say is that we are to witness a few thrilling days of cricket in the IPL. The next few days are going to be the best days the league has seen. But I have two names for you Mumbai and Punjab, and I say this because they are still crucial to this table as they may spoil a few parties here.
Till then….Adios.

The Three Men

“It’s a game for the dashers” that’s what all of us believed about the latest format of the game. When we spoke about T20 we always talked about players like Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Yusuf Pathan etc. In short we always spoke about the dashers of the game who aren’t particularly known for their technique. What this IPL has taught us is that any player can play the format effectively. This IPL we have seen the likes of Tendulkar and Kallis among the runs, these two are obviously known for their technique and experience and were at one time dubbed as not fit for the “young man’s game.” How wrong have they proved everyone in this tournament? Then we also have a young man from Chennai who was thought to be a test match specialist, scoring runs at a really rapid pace. Murali Vijay has proved a huge asset to the Chennai Super Kings in the last few games. His hundred against Rajasthan yesterday was a pleasure to watch as he played some good cricket shots with panache.
We have the example of three players in front of us. All the three of them have scored a lot of runs in this years IPL at a rapid rate and as effective as the dashers. This just shows us the importance of technique in cricket. What technique gives a player is more stability and more consistency. We all have been talking about the antics of players like Pathan and McCullum in the past but if we compare the stats then we see that players like Kallis and Tendulkar are more consistent that the dashers in this format. Obviously with players like Pathan there is always an unpredictability factor and you should have guys like him in your side but in tough situations you have to always depend on your “dependable” players. Kallis has been giving good starts upfront for Bangalore. What he does is that he paces his innings and holds the Bangalore batting together which gives the opportunity to guys like Pandey and Uthappa to go after the bowling. He also goes after the bowling when it is required as we saw in the game against Punjab where they chased down 203. He doesn’t have a very high strike rate compared to Tendulkar and Vijay but is effective nevertheless. A very good sign for South Africa with the World T20 coming up.
What to say about Sachin Tendulkar? Words are not enough to describe this man’s prowess with the bat. He came into this IPL in top form with a 200 in an ODI behind his back and is really in his elements here too. Sachin has literally creamed the bowling around this year. He has played classical shots and has kept the scoring rate high. The common feature in all his outings was his timing and the fact that there were no slogs all natural shots. If you can play natural shots well why waste your energy on slogs for which you may get the same reward but a higher chance of getting out. The cover drives, straight dives, the flicks to square leg are still a joy to watch and they make us believe that the art of batting will survive in the T20 era.
One man who has taken the IPL by storm is M Vijay. Some called him a test opener, others said he isn’t fit for this format but he has laid all this to rest. The Vijay revolution started from the game against Rajasthan at Ahmedabad when he creamed over 20 runs in an over. The shots he played were good cricket shots and the flicks over mid wicket in particular were a joy to watch. He played another gem against Bangalore but his hundred was out of this world. He started the innings playing good classical shots, the cover drives, straight drives etc. He then went after the bowling just using the pace of the bowlers and those shots weren’t exactly slogs. He played a few slogs in the end but the core of the innings was full of good textbook shots. A good find for Chennai and who knows, he could be used by India for T20’s too. What this has done is that it has relieved the pressure of Matthew Hayden’s shoulders and he wouldn’t always have the burden of providing Chennai with fast starts. There is a man at the other end who can do it just as well.
The moral of the story is: A good test player can become a good T20 player…….but can a good T20 player become a Test player?

The Warner Show and The Kamaal Catch

Delhi faced Kolkata at Kotla today and it turned out to be a one sided contest with the local boys emerging victorious. Delhi batted first and put on 178 on the board courtesy David Warner’s hundred and a gritty knock by Paul Collingwood. Gritty is not the word often used to describe an inning in T20 but that’s how it was. There were three things that caught my attention today firstly, the pitch (The reason for the word “gritty”), secondly David Warner and thirdly David Hussey’s catch.
To start with the pitch. It was slow and low with some turn and almost no carry through to the wicketkeeper. This same ground is serving a one year ban from international cricket and is due to host a few matches of the World Cup next year. The first two games on this ground produced run fests. The pitch looked flat and full of runs. Today it just seemed too slow and the spinners were getting turn. The slower bowlers were very difficult to put away. Even during the Champions League there were problems with the wicket’s bounce. I just hope that this pitch improves and it doesn’t remain a slow and low turner. An actual sporting wicket is the one we saw at DY Patil Sports Academy yesterday. It had enough for the batsman and the bowlers. The batsmen could get runs if they really applied themselves and the fast bowlers were aided with good bounce but it was a dream for the spinners as they extracted turn and bounce. I think we ought to see more pitches like these in India. The flat tracks and the slow low turners take us nowhere. They do not help in the development of domestic cricket or even the IPL. The Delhi track looked good in the first two games and I think they should try to keep it that way and try to ensure that the bounce doesn’t get lower. Once they make a track that is a little bouncy they can probably then make it into a real sporty one.
The second highlight was David Warner. He batted really well today. He went after the fast bowlers when the powerplay was on and he played the slower bowlers sensibly later on. The pitch was slow and low and thus it was important for someone to anchor the innings. Warner did that job really well and some might say he played too slow during the slog overs but we have to give it to him as the pitch was really tricky. The Kolkata Spinners were really tough to put away today and especially when Murali Karthik is in good form, it is even tougher. Even though he slowed down we can see that his strike rate has remained high. On such a wicket you may try to swing your bat may four times to hit boundaries and connect maybe one but Warner was really sensible to pick up the ones and twos and hit the occasional boundary. With Gautam Gambhir back in the side, the Delhi top order looks really good. Sehwag and Warner have been in good form, Collingwood got runs today, De Velliers who didn’t play today has some runs, so it’s a good situation for Delhi.
During the course of the tournament we have noticed the commentators describing every other catch as a Karbonn Kamal Katch. We have actually had a few Kamal catches during the course of this tournament, De Villers boundary stunner and Tendulkar’s reflex to name a few but the one that would stand out is the catch taken by David Hussey today. He was standing on the long on boundary when Collingwood hit one fiercely over his head. Hussey got his hands to it but popped it over the boundary. He had the presence of mind to pull it back in the field of play with his feet off the ground and then he dived back to complete the stunner. What amazed me the most about this catch was Hussey’s presence of mind. He was really quick to pull it back and then dive forward to take it. I have seen many brilliant catches a similar one from Adam Voges, Stunners from Collingwood, Gibbs and Rhodhes, Dillon juggling on the boundary to hold Flintoff but nothing like this. I had written the other day that we wouldn’t see a better catch than the one taken by De Villiers but Mr. Hussey I take back my words and salute you.
Tomorrow Mumbai take one Punjab at 8 PM at the Brabourne Stadium. Punjab have to take inspiration and believe that nothing is impossible, meanwhile Mumbai have to do things the way they are. Before their previous game I was worried that their bowlers were not picking up wickets but now what worries me is the middle order. Sathish hasn’t looked in good form; it may be a good idea to try Nayar if he is fit. Pollard is yet to excel with the bat it may not be a bad idea to give Napier a game but with Pollard there is an unpredictability factor (New South Wales will vouch for that), you never know when he will strike them big. Such players are impact players and they can change the face of the game any time and it is important to have atleast one of them in your team. With Jayasuriya out it looks difficult to replace Pollard. If Napier has to be played then he can only come in place of McLaren who has done a decent job with the ball in the previous two games. Punjab will miss their captain Sangakkara tomorrow as he is banned for a match for slow over rates. It will be interesting to see if Shaun Marsh comes into the team. Bopara and Marsh will make a good opening pair, something Punjab have been looking for. I am more interested to see who will captain them. Will it be Yuvraj or last season’s vice captain Jayawerdena? All answers tomorrow.
Bye.

