Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma.

The man who troubled Ricky Ponting, the man who has got pace, height, bounce. But he does not have consistency. 

A sure starter in Tests, but havent played an ODI since Aug 2009.

Ishant Sharma today wrecked Kochi Tuskers starring Mahila and Sreesanth with a 5-for. 

A pure delight to see him succeed at the international level (IPL is domestic with some international touch to it). Only if he could replicate this performance many more times so that the bare cupboards in pace bowling in India would be full again.

Not only he would benefit out of such performances, but India would also be benefited of such performances and we would then no longer need the likes of Sreesanth and Munaf Patel in the teams.

Way to go Ishant Sharma.

Duncan Fletcher's appointment : Unworthy and too early.

4 years ago it was a huge drama. Now it was pretty sedate and a bit of dampner.

 

Hunt for India coach. Then it took almost a year to find one, this time not even a month to find one.

 

But then we had found out a gem in Gary this time a dampner in Duncan Fletcher.

 

A lot of prodigies in Chandu Borde, Ravi Shastri and Lal Rajput managed India before Gary came aboard, this time board found one even without an ad or even a presentation from the ex England coach.

 

Duncan Fletcher was the man incharge of England in 2007 World Cup fiasco and 0-5 drubbing down under.  He was also infamous for an idiotic approach to the English ODI team.  When he took over in 1999, England was worst Test team notorious for collapses, when he left they were nowhere after plummeting of a wonderful high of 2004-2005.

 

It would have been too much to have asked for a man better than Gary to coach India, but at least they could have got someone at par. Fletcher's record as coach is for every one to see. He has been SA's batting consultant in the world cup and didnt they suffer batting collapses in crucial games. He also was part of Kiwi setup in December when they toured India. How much success Kiwis had also is for every body to see.

 

Its been said that this guy has a methodical approach and has a liking for physical fitness.  Its also said that he loves being in the centerstage. He also had some strategic success like putting on a leg side field and negative line to Tendulkar in 2001 series when Ashley Giles managed to get him stumped first time in Test career. But the man who kept Graeme Swan on sidelines for Giles is expected to have some question marks put on his coaching resume.

 

India are the top team in Tests and very soon the transition to the new generation shall begin. The 3 batting greats shall bow out and they would need to be replaced by the likes of Raina, Pujara, Kohli etc. How Fletcher handles this would be a key to the future of Indian tests team. But the likes of those who shall replace the 3 batting greats would already have a lot of international experience and they would have spent a lot of time with the 3 batting greats.

 

ODIs would be other key area for this man. The expectations out of the team after the world cup win would be huge and they would be expected to win every game they play. Managing them would also be a huge thing for Fletcher to do.

 

All in all, the appointment of Duncan Fletcher is damp squib and too early. The board should have taken some time to research for a worthy candidate to replace Gary and who would come true to the huge expectations now everybody has come to keep with the coach of Indian cricket team.

Sehwag's return to the form

Sehwag showed return to the form glimpses and that rubbed off the Delhi Daredevils to post 3rd highest IPL score. KXIP chased it spiritedly but in the end fell short by 29 runs.  Valtathy failed and Marsh's efforts were in vain as none other batsmen except Gilchrist stepped up to the occasion. 

Agarkar, Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla have represented India at some point or the other and they all struggled today. So did Praveen Kumar.  Irfan Pathan did show some minuscule swing into the right hander in first few overs but the pace was too slow to have an impact on the batsmen.

Its a pain to watch Irfan Pathan in this avatar. Struggling for runs, struggling for pace, leaking runs. He has been one of the Dada's devils who had a great start to his career but thanks to Greg Chappell, he faded away in last 5 years or so. 

He took Pathan to so many so called experts that later was confused whom to abide.

Resultant he has not played for India in more than 2 years. 

Delhi prepared a green track for this game, though it didnt help its seam heavy attack, it helped its batsmen to post a formidable total.

They would want to continue to perform on the similar lines to ensure that they end up in the final 4 once again. They have the team to do it. Only thing they need to do is  fire collectively.

IPL conclusions

With the other IPL games going on and few upsets resulting in there are few conclusions that are firmly set in now:

 

1. Rohit Sharma is classy, elegant (or lazy elegance as they say it for Inzy and Junior Waugh), talent. But only in IPL. He is fit, slim, thin and agile for IPL. When it comes to India, he is complete reverse.

2. Ravinder Jadeja is one player who justifies all the faith shown in him by MS and Srikanth, but only in IPL.  When the world isnt watching him, he is trying to impress everybody. But son, the world cup is over and he has lost one very good chance to be a part of world cup winning team. Something he might want to learn from Sreesanth.

3. Harbhajan finally got a 5-for in all formats. Only if he could continue on this.

4. Chris Gayle made the franchisee owners look fool when they didnt bid for him in the auction and now he is back with a bang. He;z also made WICB look fool with this innings. What injury?

5. Malinga and Gayle injured? Who said? Rehabilitation programs? Playing in IPL is biggest rehabilitation.

 

Bangalore got to the winnign ways in style. KKR got back to what they do best in IPL -- fizz out after a strong start.

