Indian Premiere League – A Review (Part III)

Mumbai Indians:

City: Mumbai

Captain: Sachin Tendulkar (Icon Player)

Coach: Lalchand Rajput

Franchisee: Reliance Industries Ltd

Franchise cost: $111.9 million

Team Composition:

Loots Bosman Dwayne Bravo Ankeet Chavan Siddharth Chitnis Gaurav Dhiman Dilhara Fernando Harbhajan Singh Sanath Jayasuriya Musavir Khote Dhawal Kulkarni Abhishek Nayar Ashish Nehra Andre Nel Manish Pandey Rajesh Pawar Shaun Pollock Ashwell Prince Ajinkya Rahane Rohan Raje Luke Ronchi Pinal Shah (wk) Dwayne Smith Swapnil Singh Yogesh Takawale (wk) Dominic Thornely Saurabh Tiwary Robin Uthappa Vikrant Yeligati Lasith Malinga

Mumbai Indians was not talked about much even with the presence of master blasters like Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya and a great all rounder like Shawn Pollock. Little did everyone know that there are other blasters in the team for the opposition bowlers to wonder about, such as Robin Utthapa, Abhishek Nayar and with support from foreign players like Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo. Mumbai Indians, who were good contenders for the semi-finals lost three crucial matches by a close margin and they would be feeling that they are bit unlucky for that.

Pluses:

• The Little Master: Sachin Tendulkar, though he was out of the tournament for most of the matches, came back in the middle against the Super Kings and has brought tremendous confidence in the dressing room with the master blaster proving that he can play strokes in T20 too.
• Sanath Jayasuriya has shown no mercy on the bowlers once Sachin has entered the team and he has managed to hit the balls in all the corners of the field. He has so far hit the maximum sixes of the innings and the player on whom the opposition would be having special plans is this guy.
• Robin Uthappa, the T20 specialist can hit the ball all over the ground and he is the guy on whom Sachin has a lot of trust.
• Abhiskek Nayar, the young man, once terrified Super Kings and threatened to take the match away from them but luck favoured the latter.
• Harbhajan Singh, the specialist aggressive spinner of India has also captained the side before he was banned for some controversy. The other teams would be happy that he is not there in the team.
• Shawn Pollock, the No.1 All rounder not long back, has been tremendous in his spells and is decisive.
• Ashish Nehra’s return to form has been a good support. Dwayne Bravo’s, though his presence was short, already did the damage both with the bat and the ball.

Minuses:

• The team’s middle order has collapsed a lot of times.
• If Sanath Jayasuriya gets out, there is no one to continue the momentum other than Sachin, who for some reason has been quiet so far.
• The team has failed to win in nail biting situations.
• The absence of Harbhajan Singh during most part of the series has raised a need for a specialist spinner like him.

Delhi Daredevils:

City: Delhi

Captain: Virender Sehwag (Icon Player)

Coach: Greg Shipperd

Franchisee: GMR Holdings

Franchise cost: $84 mill

Team Composition:

Rajat Bhatia AB de Villiers Shikhar Dhawan Tillakaratne Dilshan Gautam Gambhir Brett Geeves Dinesh Karthik (wk) Glenn McGrath Farveez Maharoof Yo Mahesh Mithun Manhas Amit Mishra Mohammad Asif Yogesh Nagar Pradeep Sangwan Shoaib Malik Mayank Tehlan Manoj Tiwary Daniel Vettori Tejashwi Yadav

Delhi Daredevils has been the most destructive team in the IPL in the earlier stages of the tournament. The team looked deadly with the opening pairs in both batting and bowling departments with Sehwag and Gambhir making sure the team reaches a very high total and Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif making sure the batsmen regretted their shots.

Sangdeep Dhawan and Dinesh Karthick have been a tremendous batting support and Vijayakumar Yomahesh being in great form in bowling along with leg spinner Amit Mishra (who replaced Daniel Vettori) has been a reward. Shoaib Malik has provided constant support to the team. Though they have played well, luck didn’t favour them. Their hope for the semi-finals berth lies in the performance of other teams in the tournament.