Whats Happened to Kings XI Punjab?

We had the battle today for the spot at the bottom in the points table. Both Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders were aiming to avoid this dubious place when they faced each other at Mohali. In the end Dada’s brigade was victorious with good performances in all the departments.
The main focus on my post is on why Kings XI Punjab isn’t winning this season. They have good players in their roster and as we saw in the previous seasons that they are capable of pulling of good performances. If we have a look at their squad from the previous seasons we will realize that they haven’t changed too many players. The core of the team has remained the same with only the change of the captain and the addition of a few new players. Here are a few things I have spotted in their current campaign and these are the reasons I think they aren’t winning as they would like to.
1. Absence of a stable opening pair: Only Ravi Bopara has been a regular feature for Punjab in the opening slot. His partners have been chopped and changed too many times in the six matches they have played. Manvinder Bisla opened in their first 3 games and had one good knock against Bangalore followed by a blob against the Chargers. Pathan’s antics against the Chargers earned him a promotion for the game against Chennai when he walked out to bat with Bopara. He did pretty well on a tricky wicket but then again in the next game Sangakkara opened against Rajasthan and he gave them a very quick start. Today we had Yuvraj Singh. If we have a look at the three new openers, they have done reasonably well but on all three occasions Bopara has failed to make an impact. Probably Kings XI may want Shaun Marsh back in the side but meanwhile they have to find one guy who can partner Bopara and that guy should be given a longer run than just a game.
2. Failure of the middle order: Apart from the game against Bangalore, we have seen that the middle order hasn’t contributed much. In fact it has collapsed in all the other 5 games. Bisla showed form at number 3 against Rajasthan but then again if we have a look at the scores of the Punjab middle order, it is disappointing. Yuvraj opened today but I think he is better off at number 4. He did well on a tricky wicket at Chennai and the middle order is the best place for him. Sangakkara, Jayawerdena and Yuvraj are fixed features in the middle order but they need one more batsman to play the role for them. They have tried Barath (who is an opener), Kaif and Goel till now. Irfan is good at his spot and I think he can be promoted to come after Jayawardena. Thus, Punjab have to find one batsman to follow Irfan.
3. Spin Bowling: There was an interesting stat put up during the broadcase today. Piyush Chawla has been hit for the most number of sixes during the tournament. You don’t expect that from your frontline spinner. He is young and it will be a learning experience but Punjab need another spinner or another bowler who can support him at the other end. They have tried Bipul Sharma, Ramesh Powar but haven’t given either of them a long run.
4. Death Bowling: In almost all the games, the Punjab fast bowlers have bowled fantastic first spells but have taken a beating in the slog overs. This shouldn’nt happen as runs given during the slog overs easily change the momentum of the game. Juan Theron has been good but didn’t play today and Irfan Pathan seems to have found his line and length but again he took a beating in his last over today.

Tom Moody and Sangakkara will have all this in mind and they will certainly try to find solutions to their problems. Their fans should keep supporting them and who knows they can make a turnaround soon. They have 8 matches and if they are to book a place in the semis they need to win atleast 7. A tall order but not impossible as we have seen unlikely things happening in cricket.
Tomorrow Chennai will take on Rajasthan at 4 and Mumbai face Deccan at their “home” ground in Navi Mumbai. A home ground where the crowd will support the away team. You don’t get to see that often do you. The match between Chennai and Rajasthan will be interesting as one team is rebuilding its campaign after a nightmarish start and the other who has just lost its way during the last few games.
Untilt then See you.

The Royal Win and The Squad

The Rajasthan Royals have got their IPL campaign back on track by recording their third consecutive win after three consecutive losses to start the tournament. They beat the Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets on their “home” ground at Ahmedabad which was moth free this time. The news off the field was that of the selection of the India World T20 squad. Piyush Chawla made a surprise return to the national fold and R Vinay Kumar will have his first experience in the Indian Dressing room.
To start with the game I think it was a good bowling performance by the Rajasthan Royals. Shane Warne was getting turn, Tait was effective and they were helped by som brilliant fielding which produced two run outs. These run-outs I think really hampered Deccan and but credit has to be given to Rajasthan’s bowling. Rajasthan batted really well and Micheal Lumb looked in good touch but it was Yusuf Pathan who stole the show. His 8 towering sixes were the highlight of the day and that really won the game handsomely for Rajasthan. Like he said in the presentation Indian fans will hope that he performs like this during the World T20.
We saw the Indian Team being selected for the World T20 2010. The squad announced is : MS Dhoni (captain & wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper) , Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma. Most of them were automatic selections but I was surprised by the inclusion of Piyush Chawla. Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra have been in the team for a while and they are performing well in the IPL thus far. Their economy rates are also better than Chawla and it’s a decision that the selectors hope will work out. However, one must notice that in the playing XI Harbhajan will play and the all rounder’s spot will be taken by Ravindra Jadeja, but if either of them doesn’t perform to expectation, you need a good in form spinner in your reserves and I think Ojha or Mishra would have been perfect for that role. Ojha was in the squad the last time around and had performed well picking up wickets and restricting the scoring. I think selecting Vinay Kumar is a good decision by the Selectors. They have clearly sent a message that if you perform you would be selected. The fact that he was selected over the likes of Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma shows how important it is to perform in the IPL. Rohit Sharma was also named in the squad. He hasn’t shown great form in the IPL this season apart from the last 2 innings and I think Robin Uthappa would have been a better option.
Today we have Kolkata playing Punjab. Punjab will look to get their campaign back on track whereas Kolkata will try to discover their winning streak.
Till then….bye.