 

Mumbai Indians continue to display they are strongest in the IPL and today with Tendulkar and Rayudu failing, they rode on the back of Rohit IPL Sharma to win and go on top. Rajasthan Royals forgot how to win.

 

MSD's excellence with the captaincy isnt showing up with CSK.

 

Kocchi continue to impress.  Delhi and Punjab would slog it out tomorrow. Pune is another team that'd like to gather the momentum back and Yuvraj would quickly like to forget 2 ball duck. He would be pissed with himself when he fell to someone like Munaf Patel.

 

One third of IPL is over and Mumbai Indians at this stage look good to go the distance.

 

 

SLC needs to be cautious on IPL issue

The hue and cry created by SLC on the return of its players from IPL is unwanted and not needed. SL players have been in hot demand in this season and 2 of  their players are captains. One of them has led the new franchisee to 3 consecutive wins and the other has led to 3 defeats and 2 wins. 

Both are crucial to the SL campaign in the Old Blighty and their form would decide if the SL return from the tour as winners or as usual losing the Tests. They might still win the ODIs given the pathetic display by England in 2011 ODIs. 

The players have been asked to return to their country for a preparatory camp by May 5 and almost all of them have complied. At least those have who are / will play cricket for Lanka. Murali has slammed the board, but then he isnt supposed to represent SL anymore. 

The latest salvo has come in from Duleep Mendis and Nishantha Ranatunga over Lasith Malinga. He doesnt play Tests anymore and is a superb exponent in T20 and ODIs. But England tour begins with Tests and since Malinga wont be playing in the tests, him returning to Lanka and participating in a rehabilitation program is a bit ridiculous. By playing IPL at least he would be match fit if selected for the limited overs leg for the England tour. 

Everybody except West Indian players chose country over IPL and the players have promptly left for national duties when called for skipping IPL. So it doesnt make any sense for the players to actually say it in public forum that they prefer country over IPL of course if you are not Bravo or Pollard or Gayle.

SLC in a fighting stance with BCCI could be hurting itself in the long run. They are in debt and unless they play an India series, they tend to lose money than earn it. So it would be in their best interests if they take this situation in a bit more judicious and cautious way.

Weekend IPL games and stars of the IPL till date

After the Kochi Tuskers spoilt Tendulkar's 100, they spoilt Chennai's run as well today in a rain shortened game and guess what Mr Jadeja romped them home with sixes and a 2. How I wonder what happens to him when he plays for India.  I just hope he doesnt succeed to a level where he is  thought to be inclusion in the ODI team in the forthcoming series. It would be an insult to the world champions status for India if guys like Jadeja or Rohit Sharma make it to the team.

 

Brendon McCullum provided the start to the Tuskers in the 2nd consecutive game and the batsmen later on capitalised on that.  They are now 4th on the table after Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

 

Meanwhile in other games Kolkata hammered Rajasthan in Eden Gardens and Delhi notched up their first win of the 4th IPL.

 

Kolkata were all over Royals in the home game and dismissed them for mere 85. They lacked Dravid at the top and not sending Ross Taylor at 3 or 4 was a sin. The magical Warne tried hard with the ball, but he had very few runs in the kitty to defend the score. Tait bowled his heart out, but didnt get through to a win. Gambhir and Tiwary in the end saw KKR go on top.

 

Delhi were in a hopeless position when Yuvraj Singh in his trademark Johhanesburg style looted 26 runs in the last over off Dinda.  They needed a strong start from Sehwag and Warner to have some chance in the game. By the end of 6 overs, they raced to 67 and Sehwag's contribution was mere 17 and Warner's was 43. Very rarely in any format you'd find Sehwag contributing very little in the scoreline in the first few overs of the game.  Sehwag did make a decent 37, but that was not at all what we know Sehwag is capable of. Ojha, Pathan did fight a little but in the end Mathew Wade and James Hopes saw Delhi home and cross the winning line first time this season. Not to forget that little man Y Venugopal Rao's contribution.

 

At this point the most hopeless teams in the tournament are RCB, Deccan Chargers and Delhi to an extent.

 

We have seen a remarkable upturn in the fortunes of Kochi, Punjab who looked out of sorts in their first few games.  The star so far has been the Mumbai man Paul Valthaty who has not only excelled with bat, but with ball too.

 

Not sure if he would ever make it to the Indian setup in ODIs or T20s at this point, but if he goes on to make bigger impacts in the upcoming games then who knows what future holds for this man who unfortunately lost his some bit of vision in 2002. 

 

There have been some unnoticed lads who have gone on to make an impact with the respective franchisees / teams but havent got the due recognition. Few such guys are:

 

1. Ambati Rayudu for Mumbai. He and Sachin have been in such a form that the lads like Symmo, Pollard and R Sathish havent got many balls to bat for.

2. Y Venugopal Rao for Delhi.

3. Maninder Bisla for KKR with the gloves.

4. Iqbal Abdullah for KKR

5. Forgotten L Balaji who was such a force until Mohali 2005 when he took a 5-for in the first day of the series against Pak and thereafter continued injuries claimed him.