Pluses:

• Virender Sehwag, the man who could kill the bowler’s confidence, was going great guns with his favourite policy – hit, hit and hit. His score of 300 in the test match against South Africa earlier this year, sent shockwaves around the country on what form this guy would be in T20 and he has been destructive so far.
• Gautam Gambhir, has been so successful this year and his success continues in IPL as well having scored already more than 500 runs in the tournament, the highest by any player in IPL and by a player in a T20 tournament.
• Sangdeep Dhawan, helps in keeping the momentum going when either of the opening pair is out.
• Shoaib Malik has done a great job in being consistent and Dinesh Karthick’s knocks have been crucial.
• Glenn McGrath, the world’s leading wicket taker in ODIs (if I am not wrong), and the retired Australian legend, announced that he has not got old and he is still in good nick with the ball. He hates to give away runs and given a team a good breakthrough with maidens and wickets.
• Mohammad Asif has been deadly with his spells and has provided a great support for Glenn McGrath. Vijayakumar Yomahesh has also proved to be a great asset for the team and is already in the leading wicket taker’s list.
• Amit Mishra, the leg-spinner has replaced Daniel Vettori’s absence with very good economical bowling and crucial wickets.
• Ferveez Maharoof has been in tremdous form with his batting and bowling.

Minuses:

• If both Sehwag and Gambhir get out to low runs, the team middle order fails to provide the momentum that they would have given.
• Quite a lot number of times, the middle order has failed.
• The team missed a quality spinner in the middle stages of the tournament until Amit Mishra came in.
• Although the opening bowling pair has been economical, if they fail to pick up a wicket in their opening spells, the opposition takes advantage of the bowlers to come later.
• Wrong decisions and wrong strokes have cost their matches sometimes.

Indian Premiere League – A Review (Part III)

Mumbai Indians:

City: Mumbai

Captain: Sachin Tendulkar (Icon Player)

Coach: Lalchand Rajput

Franchisee: Reliance Industries Ltd

Franchise cost: $111.9 million

Team Composition:

Loots Bosman Dwayne Bravo Ankeet Chavan Siddharth Chitnis Gaurav Dhiman Dilhara Fernando Harbhajan Singh Sanath Jayasuriya Musavir Khote Dhawal Kulkarni Abhishek Nayar Ashish Nehra Andre Nel Manish Pandey Rajesh Pawar Shaun Pollock Ashwell Prince Ajinkya Rahane Rohan Raje Luke Ronchi Pinal Shah (wk) Dwayne Smith Swapnil Singh Yogesh Takawale (wk) Dominic Thornely Saurabh Tiwary Robin Uthappa Vikrant Yeligati Lasith Malinga

Mumbai Indians was not talked about much even with the presence of master blasters like Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya and a great all rounder like Shawn Pollock. Little did everyone know that there are other blasters in the team for the opposition bowlers to wonder about, such as Robin Utthapa, Abhishek Nayar and with support from foreign players like Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo. Mumbai Indians, who were good contenders for the semi-finals lost three crucial matches by a close margin and they would be feeling that they are bit unlucky for that.

Pluses:

• The Little Master: Sachin Tendulkar, though he was out of the tournament for most of the matches, came back in the middle against the Super Kings and has brought tremendous confidence in the dressing room with the master blaster proving that he can play strokes in T20 too.
• Sanath Jayasuriya has shown no mercy on the bowlers once Sachin has entered the team and he has managed to hit the balls in all the corners of the field. He has so far hit the maximum sixes of the innings and the player on whom the opposition would be having special plans is this guy.
• Robin Uthappa, the T20 specialist can hit the ball all over the ground and he is the guy on whom Sachin has a lot of trust.
• Abhiskek Nayar, the young man, once terrified Super Kings and threatened to take the match away from them but luck favoured the latter.
• Harbhajan Singh, the specialist aggressive spinner of India has also captained the side before he was banned for some controversy. The other teams would be happy that he is not there in the team.
• Shawn Pollock, the No.1 All rounder not long back, has been tremendous in his spells and is decisive.
• Ashish Nehra’s return to form has been a good support. Dwayne Bravo’s, though his presence was short, already did the damage both with the bat and the ball.

Minuses:

• The team’s middle order has collapsed a lot of times.
• If Sanath Jayasuriya gets out, there is no one to continue the momentum other than Sachin, who for some reason has been quiet so far.
• The team has failed to win in nail biting situations.
• The absence of Harbhajan Singh during most part of the series has raised a need for a specialist spinner like him.