Royal Challengers Dared by Delhi and Mumbai's Success

It is the Delhi Daredevils who have risen to the “Royal Challenge” to beat Bangalore at their home ground. Bangalore’s winning streak has finally come to an end from unexpected quarters as Delhi came in with 3 consecutive defeats. In the second game we saw Mumbai chase down a very good score courtesy a fantastic start provided by Shikhar Dhawan and a good sensible knock by none other than the little big man of Indian Cricket Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
Delhi batted first against Bangalore on a typical Chinnaswamy wicket with runs written all over it. David Warner looked in fantastic form again. The start provided by him really set the tone for the Daredevils. He went after everything that was bowled to him. What was interesting to see was that most of his shots were good natural cricket shots but not slogs. This shows that apart from the older guys there are some young guns who can play the game with class. The surprise package in the middle was Kedar Jadhav. He did well to come in and support De Villiers but once he was out he really took the risks to get Delhi valuable runs. The young lad from Maharashtra played good powerful shots and some cheeky ones to good effect. Getting a fifty on debut will do wonders to his confidence and I think Delhi will play him more to see what he holds. 183 was a good score but one may have wondered if it was enough as Bangalore had chased a higher score at the same ground a week ago. Bangalore started well but then just slowed down a touch. Kallis wasn’t at his fluent best today and Mishra did well to put the breaks on Bangalore and take his wicket. Pandey was good but fell playing one shot too many. Bangalore lost the game due to too many run outs. Firstly Rahul Dravid, I really did not expect him to go for the second run as it wasn’t really there. He has shown in the past that he can effectively hit the ball in this format and had he stayed longer he might have even anchored the chase. 4 runs later they lost Uthappa, I would say a tame dismissal. He went for the reverse sweep which he has used to good effect in the past but this time he fell for it. Eion Morgan was another run out victim. Although Virat Kohli was running to the danger end, the fielder did very well to throw it to the keeper as Morgan was blinded and couldn’t have seen the ball coming to his end. After this point it was always going to be Delhi’s game to loose. In the process we saw an actual “Karbonn Kamaal Katch.” A.B De Villiers, well hats off to him. What can one say about that catch? He took it full stretch, one handed turned around and still held it. The catch of the tournament till now.
Mumbai beat Chennai to top the table again. Chennai were boosted by the return of Dhoni but it was Mumbai who prevailed. I missed most of Chennai’s innings so I really can’t comment on that but Mumbai will be really happy to see Ryan McLaren bowl well. He was economical and also picked up a wicket. When I started following the match it could have gone either way but a cool head in the form of Sachin and a good cameo by Pollard saw it through for Mumbai.
Tomorrow we have he Deccan Chargers taking on the Rajasthan Royals at Ahmedabad. More than the game it will be interesting to see whether the measures taken to get rid of the moths re effective. The match begins at 8 PM.
Until tomorrow, its Good Bye.

A Royal Challenge to beat Bangalore

It is certainly a Royal Challenge beating Bangalore. The men in red recorded their 4th consecutive victory and this time they beat a strong Chennai Superkings. Bangalore are now really well placed in this tournament and have taken the top spot in the league as they have won the most number of games.
Batting first Bangalore got the runs on the board courtesy Uthappa. Uthappa was simply brilliant today invoking memories of his first stint in international cricket. His strokeplay was fearless to say the least and it was amazing to see how far he could hit the ball. Before the Uthappa burst, I think the Chennai bowlers were doing well especially when they got rid of Kallis and kept Manish Pandey quiet. Tyagi made a good comeback but the Balaji and Ashwin went for runs today. When Chennai walked out a lot rested on the shoulders of Matthew Hayden but it didn’t help as he lost Parthiv Patel early and then had to bat with a struggling George Bailey. I couldn’t understand why Bailey was struggling as he is known to be a good striker of the ball in Australian domestic cricket. He has played on much faster tracks than the Chinnaswamy wicket and it was really bad to see him struggle, probably it wasn’t his day. This is the point where Chennai lost the game and Bangalore won it. They did well to keep Hayden off strike and let Bailey play most of the deliveries. Once Hayden was run out (I have a question, was the mongoose too short which is why he didn’t make it) the game was 99% in Bangalore’s favour as Chennai were missing the trump card MS Dhoni again. Raina and Vijay didn’t last too long but Badrinath put up a brave fight. It was good to see him play those innovative shots and probably just kept the hopes alive for Chennai at that stage. All in all it was a good all round performance by the Royal Challengers Bangalore and it is certainly a Royal Challenge beating them now.
Amidst all the T20 frenzy, there were two test matches being played. Australia beat New Zealand by 10 wickets and England have Bangladesh in control at Mirpur. The test match in New Zealand was dominated by the Aussies. Doug Bollinger helped impose a follow on and New Zealand put up a brave fight in the second innings. They did well to get a lead from a bad situation and all credit must go to McIntosh, McCullum, and Vettori. Australia, however cruised to their target of 106 runs without losing a wicket. Philip Hughes was fantastic as he blazed away to 89. What is interesting is that his career strike rate in tests in over 100. He is a good talent and will be one to watch in the future. However, he will lose his place once Shane Watson is fit. Coming to Dhaka, Bangladesh did well to reach 400 in the first innings and not allowing England to get a huge lead. In the second innings they are struggling with 6 wickets down. The thing that worries me about Bangladesh is the number of times their batting collapses. They get into a good position but then their batting collapses leaving them in taters. This is not new for them as we saw this in 2006 when they played Australia at Fatullah and against India earlier this year. They have talented players now and they have to make sure that their talent really counts.
Tomorrow, the Kings XI Punjab take on the Rajasthan Royals at Mohali. It will be interesting to see who gets the last spot in the points table.
Until then…ADIOS.

