Archive for the ‘IPL’ Category
Strike when its hot
Posted on: April 30, 2008
- In: Cricket | IPL | Twenty20
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IPL is the hottest and most happening event in all of India for the past couple of weeks and as usual politicians have taken this opportunity to grab the headlines. Its always been the case in India where the politicians comment on things which is currently hot in the media to gain fame. This is actually pathetic but for them this is a boon to make a name for themselves.
The recent addition to such attention grabbing comments from the politicians was regarding the Cheerleading squads hired by the IPL franchices to perform in the breaks. Well the accusations from the media and the politicians have been that its offensive and abusive to the Indian culture. The media as we all know has blown it out of proportions since they are frustrated with BCCI shutting them out of IPL. Whoever says that the cheerleaders are affecting Indian culture should just speak for themselves. Being a politician doesnt mean that they are speaking on behalf of the entire nation.
As a person who loves the sport and watch the game just for the action in the middle I dont care who is dancing beyond the boundry line. I dont think that the cheerleaders are affecting or abusing anything in India. Well yeah one thing I agree is that this concept is new for Indian sport and will take time getting adjusted too. India in the past few years has experianced a phenomenal change in its outlook. Take the example of the bollywood movies which we watch with our kids most of times, isnt that affecting Indian culture? One of the comments in the media by a political leader was that Indians respect women as gods, dont we go and see movies in which heroines roam around with skimpy outfits?
So why all of a sudden raise concerns about the cheerleaders in Twenty20? If we are talking about the TV viewing public then wasnt this a part of the Twenty20 worldcup also? Well the reason for all this unnesessary concern about the Indian culture is to make hay when the sun shines. All these politicians know that if we say something while one of most important event in the history of Indian sports is going on they can grab the headlines. They have also used the media’s frustration on the BCCI very cleverly to their advantage.
As a follower of cricket I seriously dont want to be a part of this hypocrisy from the politicians. I dont care if the cheerleaders are dancing or not dancing, covered up or skimpily clothed as long as there is a hard faught cricket match going on. I guess most of the cricket lovers around the world will share my sentiments on this but again this is my opinion I am not speaking for anybody here.
Strike when its hot
Posted on: April 30, 2008
IPL is the hottest and most happening event in all of India for the past couple of weeks and as usual politicians have taken this opportunity to grab the headlines. Its always been the case in India where the politicians comment on things which is currently hot in the media to gain fame. This actually is pathetic but for them this is a boon to make a name for themselves.
The recent addition to such attention grabbing comments from the politicians was regarding the Cheerleading squads hired by the IPL franchices to perform in the breaks. Well the accusations from the media and the politicians have been that its offensive and abusive to the Indian culture. The media as we all know has blown it out of proportions since they are frustrated with BCCI shutting them out of IPL. Whoever says that the cheerleaders are affecting Indian culture should just speak for themselves. Being a politician doesnt mean that they are speaking on behalf of the entire nation.
As a person who loves the sport and watch the game just for the action in the middle I dont care who is dancing beyond the boundry line. I dont think that the cheerleaders are affecting or abusing anything in India. Well yeah one thing I agree is that this concept is new for Indian sport and will take time getting adjusted too. India in the past few years has experianced a phenomenal change in its outlook. Take the example of the bollywood movies which we watch with our kids most of times, isnt that affecting Indian culture? One of the comments in the media by a political leader was that Indians respect women as gods, dont we go and see movies in which heroines roam around with skimpy outfits?
So why all of a sudden raise concerns about the cheerleaders in Twenty20? If we are talking about the TV viewing public then wasnt this a part of the Twenty20 worldcup also? Well the reason for all this unnesessary concern about the Indian culture is to make hay when the sun shines. All these politicians know that if we say something while one of most important event in the history of Indian sports is going on they can grab the headlines. They have also used the media’s frustration on the BCCI very cleverly to their advantage.
As a follower of cricket I seriously dont want to be a part of this hypocrisy from the politicians. I dont care if the cheerleaders are dancing or not dancing, covered up or skimpily clothed as long as there is a hard faught cricket match going on. I guess most of the cricket lovers around the world will share my sentiments on this but again this is my opinion I am not speaking for anybody here.
Go Kings Go!