 

There are murmurs that few senior guys like Tendulkar, MS, Sehwag, Gambhir, Zaheer might skip the WI ODI leg tour and that might invite few replacements.  That would provide a very good opportunity for the next gen players to try make an impact here in the IPL and force a selection in that team if seniors are rested. And it would be great that usual culprits as replacements -- Vijay, Rohit Sharma,  Dinesh Karthik, Sir Jadeja and so forth are over looked and instead guys like Ajinkya Rahane, Che Pujara are given chances.

 

 

"Sachin's Jinx"

Sachin scored a 100 and as his critics would point out his team lost. They shall call it as a jinx. Happened in world cup, happened in IPL.

So they say Sachin shouldnt score a 100 to let his team win.

The opening partnership of Baz and Jayawardene was well capitalised by Sir Jadeja who hit a few sixes. Now he is a different player when it comes to IPL and when it comes to play for India. When he plays for India, he scratches around, doesnt know what to do when the run rate climbs. 

But in IPL he has a spark in the eyes. He becomes a different player in IPL. Suddenly he finds sixes, fours coming out of his bat, he springs and all. 

And now except Pune, all teams have now lost at least 1 game. 

Still Mumbai looks the strongest team in the tournament and the man is yet to get dismissed in the tournament. 

Deccan Chargers and KKR win

Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders registered comfortable wins in their 3rd games.

 

Deccan looked determined right from the onset and the Bangalore chase never happened even though Virat Kohli fought till the end. The batting order of RCB was flawed. Pujara coming at 6 after the lesser players was an awful sin and that reflected in their 33 runs loss. They have now lost last 2 games and they suddenly seem the team of the 2008 season rather than being the team of 2009 and 2010 under gutsy Anil Kumble. Still early days though, they would look forward to bounce back in the next few games.

 

Kolkata Knight Riders had their best outing in the IPL most probably today earlier morning EST. Gambhir played an aggressive knock after ages and the good thing was he didnt throw his wicket away. Kallis and he guided KKR to a comfortable win in the end thus ending fairytale of RR in Jaipur where they have won 9 of 12 games.  The RR got a start but none of them converted that start to a big score. Dravid has been solid, but his strike rate has been in lowly 100s and 110s not quite upto the mark. It was sinful not to have opened with Shane Watson instead of Paunikar who had a 3rd failure in row.

 

The RR got their batting order flawed today and 159 wasnt a very safe score given the batting lineup the KKR have.  Shane Warne for first time looked pedestal and today he had no resources and tricks to beat KKR in the game and in the end KKR romped home by 9 wickets.

 

And in the ongoing game, its the Tendulkar magic yet again. He is yet to get out this tournament and his last dismissal had been 2 weeks back on this very ground off his team mate Lasith Malinga.

 

Its a bit irony and strange that the cricket is back on the iconic Wankhede after 2 weeks India won that epic world cup final.

 

PS : India's 2 Test stalwarts Laxman, Dravid are injured and though its too early to press panic before West Indies tour, their handling in the IPL would be a thing to watch out for. Another concern is the dodgy shoulder of Virender Sehwag and some media reports say that he neeeds a surgery and for that he might skip the West Indies tour. Not good though if true.

Mumbai and Kings XI win

Mumbai prevailed over Bangalore yesterday with Sachin continuing his super run into this tournament as well. The best thing about his innings was he allowed Rayudu to take over and he was happy playing second fiddle. And the gesture to share the MoM award with him was even better. 

Zaheer was struggling and that was the difference between defeat and victory for Bangalore. Virat Kohli now needs to be little less innovative to find new ways to get out. 

In other game Praveen showed how dangerous he is when ball swings and how ordinary he is when ball stops moving.  Vijay and Dabri showed how good they are for IPL. Dhoni continued his superb batting run. No matter how many runs he makes now from this point, his super six off Kula would itch forever. That 6 got India the world cup.

Paul Valtathy hit a super 111 to see Kings XI home in a tough chase of 189 runs. Given the fact that CSK have been exceptional while defending scores of 180+,the effort from Kings was kingsman. They have had a brittle batting lineup, but today promoting Valtathy to opening spot was a master stroke.

CSK havent got going this tournament, but they are led by MS and thats the singlemost USP for them. As long as MS doesnt run out of the ideas, they are always in the contention to go the distance. 

Rajasthan, Pune and Mumbai are the only  teams to have won 2 games of 2. 

Probable wooden spoon holders for IPL 4

Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab and probably Mahela's Kochi Tuskers seem to be the weakest teams in this years' IPL. DC and DD have already lost 2 games. Kings XI might do so next. Tuskers have the biggest comic of the modern times in their team and he can be the factor between win and loss.

 

Delhi Daredevils is too dependent on Warner and Sehwag. Sehwag hasnt fired in the first 2 games and he seems to be going back to the 2007 days (Just a slight hint, given the way he has thrown his wickets after that 175).

 

The others except Y V Rao have failed to step up when required and the bowling has looked pedestal. Irfan Pathan troubled Mumbai batsmen for a while in first game but today he was taken to cleaners by Rahul Dravid who knows his bowling inside out from 2003 days .

 

Lest Sehwag steps up his game and stays for good part of 20 overs, its difficult to imaging DD going all the way to the semis.

