Conflicts of Interest in Indian cricket

MS Dhoni is now in controversy for "conflict of interest" in a sports firm which manages his interests. Now media has questioned that he owned 15% of shares in the firm and besides MS, the firm Rhiti sports also managed:

• RP Singh
• Pragyan Ojha
• Suresh Raina and 
• Ravindra Jadeja

Suresh Raina often picks himself up in T20I and ODIs, but in Tests he is not an automatic selection. Other than Raina, only Jadeja is Dhoni's favorite and the firm managing Jaddu boy could be one of the reason why now Jadeja plays all 3 formats with limited ability and minimal returns. 

Ojha and RP Singh aren't MS's favorites exactly.  But Jadeja is and he has been spoken of preferred in England as well for a place in XI for CT13. Defies logic, but this  relation could be one of the reason why Jadeja might edge Pathan and play all games even though the conditions in England will not favor 2 spinners. 

Rhiti sports also managed marketing of Chennai Super Kings. And Jadeja is a star player (on $ value he fetches) for CSK.  Media reports do allege that this sports firm might be reason why Jadeja  got the amount he gets in IPL. But there can be never a confirmation or total denial on the facts that Jadeja always finds a place in the team because of his ties with Srinivasan and Dhoni.

In the current skeptic ties and heated environment, where even a small "conflict of interest" or a slight negative news runs the potential of being made a breaking news, such disclosures are not in Indian cricket's interest. 

There are always a couple of players whose selection is always questioned and doubted no matter who the captain is and what era it is. Not going too far, when Sachin was the captain in 2000 and before that, he was accused of giving chances to Vinod Kambli. Ganguly was accused of favoring players like Harbhajan, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Kaif, Zaheer etc who were of limited capabilities.  Selection committees have been accussed of bringing in the players out of the so called quota system.  Ganguly himself was alleged to be part of that quota system when he was selected for England tour in 1996 right after the world cup. 

Dilip Vengsarkar always gave chances to players from Mumbai when he was head of selection committee.  Kris Srikanth always got Chennai players handy when anyone got injured in the national team. In 1990s it was accused that Karnataka sent in a lot of undeserved players in the national team. They were powerful in 1990s in the domestic circuit and the team always had 4 or 5 players in the playing XI. While nobody doubted the quality and temparament of Dravid, Kumble and Srinath, the core members, but there were few dubious selections like Noel David (Noel who ?), David Johnson, Sujith Somsunder, Sunil Joshi (he never utilised his potential), Venkatesh Prasad (the man assumed to be the culprit for all pacers suddenly losing their pace) etc.

The root of all the evils in the current scenario come from one single source -- N Srinivasan. Times of India reports that he was the man behind BCCI gagging Dilip Vengsarkar when he used to write the syndicated columns while being a chief national selector.   He also got Sharad Pawar remove that committee on the fact that the selectors were also the office bearers of state associations. 

But when he took over the BCCI presidency, he conveniently forgot that he also owns the CSK franchisee in IPL and he got BCCI to amend the constitution for that. Sharad Pawar's double speak was exposed a few days back when he spoke on the current mess. Srini also forgot that he had made the chief selector K Srikanth, the brand ambassador of his franchisee. He was holding both posts together.  And as soon as he completed his term, Srikanth was kicked out of the CSK fold. Later he joined Sunrisers Hyderabad, whose owners are Tamil from Karunanidhi family.

Their conflict of interest was also exposed again when they owned SRH and allowed a SL to be their captain, while on the same hand, their parent political party DMK opposed any SL player playing in Chennai during IPL-6 due to the political issues between TN and SL. 