The Thriller Day

Nine days have passed since the start of the IPL and I haven’t seen a more exciting day. Yes, there was a Pathan inning, there was a Sachin show and a Kallis led run chase in Bangalore, but there hasn’t been a day where both matches have been this exiting. We had a double header today and both the matches were thrilling (which I think is an understatement). This was a day where the momentum swung between both the teams like a pendulum. For a moment you would pick a team and the other would come and put its own claim for the two points at stake.
The first game was between the Delhi Daredevils and the Deccan Chargers at Cuttack (surrogate home ground for Deccan). Deccan batted first and put up 171. It was good to see Rohit Sharma back in form. He was striking the ball well and his six of Henriques is a shot I will remember for a long time. He was down on one knee and he swept the ball over square leg for maximum (should I say DLF maximum). Suman did well to get quick runs and Symonds was fantastic as usual. Both he and Gibbs got off to a start but did not get the big score. It was important for them to get the singles and hit the occasional boundary which they did very well. Gibbs was particularly good against Nannes. He did not let Delhi’s best bowler settle and went after him from ball 1. Getting in Monish Mishra didn’t work today but I think he should be given a run in the side, who knows like Suman last season he may be the discovery for the Chargers this time around. Delhi started well with Warner who found his touch in this game. It was exciting to watch him against R.P Singh as he went after everything bowled to him but I think Delhi were stuttered when they lost Virender Sehwag. Sehwag has been in good touch for them this season and it was a good ploy by Adam Gilchrist to get the spinner into the attack. De Villiers looked in good touch but I think he was a touch slow and did not push on after he got the boundaries early on. Once he and Warner were dismissed it was left on Dinesh Karthik to steer Delhi home. Karthik was simply brilliant. When he went after Rahul Sharma, I thought a few more boundaries from his blade and “Game Delhi” but when Andrew Symonds took that stunning return catch the game just turned. That catch was actually a “Karbonn Kamal Katch” and he followed it next ball by taking Mishra’s wicket. Vaas bowled a brilliant last over and I think it was too much to expect from Yogesh Nagar to win the game for Delhi. He was playing his first game this season and too much to expect from the young fellow, he will learn from this experience and will do very well in the future. He is a good bowler and a fielder and batting is his main aspect, so I would rate him as a good prospect for the future. Symonds again was the man of the match and he ensured that its 2 in 2 for Deccan at their new “home” ground.
The second game which was played between the two “Kings” of the tournament was an absolute cracker. If ever one had to witness fortunes changing soon it was today. Kings XI Punjab came back from nowhere to pull off a thrilling win over the Chennai Super Kings at Chennai. Punjab batted first and Surprise Surprise Irfan Pathan was promoted to open the batting (by any chance, was Greg Chappell in their dressing room today). Pathan was batting well today on a wicket that was tough to bat on. Punjab struggled to reach 136 with Yuvraj Singh striking form on the way. I think they should have stuck to their batting order and let Bisla open. Bisla showed his talent in the game against Bangalore and I think the role changing may have affected his ability at the crease today a little bit. When Chennai came on to bat it looked like it would be a walk in the park for them. They looked to be cruising even when Parthiv Patel got out. A run a ball from there on looked simple but Chennai didn’t have Kemp today. The Punjab bowlers did really well today Theron and Chawla in particular. Theron had a fantastic IPL debut. This caps a good week for him as he was picked in the South Africa World T20 squad. When Morkel edged the first ball of the last over it looked like Chennai’s game but Irfan Pathan did very well to keep the last two balls to dots and then we were on to the Super Over. Hayden walked out to bat with the mongoose which I thought want the right thing as the pitch was tricky and the fast bowler was on and he had his furniture disturbed first ball. Raina hit his trademark six over long on and perished the ball later trying the same. When Punjab walked in 10 runs looked like a target in between. Jayawerdena hit the first ball from Murali for six and at that point it really looked Punjab’s game but then next ball he holed out. When Yuvraj reverse swept it was celebration time in the Punjab camp. Their first win which was achieved after a lot of hard work. This sort of a win can do wonders for a team and Punjab might just find their momentum for this tournament. As for Chennai they don’t have to worry but just wait for Dhoni to be back. I think they had a bad decision today when Vijay was give LBW but I also think Parthiv Patel could have been a little more faster. He played well but a little faster would have done the job for Chennai. Nevertheless a great day today and I hope we see more days like this in the Season.
The next game is between Mumbai and Kolkata at Mumbai. Mumbai will look to get a win after a loss to Bangalore and Kolkata want to get back to winning again. The match starts 8. Until then, C ya.

Here Come Pune and Kochi

The two new teams for the IPL 2011 have been announced today. Pune and Kochi will compete in the Indian Premier League from next year against the already existing 8 franchises. After weeks of speculation and suspense surrounding the announcement, the Sahara Group and the Rendezvous Sports Group have successfully placed their bids for the two franchises beating the other 5 bidders. Kochi is a good bid and brings in a representation from the region of Kerela. They have a good stadium in the city and the sport has been gaining popularity in the region. Players like Raiphi Gomez (who was picked by Rajasthan Royals for Season 2) and Tinu Yohannan will get a chance to showcase their talent on a big stage. It will be interesting to see if S. Sreesanth will be made the icon player.
The bid that surprised me the most was the bid for Pune. The Sahara group was actually leading the bids for Ahmedabad and Nagpur along with Pune. As quoted in the press they chose Pune because of its proximity to Mumbai and the fact that it is a metropolis and a home to various corporate giants. This argument given by them is fine but I am not convinced. Firstly, I think one of the main factors for the success of any franchise is the players. When the IPL was first launched all the franchises were given certain catchment areas i.e. the regions from which they could pick the local players. Maharashtra was obviously in Mumbai’s catchment area and now it will be interesting to see from where this franchise will get its player. Agreed that there will be lots of transfers next season as the contracts expire but I don’t think many franchises will give up their major stars. Plus, the Maharashtra Ranji team hasn’t been doing very well as they have been affected by the retirement of many senior players and thus they have a very young pool to pick from. Secondly, the fan base. Most of the people in the Pune region would be supporting the Mumbai Indians. Now with this franchise coming up, will they be able to create a fan base. Will they be able to lure fans from Mumbai (who has Sachin Tendulkar, need we say more)? We will have to wait and watch.
Thus, we will have ten teams next season but how will they keep it under the 6 weeks period. Difficult but not impossible.