 

Ditto for Deccan Chargers, these 2 teams have been hit by players exodus and though they have signed few key players but they seem off at this moment.

Pune Warriors get a dream debut

The second new team in the IPL this year, the 2nd from Maharashtra, the team which almost had a quiet build up to the IPL since its inception last year had a dream debut in the IPL 4. Having got to play its first game in adjoining Navi Mumbai, the team streamrolled KXIP and its tough luck continued. 

Nothing went right for KXIP since the toss. The new skipper, the old opener, the new  reserve keeper, everybody failed and at one time its score read 4 for 9. (Or 9 for 4).

Dinesh Karthik scored a duck.

Punjab were restricted to 112 though Ryan McLaren did his best to up the ante, but the rest around him just didnt battle enough. 

Graeme Smith's horror form continued and this time it  was not Zak who nailed him, but Praveen Pehelwan who got him first ball of the innings. 

And though Kings XI got 2 quick wickets of Jesse Ryder and Manhas, the pair of Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh took Pune Warriors home without any further hiccup.A dream debut for Pune. 

Surprised to see Chitale Bandhu / Joshi Vadewale / Rohit Wadewale not figuring on the black jerseys of Pune Warriors India.

Delhi banished

Lasith Malinga did what he did best, bowled yorkers and demolished Daredevils batting lineup for just 95 and in the end Sachin Tendulkar saw Mumbai home.

Sehwag scored just 19 and that wasnt enough for DD to post a competitive total. He, Warner and Aaron Finch are the only men who were of some quality in the exodus'ed team. They lost AB, Dilshan, Vettori and Gambhir in the auction to see themselves as one of the weakest team in this IPL.

A heartening site was to see some swing for Irfan Pathan, though he didnt get the wickets. He did trouble the batsmen with the balls that came in. That has been his strength in his peak years.

Sehwag would need to do more than what he did today and perhaps he shall need to bat 20 overs to ensure DD post a competitive total in the other games.

Players to watch out this IPL

Players to watch out for this IPL from Indian perspective. 

1. Ishant Sharma  for the 3rd seamer in the ODIs. He leaks out runs and isnt very wicket taking bowler, yet he is better than Munaf and Freesanth, for he has a nack to get the bounce and carry. And he has got the pace to ruffle the batsmen.

2. Irfan Pathan for that # 7 spot in the ODIs. Compete with his brother. He is far better player than Yusuf Pathan and what he is billed for now. If he gets that swing back and is back to fitness, look no further than Irfan. A man who has had 90s and has batted at # 3 in both Tests and ODIs should be a lucrative prospect back in the team when fit and on the top of the game. 

3. Manish Pandey : Can he now stake a claim in the ODI team if he has a successful IPL? If the likes of Vijay and Dhawan can get their chances owing to small success they had in IPL, then this lad who'z got some tremendous knocks in IPL and Ranji should get a look ahead in the lesser significant ODI series. 

4.  Cheteshwar Pujara: The things for that # 6 spot in the Tests would hot up once again when team travels to West Indies now that Yuvraj and Raina are back in the form.  Tests are a bit too far for now, but if he proves his mettle for RCB, then he might also come in the reckoning as a backup player in the ODI setup as well. 

There are not many open spots in the world champion team at the moment except # 7 spot. Sachin Tendulkar might not play ODIs any more, so the opening shall be going back to the Gauti - Viru combo followed by Kohli and Yuvraj. And then Raina and Dhoni. 

So if there are couple of lads like Irfan or Saurabh Tiwary can get some success this IPL they can edge through the likes of tested and failed Jadeja and Fuddi Pathan. 

Ravinder Jadeja today batted like he always does in the IPL, but he fails for India.  One of those players who hit iron hot form in IPL, but flounder in the national colors.  Freesanth, Rohit Sharma, IPL Ojha, Amit Mishra, Jadeja, Fuddi Pathan are the proud members of this lot.

Pune Preview

I dont like Pune the city. 6+ years in that city were good to give me jitters to stay away from the city. But the IPL is back in that city. With its own team. No stadium. The age old Jawaharlal Nehru stadium is pathetic to host any game, be it IPL or a MPL or a club game. The new stadium in Gahunje, between Pune and Mumbai seems not ready to host the game. 

Its 50 kms away from the IT park in Hinjewadi, the awful place for traffic jams. Given how bad public transport in Pune is, how many people would have  travelled to Gahunje to view the games. So Pune would play all its home games in DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai. 

Logistics apart, the team is called Sahara Warriors. 

And is led by the reborn man of the World Cup, Yuvraj Singh.  Its such a joy to see Yuvraj in full flow. And he is very much near the peak he has achieved in 2007-2008 duration. He would be a man brimming with confidence given his exploits in the premier tournament of the world. 

He is up against Kings XI, franchisee for which he was icon player for 3 seasons. And they dented his confidence in 2010 when they gave the captaincy to Kumar Sangakara Nanga to end up wooden spoon holders. So he shall have a point to prove against them. 