Delhi Daredevils:

City: Delhi

Captain: Virender Sehwag (Icon Player)

Coach: Greg Shipperd

Franchisee: GMR Holdings

Franchise cost: $84 mill

Team Composition:

Rajat Bhatia AB de Villiers Shikhar Dhawan Tillakaratne Dilshan Gautam Gambhir Brett Geeves Dinesh Karthik (wk) Glenn McGrath Farveez Maharoof Yo Mahesh Mithun Manhas Amit Mishra Mohammad Asif Yogesh Nagar Pradeep Sangwan Shoaib Malik Mayank Tehlan Manoj Tiwary Daniel Vettori Tejashwi Yadav

Delhi Daredevils has been the most destructive team in the IPL in the earlier stages of the tournament. The team looked deadly with the opening pairs in both batting and bowling departments with Sehwag and Gambhir making sure the team reaches a very high total and Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif making sure the batsmen regretted their shots.

Sangdeep Dhawan and Dinesh Karthick have been a tremendous batting support and Vijayakumar Yomahesh being in great form in bowling along with leg spinner Amit Mishra (who replaced Daniel Vettori) has been a reward. Shoaib Malik has provided constant support to the team. Though they have played well, luck didn’t favour them. Their hope for the semi-finals berth lies in the performance of other teams in the tournament.

Pluses:

• Virender Sehwag, the man who could kill the bowler’s confidence, was going great guns with his favourite policy – hit, hit and hit. His score of 300 in the test match against South Africa earlier this year, sent shockwaves around the country on what form this guy would be in T20 and he has been destructive so far.
• Gautam Gambhir, has been so successful this year and his success continues in IPL as well having scored already more than 500 runs in the tournament, the highest by any player in IPL and by a player in a T20 tournament.
• Sangdeep Dhawan, helps in keeping the momentum going when either of the opening pair is out.
• Shoaib Malik has done a great job in being consistent and Dinesh Karthick’s knocks have been crucial.
• Glenn McGrath, the world’s leading wicket taker in ODIs (if I am not wrong), and the retired Australian legend, announced that he has not got old and he is still in good nick with the ball. He hates to give away runs and given a team a good breakthrough with maidens and wickets.
• Mohammad Asif has been deadly with his spells and has provided a great support for Glenn McGrath. Vijayakumar Yomahesh has also proved to be a great asset for the team and is already in the leading wicket taker’s list.
• Amit Mishra, the leg-spinner has replaced Daniel Vettori’s absence with very good economical bowling and crucial wickets.
• Ferveez Maharoof has been in tremdous form with his batting and bowling.

Minuses:

• If both Sehwag and Gambhir get out to low runs, the team middle order fails to provide the momentum that they would have given.
• Quite a lot number of times, the middle order has failed.
• The team missed a quality spinner in the middle stages of the tournament until Amit Mishra came in.
• Although the opening bowling pair has been economical, if they fail to pick up a wicket in their opening spells, the opposition takes advantage of the bowlers to come later.
• Wrong decisions and wrong strokes have cost their matches sometimes.

Indian Premiere League – A Review (Part III)

Mumbai Indians:

City: Mumbai

Captain: Sachin Tendulkar (Icon Player)

Coach: Lalchand Rajput

Franchisee: Reliance Industries Ltd

Franchise cost: $111.9 million

Team Composition:

Loots Bosman Dwayne Bravo Ankeet Chavan Siddharth Chitnis Gaurav Dhiman Dilhara Fernando Harbhajan Singh Sanath Jayasuriya Musavir Khote Dhawal Kulkarni Abhishek Nayar Ashish Nehra Andre Nel Manish Pandey Rajesh Pawar Shaun Pollock Ashwell Prince Ajinkya Rahane Rohan Raje Luke Ronchi Pinal Shah (wk) Dwayne Smith Swapnil Singh Yogesh Takawale (wk) Dominic Thornely Saurabh Tiwary Robin Uthappa Vikrant Yeligati Lasith Malinga

Mumbai Indians was not talked about much even with the presence of master blasters like Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya and a great all rounder like Shawn Pollock. Little did everyone know that there are other blasters in the team for the opposition bowlers to wonder about, such as Robin Utthapa, Abhishek Nayar and with support from foreign players like Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo. Mumbai Indians, who were good contenders for the semi-finals lost three crucial matches by a close margin and they would be feeling that they are bit unlucky for that.