The Mongoose Debut and the End of the Home Jinx

What a day we had today watching the IPL!!!! The mongoose finally came out and completely dominated the bowlers. I reckon they should consider changing its name to “A bull” as it completely helps in smashing the ball all around the park. Apart from that we saw the Deccan Chargers record their first win at “home”( not Hyderabad but Cuttack). It took them over 10 matches to do so which includes the 2 matches they played in the Champions League.
Feroz Shah Kotla once again produced a run fest as Chennai successfully chased down a target over 180. It is a good sign after the disaster of a pitch we saw during the India-Sri Lanka ODI series. Delhi made a few changes to their team due to the absence of Gautam Gambhir. David Warner walked in with Virender Sehwag and he hardly had to do anything as Sehwag was just going after everything. The Daredevils will be very happy with Sehwag’s form, however they would be a touch concerned about their middle order in particular Dilshan and De Villeirs. Dilshan played a very uncharacteristic inning and it just got down the run rate. This put a little pressure on Sehwag as he was the only one finding the boundaries. Losing both of them and De Villeirs in a heap would have certainly put pressure on Delhi but I think Mithun Manhas played a very smart inning with the help of Karthik and Bhatia. Coming to the run chase, it was a Hayden Mongoose show. He came in with the normal bat but changed after the 2nd over. Thereafter, he completely dominated the bowling. It certainly could be seen that the bat gives the batsman more power to hit a shot. Some of the sixes Hayden hit were flat and long. You see such sixes maybe once in and inning when a batsman plays with a normal bat but with the mongoose they were a regular feature. Suresh Raina tried the bat for an over but he again switched to the normal blade. Overall, it was a good performance by Chennai. They took their catches, bowled well after Sehwag got off to a great start and batted well (Hayden and Raina in particular, Vijay in the end to finish off the game). Some of the catches Chennai took were absolutely brilliant. Kemp’s catch on the boundary will go down as one of the best of the tournament. Having misjudged it, he did brilliantly to get hold of it just before the boundary. Raina was brilliant in the infield taking three tough catches. This just goes to show “Catches win Matches.” Delhi, on the other hand will be worried about their bowling. Nannes is doing well for them but they need someone to support him till Nehra comes back from injury. Umesh Yadav looks a good prospect; he is fast but just needs to get a little tighter. Mishra is fine in the middle overs but again there has to be somebody at the other end to aid him. Bringing in Avishkar Salvi in Cuttack won’t be a bad idea when they take on the Chargers on Sunday. They will have to go to the drawing board and chalk out their bowling strategies for the games to come.
In the first ever IPL game at Cuttack we saw the Chargers get to their first “home” win. Batting first Deccan raced away to a 100 in their first 10 overs. Punjab bowled very well to restrict them to 168 but when they batted their top order completely failed with the exception of Ravi Bopara. I can’t understand why Yuvraj Singh throws hit bat after hitting his first boundary. He did that in the first game against Delhi and did it again here. They lost 5 wickets for just 60 odd runs and after that it was always going to be difficult. Irfan Pathan put up a very good performance with both bat and ball. His antics with the bat may have created some butterflies in Gilchrist’s stomach. The problem with Punjab is that their batting and bowling departments aren’t performing at the same time. Today, it was the bowling that did well and their batting failed with the exception of Pathan and Bopara, and you don’t win T20 games like that. They have a good team, so it is difficult to make out what they are missing at the current moment. Synchronization maybe???
We have two games tomorrow. Rajasthan will again search for their first win of the tournament at their moth ridden “home” ground at Ahmedabad when they take on Kolkata at 4PM. The second game will be interesting as Mumbai and Bangalore face off at the Brabourne Stadium. Both teams will come in with confidence and it will be interesting to see who will emerge victorious.
Until then….Bye.

Royals Smashed Royally by the Royal Challengers

It was a clash of the two Royals of the tournament. It was a match from which one team was looking to continue momentum while the other was looking to record their first win. Royal Challengers Bangalore completely overpowered Rajasthan Royals by a margin of ten wickets. Not the game the fans in the stadium or watching on TV would have liked but the boys of Bangalore would be really happy with this win.
Prior to the game there was a lot of talk about the Bangalore bowlers being out of form in the two games but they have certainly put those questions to rest. The opening bowlers did well to restrict the Royals during the power play by maintaining a tight line and length. Rajasthan came in with a new opening pair after they lost Graeme Smith to injury and dropped Swapnil Asnodkar. Naman Ojha is a potentially aggressive batsman and the RCB bowlers did very well to keep him quite. They also kept the new comer Michael Lumb quite and made him struggle to the point that he lost his wicket when he charged to Anil Kumble. This just goes on to show how crucial the power play overs are. In modern day cricket, you will see that 9 times out of 10, the team that gets more wickets in the power play goes on to win the game. Bangalore not only got a wicket but also built up the pressure and did not concede runs. This strangled the Royals batting order all the more and it was evident when a batsman like Yusuf Pathan got off to a very slow start. I still felt that with Pathan at the crease, the Royals could still put up a fighting total but once he was gone the Royals collapsed like a pack of cards. Praveen Kumar got the seventh hat trick of the IPL. He is a smart customer and if u have a look at the three balls on which he got those wickets, you will agree with me that they were beautifully mixed up. The first one was a Yorker which was bowled just after he was hit for a boundary, the second was a short one to surprise the new batsman, and the third one was the best one I think. It was an off cutter which was a little back of a length and knocked the middle stump over. The Rajasthan bowlers had nothing to defend actually, but I think they could have bowled a lot better. The opening bowlers gave away too many runs in the first two overs and were straying on the legs too often for the liking. However, during the first over there was one delivery that really caught the batsman by surprise. It was pitched on good length around the middle stump and Pandey had no clue as it went past him. That is the line the Rajasthan bowlers should have bowled. It may not have won them the game but getting a wicket or two is certainly better that losing by 10 wickets. This makes it 3 loses in 3 games for Rajasthan and we will have to wait and watch whether they can repeat their magic of the first season. I still think they have a very good chance in this season as they have the players and a few more are to arrive during the course of the tournament. They made 5 changes (almost half the team) in their line up and I think that was too much as this tournament is all about momentum. They may not have won the previous two games but you never know with this format which player may come to form. Bangalore will be happy as their bowling was the major worry and they came back in style. Not much batting for their middle order but they will be happy with the superb form shown by their openers. Kallis was the man of the match for the second time in a row and he certainly is proving that he can play this game as well as anybody.
Off the field, we have good news and some bad news. The good news is that the Gujarat Cricket Association is taking measures to solve the moth problem at Ahmedabad. In one of my earlier posts I had highlighted the need to solve this problem and it is good to see steps being taken in the positive direction. Rajasthan play Kolkata there on Saturday at 4 PM. It is a day game and the moths shouldn’t be a huge problem but it is good step taken by the association keeping in mind the matches too come. Now we come to the bad news, The Delhi coach has said that Gambhir’s injury is reasonably serious and he is set to miss the Chennai game. There is not much left to say about his game as he has proven his ability in the last two years and it is a setback to the Delhi team. They will play Chennai who are playing without MS Dhoni, so it will be the new captains who will face each other tomorrow at the Feroz Shah Kotla at 4 PM. Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik haven’t captained a side at the big stage and will have a lot to prove in tomorrow’s encounter. Karthik will take confidence from his campaign with Tamil Nadu during the Domestic Season in which he led them to the title in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Cuttack will host its first IPL game when Deccan will take on Punjab at 8 PM. Deccan haven’t won a single game at home, be it Hyderabad or Navi Mumbai and will look to make amends. Punjab will look to open their account tomorrow. Their bowling clicked during the first game and the batting during the second, but they will be hoping that both the departments perform tomorrow to get them their first win.
That’s all for today, See you tomorrow.
PS: - Waiting for comments from you guys. Please post a few.

Well done Kotla, A Good Pitch Finally.