Team composition:

Desi players:

Yuvraj Singh, Ashish Nehra, Uthappa, Wagh, Dheeraj Jadhav, Rahul Sharma, Manish Pandey, Mundhe, Manhas, Kartik, Jhunjhunwala,  etc

Foreign Players:

Callum Fergie, Graeme Smith, Nathan McCullum, Angelo Matthews, Tim Paine, Jesse Ryder, Wayne Parnell, Jerome Taylor

The team is decent, the chances for them to go to the semis depends on how the team composition is decided and most importantly on the form of Yuvraj Singh.

The Bhamte and old generation Pune would support Yuvraj as IPL captain? Doubtful. They dont have too many players from Pune except few. Dheeraj Jadhav is one of them followed by Wagh and Khadiwale.  The Puneris are a bit averse to the outsiders, so they warming up to the IPL players is a bit doubtful.

Freesanth gets a zip in IPL

Lead tusker Sreesanth continued his antics in the first home IPL game.  What was amazing to see was to get the swing and the zip he got. Something which was amiss in the world cup. 

Misplaced priorities?

Please save us from Indian Russell Arnold -- Laxman Shivramkrishnan. He is just a fucktard..  Make him sit on a tusker and let it scream over him. Even the tusker would go wild and mad listening Shivramkrishnan.

Sanga cant lead sala

Dabba Chargers or Dhakkan Chokers -- as you might want to call the 2009 champions,  they are funnier lot. They played 5 bowlers today -- Steyn, Sharma, Christian, Ojha and Mishra. 4 of them genuine wicket takers. Mishra and Ojha amongst the top 2 wicket takers last edition. 

Unfortunately they continued to lose their own home ground and VVS Laxman might be smiling down in Kochi seeing the plight of  the home franchisee.

Positives:

Ishant Sharma didnt take a wicket, but he troubled batsmen quite a few times and he got bounce and carry on the pitch. Something that augurs well for the confidence of the bowler. ODI setup needs an express bowler and need to look no further than this lad if he gets his economy rate under control.

Negatives:

Ojha is yet to recover from the shock of world cup omission.

Sanga Nanga got off to a disastrous start to his 2nd franchisee captaincy stint. He lost the world cup final last Saturday and today he lost the IPL opener.  He got a duck as well. Aduck getting a duck. 

Rajasthan got off to a good winning start and the move to open with Dravid doesnt quite look good. 

The worst part is the same commentators who were good a week back and now are shouting the usual IPL associated cliches. How sad.

Randi bhai

Randi bhai just got hit for 14 runs in a single over and has effectively sealed the game for KKR.

No oh he has got Tiwary out. Randi has got a wikat. And he did not even bowl a no-ball. What has Randi done? He's got Tiwary stumped but not off Sanga Nanga, but off MSD.....Oh boy Randi!!!!!!!!!!!!

Murali Vijay cant play in IPL now

Poor Murali Vijay. He now cannot play in front of his home crowd and in tailor made IPL now. Useless guy.

Kochi Elephants led by a Mahila

Kochi Elephants Kerala.

Led by a Lankan World Cup losing captain and a centurion in succesive finals.  Maniacked by insane, lunatic Freesanth, chucked invalid by Muralitharan and silkened by Vengiruppu Venkata Sai Laxman, the only saving grace. But then he is no T20 player.

The team has alreddy being in the controbersy bhen Shashi Pushkar Tharoor did all that crap ad had to lose his job, later he married Sunanda Sweet Equity Pushkar.

Captain: A lady by the name of Mahila Jaya is leading the team in the IPL. 

Indian players:

B Akhil (From RCB), VVS Laxman (Indian great from DC), Some Chowgule, Rao, Jadeja (remember useless?), Gomez,  Kedar Jadhav, Chandan sa Badan Madan Chitwan,  Marathe, RP Singh, Romesh Pawar (Why doesnt he retire?), Vinay Kumar, Tanmay Srivastav and the one and only FREESANTH.

Foreign players:

Mahila Jayablabbawardhene, Chuck Chuckalidaran, Owais Shah, Hastings, Steven Smith, Thisara Hit me Parera, Baz, Brad Hodge, Michael Klinger.

Mahila and Chuck shall always play. VVS wont play. Freesanth shall throw tantrums if not bowled or if he didnt get a wicket. What if he runs into say MS?

They've got a very idiotic dress and their Lankan imports are seen in some comical war pose. 

Dont think they would make any impact in the tournament though they've got a fairly decent opening pair in Baz and Mahila.

All the good work that could be done by the other bowlers shall be undone by the Charlie Sheen of Indian cricket -- Freesanth

IPL 4 : KKR Preview

KKR are new and rejuvenated this time. They have changed almost entirely.

But the biggest downer is they dont have the icon of the city. Their best player ever. Their icon, their pride and India's greatest captain ever. Saurav Ganguly doesnt play IPL anymore, so its bit difficult to imaging KKR getting support they have got in Eden all this years.

They've got Gautam Gambhir as their skipper, the man of the finals who snatched WORLD CUP from Lankans so much reeling them that the Lankan fans are crying that government fixed the match to win Indian support. Funny.

But Lankans aint the targets here, the focus here is on KKR.

KKR has been amongst all sorts of controversy in previous 3 IPLs. They got off to a best possible start when Baz bazzed 158 runs in the IPL opener and then it was further downhill for them. Captaincy controversy happened, FIP happened and then they dumped Ganguly.

