Posts Tagged ‘IPL’
DD and DC rule in IPL 2
Posted on: April 28, 2009
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IPL 2 is in its second week now and as I write this article DD are playing RR in their 5th game. Well it cannot get more contrasting for the last year’s champions as they are struggling to find their magic. The Rajasthan Royals led by Shane Warne have found winning hard this year and have struggled with their batting. The tournament has been similar for the last year’s finalists Chennai Super Kings too. For them it’s been their bowling which has deserted them this year. They have had couple of close losses but still languish somewhere near the bottom of the table along with RR, and BRC.
Royal Challengers though continued their horrible run this year too. Yeah they started with a win over RR this year contrary to their start in IPL 1 but since then it has been downhill for KP’s side. KKR too have been ordinary this year and found winning tough. Buchanan’s multiple captain theory received lots of flack from the media and experts and did not help the team spirit I guess. Their over reliance on Chris Gayle and Dada was clearly evident in the first few games.
The biggest improvement of this year has been the Deccan Chargers who have found the right combination at last. They were at the bottom last year with the BRC but are leading the table this year after the first 4 games. Their batting lead by their captain Gilchrist is clicking and their bowling led by RP Singh is doing great. They have been brilliant till now in the competition and have posted good wins till now.
Delhi Daredevils have also been brilliant this year and have continued their good form from last year. Their batting has been brilliant and their bowling has been okay defending their totals. Devilliers and Dilshan have been their stars till now in the competition. It seems like them along with DC will be in the Semi-Finals this year.
Finally Kings X1 Punjab have had mixed results in this year’s competition. Semi-Finalists last year started off with two losses in IPL 2 but won their last two games to end up behind the top two. They have a good side too with Yuvraj, Sangakkara and Mahela forming the crux of their middle order.
Well all in all the bowlers have found it easy on the South African pitches and the batting has not been that easy. The fact that there have been no 200+ score till now in the competition says a lot about the pitches which have been good cricketing surfaces. Targets of 130 have been successfully defended and have made this year’s competition interesting for the viewers.
The oldies have come to the party in SA. Warne, Kumble, Hayden, Sachin, Dravid, Gilchrist have all made significant contributions to their respective teams breaking the notion of T20 being young man’s version. All in all IPL 2 has been fantastic with closer games and fantastic crowds. Hope the same continues in the coming weeks.
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I am from Chennai and there is no doubt in which team I will be supporting in this year’s edition of IPL. Chennai Super Kings were in the finals last year and I hope that this year they can go one step further. Chennai Super kings have an interesting squad. This year they have added Andrew Flintoff to their ranks. I don’t rate Flintoff too high for his batting but he is a fantastic bowler.
The Chennai Super Kings this year have a balanced squad. Hayden will be available for the entire season which will be a big boost for the team. Stephen Fleming will be the coach and the player for the Super Kings. The bowling looks much stronger this year with the addition of Andrew Flintoff. So Makhaya Ntini, Jacob Oram, Balaji, Gony, Flintoff, Albie Morkel and Muthaih Muralitharan form the bowling for the Chennai super Kings.
The batting last year was the strong point for the team. Viydut and Parthiv formed a good opening partnership with Raina, Badrinath and Dhoni forming the middle order followed by the all rounder Albie Morkel. With Hayden available for the entire season, this year the selection is going to be a head ache for the Super Kings captain and the coach. Hayden might get into the side and they have to juggle the bowlers a little bit this season. Since the Kings have three all-rounders at their disposal, it’s going to be interesting as to who they are going to pick in the eleven. The four international players rule will make sure that there is going to be just one international batsman who will make the eleven. So that spot will be taken by Hayden.
Morkel might be one of the All-rounder’s in the squad along with Andrew Flintoff. They might juggle between Morkel and Oram for the initial part of the season till Flintoff leaves to play for England. Balaji and Gony might play in the team as the bowlers with Murali and Ntini forming the rest of the order. So my starting eleven at least for the first few games will be as follows,
Team: Hayden, Parthiv (Or Viydut), Suresh Raina, Badrinath, M S Dhoni (Captain), Andrew Flintoff, Albie Morkel, L Balaji, Gony, Murali and Ntini.