Coming back to the Dhoni issue, the media also suggests that many players have been dropped from the team without giving fair opportunities.  TOI names Tiwary, Mishra, Dhawal Kulkarni, Saurabh Tiwary, Parthiv Patel among a few. While Manoj Tiwary's case has been correct, the others did just not click whenever they played for India. Saurabh Tiwary was the part of the team that travelled to Zimbabwe in 2010 under Raina, but could not click. Dhawal Kulkarni at his best is a mediocre bowler. And Mishra had a horrible England tour, irony is that he made it again to the CT team, but its very unlikely he will play. 

So at its best, it is very difficult to prove the conflicts of interest of MSD with Rhiti sports, but it also provides yet another opportunity for media to find a scapegoat after Srinivasan episode is over. We have not yet seen the end of IPL mess, a lot more skeletons shall tumble in the coming days and the SOURCED news shall give media to make merry on the cost of Indian cricket. 

Srinivasan's end game

N Srinivasan showed his might in the BCCI meet on Sunday. He did not resign, he did not step down. Just stepped aside. Till the IPL probe is on, the BCCI president "will not discharge" his duties. But he will continue to be India's representative in ICC. 

Eye wash. Jaggu Dalmiya has replaced Srini Mama as interim chief of BCCI. That's the end of cycle for him. In 2005 he was ousted from BCCI by the troika of Pawar, Srini and Lalit Modi. Pawar graduated to become ICC president, Modi was kicked out in 2010 and now Srini. So it is for sure there are no permanent foes or friends in BCCI like Indian politics. 

Jagmohan Dalmiya is no saint. For some returns only he would have agreed to step in the hot seat which will attract a lot of media glare right now.  September is the time for the next BCCI elections and for sure Jaggu Dalmiya will have some role to play in that elections.  

Sharda Ugra has rightly asked in her piece "What's cooking Jagguda"  in ESPNCricinfo.  Now if Srinivasan had stepped down, it had been his end game or like they say in IPL, an eliminator for him. If he was no longer the president, he would not have been able to save his troubled franchisee CSK. Neither he would have been helped his son-in-law. 

And if CSK is ousted, he will be in for a huge loss financially. So it was in the right of Srini, that he saves his ass in yesterday's meet. With help of Arun Jaitley, who has eyes on BCCI elections in September, Srini was able to get his conditions approved.  Lalit Modi has termed this as biggest cover-up in cricket. But he is in no moral position to say anything, given he is the originator of the entire mess. He started the mess by being IPL commissioner from 2008 till 2010 and he was kicked out for the financial irregularities after IPL 2010. He has been doing the WikiLeaks stuff, giving interviews on all news channels, but he himself has been accused of wrong doings. 

BCCI politics has never been pretty, it has always been messed up. Thankfully that has not impacted the on field performance so far.  So we might just hope this entire drama will not impact the prospects of India in Champions Trophy, after all they are world champions and world's # 1 ODI team.

Champions Trophy Contenders (Group A)

In continuation to the previous post on India, I now try to list down the chances for all other teams in the last edition of the Champions Trophy. 

So here is the chances for every team, as I see it:

England:

They are the host of this edition and are playing in the home conditions. Obviously they will have in depth knowledge of conditions on all the venues, where the matches are being played. They have got a good ODI attack capable of exploiting the conditions in the early summer. They will  be starting as favorites, but they are heavily handicapped by the absence of their best batsman KP. 

They are also one of the few teams who will enter the trophy with lot of actual match practice besides South Africa and Pakistan. Not to forget NZ. But the way they batted today might not be good for their prospects. They have a good opening pair in Cook and Bell, but Bell has been struggling for runs for quite a while now. Their middle order reads Trott, Root. Morgan, Butler which is fairly inexperienced (Root and Butler, thanks to them).  

Their bowling attack of Finn, Broad, Anderson, Woakes is pretty strong enough to bundle out the opposition, provided the batsmen supply them the cushion of runs. As of now Finn is out injured, Broad is rested. Woakes was pretty ordinary in the first ODI today. 

If the batsmen get a good going, then England have a good chance to make it to the semis.