All said and done, the owners have made an attempt to begin afresh and in that they have got some big names.

Here is the preview:

Captain : Gautam Gambhir

He led DD in IPL and half in past 2 years. They ended losers last year and semis in 2009.  This time he is here for KKR and is the most expensive ever buy. He has a 100% captaincy record for India in ODIs. How shall he fare for KKR, depends to be seen.

Indian players

Gambhir, Balaji, Fuddi Pathan (Former Yusuf), Bhatia, Goswami, Iqbal Abdullah, Sangwan, Undkat, Sami Ahmed etc etc, Ladda, Bisla

Foreign Players

Haddin, Eoin Morgan, Kallis, Ryan Ten Doscheate, Pattinson, Shakib, Bret Lee

Foreign players look impressive. But Indians do not.

Gambhir, Morgan, Fuddi, Kallis, Lee and Haddin shall be the key players. 

Team Composition:

Openers

1. Gambhir and Haddin shall open the batting and Haddin shall also keep the wickets.

Middle Order:

Kallis, Morgan, Fuddi , Bhatia,  Doscheate shall play depending upon the opposition and they would need to pick their foren players well.

Bowling :

No Ishant, Ajantha Bow Wow Mendis,  Shoaib Akhtar this time around. No Dinda too.

Lee would be a sure starter if fit. So shall be Undkat.  Sangwan from DD, is at best a medium pacer.

Shakib, Pathan would be the spinners. And Kallis bhai as allrounder.

Again the foren players are too good, but the Indian stocks barring Gambhir and to an extent Fuddi Pathan aint that great. So a balanced mixup of this 2 factors and how the XI is formed shall decide how far KKR has to go this time.

Dhakkan Fusers Preview : IPL 4

This time its for Dhakkan Fusers. Oops. Deccan Chargers.

The wooden spoon holders of 2008, winnes of 2009 and semi finalists of 2010. New captain, new team.

New captain is a loser. This blog hates him. He has just resigned from the national captaincy, had ended up wooden spoon holder of 2010.

Kumar Sanganangakara for ya.

Indian players:

Ojha, Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Arjun Yadav and brothers.  I dont know the others. Never heard of them.  Nah add Gony, Dhawan and Harmeet Singh too.

Foreign Players:

SangaNanga, Dale Steyn, Cameron White, Rusty Theron, KP, Lumb and JP Duminy.

Dont know how this team shall fare. The Indian players are an unknown lot, so not sure if they shall be form of a winning unit. Plus Sangkara's captaincy is sham, so expect nothing much from this team. Not sure how Hyderabadis and folks would respond to the forseeing defeats this team shall face in the tourney.

IPL 4 : Chennai Blooper Kings Preview

Its IPL time and time for team previews.

Start with Chennai Super Kinks. 

The team consists of 2 men who are most widely disliked -- Srinivasan and Kris Freekanth.

One of them owns and the other is brand ambassador.

One of them is BCCI prez elect and the other is national selector chief.

Son of Freekanth plays for Chennai Kinks and Kanth would use IPL 4 as launch pad for launching his team into the national colors. May not be in ODIs now, but may be in T20Is. ODIs team tinkering wont be possible for long time since we are the world champions.

Okay back to the preview.

Captain : MS Dhoni, the Indian world cup winning captain

They retained 4 players -- Dhoni, Vijay, Morkel and Raina. 2 of this are world cup winners and one of them is a loser and the other a world cup discard.

The team:

Indian players : Dhoni, Raina, Ashvin, Dabri, Vijay, Junior Freekanth, Joginder Sharma (YAY YAY he is same bowler who got Misbah off Freeesanth), Jakati, Yo Mahesh, Tyagi, Abhinav Mukund, Saha and some Vasudevdas.

Abhinav Mukund was the other man in that monsterous partnership in Ranji trophy game in 2008 which saw Murali Vijay picked up and drafted in for banned Gambhir in 3rd test vs Australia in Delhi. May be when both Delhi lads get injured in Tests at one go (GOD forbid), Mukund could find himsef playing for India alongside opening with Vijay. May be then he would still pretend he is playing for Jaya and Karuna and Freekanth and Srini and RAJNIKANTH's state. 

So many almighties for Chennai Fooper Kinks and biggest of them MS.  Rajni's team. Oh man. Yenthiraan's team.

Foreign players:

Hussey, Styris, Kulasekra, Albie Morkel, Randi bhai, Hilfy, Bravo, Southee, Bailey,

Kicked out players:

Hayden, CHuckli

The team is defending champions and they say that they are the most consistent team in the IPL. They have always made it to the Champions league (2009 and 2010) and have been to the semi-final of IPL at all times. They won in 2010, lost in semis in 2009 and choked on the last ball in 2008.

The crunch players for CSK in past year have been Ashvin, Raina and Vijay. Vijay who knows to play only for IPL and is subdued for the other formats for India.  There is going to be no Hayden and Chuck this time around. Chuck is now playing for Mahila's team that is, the Tuskers.

Hayden was left out.

