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.