Australia

Australia are the defending champions for the past 2 editions and this time they come in with a new captain -- Clark in any ICC trophy.  Gone are the days of Australian domination in ODIs, not long ago they were top ODI side even through they had slide in the Tests. But off late that is not the case as well. 

Their batting looks fragile and inexperienced. They have been susceptible to swing and seam bowling. A 0-3 defeat to England in almost same time last year is an example of the fact how much they have slide in the ODI.  They have few players coming straight from a good IPL -- Watson, Faulkner and Johnson. To a lesser extent David Warner too. 

Their batting order might read : Watson, Warner, Hughes, Clarke, Bailey, Voges, Wade

The bowling attack is pretty good, but they need ample support from the batsmen who have been very fragile off late. 

They will need to have their batsmen fire every time if they want to make past the league stage.

Sri Lanka:

No chance.  They are team with 3 former captains, all past their prime, all coming in with a failed IPL. Their captain was a disaster in the IPL with captaincy and all rounder skills. So that provides them no hope. Their fast bowling resources are scarce except the Slinga Malinga.  

They have few young faces in the team followed by cushion of experience of the 3 former captains. But their record in England is not very encouraging.  The pitches are fast, swinging, seaming and the young batsmen shall be tested for the character, technique. 

The batting order might read :  Dilshan, Mahela J, Sangakarra, Chandimal, Thirrimanne, Mendis / Kusal Pareira (whatever the spelling is), Matthews, T Pareira,  Malinga, Kulasekra, Herath / Senanayake

Kulasekara and Malinga might enjoy the conditions a bit, but their spinners shall struggle. Again the success of the team shall depend on the big hitters. If they are able to score in 250+ every time, they stand a chance, otherwise its a good bye in the league stage as well.  

They might have a chance against Australia, against whom they have had an upper hand off late. 

Kiwis : 

Good bowling attack, but poor batting (till first ODI) gives them a very feeble chance, but in ICC tournaments they have often pulled over their weight. They might give a scare to the top teams in the league and again if their batsmen handle the conditions well, they might progress to the customary semi-final position as they always do. 

Semi - finalists:

England, Australia

Champions Trophy Preview : India

The last edition of the Champions Trophy is around the corner and it is in England.  In the swinging and seaming conditions, 8 top ODI teams of the world will compete in 17 day event to lift the trophy for one last time. 

Being the world champions, the expectations will be high on India, albeit the latest scandalous events back home surrounding the IPL and the BCCI chief might prove a deterrent. But it might also give the blue boys a kick in the backside to switch off the events and try winning the tournament to win back the faith and credibility from the fans. 

Last time India travelled to England, it was a sad sad story, but in ODIs, the close look at the results suggest a different picture. They lost 0-3, but all games were rain affected and they had to bat first giving England a good chance to see what they need to score to win. England did precisely that and they won.

Batting 

Most of the side from that series is unchanged minus the openers.  Dhawan and Vijay are inexperienced and less than useful pair. Nothing in comparison to the legendary opening pairs we have had in past 17 years. Temparament of both the players is a doubtful quality, moreso with Vijay.  They had a  good series vs Australia in Tests, Dhawan had a decent IPL and Vijay had horrible IPL. Especially that ugly hoick in the final. 

So if one of this 2 openers fail in 2 games in a row, then probably Rohit Sharma might be promoted to open and Karthik might play in the middle order. Dhoni confirmed the same thing. 

So probably the batting order could read:

Dhawan, Vijay, Kohli, Sharma, Dhoni, Raina

Allrounder:

The #7 spot will be another headache for India. Its England and playing 2 spinners will be costly idea. And since there is already Ashvin in place, so it might be a good idea to play Irfan Pathan over useless Jadeja. At any given time, in any conditions, Pathan is a better allrounder than Jadeja in terms of batting and fielding.