The Kotla pitch did not disappoint this time as it looked an absolute batting beauty and produced some fantastic batting. It was good to see the Delhi pitch in good condition as it is serving a one year ban from international cricket. This is a positive sign for Indian Cricket as Delhi will host more IPL games and a few World Cup matches next year. The crowd was packed to capacity at Kotla to witness the Delhi Daredevils take on the Mumbai Indians, a contest that was hyped as Sachin versus Sehwag. This contest was however dominated by the Mumbai Indians with a fantastic all round performance to take them to the top of the table. Still early days in the tournament but it is very encouraging and motivational for a team that missed the semi final berth in the first season by a whisker and was seventh in the second. Delhi, on the other hand had an early set back when Gautam Gambhir walked off the field with a hamstring pull just after putting Mumbai in to bat. With him they not only lost an important batsman but also a captain, thus the responsibility of leading the side fell on Dinesh Karthik.
Mumbai started off very well with Sachin Tendulkar providing a very good start. He looked very comfortable against the pace of Nannes and also played Maharoof with ease. Jayasuriya on the other hand looked a little streaky and was out to a brilliant catch by Yogesh Nagar, the substitute for Gambhir. Nagar was in the thick of things today, the first ball that he was on there was a run out opportunity and he took two great catches to dismiss Sehwag and Tendulkar. Had Ponting been the captain of Mumbai Indians, he would have thrown a tantrum because of Nagar’s performance (remember Nottingham 2005 when Gary Pratt on for Simon Jones ran him out). Tendulkar kept the momentum going hitting good cricketing shots. He did not slog and was very easy on the eye. By coring 63 in 33 balls he has said “I can play the young man’s game too, watch out.” Even after his dismissal, it was again the pair of Tiwary and Rayadu who attacked the bowling and kept the momentum with Mumbai. We certainly learnt from the game in Kolkata that the momentum can change very quickly during the slog overs. Tiwary made his second consecutive fifty and after the two ere out it was the jet lagged West Indian pair of Pollard and Bravo who hit a few boundaries to help Mumbai to reach 218. Initially, I thought it wasn’t such a good idea playing the two as they had just arrived the night before and would have been jet lagged but it certainly worked for Mumbai as both contributed with the ball as well. The Mumbai bowling was very good with Harbhajan back and the strength provided by Bravo and Pollard. The highlight for me was Aditya Tare’s wicket keeping. He kept brilliantly in the game today and his stumping of Dinesh Kartik is one of the best I have seen after the victims own act on his ODI debut way back in 2004. There is not much to say about Delhi’s performance today. A team can have a few bad games in the middle but I don’t think this will affect them. Sehwag looked in touch and Dilshan too played a few good shots. Nannes has been in good bowling form but he ran into an inform Tendulkar today. The only problem in the bowling department for them is Maharoof. He is leaking too many runs for the liking. It won’t be a bad idea to get in Wayne Parnell. They will also hope Gambhir’s injury isn’t serious. He one of their most influential players having already played a match winning knock in the first game. As such I don’t think Delhi have anything to worry about apart from Gambhir’s injury and they certainly can win their next game against Chennai.
Mumbai will be happy with their performance and it looks like they have found the right balance with the West Indians coming in. As Sachin mentioned at the presentation that they have a good bench strength as well with the likes of Nayar, Napier, McLaren, Duminy, Fernando and Ronchi waiting in the ranks.
Tomorrow we have Bangalore taking on Rajasthan at Bangalore. Rajasthan will be looking for their first win but are without Greame Smith and that means Damien Martyn might get a game. Bangalore will take confidence from their game against Punjab and will look to keep momentum.
Till then, Adios.

Million Moths Witness Sehwag Thunder

Ahmedabad was the host to a blistering knock by Virender Sehwag. Delhi Daredevils recorded their second win of the tournament by beating Rajasthan Royals comprehensively at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera. Ahmedabad hosted it’s first ever IPL match and couldn’t bring any luck to Rajasthan Royals as its new home ground. However, it provided an opportunity to a million moths to witness Sehwag smashing the ball all over the park. Even on television we could see that there were many insects, especially moths flying around and were causing a few problems to the players. Royals’ batsman Paras Dogra had to withdraw twice as he was disturbed by these flying creatures. Farveez Mahroof told Pommie Mbangwa that it was difficult for the bowlers while they were running in to bowl. Thus, the IPL and the BCCI have to try to find a solution to this problem soon so that it does not hamper the players’ performance.
Firstly, we have to remember that the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera stands on the banks of the river Sabarmati. Thus, in the banks around the river, it is obvious that such creatures would be breeding. Secondly, the match played under lights would definitely attract these insects. It is important for the administrators to find a solution to this problem. The bowlers are finding it difficult to run in and the batsmen may have these insects in their eyes quite a few times. The fielders however, have a luxury of putting on the night shades to protect their eyes. Rajasthan are to play 4 home games at this venue, let us see if there is any improvement in the current situation.
The moths were in no way a problem to Virender Sehwag. He batted just the way he knows to and was seeing the ball like a football out there. The shot to welcome Munaf Patel in the attack is by far the shot of the day. The ball was a touch over pitched and he hit it straight over the bowler’s head for maximum (or DLF maximum if I may say so). Rajasthan had a good start but lost wickets in a heap. Mishra did well to get Naman Ojha as he really looked in an aggressive mood. Jhunjhunwala had to play slowly with the wickets falling but played a good knock. Under normal circumstances he may have had the chance to play more freely. He was well supported by Dogra who scored 29. This just goes on to show how Shane Warne backs the young players. He gives them confidence and had injected a never say die attitude in the team. During the first season we saw the likes of Asnodkar and Jadeja doing well and in the second season we say Naman Ojha and Kamran Khan coming to the scene. Warne is an inspirational captain and has the tendency to get the best out of his players. I think his contribution to IPL in the last two seasons has been great as he has unearthed some real talent from the Indian domestic circuit. On the other hand, the star of the first match Yusuf Pathan failed to repeat his antics. There was a huge cheer around the ground when he walked out but was out without troubling the scorers. There is time in the tournament and he is the kind of player who can be destructive anytime. We just have to see if we can see more antics from him this season. The Royals camp will be worried with injuries to Smith, Pathan and Mascarenhas. The extent of their injuries is not known but it would be a huge blow to them if all three are unavailable for the next game. This means that we will see Damien Martyn for the first time in Royals colours and it will be good to watch him bat again.
That’s all for the moment, will be back after Chennai Vs Kolkata at 4PM and Punjab vs. Bangalore at 8. Now will we see the mongoose tomorrow or will it continue to hide from us???