Pluses:

• The Little Master: Sachin Tendulkar, though he was out of the tournament for most of the matches, came back in the middle against the Super Kings and has brought tremendous confidence in the dressing room with the master blaster proving that he can play strokes in T20 too.
• Sanath Jayasuriya has shown no mercy on the bowlers once Sachin has entered the team and he has managed to hit the balls in all the corners of the field. He has so far hit the maximum sixes of the innings and the player on whom the opposition would be having special plans is this guy.
• Robin Uthappa, the T20 specialist can hit the ball all over the ground and he is the guy on whom Sachin has a lot of trust.
• Abhiskek Nayar, the young man, once terrified Super Kings and threatened to take the match away from them but luck favoured the latter.
• Harbhajan Singh, the specialist aggressive spinner of India has also captained the side before he was banned for some controversy. The other teams would be happy that he is not there in the team.
• Shawn Pollock, the No.1 All rounder not long back, has been tremendous in his spells and is decisive.
• Ashish Nehra’s return to form has been a good support. Dwayne Bravo’s, though his presence was short, already did the damage both with the bat and the ball.

Minuses:

• The team’s middle order has collapsed a lot of times.
• If Sanath Jayasuriya gets out, there is no one to continue the momentum other than Sachin, who for some reason has been quiet so far.
• The team has failed to win in nail biting situations.
• The absence of Harbhajan Singh during most part of the series has raised a need for a specialist spinner like him.

Delhi Daredevils:

City: Delhi

Captain: Virender Sehwag (Icon Player)

Coach: Greg Shipperd

Franchisee: GMR Holdings

Franchise cost: $84 mill

Team Composition:

Rajat Bhatia AB de Villiers Shikhar Dhawan Tillakaratne Dilshan Gautam Gambhir Brett Geeves Dinesh Karthik (wk) Glenn McGrath Farveez Maharoof Yo Mahesh Mithun Manhas Amit Mishra Mohammad Asif Yogesh Nagar Pradeep Sangwan Shoaib Malik Mayank Tehlan Manoj Tiwary Daniel Vettori Tejashwi Yadav

Delhi Daredevils has been the most destructive team in the IPL in the earlier stages of the tournament. The team looked deadly with the opening pairs in both batting and bowling departments with Sehwag and Gambhir making sure the team reaches a very high total and Glenn McGrath and Mohammad Asif making sure the batsmen regretted their shots.

Sangdeep Dhawan and Dinesh Karthick have been a tremendous batting support and Vijayakumar Yomahesh being in great form in bowling along with leg spinner Amit Mishra (who replaced Daniel Vettori) has been a reward. Shoaib Malik has provided constant support to the team. Though they have played well, luck didn’t favour them. Their hope for the semi-finals berth lies in the performance of other teams in the tournament.

Pluses:

• Virender Sehwag, the man who could kill the bowler’s confidence, was going great guns with his favourite policy – hit, hit and hit. His score of 300 in the test match against South Africa earlier this year, sent shockwaves around the country on what form this guy would be in T20 and he has been destructive so far.
• Gautam Gambhir, has been so successful this year and his success continues in IPL as well having scored already more than 500 runs in the tournament, the highest by any player in IPL and by a player in a T20 tournament.
• Sangdeep Dhawan, helps in keeping the momentum going when either of the opening pair is out.
• Shoaib Malik has done a great job in being consistent and Dinesh Karthick’s knocks have been crucial.
• Glenn McGrath, the world’s leading wicket taker in ODIs (if I am not wrong), and the retired Australian legend, announced that he has not got old and he is still in good nick with the ball. He hates to give away runs and given a team a good breakthrough with maidens and wickets.
• Mohammad Asif has been deadly with his spells and has provided a great support for Glenn McGrath. Vijayakumar Yomahesh has also proved to be a great asset for the team and is already in the leading wicket taker’s list.
• Amit Mishra, the leg-spinner has replaced Daniel Vettori’s absence with very good economical bowling and crucial wickets.
• Ferveez Maharoof has been in tremdous form with his batting and bowling.