Bowling:

Pace attack seems to be better suited to the conditions. And if Pathan plays, then it will be a 4 prong pace attack with top 3 being Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. Especially with 2 new balls, Kumar and Pathan could prove handful. Not to mention the pace of Yadav. Ishant Sharma might be difficult to predict, which side of him will turn up, but looking at his IPL numbers, he should play ahead of Vinay Kumar. 

So the bowling attack will be

Pathan, Ashvin, Yadav, Kumar and Sharma

Weakness:

If Gautam Gambhir would have been in the team, India would have been strong favorites, but with a feeble, inexperienced and volatile opening pair, the task for guys like Kohli and Raina becomes a tad more difficult in the middle order before Dhoni can launch his attack. 

Rohit Sharma continues to be useless and unless he makes runs consistently, that opinion shall prevail. His IPL numbers dont matter.

India has played 7 ODIs this year, won 4 and lost 3.  A series win of 3-2 vs England and a loss of 1-2 vs Pakistan. That results are in India. 

India should find it easy to win against South Africa who are without their 2 best batsmen in this competition and their vice captain is fresh from an injury. If they can counter Dale Steyn and AB DeVilliers, they can make a great start to their CT campaign.

West Indies might prove to be unpredictable opponents in England, but they are more of a banana skin. If India play them cautiously then no reason why they can't beat the lowest ranked team in this competition. 

And then the biggest match in the competition. vs Pakistan.  Surely the Pakistanis are already making noises about the big game, but let them not forget this is England and they will be under extra spotlight for what they did in 2010.  So guys, focus on flying out of England without getting arrested or caught up in wrong practices as in 2010. 

Prediction :

If India can make it to the semi-final, then they have a good chance to win the trophy. They have got bowling attack to succeed in English conditions.  If the middle order can make up for the weak opening pair, India's chances are pretty good.

SRH's fancied debut in IPL

SunRisers Hyderabad are almost through to the play-offs after the comfortable win against stunned Royals. Only if RCB wins hands down against Chennai and they lose badly against KKR, they go out. Else they are very much in the play-offs. 

If RCB lose tomorrow, thats it. Sunrisers go through. If RCB win, even then SRH shall know what to do to get through. A simple win in that case would be enough, but if they lose, they need to ensure they dont loose bad to hit their NRR, which will come in picture then. 

To be a team of no good batsmen and no settled captain, a place in play-offs shall be a good debut in the IPL. They must be thankful to the bowling attack though -- Steyn, Mishra, Ishant, Thisara Pereira, their core attack.  On the batting front they have struggled, but their bowling has helped them defend even low par scores. 

Any such luxury shall be unavailable for them in the play-offs. And even they shall need to bolster the batting lineup and it shall make sense for them to bring in Sangakarra. 

Media coverage of spot fixing - IPL saga

There have been floating stories in the comments sections of some articles and on twitter that this IPL is pretty much fixed. 2 specific teams shall play the final and one of them shall win, a team that has not won IPL yet, but have won the CLT20. 

The other team that shall be in the final will be the usual culprit that always finds a place in the final no matter how badly or good they start their campaign. A team owned by 2 of the most powerful men in Indian cricket. 

PS : This are just tall claims from the IPL skeptics who have belief "See we said it the IPL is a breeding ground of all corrupt practices". 

The best thing out of this mess shall be a massive cleanup from top to bottom, clean out the dirt in Indian cricket.  And it shall be very interesting to see what comes out of the BCCI meeting on Sunday. Will they take up this opportunity to clean up the system or as usual they will dust everything under the carpet and be an ostrich. 

The media frenzy in India also suggests there are 2 more RR batsman under scanner for a game in IPL 2012.    One of them is an Australian and the other is an India batsman who was recently dropped from ODI team, but made a Test debut at # 6 after being in the team for long time. 

Of course, this stories have to be baseless, for there is a competition between the channels to gain the maximum TRP coverage out of this mess and for that they have even thrown up names like " MS Dhoni provided clean chit", "Shaun Tait name not in the suspects"  and stuff like that. 