That makes it very balanced squad. They might have few changes here and there during the course of the competition as they have young talents like, Murali Vijay and also Srilankan Thilan Thushara. Jacob Oram might get into the squad once Flintoff leaves. So there is an embarrassment of riches for the Chennai super kings this year.
The biggest advantage for the team is having Dhoni as their captain as he was fantastic last year leading both the Indian team and the Chennai super kings. He had limited resources last year and did a fantastic job with the team and with two South Africans in the team he will have a great chance of making it to the final four this year too.
Good luck to the super kings and it will be a fantastic learning experience for the Indian youngsters as they will be playing in SA and will be surrounded by greats of the game. They can learn a lot by speaking to the international players and see how they prepare for a game and also learn about the right areas to bowl on wickets which have some pace and bounce for the bowlers. I was looking at the cricinfo round table about the IPL, where the experts said that the Indians will struggle in SA, which is absolute nonsense as we just won the world cup couple of years back with inexperienced players.
I guess the Indian players will just do fine there and will surely come back as better and confident players after the IPL is over. Let’s hope that this edition of IPL is as good as the previous year in terms of quality of the cricket games. I know that the atmosphere cannot be matched as the games are not in India but I am sure that the SACB will try their level best to generate interest among the general public in SA.
IPL 2 in SA – A Bad Precedent
Posted on: April 10, 2009
IPL 2 is going to begin in a week’s time and it being held in South Africa has already been well documented in the media. There has been lots of stuff written about the positive and the negative effects of the shift. As for me the only positive thing about conducting IPL in SA is that the tournament will happen and the foreign players will not have any issues with the security. As far as the image of India goes it’s a huge set back.
We have big events like the Commonwealth games and the World Cup coming to the subcontinent in the next couple of years and the IPL shift has put both those events in jeopardy. I am not saying that these events cannot happen in India but people will raise concerns citing IPL as the example. In my previous article I had praised BCCI and Lalit Modi for getting the tournament underway albeit in a different location in a very short notice. Lalit Modi did what was best for the tournament to happen. You can’t blame him or the BCCI for wanting the tournament to go through without interruption.
Yeah they could have done some modifications to the tournament by cutting down the games and by juggling the venues here and there to suit the elections but still they needed support from the government. The Indian government is equally to be blamed on this move. I am sure it was a political decision to make sure that the event doesn’t happen during the general elections. The only way IPL could have happened in India was to postpone it to a later date and cutting the number of games to half as it has to end before the ICC World Twenty20 which starts in June. That would have been tough on the BCCI and most of the players have National commitments coming up in May before the world cup.
England will be playing WI in May, which would have made sure that they will not be able to participate in the IPL.
Having said that it would have been okay if few players did not make it this time around but would the BCCI have got the necessary support from the Indian Government? That’s a question only Government of India can answer. I guess it was the responsibility of both the parties to make sure that the tournament happened in India. I guess both the BCCI and the Indian government had to sit down and could have chalked out a plan which worked for both of them. Conducting a tournament of IPL’s magnitude would have gone a long way in clearing the security concerns in India.
Now with India unable to conduct and provide security for an Indian domestic tournament has left the WC 2011 in a big danger. Already there have been talks of the WC being taken away from the subcontinent after the recent attacks on the Srilankan players in Pakistan. International players do not want to go there and the ICC might have to shift the tournament elsewhere if the situation continues. India needs to be careful as they might isolate themselves from the rest of the world if they aren’t careful.
By moving IPL to SA the BCCI have set a wrong precedent and they cannot be blamed totally for that. There will be blame games with each of them pointing fingers at the other but the ultimate sufferers are the Indian fans. IPL not being held in India will be hard on us. Instead of watching Chennai SuperKings in MA Chidambaram stadium, I have to watch it on TV with them playing in Durban or Johannesburg and it will not be the same.