Minuses:

• If both Sehwag and Gambhir get out to low runs, the team middle order fails to provide the momentum that they would have given.
• Quite a lot number of times, the middle order has failed.
• The team missed a quality spinner in the middle stages of the tournament until Amit Mishra came in.
• Although the opening bowling pair has been economical, if they fail to pick up a wicket in their opening spells, the opposition takes advantage of the bowlers to come later.
• Wrong decisions and wrong strokes have cost their matches sometimes.

Indian Premiere League – A Review (Part II)

Ever since the auction of cricket players around the globe for the Indian Premiere League, there were always high expectations of each team. Many people debated on the strongest team and some even predicted the results of the Indian Premiere League even before IPL started. With the preliminary rounds already nearing the end, let us look into the teams anyway. Let me start with my favourite. J

Chennai Super Kings:

City: Chennai

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (US $1.5 million)

Coach: Keppler Wessels

Franchisee: India Cements.

Franchise cost: $91 million.

Official Website: www.chennaisuperkings.com

Team Composition:

Viraj Vilas Kadbe Palani Amarnath Srikkanth Anirudha Ravichandran Ashwin Subramaniam Badrinath Lakshmipathy Balaji Napoleon Einstein Stephen Fleming Manpreet Gony Matthew Hayden Michael Hussey Shadab Jakati Joginder Sharma Chamara Kapugedera Arun Karthik Suresh Kumar Albie Morkel Abhinav Mukund Muttiah Muralitharan Makhaya Ntini Jacob Oram Parthiv Patel (wk) Suresh Raina Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan Sudeep Tyagi

Chennai Super Kings created a stir in the early stages of the tournament having won the first four consecutive matches and it seemed that nothing could stop them from winning. The trio of Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Jacob Oram proved themselves to be a nightmare for the opposition. Maybe its just co-incidence, their departure after the fourth match had brought three defeats in a row for the Super Kings. But then after the defeats, they came back to winning ways and have been consistent so far and they are good contenders for the semi-finals berth.

Pluses:

• The leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Chennai bought MS Dhoni, who is the highest bid of the IPL, with high expectations and he has definitely fulfilled the expectations. Being the captain of the Indian Cricket team in the limited overs format, his leadership is definitely a plus for the Super Kings team.
• The Aussie pair Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey is a big asset for the team in the batting side. Though they have left the team in the earlier stages of the tournament, their presence would seal a psychological win over the opposition.
• Mutthiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan off spinner and also the leading wicket taker in Test cricket, has been a great asset for the Chennai team having been economical so far and also picking up crucial wickets.
• Manpreet Gony, the newly found bowling machine has been a gift to the Chennai Super Kings. The heavy speedster has terrified the batsmen with perfect bouncers and good length balls. This guy is likely to get ready to play for the Indian Cricket team.
• Lakshmipathy Balaji’s return to form has stirred a confidence in the dressing room (both in Chennai’s and also might stir in the Indian dressing room in the future). Though his speed was reduced, he has maintained a good line and length and has been able to hide the slower balls from the regular ones perfectly. He is the first one to pick up a hat trick in the Indian Premiere League.
• Albie Morkel, the South African all rounder, has proven to be a good balance for the team with his pretty good bowling and aggressive batting.

The team was always talked about the powerful batting line up with Australian opener Hayden opening for Chennai too, followed by explosives like Hussey, Dhoni and Oram, who has been consistent with the ball too. Parthiv Patel proved to be a good opening partner for Hayden. Raina’s and Badrinath’s knocks are a treasure to the team. With the Australian players departing to their home country, Stephen Fleming proved that he is in good nick with the bat though he has retired. Albie Morkel has proved his skills both with the bat and ball. Makhaya Ntini has terrified the batsmen with his bowling attack and Lakshmipathy Balaji and Manpreet Gony have been a good support.

Minuses:

• Apart from Dhoni and Fleming, the team lacks a leader who could lead the other players into playing a good knock until the end.
• The team has very few international players to choose from.
• The middle order had failed to impress a lot of times in the series.
• A search for a good opening pair for the team has always been a headache for the team ever since Matthew Hayden left the team.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

City: Kolkata

Captain: Saurav Ganguly (Icon player)

Coach: John Buchanan.