Some media reports also suggest that the players have confessed to the wrongdoing in the police questioning. 

• This one

• NDTV

And then also at the toilet paper of India, the same reports are mentioned. 

The sources business is very dangerous in the electronic and print media, none knows how credible the sources are and what is the base of the information, on which the sources provide the news feed to the limelight hungry channels. 

The reports also conflict that Kundras might be questioned or they might not. No issues with them being questioned or not. But no such disgrace should be brought to the man of utmost integrity and honor, their captain Rahul Dravid. He must surely be under lot of distress and pressure to deal with this crap and also focus on the play-offs ahead. For sure they will be playing the eliminators after having lost to Sunrisers  today. 

This saga is far from over and surely there will be few more skeletons tumbling out of the cupboards in coming few days in immediate future.

Expect little to improve in Indian cricket even after the spot fixing scandal in light

At the time when we all thought that the IPL has evolved and finally settling in a mould where we have seen some very close finishes and some breath taking hitting in past few days, the disaster struck.  The spot fixing has raised its ugly head once again and this time the culprits are:

1. Sreesanth
2. Ajit Chandlia
3. Ankeet Chavan

The first of them is a world cup winner. For all things he might do from now on or he might have done in the past in his cricketing career, that tag of world cup winner was best he had. And not one, but 2.  He also had a reputation of one of the few pacy bowlers in Indian setup and the one who had talent to swing the match single handedly when he desired. 

But he also had lot of tantrums and idiotic acts up against his name, most famous of which was the Slapgate. But what he did in IPL-6 is nothing in front of his achievements and his idiotics.  He bloody well fixed a game of cricket in IPL-6, playing from a team captained by none other than Rahul Dravid.  Really ? Was he so short of money that it needed him to get in touch with the bookies and do spot fixing ? Didn't his team qualify for play-offs already and he would have received a share of prize money, no matter what place the team ended finally. Not to forget the contract money for playing in IPL.  Still ? And despite knowing what happened to the 5 idiots last year and to international players like Salman Butt, Asif and Mohd Amir from Pakistan ? Did he forget that this is the age of technology and nothing can go uncovered.  

Delhi police might be inept in stopping crimes against women, but they are leaders of the pack in picking up the fixing -- spot or match irrelevant.  Neeraj Kumar might have saved his job after all the flak he received from the December 16 crime and the latest one last month against a 5 year old.  But that's irrelevant here. He displayed everything he had with him as proof to show the involvement of the 3 idiots of Rajasthan Royals team, which had been romantics' favorite, given the way Rahul Dravid has led the team so far. 

Without a doubt he has been devastated. He has been the man of ultimate honor, integrity and respect. Playing under him and getting a chance to come back in the national fold was the best thing to happen to this Kerala player and he blows it all away.  Indeed he is Appam Ch*****. Even bigger than that.  He should be banned for life and not allowed to step on any cricket field. He deserves the harshest punishment that will serve as a deterrent to the players in future. 

Ankeet Chavan, I read somewhere, was leading Mumbai spinner in their 40th Ranji triumph and he was the go-to man of the bookies involved in this scandal.  Ajit Chandalia, another bigot who earned the distinction to dismiss Sachin and Ponting in a single game and also had an hattrick last year, is the 3rd in this list.  None of them should be spared. 

BCCI's reaction has been disappointing as well. And they keep ranting "zero tolerance", "everybody guilty will be punished". Biggest question they need to be asked is after all the sting of last year's IPL, how come spot fixing again happened in this year's IPL  right under its nose ? Perhaps Srini was busy scoffing at other IPL owners to pave a way for his  team to win it again this year.  He has been already termed as "most destructive figure " in world cricket after the Sivramkrishnan - FICA episode.  And there is little doubt that he will do anything to clean up this mess.   