Jeetbo Re Again and The Missing Mongoose

Well, it is time for some Bengali magic in the IPL. The Kolkata Knight Riders seem to have put the demons of their last season behind and have started the new season with a bang. If the surprise win over Deccan was not enough, today they completely overpowered the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Mecca of Indian Cricket.
The Bangalore batting was disappointing. Some of them got starts but apart from Jacques Kallis, none of them converted them to a good score. The surprise for me was that they opted for Sreevats Goswami instead of Mark Boucher. Boucher adds years of experience to the Bangalore line-up and is still without doubt one of the best wicket keeper batsman in the world. Goswami tried to push the rate and make use of the power play but did not succeed and holed out to third man. Manish Pandey’s hundred from IPL-2 and his domestic performances this season looked a distant dream today. I could not understand why he was backing away from the stumps and trying to manufacture strokes when he has some good cricket shots in his repertoire. Even the ball he got out, his body was far away from the bat and he literally threw his bat at the ball. He is a good young player and will learn from these mistakes. I still think he can be a trump card for Bangalore’s success this season. The Kolkata bowling was bang on, fantastic. The start given by Langeveldt and Ishant really set the tone for Mathews and Kartik. Mathews in particular was good. Picking up four wickets in a T20 game certainly shows he got his line and length right today. The Kolkata batting too was fantastic. They did a good thing by letting Brad Hodge take first strike. This would have given the opportunity to Manoj Tiwary to watch the ball from the other end and plan out his style. I had stressed in my previous post that Tiwary is a good player for this level and today he certainly showed everyone that he can play well at this level. What must be noted is that he scored a fifty against a good bowling attack which includes the likes of Kallis, Kumble, Praveen Kumar, van der Merve. Brad Hodge on the other hand was calm and played a sensible knock while Tiwary went after the bowling. Thus, it is 2 in 2 for Kolkata, a good start to the season and promises more as Gayle and Bond will join this side in the coming days. Bangalore on the other hand may have to rethink their batting order. Uthappa should come higher that No.7. We saw him playing a few good knocks during the Champions League opening the innings. Morgan is good at No.5 and looked good in the short time he was there in the middle. Kohli and Dravid can exchange spots, thus Dravid at No.4 will be a good idea. Many people underestimate Dravid’s hitting skills but he has shown in the two previous editions that he can go after the bowling like anybody. He was unlucky to get out in the way he did and had played some good shots before that.
The second game of the day was between the Chennai Super Kings and the Deccan Chargers. The hype surrounding the game was regarding the Matthew Hayden’s long handle mongoose bat. However, when he spoke to a few commentators he suggested that he wasn’t sure whether he would actually use it during the game. When he walked out to open the batting, all the hype was put to rest as he came with a normal bat. Deccan chargers would be happy with their performance. All the batsmen looked in form and their bowlers also hit the right areas especially during the power play. The Chargers would be happy with the fact that Symonds and Gibbs have regained touch. Symonds was slow to start with but finished his innings with a flurry of boundaries. That partnership really got them back on track after loosing both the openers off successive balls. Suman and Sharma made good contributions in the end. Dhoni would be thinking about his bowling. Tyagi looked completely out of touch, and went on to bowl two beamers for which he had to be taken off. Morkel and Balaji also went for runs. It may be a good idea to get back MS Gony in this attack. He failed to do well during the second season in South Africa but was very useful on Indian tracks the first time around. Chargers got their bowling right as well. Vaas was fantastic again and Ojha too picked up wickets to derail the Chennai chase. Vaas may just try to prove the Lankan selectors wrong with his performance in this tournament. The way things have gone for him during the last two games, the tale may have only just begun. Chennai tried to do too many things during the power play. Such ideas work or don’t work, it depends whether it is your day. I think, Dhoni must not worry about his batting but should mainly ponder on his bowling. Meanwhile, we are still waiting to see the mongoose. Will we see it when Chennai take on Kolkata at Eden Gardens on Tuesday??
It was good to see a bowler get the man of the match award in Chennai and I also think that Mathews deserved the man of the match award for his 4 for. The award should have been shared between him and Tiwary. Is it that we still give too much importance to the batsmen???
We have just one encounter on the ides of March. Delhi will take on Rajasthan. Rajasthan will look to Yusuf Pathan again for magic; meanwhile Delhi will want their batsmen to fire along with their captain who was absolutely brilliant at Mohali. All this and more right on your way at 8 PM live from Ahmedabad. It is a new home ground for the royals and it remains to be seen if it brings them any luck. Till then. Adios.

Pathan Magic and Mumbai's Discovery.

The Second day of IPL-3 provided us with thrills and spills galore. Just the second day and we witnessed 2 games that went down to the wire. The Mumbai Indians sneaked home against the Rajasthan Royals in a breathtaking encounter at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. In the second game we saw the Delhi Daredevils start their campaign with a win over the Kings XI Punjab at Mohali. The highlight of the day was Yusuf Pathan’s blitzkrieg over the Brabourne Stadium. A hundred of just 37 balls had everybody on the edge of their seats.
We saw a new Mumbai Indians outfit in the first game. They had a few new recruits from the ICL and played Ryan McLaren for the first time. The performance from their batsmen was fantastic. Jayasuriya provided them with a fast start hitting 3 boundaries and a six with ease. Sachin Tendulkar looked in good touch. The two flicks he played off Shaun Tait just showed that the master is still the best even against the quickest bowlers. The first ball that was flicked wasn’t on the leg stump but was on middle and off and Sachin beautifully put it behind square, the second one was on middle and it looked even simpler when it was put away for four again behind square. Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayadu played magnificently. Their hundred run partnership set up the win which should have been easier had it not been Pathan. Aditya Tare, I think is a good pick by Mumbai. He plays limited overs in domestic cricket. The 23 he scored highlighted his potential and his keeping was clean. Last season Mumbai tried Takawale, Shah and Ronchi without much success. I do not know why Ronchi failed to perform as he is known to be destructive down under. He plays most of his cricket at Perth and it shouldn’t be difficult for him to play on the pitches in India. However, this just shows how important it is for wicket keepers to contribute with the bat in modern day cricket. I think the Specialist stumper has to make vital contributions be it any form Test, One Day or T20. Mumbai, meanwhile have to think about their line-up for their next game. I think Murtaza can make way for the extra overseas player. Graham Napier can be given a game next time around as he can be very useful with both bat and ball. It remains to be seen whether Harbhajan will play the next game as he did not bowl today after being injured. For spin, Jayasuriya can be used and I think he was used too late today. He is the kind of bowler who needs to put in a few overs to get his rhythm. Sathish had a good day in the field but got a lot of stick from Yusuf Pathan and Paras Dogra. I still think he can be given a chance to impress with the ball as it is not easy once you run into a berserk Pathan. If Harbhajan doesn’t play then Murtaza may get another chance. It was interesting to see that Abhishek Nayar did not get a game today. He is a good player and performed well in the previous two editions. It’s just the first game and he may get a chance soon but it looks difficult with the performance put up by Tiwary, Rayadu and Sathish.
Coming to Yusuf Pathan, I am speechless. There is nothing left to say as that man just made his bat do all the talking. The quality of the inning is just signified when Warne said that he hadn’t seen anything like this in his 20 years of playing. He was just putting away the bowlers with ease. Brabourne Stadium isn’t a small ground but he was clearing the boundaries by a mile. It was due to him alone that the Royals came back into the game and almost snatched it from Mumbai. It was unlucky, the way got out and a run out was probably the only way Mumbai could have got him today. At 4 for 60 odd after the half way mark, it looked Mumbai’s game but hats off to Pathan for entertaining us with his hitting. He was the star for Rajasthan during the previous two editions and has started this one with a bang (which I think is an understatement). Let us see what Pathan has to offer for the rest of the season. Warne meanwhile will be thinking about his bowling. Tait had a bad day and the others too were put away for runs. It may be a better option to get back Munaf Patel.
Moving north to Mohali, we saw the Delhi bowling restricting Punjab to 142. Punjab just kept loosing wickets at regular intervals and some of them to bad shots. Had it not been Bopara they would have really struggled to reach the total that they did. However they have to be given credit for defending this low total with spirit. All their bowlers bowled well particularly Sreesanth. The lineup that Delhi has, they should have got home much before the last over. Gautam Gambhir again showed his class. He will again be the talisman for Delhi this season.
Tomorrow promises fantastic cricket from Chepauk and Eden Gardens. Kolkata take on Bangalore at the Mecca of Indian Cricket at 4 PM and Chennai take on Deccan at Chepauk at 8. I am eager to watch Matthew Hayden as he will bat with the mongoose bat. The handle of the mongoose bat is 43% longer than usual and the face of the bat is 33% shorter. The bat is specially made for T20 cricket and has been tried during the Twenty20 Cup in England by various players. It provides the batsman more advantage if I may say so, to hit the ball all over the park. With Hayden’s power and the bat’s advantage, it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Off the field I think it will generate controversy.
So this is it for day 2, will be back with more in the coming days. Adios.

Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo All the way.....

It's March, 2010 and our wait for the third edition of the Indian Premier League is finally over. This time the League is back in India and it got off to a good start at the D.Y Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai. The opening ceremony presented a mixed-bag of music, acrobatics, light shows etc, but the serious business of the tournament started at 8pm when the Kolkata Knight Riders walked out after being put in to bat by the Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist.
Kolkata started disastrously when Chaminda Vaas picked up the wickets of Manoj Tiwary and the reinstated captain of Kolkata Sourav Ganguly, in the very first over. Cheteshwar Pujara played a few good shots to show his talent but he fell in the 5th over and was soon followed by Brad Hodge. 31 for 4 would have surely got back the memories of the last season for Kolkata but Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews were out there to change it. Mathews started in streaky fashion when he top edged his first ball over the keeper’s head for six. The two batsmen were then just working the ball around until the 15th over when they started to go after the bowling. They took the score to 161 which had looked a distant dream during the 6th over. Mathews compiled a well made 65 which included 5 fours and 4 sixes. Owais Shah was his usual unorthodox self, hitting the ball uncanny areas. He ended with 58, which included 3 fours and 3 sixes.
Deccan Chargers may have felt that they would have conceded too many but nevertheless would have been confident with the line up that they have. Adam Gilchrist and VVS Laxman started the innings in blistering fashion. They raced away to 61 before Laxman top edged Murli Kartik while trying to go for the big one. In came Herchelle Gibbs and he was mainly rotating the strike. Adam Gilchrist showed no signs of rustiness and reached his fifty. Deccan looked on course at 99 for 1 but then Gilchrist holed out in the deep and that’s where the slide began for his team. Gibbs followed him an over later when he tried to clear the fence and it was again left to Rohit Sharma to take his side through. Sharma could not repeat his performance of the last edition against the same opponents this time around. He fell for 13 and Deccan eventually lost the game by 11 runs. Not the result one would have expected but yes, it is Kolkata who will celebrate today.
I have made a few observations regarding this game. Firstly, I do not think that Manoj Tiwary should open the batting. In domestic cricket, he is known to come at no.3 or in the middle order and that’s where I think he would be comfortable. Opening the innings with Hodge is a good plan as he is the highest run scorer in T20 cricket and his experience in this format will add value to the Knight Riders. It will be interesting to see what will happen when Chris Gayle comes. Shah and Mathews have performed well in this game, Hodge is a key player for KKR and Langeveldt also is a smart customer in the death. Thus, just 4 overseas players being allowed, it will be interesting to see who will sit out and what’s more is that Shane Bond will also arrive in the KKR camp soon. Coming back to KKR’s batting, I think Pujara should be given more chances in this tournament. He looked good today for his 10 and showed class especially while playing those cover drives. Mathews played a gem of a knock; he kept the score ticking around and played the big shots when necessary. Credit should also be given to Owais Shah as he held the innings together. He was slow to start with but then picked up with some massive hits. His sixes behind square were really special and it shows how destructive he can be in this format. Deccan on the other hand has more to worry. Firstly, RP Singh would have to find his rhythm pretty soon. He was one of their key to their success last year and would be crucial this year as well. Gilchrist and Laxman looked good. Laxman surprised some of us with the shots he played. The six he hit down the ground was a slog hit with Laxmanesque elegance and not to forget the boundaries he hit on the off side. However, the main worry for Darren Lehmann and Gilchrist would be the form of their middle order batsmen. Sharma, Symonds and Gibbs have to discover their touch soon. Sharma has been very good during the domestic season and looked decent in the ODI against the Proteas but the way he got out today was disappointing. He looked like he was playing a tennis shot and he immediately knew what he had done. Gibbs hasn’t been in the best form off late but with his ability that is just an inning away. He had a start today but didn’t capitalise. Symonds on the other hand didn’t look like himself. The bat turned in his hand as he tried to hit Inshant Sharma out of the ground. I think, the Deccan would concentrate on this and would come back strongly in the matches to come. They are a strong team and are yet to get Scott Styris and Kemar Roach. Meanwhile, Kolkata will celebrate. They fought hard with both bat and ball, Mathews being the trump card. They will take confidence from this win when they take on Bangalore at Eden Gardens. It will be a contest to watch. Deccan will go to Chennai introspecting and noting down their mistakes. They will surely make efforts to correct them.
On day 2 of the Indian Premier League, we have a double header. First up, it is the Mumbai Indians who will take on Rajasthan Royals at 3pm at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The second game is between Kings XI Punjab and the Delhi Dare Devils at Mohali. This game will begin at 8 pm, until then, bye.