Franchisee: Red Chillies Entertainment.

Owners: Sharukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Jai Mehta.

Official Website: www.kolkataknightriders

Team Composition:

Siddarth Kaul Ajit Agarkar Aakash Chopra Debabrata Das Ashok Dinda Chris Gayle Brad Hodge David Hussey Iqbal Abdulla Murali Kartik Brendon McCullum (wk) Ajantha Mendis Mohammad Hafeez Ricky Ponting Wriddhiman Saha (wk) Salman Butt Ishant Sharma Shoaib Akhtar Laxmi Shukla Tatenda Taibu (wk) Umar Gul Rohan Banerjee Ranadeb Bose Saurasish Lahiri Cheteshwar Pujara Yashpal Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders started as the early favourites for the semi-finals with an excellent knock of 158 by Brendon McCullum in the very first match of the IPL. The batting was well supported by pacers Ishant Sharma and Ashok Dinda. KKR was soon declared to be the toughest team to face until they suffered several defeats in a row and also key players had to leave in the earlier stages of the tournament due to national commitments. But reinforcement came in the form of the Rawalpindi express, Shoaib Akhtar whose presence provided comfort in the dressing room and they seemed to get back in joining the race for the semi-finals berth. But fortune did not favour them as they lost crucial matches because of rain and their only hope in getting to the semi finals is that the other likely teams should perform miserably bad.

Pluses:

• Saurav Ganguly, the former captain of India and also its most successful captain ever, is a player anyone would like to play under and his guidance and knocks has been a big plus for the team.
• Ishant Sharma, the quality pacer who rocked the Australian batting line up in their own soil, rocked the other teams with his fiery spell.
• Shoaib Akhtar, the new Kolkata Express, has always been a nightmare for the batsmen and his spell could just turn the tide of the match.
• Ashok Dinda has been a great support for the bowlers and he has been in good nick.
• Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand batsman wicket-keeper showed his other side of his batting skill proving that he can be more aggressive than he already looks to be.
• Ricky Ponting, the Australian Captain and also currently the best captain ever, has been a great selection for their team and his presence added more power to the batting.
• David Hussey’s good batting knocks have come in good times and also had won several matches for them.
• Umar Gul, the most successful bowler of the T20 World Cup held last year, had his bowling skill to the best as he provided good support for the bowling.

Minuses:

• The team’s middle order failed miserably at times.
• Ricky Ponting failed to get a good knock in his limited duration of playing for the IPL. His scores, if they had been massive, would have made a big difference.
• The team lost its momentum in the middle stages of the tournament after having had a good start. This led to compulsion to win the remaining matches.
• The team lost most of its international players due to injury and national commitments in the earlier stages of the tournament. Even players who were called in the middle had to leave so soon. McCullum and Ponting are the players they would definitely miss.

(To be continued)

Indian Premiere League – A Review (Part II)

Ever since the auction of cricket players around the globe for the Indian Premiere League, there were always high expectations of each team. Many people debated on the strongest team and some even predicted the results of the Indian Premiere League even before IPL started. With the preliminary rounds already nearing the end, let us look into the teams anyway. Let me start with my favourite. J

Chennai Super Kings:

City: Chennai

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (US $1.5 million)

Coach: Keppler Wessels

Franchisee: India Cements.

Franchise cost: $91 million.

Official Website: www.chennaisuperkings.com

Team Composition:

Viraj Vilas Kadbe Palani Amarnath Srikkanth Anirudha Ravichandran Ashwin Subramaniam Badrinath Lakshmipathy Balaji Napoleon Einstein Stephen Fleming Manpreet Gony Matthew Hayden Michael Hussey Shadab Jakati Joginder Sharma Chamara Kapugedera Arun Karthik Suresh Kumar Albie Morkel Abhinav Mukund Muttiah Muralitharan Makhaya Ntini Jacob Oram Parthiv Patel (wk) Suresh Raina Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan Sudeep Tyagi

Chennai Super Kings created a stir in the early stages of the tournament having won the first four consecutive matches and it seemed that nothing could stop them from winning. The trio of Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Jacob Oram proved themselves to be a nightmare for the opposition. Maybe its just co-incidence, their departure after the fourth match had brought three defeats in a row for the Super Kings. But then after the defeats, they came back to winning ways and have been consistent so far and they are good contenders for the semi-finals berth.