Lalit Modi has harped on twitter about this episode and he would enjoy this no doubt whatsoever after the way he was ousted in 2010.  

Shashi Tharoor has termed Sreesanth as "pride of Kerala " and "innocent until proven guilty". Of course he will find all sorts of excuses to term Sreesanth as a martyr and gain some political mileage out of this. He is a part of the government, which is the most corrupt and inept in the history of Independent India.  So yes, this type of stereotypical statements are expected. 

The need of the hour is an extensive cleanup operation of Indian cricket, find the guilty players, deal with them very strictly, ban them for life, throw them in jail, demolish the bookie network (wishful thinking) and moreover, the most important thing, develop an educational framework for young uncapped Indian players to keep them away from corrupt practices and any luring offers from the bookies. Also help them report any such instance to the authorities without their career and position being compromised. 

Having said that, this is India. The country which strongly believes in "Chalne do" attitude. So expecting any fruitful action out of this shocking saga will be waste of time and wishful thinking.  And if only Shilpa Shetty and her husband would have kept tight leash on their players instead of jumping jhapak and dancing on every single 4 or 6 or a wicket, a lot of this embarrassment to Rahul Dravid could have been avoided.

Sir Mahendra Singh Dhoni

A week away from the blog and so much has happened. Rohit Sharma captained his first IPL game and won thanks to another West Indian.  Ricky Ponting sat out, Tendulkar continued to disappoint and get out to the guys he would have so conveniently dispatched in the stands in his prime (or even in 2011).  Pune Warriors continued to disappoint, the character evaporated from the Delhi Daredevils's captain belly.  Punjab continued to progress while Gilchrist continued to disappoint. 

And Sir Jadeja, actually useless Jadeja showed why he is an useless player. 2 knocks followed by listless performances and still boasting of himself.  KKR loses everything they play. And happy for SRK and Shilpa Shetty, that we dont have to see them jumping jhapak jhapak after their franchisees' win.

Chennai continue to impress with their batting might. Dhoni and Hussey continue to score more and more for Chennai, while the Test match comeback boy Vijay disappoints. Welcome signs for sure. It's the other way around for him now. Fail in Test matches, excel in IPL now changed to Fail in IPL and excel in Tests.  

Take out this 2 gentlemen and CSK shall limp. 

The man of the hour is MS Dhoni. He has been in his usual self. One man army. Continues to bat in a way only he can and win the games for his franchisee. Whenever he has failed CSK has lost. And when he has excelled, more often than not CSK has won. I am no fan of CSK, but I am in awe of MSD once again.  He is a superman of Indian cricket. 

A wicket keeper, a captain, a batsman, a fielder at times, in addition to CSK captain, VP of India cements. Last 2 doesn't matter though.  Dhoni has been under  the hammer ever since India lost 0-8 in 2011-12 on away tours and that call for his head grew louder and louder when India lost 1-2 to England in 2013 at home. 

But what a comeback he made. He won 4-0 against Australia.  And now winning games for CSK almost single handedly without much of fanfare. He keeps his cool, has a sense of humor and does his job with no pressure at all. As a result he has a grey hair and grey beard. He shows no hype, he shows no pressure and he hardly loses his cool like Gambhir and Kohli. 

He has a bowling attack of newbies even though he has a junk in Jadeja. He is making those newbies excel, something in line of Ganguly for India. Although he has a long way to travel in this regard for him. MS Dhoni is a man Indian fans and media should be thankful of.  Not long back, I did put some scathing posts on him on this blog itself, but seeing him excel for CSK when all other big names and big ego players failed has made me a big fan of him again. 

CSK sit on top of the table.  Dhoni has scored 235 runs this season, but most of those runs have been helpful in CSK winning the games.  And the heartening factor to see is his strike rate. He did not have a very useful strike rate in T20Is so far, but hopefully this S/R of 162 shall see a spike in the T20Is Strike rate as well.