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Yesterday BCCI announced that IPL will be moved to South Africa this year as the Indian Government failed to guarantee top security for the players in India. After the attack on the Srilankan team in Pakistan security has been a major concern for the foreign players in the subcontinent and with the General elections coinciding with the IPL the Govt said that they cannot offer security to the international players.
This was a great setback for IPL and BCCI as the tournament was a huge success in its first year and their negotiations with the Indian Police Department failed repeatedly. Finally Lalit Modi and BCCI decided to host this year’s edition in either England or South Africa.
After lots of deliberation SA was chosen as the venue over England due to logistics and weather being in the formers side. It’s rather unfortunate that the tournament has to be shifted to a different country as the electricity and the enthusiasm of the Indian crowd cannot be matched anywhere in the world. The players and the franchise owners are not that thrilled about this decision but they are left with no choice in the current scenario.
I think the decision was very practical by the BCCI and now the competition can go on without any security concerns. Even though this is basically an Indian tournament the involvement of International stars makes this event marketable anywhere in the world. South African cricket board seems to have been really thrilled to have got this opportunity and also their players and media seem to be really enjoying the same.
I personally did not want this series to go to England for two reasons. First is the weather and pitch conditions and second English supporters do not care about IPL or Twenty20. I am a part of a British cricket forum and I can see that they don’t give a damn about Twenty20 or IPL. So I guess it was a good decision to take it to SA who successfully staged a World Twenty20 just a year ago. Its really sad for Indian cricket that their premier tournament has to be shifted to another country and watching my team “Chennai SuperKings” play in Durban will not be the same as watching them in MA Chidambaram stadium.
But the silver lining is that the tournament at least will happen this year. This will also give players to get a good practice for the World Twenty20 which will follow the IPL. I hope that this year’s competition is as big as the previous year. I am sure that the SACB will do all in their ability to make this event a grand success. But I just hope that IPL is back next year to India where it proudly belongs. I will be back later with the profile of my team Chennai SuperKings next month.
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Lalit Modi and BCCI chose South Africa as the venue for this years IPL
Yesterday BCCI announced that IPL will be moved to South Africa this year as the Indian Government failed to guarantee top security for the players in India. After the attack on the Srilankan team in Pakistan security has been a major concern for the foreign players in the subcontinent and with the General elections coinciding with the IPL the Govt said that they cannot offer security to the international players.
This was a great setback for IPL and BCCI as the tournament was a huge success in its first year and their negotiations with the Indian Police Department failed repeatedly. Finally Lalit Modi and BCCI decided to host this year’s edition in either England or South Africa.
After lots of deliberation SA was chosen as the venue over England due to logistics and weather being in the formers side. It’s rather unfortunate that the tournament has to be shifted to a different country as the electricity and the enthusiasm of the Indian crowd cannot be matched anywhere in the world. The players and the franchise owners are not that thrilled about this decision but they are left with no choice in the current scenario.
I think the decision was very practical by the BCCI and now the competition can go on without any security concerns. Even though this is basically an Indian tournament the involvement of International stars makes this event marketable anywhere in the world. South African cricket board seems to have been really thrilled to have got this opportunity and also their players and media seem to be really enjoying the same.
I personally did not want this series to go to England for two reasons. First is the weather and pitch conditions and second English supporters do not care about IPL or Twenty20. I am a part of a British cricket forum and I can see that they don’t give a damn about Twenty20 or IPL. So I guess it was a good decision to take it to SA who successfully staged a World Twenty20 just a year ago. Its really sad for Indian cricket that their premier tournament has to be shifted to another country and watching my team “Chennai SuperKings” play in Durban will not be the same as watching them in MA Chidambaram stadium.
But the silver lining is that the tournament at least will happen this year. This will also give players to get a good practice for the World Twenty20 which will follow the IPL. I hope that this year’s competition is as big as the previous year. I am sure that the SACB will do all in their ability to make this event a grand success. But I just hope that IPL is back next year to India where it proudly belongs. I will be back later with the profile of my team Chennai SuperKings next month.