If CSK win this time, it shall be another glorious campaign for MS, but it might also see some more Boss DKs kinda players making way to the team as reserves.  We've had already enough of Vijays, Dabris and BossDKs.

BossDKs is furious at Freekanth cos he didnt convince Srini to buy for him and instead now he is playing for some other team.  Dunno which.

Batting shall wholesole depend on Indian players (or Chennai local players) as Hussey shall be coming in late and most of the foren recruits are bowlers.

Expected XI for tomorrow:

1. Vijay

2. Mukund

3. Aniruddh Freekanth

4. Raina

5. MSD

6. Dabri

7. Morkel

8. Southee

9. Ashvin

10. Randi

11. Kulasekra

Bollinger is out injured, Dwayne Bravo is out injured. So the team for first few games is going to bit on this lines.  Randi bhai is back and he wont be balling no bowls any more arbitarily. 

Lets see if this time CSK is Chennai Super Kings or Chennai Blooper Kings

A voice in favor of ICC's World cup pruning decision

A lot has been said on the decision to leave out the minnows / Associate teams out of the 2015 World cup down under.  The decision isnt that harsh given the following facts:

1. It shall make the world cup a lot competitive.

2. Easy games shall no more be an option for teams like Lanka who march all the way to the finals.

3. The length of the world cup shall be reduced from month and half to may be month or so.

4.  The world cup winner in the end shall have been tested under all situations and would be a worthy winner like India which played almost every test nation except NZ and got better of them all except SA.

5. No easy runs for minnows feasting batsmen like Mahila and Dilshan.

Development of cricket or the expansion of cricket has taken a backseat, but then how many teams really developed playing this world cups 1996 ownwards. Ireland is the best of the lot and Kenya, Canada being the worst of the lot.

Kenya have played every world cup since 1996 and their situation today is pitiful. They didnt gain a bit by playing the world cups may be after 2003.  Ireland have developed a lot, but then they dont have their own first class structure and their good players are poached upon by England. Eoin Morgan is the best example.

Bermuda, Scotland, Netherlands, Kenya, UAE etc have stalled or they have not progressed to the extent the ICC would have liked by rubbing their shoulders with the top boys.

May be the ICC could do is have a qualifier for last 2 spots and have 6 teams play for those 2 spots. The # 9 and # 10 on ICC rankings should be part of those qualifiers. If thats being done, then teams like BD and Zim shall be on edge and they would strive to perform better in the span between 2 world cups.

IPL captains

After a frenzied month and half following world cup, its bit misfit to have IPL looming again down our throats. I doubt if people shall follow the IPL the same way they followed it for 3 years or the way they followed the world cup. I feel IPL is bit too early. The feeling of we beign world champions is  till taking time to sink and even before we have blinked our eyes or had a good night sleep following euphoria, the IPL has arrived.

So here are the 10 captains who shall be leading the teams:

KKR : Gautam Gambhir (Prev : Delhi)

DC : Kumar Sangakara (Prev : Kings Punjab)

MI : Sachin Tendulkar

RR : Shane Warne

RCB : Daniel Vettori (Prev : Anil Kumble)

CSK : MS Dhoni

Kings : Adam Gilchrist (Prev : DC)

Pune : Yuvraj Singh

Tuskers : Mahila Jaya

and

DD : Virender Sehwag (Prev : Gautam Gambhir)

Gary Kirsten

Gary Kirsten has farewelled coach of India position and he is off to Capetown, SA to be with his young family. Some time later when he returns to mainstream coaching, he shall more likely than not take up job with SA and he gave a lot of feelers for the same when he departed today.

He has been a major factor responsible for the turnaround India has shown in past 4 years. He gave his everything, worked on every player, worked on strengths of players, gave them confidence, backed them up and what not. Thats why today we find players like Raina, Kohli, Zaheer and others a touch above than they were in the previous regime. He remained a backroom guy and did his stuff wonderfully well but quietly.

The results are for everyone to see. The respect he has got from every one, his contemporaries in Test side, his young lads in the ODIs and everyone have just good words for him. VVS Laxman, Kumble, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid have played against SA side of which Gary has been the part of. Even add Harbhajan, Zaheer, Nehra, Yuvraj in it.  All this players have publicly spoken high about the man.

He is definetely going to be missed and he is going to make the job of BCCI very difficult to find an able and worthy replacement for him before the West Indies tour and I just hope they can avoid the Graham Ford episode and they are able to find somebody who shall accept the position. But 2007 is different from 2011. Then we were first round crashers, today we are world champions.

Images that shall itch in memories forever

Images courtesy : www.cricinfo.com

World Champions India

What an emphatic win in the end to become the World Champions. Its still takign a huge time to sink in. That the Indians are the world champions after 28 years. The country swung into celebrations and into wild frenzy. The world cup win rejoiced India after a long long time. Every one was happy. Every one rejoiced for Indian team which amongst everything won the world cup as the most deserving team. Going through the entire campaign as almighty just makes this victory even sweeter.

There were a few jitters in the game on Saturday, but in the end super Dhoni and cool Gambhir proved that they are the best team in the world. Doesnt matter if India lose  Sachin and Viru early, there are few other guys in the hut to do the job. Yuvraj all the while and Dhoni in the final.