Pluses:

• The leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Chennai bought MS Dhoni, who is the highest bid of the IPL, with high expectations and he has definitely fulfilled the expectations. Being the captain of the Indian Cricket team in the limited overs format, his leadership is definitely a plus for the Super Kings team.
• The Aussie pair Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey is a big asset for the team in the batting side. Though they have left the team in the earlier stages of the tournament, their presence would seal a psychological win over the opposition.
• Mutthiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan off spinner and also the leading wicket taker in Test cricket, has been a great asset for the Chennai team having been economical so far and also picking up crucial wickets.
• Manpreet Gony, the newly found bowling machine has been a gift to the Chennai Super Kings. The heavy speedster has terrified the batsmen with perfect bouncers and good length balls. This guy is likely to get ready to play for the Indian Cricket team.
• Lakshmipathy Balaji’s return to form has stirred a confidence in the dressing room (both in Chennai’s and also might stir in the Indian dressing room in the future). Though his speed was reduced, he has maintained a good line and length and has been able to hide the slower balls from the regular ones perfectly. He is the first one to pick up a hat trick in the Indian Premiere League.
• Albie Morkel, the South African all rounder, has proven to be a good balance for the team with his pretty good bowling and aggressive batting.

The team was always talked about the powerful batting line up with Australian opener Hayden opening for Chennai too, followed by explosives like Hussey, Dhoni and Oram, who has been consistent with the ball too. Parthiv Patel proved to be a good opening partner for Hayden. Raina’s and Badrinath’s knocks are a treasure to the team. With the Australian players departing to their home country, Stephen Fleming proved that he is in good nick with the bat though he has retired. Albie Morkel has proved his skills both with the bat and ball. Makhaya Ntini has terrified the batsmen with his bowling attack and Lakshmipathy Balaji and Manpreet Gony have been a good support.

Minuses:

• Apart from Dhoni and Fleming, the team lacks a leader who could lead the other players into playing a good knock until the end.
• The team has very few international players to choose from.
• The middle order had failed to impress a lot of times in the series.
• A search for a good opening pair for the team has always been a headache for the team ever since Matthew Hayden left the team.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

City: Kolkata

Captain: Saurav Ganguly (Icon player)

Coach: John Buchanan.

Franchisee: Red Chillies Entertainment.

Owners: Sharukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Jai Mehta.

Official Website: www.kolkataknightriders

Team Composition:

Siddarth Kaul Ajit Agarkar Aakash Chopra Debabrata Das Ashok Dinda Chris Gayle Brad Hodge David Hussey Iqbal Abdulla Murali Kartik Brendon McCullum (wk) Ajantha Mendis Mohammad Hafeez Ricky Ponting Wriddhiman Saha (wk) Salman Butt Ishant Sharma Shoaib Akhtar Laxmi Shukla Tatenda Taibu (wk) Umar Gul Rohan Banerjee Ranadeb Bose Saurasish Lahiri Cheteshwar Pujara Yashpal Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders started as the early favourites for the semi-finals with an excellent knock of 158 by Brendon McCullum in the very first match of the IPL. The batting was well supported by pacers Ishant Sharma and Ashok Dinda. KKR was soon declared to be the toughest team to face until they suffered several defeats in a row and also key players had to leave in the earlier stages of the tournament due to national commitments. But reinforcement came in the form of the Rawalpindi express, Shoaib Akhtar whose presence provided comfort in the dressing room and they seemed to get back in joining the race for the semi-finals berth. But fortune did not favour them as they lost crucial matches because of rain and their only hope in getting to the semi finals is that the other likely teams should perform miserably bad.

Pluses:

• Saurav Ganguly, the former captain of India and also its most successful captain ever, is a player anyone would like to play under and his guidance and knocks has been a big plus for the team.
• Ishant Sharma, the quality pacer who rocked the Australian batting line up in their own soil, rocked the other teams with his fiery spell.
• Shoaib Akhtar, the new Kolkata Express, has always been a nightmare for the batsmen and his spell could just turn the tide of the match.
• Ashok Dinda has been a great support for the bowlers and he has been in good nick.
• Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand batsman wicket-keeper showed his other side of his batting skill proving that he can be more aggressive than he already looks to be.
• Ricky Ponting, the Australian Captain and also currently the best captain ever, has been a great selection for their team and his presence added more power to the batting.
• David Hussey’s good batting knocks have come in good times and also had won several matches for them.
• Umar Gul, the most successful bowler of the T20 World Cup held last year, had his bowling skill to the best as he provided good support for the bowling.