Posted on: April 28, 2008
The Chennai Superkings(CSK) under the captaincy of Dhoni has now won 4 out of 4 to remain the only team to be unbeaten in IPL. Today the CSK defeated the sorry Bangalore Royal challengers by 13 runs to hand Vijay Mallya’s team their 3rd defeat in 4 games. The team captain Rahul Dravid made his second duck in consecutive games to make things worse for his team. The main problem for the BRC is that they dont have any player in the team apart from Ross Taylor who looks like a Twenty20 specialist. Even though the Royal challengers beat Mumbai Indians (The other struggling team in the tournament) they still look out of sorts and the captain seems to be running out of ideas.
The absence of a renowned big hitter in the team is costing the BRC’s a lot. The role played by Dhoni for the chennai team today is what that is lacking for the Royal Challengers. Martin Crowe and Rahul Dravid have to sit together and come up with a better strategy to make optimum use of the available resources. The Chennai Superkings though have done exceedingly well in this tournament and at the end of the first week they are at the top of the table. Great performances by the inexperianced bowling line up and consistancy at the top of the order has helped them to succeed.
Dhoni’s captaincy has again been very precise and his cool head under pressure situations has helped the team from Chennai. Dhoni has got great response from his inexperianced bowling line up and the inclusion of Albie Morkel and Makaya Ntini will sure bolster the same. Elsewhere the Mumbai Indians crashed to their 4 consecutive defeat of the tournament and remain the only team to have not won a game yet. Their team looks in total shambles in the absence of their icon player Sachin Tendulkar and Harbajan recently due to his row with Sreesanth. Rajasthan Royals continue to impress with their 3rd consecutive win and are in second spot behind the CSKs.
Punjab Kings X1 also overcame a dissapointing start to the tournament to win two games in a row to put them back in contention. Adam Gilchrist’s fastest IPL century gave the strong Deccan Chargers their first victroy of the tournament against the hapless Mumbai attack.
The first week of cricket was really interesting and entertaining. When IPL began I was little skeptical regarding the same due to the involvement of the bollywood and the kollywood stars but after the first few games the focus has shifted to cricket. Cricket has been really fantastic only the Harbajan and Sreesant row has taken some sheen of a good week’s cricket. Harbajan has plead guilty and has been handed 10 games ban from IPL whereas Sreesanth has been let off with a warning. I guess Sreesanth needs to be handed a more serious punishment than just a warning. His behaviour on the field is still questionable. The fact that Sreesant cried and made a scene in front of millions of viewers accross the world should not excuse him from the ridiculous behaviour in that match when he was bowling. Behaviour like that in the name of aggression should not be tolerated in any sport.
Go kings Go!
Posted on: April 28, 2008
- In: IPL
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The Chennai Superkings(CSK) under the captaincy of Dhoni has now won 4 out of 4 to remain the only team to be unbeaten in IPL. Today the CSK defeated the sorry Bangalore Royal challengers by 13 runs to hand Vijay Mallya’s team their 3rd defeat in 4 games. The team captain Rahul Dravid made his second duck in consecutive games to make things worse for his team. The main problem for the BRC is that they dont have any player in the team apart from Ross Taylor who looks like a Twenty20 specialist. Even though the Royal challengers beat Mumbai Indians (The other struggling team in the tournament) they still look out of sorts and the captain seems to be running out of ideas.
The absence of a renowned big hitter in the team is costing the BRC’s a lot. The role played by Dhoni for the chennai team today is what that is lacking for the Royal Challengers. Martin Crowe and Rahul Dravid have to sit together and come up with a better strategy to make optimum use of the available resources. The Chennai Superkings though have done exceedingly well in this tournament and at the end of the first week they are at the top of the table. Great performances by the inexperianced bowling line up and consistancy at the top of the order has helped them to succeed.
Dhoni’s captaincy has again been very precise and his cool head under pressure situations has helped the team from Chennai. Dhoni has got great response from his inexperianced bowling line up and the inclusion of Albie Morkel and Makaya Ntini will sure bolster the same. Elsewhere the Mumbai Indians crashed to their 4 consecutive defeat of the tournament and remain the only team to have not won a game yet. Their team looks in total shambles in the absence of their icon player Sachin Tendulkar and Harbajan recently due to his row with Sreesanth. Rajasthan Royals continue to impress with their 3rd consecutive win and are in second spot behind the CSKs.
Punjab Kings X1 also overcame a dissapointing start to the tournament to win two games in a row to put them back in contention. Adam Gilchrist’s fastest IPL century gave the strong Deccan Chargers their first victroy of the tournament against the hapless Mumbai attack.