Hussey is top scorer for CSK, but its MS Dhoni who has won more games to CSK than  Hussey and that is where he deserves to be called Sir. For all he has done to CSK and to Indian cricket leaving out the 3 test series loss (0-8 and 1-2), he is one cricketer who surely deserves to be called Sir Mahendra Singh Dhoni. 

The likes of Jadeja are good enough to be called as junk, they can never ever in their life reach to the stage where Dhoni has managed to reach. Even though Junk Jadeja might earn 2 million dollars every season only to appear in IPL, his value remains even today of 1 cent or in Indian currency 1 paisa.

Delhi and Pune make this IPL a 5 or 6 team affair

Delhi continue to disappoint every game they play and lose it. More pathetic to see is they fold up without a fight. Their big names continue to disappoint -- Warner, Sehwag and Jayawardhene seem to have frozen when it comes to bat. 

Ditto for Pune, they continue to get disgusting with every match, they lost the game they should have won against Hyderabad. But they collapsed from 4/101 to 109 giving a hattrick to Amit Mishra. Hyderabad were equally pathetic with the bat, but Pune gifted them the game on a platter. 

The Lankan players who are leading the franchisees are completely at sea when it comes to make runs or show leadership skills. Matthews is inexperienced but Sangakarra and Mahela are seasoned ones and they have ruthlessly murdered minnows in their peak days. 

The thinking of Mahela Jayawardhene was proved to be crappy when in the Super over against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he sent debutant Roherer ahead of Sehwag and himself. Even on the 1st wicket fall of Warner, he did not come himself in or send Sehwag. 

16 off 6 balls was gettable by any means for Sehwag, Warner and Mahela himself. But he froze and gave up the only chance to win the game. Now they are almost out of IPL.  

Sangakarra dropped himself in the game against Pune, he himself has been in woeful form. 

Punjab, Delhi and Pune are pathetic teams. That makes the competition among 6 teams for 4 play-off slots. With Hyderabad being on the lighter side with the bat, as the IPL progresses, the competition would seriously be between 5 teams.

Resign now Mr Jayawardhene

Shrimati Mahila Jayawardhene captained Sri Lanka not long ago in all 3 formats of the game. Now he is captain in none. He also led them to their first world cup final in 2007 and lost it to Adam Gilchrist single handedly with a glove ball. 

He then relinquished the SL captaincy after the Australian tour, got injured, did not play against his favorite opposition Bangladesh in SL. And then returned to IPL to captain Delhi Daredevils after Sehwag gave up the captaincy.

When Jayawardhene was the captain, every match presentation, pre-match or post match interview he used to utter a word "CHARACTER" too much too often.  He used to write articles and in those again the mention of the word "Character" was aplomb. 

But somehow coming to this IPL season, he has lost a lot of that character. He is no more an inspiring captain, thinking captain, astute captain, clever captain, sharp captain or whatever captain, the cricket media and SL bloggers hailed him to be. Delhi Daredevils continue to lose every game they are playing this season. Things dont look good in the 5th game as well with them struggling at 5/137 in 19 overs. This is a ridiculous target for a lineup that reads Gayle, Kohli and ABD.  Admittedly, his batting form has tapered away as well. He used to be "silken" and "classy" in T20s and people still remember his opening in 2010 and 2012 T20I editions. They also don't fail to remember the world cup final century in 2011 ending up in a losing cause.

My simple question to Jayawardhene is dude where is all that character, fighting spirit gone?  Where are those so called silky, classy shots, effortless drives gone  which help decimate all minnow bowlers ? Dude, your captaincy sucks, your attitude sucks and overall you suck. You should give up the captaincy for the franchisee sake and play just as a batsman. Your shelf life as a captain in any format of the game is OVER.

PS : Irfan Pathan just showed why he is a better batting or bowling allrounder for India than over hyped Sir Jadeja. 

Delhi end up at 5/152 a decent score, still not good enough.