What a way to rise above the occasion and lead as they say by front. Setting an example, captain's innings, return to form. Call any adjective to it. Dhoni would fulfill all of that. Having had a quiet tournament with just 150 runs in 8 games and then suddenly coming at 5 ahead of man of the tournament Yuvraj was a super move that paid off in the end. It was very apt in the end that MSD hit the winning runs.

He was cool as cucumber in the entire game. He kept his nerves, he soaked the tremendous pressure for good 6 weeks and in the end emerged triumphant.  He came in at edgy 3/114 and Dilshan on fire, but he kept the score board ticking and kept pacing his innings even when Gambhir was stuck in 90s between 38 and 42nd over. 

There were wild celebrations in the entire country. And I missed being part of those celebrations. Couldnt scream, couldnt dance and couldnt shout with all the might I have fearing a ticket, but witnessing those scenes on NDTV made me almost compensate the loss. All celebrations I had were few beers in the end with friends and cursing Sangakara big time.

Sri Lanka Innings:

SL started off cautiously living up to the billing that they become minnows against strong teams. 1/31 off 10 overs was their slowest start of the tournament. Their opening pair which plundered runs against minnows and hapless Kiwis and Pommies were subdued and off color.  Dilshan made edgy 33 and Tharanga fell to Zaheer for single digit score. Zaheer had unbelieveable figures when he was done with his first spell. 1/6 in 5 overs with 3 maidens.  Munaf bowled within his limits and all the pressure they built was quickly released by typical 'I - am - nuts' Sreesanth. He somehow finds himself in the world cup winning team every time. And for this very reason he shall be rememebred in the future as a moron mongrel who figured in 2007 and 2011 World event winning teams.

He leaked 52 runs in 8 overs this time and was little less comical in the field. Sanga Nanga and Mahila continued what they do best. 62 runs for the 3rd wicket and Nanga was gone. 

Mahila continued her good innings and joined the list of elite players who made a world cup final 100. Kulasekra and Parera in the end ensured SL made 274. Zaheer messed up in the final 5 overs and those 63 runs could have been dear, but it was not to be.  274 was going to be a  difficult chase given they had Murali and Malinga in the attack. They also beefed up their pace attack getting in Kulasekra and Parera who had tormented India in past with 2 5 wkt hauls.

Also came in were Randi bhai.  They proved to be easy meat for Indians in the end.

India Innings

India couldnt have asked for more worse start than losing Sehwag in 2nd ball of the innings and that got SL into thinking that they could win the game from there. They also got Sachin in 7th over and they had a premature celebration. There on, they had no chance. Kohli and Gambhir, then Gambhir and Dhoni got them to the target good 14 balls before to spare.

The best part of the chase was India neevr lost the self belief and promoting himself to 5 ahead of Yuvraj was a master stroke.  Gambhir played equal crucial role in this chase and he lost his nerved 3 runs before a well deserved 100.

Murali, Malinga, Randi bhai, Parera and Kulasekara were rendred ineffective in the end and they blamed the loss to the wet ball. But for this they should kick Sanga Naga in his ball who controversially didnt speak anything in the toss confusion. That for you is Sri Lankan spirit. They cheat, they want to win the game by hook and crook, but they cant win it by either.

They tried hard, they spoke, they cheated and they didnt walk. In the end they ended up 2nd best. They had to be. They didnt beat any strong team except England. They couldnt get past Australia, India and Pakistan.

On the other hand India had tough games against Australia, Pakistan, England, South Africa and West Indies. Except NZ, they played almost every test playing team and got through each of them. Some through defending, some through chasing. Every one came good except Pathan and Sreesanth, they should soon find themselves out.  Raina chipped in with valuable 30s in both knock out games which are well better than all other runs he has scored in his life. Yuvraj's 362 runs and 15 wickets would give him immense satisfaction through out his life / career.

Sehwag gave starts in all games almost, though much more was expected out of him. MS if not batted well before final captained team well. He's a colossus.  Kohli got runs, though he got out many times when he should have scored big. Gambhir got 4 50s, the most valuable of them coming in the biggest stage.

In the end India ended up being world cup champions. Deservedly so.

INDIA ARE THE WORLD CUP CHAMPS

WE ARE BLOODY WORLD CHAMPIONS OF CRICKET IN ODIS AND TESTS. 

WE ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS. 

KINGS OF THE WORLD. MOVE AWAY FOLKS, THIS IS OURS. THE WORLD CUP IS OURS. A TIGHT SLAP TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN DOUBTING THE INTEGRITY OF INDIAN CRICKET, THIS IS PROUD MOMENT FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.ALL INDIANS ACROSS THE GLOBE, INDIA, USA ALL OVER COUNTRY.

WORLD CUP FOR SACHIN TENDULKAR. 

WORLD CUP FOR EVERY INDIAN. EVERY PROUD INDIAN. IT HAS TO BE A MOMENT WE AS ENTIRE NATION HAS TO BE PROUD OF. 

INDIA WOULD NEVER REJOICE LIKE IT WOULD TODAY,

INDIA ARE THE WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS.  WORLD CUP CHAMPS.