The first week of cricket was really interesting and entertaining. When IPL began I was little skeptical regarding the same due to the involvement of the bollywood and the kollywood stars but after the first few games the focus has shifted to cricket. Cricket has been really fantastic only the Harbajan and Sreesant row has taken some sheen of a good week’s cricket. Harbajan has plead guilty and has been handed 10 games ban from IPL whereas Sreesanth has been let off with a warning. I guess Sreesanth needs to be handed a more serious punishment than just a warning. His behaviour on the field is still questionable. The fact that Sreesant cried and made a scene in front of millions of viewers accross the world should not excuse him from the ridiculous behaviour in that match when he was bowling. Behaviour like that in the name of aggression should not be tolerated in any sport.
IPL – First Look
Posted on: April 21, 2008
- In: Cricket | IPL | Twenty20
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IPL isnt promoting anything
Posted on: April 9, 2008
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | IPL
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The dismal performance by the Indians against the visiting South Africans clearly proves that the players were not ready for this battle. Unfortunately over the past few weeks IPL has been given more media coverage than the current test series. The Indian players talking about their plans about a tournament which has not yet started and which isnt an International fixture either shows their lack of interest in this ongoing test series. The South Africans on the other hand are taking this more seriously and are deservedly ahead in this series dominating both the games played till now.
BCCI’s excuse for IPL is that it will promote cricket, but where? I dont think Twenty20 tournament atleast in India needs any promotion. How many players from Kenya and Bangladesh are part of IPL?So what and where are we promoting cricket?BCCI are just trying make the most of the popularity gained by the latest version of the game in India after the WC win. BCCI has no interest to promote anything by having this tournament. BCCI as a board will become richer and the players who signed up will make money. Other than the two parties mentioned no one is gaining because of this tournament. Players have already started suggesting that this should be part of ICC’s annual schedule which is hilarious as this is not an International tournament.
This is an Indian domestic league which has international players signed up for, similar to county cricket in England. ECB isnt asking ICC to include their Twenty20 league in the International calender. If BCCI is going to have this tournament in the middle nowhere without taking the International calender into consideration then they better be prepared to miss some key players on International duties. This is getting completely out of control. When BCCI started this concept I was totally for it as the concept was completely different for cricket but now I am not able to stand it anymore.
The English players who said that they dont want to be a part of the league want their own domestic tournament adjusted to accomodate IPL. This is just getting ridiculous. Why would ECB reshedule their domestic tournament to accomodate another country’s domestic tournament? Its the players who should decide where they want to play. Which league they want to represent, no board is going to reschedule anything to accomodate a 44 day tournament. The problem is that these ameturish comments have come from players like Kevin Pieterson and Ricky Ponting.
BCCI has made sure that the players themselves are looking forward to IPL more than their International fixtures. Before the Pakistan tour was called off, there were few Australian who were dissapointed that they wouldnt be able to make it to the first edition of this league. The Indians already seem to be more interested in promoting their franchise rather than putting extra hours in practice for an International series. The series against the South Africans was very important for India as this was a follow up to a successful tour down under. A good performance by the home team would have made sure that they would be the undisputed number 2 in test cricket.
The performance in Ahmedabad Shows that we dont deserve that tag. The youngsters should realise that they can score plenty of runs or claim plenty of wickets in IPL but as Kallis rightly put it, only your performance in test cricket will be remembered. There have been lots of players who have great record in domestic cricket but the viewers will only remember the Laras, the Tendulkars or the Kumbles of cricket. Playing for the country gives a player the ultimate satisfaction and that should be the first priority for any cricketer. BCCI might make lots of money and probably the team owners will do too but they have to be careful that they dont bring a divide among the cricket fraternity. Again I stand by my statement that BCCI isnt promoting anything through IPL but just are reiterating the fact that they are the big boss of cricket.
Cricket takes centerstage again
Posted on: March 24, 2008
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | IPL
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After all the recent hype and hapoola surrounding the IPL and the Australian tour, focus is back on cricket with the India-South Africa series. In the recent times the youngsters in the Indian team have indulged in too much of trash talk after the series down under. India did well there and the series was controversial, but it should have ended once they landed on the Indian soil. There has been too much of trash talk going on in the media by few Indian players. India has a chance of becoming the number 1 team in the world but we have a long way to go. The series in Australia was just a step closer to the goal and was not the destination. We play Australia, SA, Srilanka and England this year and its going to be a tough season. Australia got the tag of world beaters with consistant performances over a decade and not by winning couple of titles.