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I am kind of baffled by the articles floating around in the British media, blaming IPL for England’s poor performance against WI in the first test. It was like the media had already an excuse made up well before the start of the series “If something goes wrong blame the IPL”.
England had one poor session in the test match, eventhough humiliating, it can happen with any team. The England performance in the last year or so have been poor and their batting had been a suspect even before the series started.
I know that winning the Ashes is the pinnacle for the English players but just doing that will not make them No 1 in test cricket. England has to do a serious scrutiny at the reasons for their capitulation on the fourth morning rather than taking a easy way out by blaming the IPL for their loss.
I dont see any of the other teams complaining about IPL who have more players signed up in this years competition in comparison to 4 or 5 English players. This is the attitude which will make sure that the English team never becomes the best side in the world in any form of cricket. Beating the No 1 side in one series does not guarantee top spot in the rankings. England needs to realize the same pretty fast otherwise they will be left way behind.
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Struass walks back after being dismised in the second innings
I am kind of baffled by the articles floating around in the British media, blaming IPL for England’s poor performance against WI in the first test. It was like the media had already an excuse made up well before the start of the series “If something goes wrong blame the IPL”.
England had one poor session in the test match, eventhough humiliating, it can happen with any team. The England performance in the last year or so have been poor and their batting had been a suspect even before the series started.
I know that winning the Ashes is the pinnacle for the English players but just doing that will not make them No 1 in test cricket. England has to do a serious scrutiny at the reasons for their capitulation on the fourth morning rather than taking a easy way out by blaming the IPL for their loss.
I dont see any of the other teams complaining about IPL who have more players signed up in this years competition in comparison to 4 or 5 English players. This is the attitude which will make sure that the English team never becomes the best side in the world in any form of cricket. Beating the No 1 side in one series does not guarantee top spot in the rankings. England needs to realize the same pretty fast otherwise they will be left way behind.
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Dhoni at the practice session
The English team have decided to comeback to India to play the 2 test series after the Mumbai blasts. The team had left home following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai after a 5-0 one-day drubbing. Currently the English team is practicing at Abu Dabi before they fly to Chennai to play their first test. The Indian team for the test series has been announced and Yuvraj makes a comeback after the disastrous Australian tour earlier this year. Yuvraj is all set to grab the vacant spot in the Indian middle order after the retirement of Sourav Ganguly. The rest of the squad will remain the same with Sehwag and Gambhir at the top of the order.
Zaheer and Ishant will take the new ball with Harbajan and Amit Mishra managing the spin department at least for the first test in Chennai. I would put the Indians as the favorites in this two test series going by the recent form and the strength of the squads. England just have two world class performers and would rely heavily on their captain Kevin Pieterson and Andrew Flintoff to have a chance in this series.
This series is very important for cricket in India after the Mumbai blasts. A safe series would go a long way in ressurrecting India’s image among the western countries who are not that keen travelling to the sub-continent. Its funny though to see the entire western community supporting India after the attacks which shows how much impact money can have on cricket and mentality of the respective boards and players. I am sure 10 years ago the same England team would not have returned to India after a terrorist attack of such magnitude. Coming to India is advantageous for the players of the English team as it enhances their chances to be a part of the second edition of IPL.
Whatever may be the reason for the England team’s return its great for Indian cricket. I sincerely hope that this series would be a hard fought one and will be remembered for the performances on the field.
IPL good but ICL better
Posted on: November 13, 2008
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While IPL is all glamour and glitz, ICL is more about cricket. Even though I loved watchin IPL’s first edition earlier this year I would rate ICL higher in terms of action on the field. ICL provides more close contests than what I saw in IPL earlier this year. We might put that down to IPL being in its first season and ICL has already completed 2 editions. IPL was enjoyable but there was a overdose of bollywood stars in the first edition. It was exciting in the beginning but later in the tournament it became little bit irritating and annoying.
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