South Africa on the other had have remained calm and composed. They havent gone overboard with their comments in the media even though there was one inappropriate one by their cricket chief. SA know that the best way to win a series is on the cricket field and not in papers. India should be happy that the test team is different from the ODI team and the seniors have taken a measured approach when dealing with the media. They all expressed their happiness over the team’s success down under but also spread the word of caution regarding any complacency.
The youngsters should realise that they need not retaliate to any comment made on them in the media. The great example to that was Ishant Sharma replying to John Buchanan’s comment advising him to put on some muscles. There was not need for any retaliation as the former Australian coach was just expressing his opinion while praising Ishant’s performance down under. Dhoni’s comments on the seniors on the wake of a test series was uncalled for as he was playing with all of them in the same. Even though everyone seems to be backing his comments, the timing of the same is the one causing concern.
Amidst all the media frenzy concerning the IPL and the player auction, the Indian team prepares for their second stern test in the last few months. The team returned with their pride intact after the first one but the series against the proteas will be an equally important hurdle for them to cross. Anil Kumble will know that and thankfully he has the experiance of himself, Sachin, Sourav, Laxman and Dravid with him.
I hope that this series lives up to its expectation. India would want to win this series to cap off a great 4 months of cricket.
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | Cricket League | General | General Lunch Time talk | ICL | IPL | ODI | Test | test cricket | Test match | Twenty20
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Five years ago when India won the Natwest finals against England, we had unearthed two batting stars in Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif. All of us thought that those two along with Virender Sehwag would form the crux of Indian batting line up in the future. Almost six years after the Natwest final, Kaif is no longer part of the Indian team, Yuvraj is still inconsistant and Sehwag’s one day average keeps diminishing with every innings he plays.
The Indian team though have found few batsmen for the future in Gambhir, Uthappa, Rohit and the captain himself Dhoni. India’s future after Sachin, Dravid, Sourav and Laxman looks really uncertain. Sachin who is still a part of the one day scheme of things is trying his best to help the youngsters in the team with his valuable inputs and that should do them a world of good. Yuvraj and Sehwag being the two most experianced members in the batting line up after Sachin, should take more responsibilty in guiding these youngsters and making sure that they dont fall out like a few have in the past few years.
When Kaif played that wonderful innings against England in the Natwest trophy he was considered to be a captaincy material and was expected to be a part of the team for a long time. Currently he is not even in the reckoning. The youngsters need to realise to be on the top, the performances need to be consistant over a period of time. I still remember Vijay Bharadwaj, who was man of the match in a series in kenya few years ago and suddenly dissapeared from the scene. We can see so many such instances in Indian cricket over the past few years.
Now that IPL has made sure that these youngsters have become overnight heroes. There is lots of money involved in the game these days and its easy to lose focus of the job in hand. When you consider Ishant Sharma who has had just few matches under his belt being auctioned at $950,000 at IPL, you cant help but wonder is this good for these youngsters. When you have players come into international cricket and have few successful games the hype in India is so much that they become overnight stars and dont know how to handle the same. The reason why Sachin, Dravid and Laxman have been so successful over a period of time is due to the fact that they have both their feet firmly grounded inspite of all the hype and hapoola surrounding the game these days.
With so much money involed in cricket these days its easy for these youngsters to lose focus on the game itself. Thats what we saw with Irfan, Sehwag, Yuvraj and few others who had to be dropped from the team to make them realise that you cant be in the team if you are not performing. I guess India has great talent coming through in both batting and bowling and we need to make sure that the IPL’s and the ICL’s dont ruin it for us. The players are currently made to believe that they are greater than what they are and it will be better for them to realise that what matters the most the their performances on the cricket field.
Ten years down, no one is going to remember how much you were auctioned for in IPL. The reason we kept getting great batsmen over a period of time was due to the fact that, playing cricket was their main focus. Now a days, you just need to be a part of one series win and you dont have to play cricket anymore. I will be very interested in seeing in couple years time, which of these youngsters make it through to become the next Sachin or Laxman or Dravid of Indian cricket.
I have been a fan of Indian cricket and I am very excited looking at these youngsters performing so well in Australia. I just hope that this continues and these youngsters go from strength to Strength rather than being weighed down by this recent media frenzy and the money involved. I want India to be a cricket team which is respected throughout the world for their performances on the cricket field rathen than being the financial powerhouse which they are right now. Cricket is India has become more of a business than a sport which was the case 10-15 years back. Hopefully the game survives and will be still be remembered for your exploits on the cricket ground.
girisopinion
My Thoughts 