Minuses:

• The team’s middle order failed miserably at times.
• Ricky Ponting failed to get a good knock in his limited duration of playing for the IPL. His scores, if they had been massive, would have made a big difference.
• The team lost its momentum in the middle stages of the tournament after having had a good start. This led to compulsion to win the remaining matches.
• The team lost most of its international players due to injury and national commitments in the earlier stages of the tournament. Even players who were called in the middle had to leave so soon. McCullum and Ponting are the players they would definitely miss.

(To be continued)

Indian Premiere League – A Review (Part II)

Ever since the auction of cricket players around the globe for the Indian Premiere League, there were always high expectations of each team. Many people debated on the strongest team and some even predicted the results of the Indian Premiere League even before IPL started. With the preliminary rounds already nearing the end, let us look into the teams anyway. Let me start with my favourite. J

Chennai Super Kings:

City: Chennai

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (US $1.5 million)

Coach: Keppler Wessels

Franchisee: India Cements.

Franchise cost: $91 million.

Official Website: www.chennaisuperkings.com

Team Composition:

Viraj Vilas Kadbe Palani Amarnath Srikkanth Anirudha Ravichandran Ashwin Subramaniam Badrinath Lakshmipathy Balaji Napoleon Einstein Stephen Fleming Manpreet Gony Matthew Hayden Michael Hussey Shadab Jakati Joginder Sharma Chamara Kapugedera Arun Karthik Suresh Kumar Albie Morkel Abhinav Mukund Muttiah Muralitharan Makhaya Ntini Jacob Oram Parthiv Patel (wk) Suresh Raina Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan Sudeep Tyagi

Chennai Super Kings created a stir in the early stages of the tournament having won the first four consecutive matches and it seemed that nothing could stop them from winning. The trio of Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Jacob Oram proved themselves to be a nightmare for the opposition. Maybe its just co-incidence, their departure after the fourth match had brought three defeats in a row for the Super Kings. But then after the defeats, they came back to winning ways and have been consistent so far and they are good contenders for the semi-finals berth.

Pluses:

• The leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Chennai bought MS Dhoni, who is the highest bid of the IPL, with high expectations and he has definitely fulfilled the expectations. Being the captain of the Indian Cricket team in the limited overs format, his leadership is definitely a plus for the Super Kings team.
• The Aussie pair Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey is a big asset for the team in the batting side. Though they have left the team in the earlier stages of the tournament, their presence would seal a psychological win over the opposition.
• Mutthiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan off spinner and also the leading wicket taker in Test cricket, has been a great asset for the Chennai team having been economical so far and also picking up crucial wickets.
• Manpreet Gony, the newly found bowling machine has been a gift to the Chennai Super Kings. The heavy speedster has terrified the batsmen with perfect bouncers and good length balls. This guy is likely to get ready to play for the Indian Cricket team.
• Lakshmipathy Balaji’s return to form has stirred a confidence in the dressing room (both in Chennai’s and also might stir in the Indian dressing room in the future). Though his speed was reduced, he has maintained a good line and length and has been able to hide the slower balls from the regular ones perfectly. He is the first one to pick up a hat trick in the Indian Premiere League.
• Albie Morkel, the South African all rounder, has proven to be a good balance for the team with his pretty good bowling and aggressive batting.

The team was always talked about the powerful batting line up with Australian opener Hayden opening for Chennai too, followed by explosives like Hussey, Dhoni and Oram, who has been consistent with the ball too. Parthiv Patel proved to be a good opening partner for Hayden. Raina’s and Badrinath’s knocks are a treasure to the team. With the Australian players departing to their home country, Stephen Fleming proved that he is in good nick with the bat though he has retired. Albie Morkel has proved his skills both with the bat and ball. Makhaya Ntini has terrified the batsmen with his bowling attack and Lakshmipathy Balaji and Manpreet Gony have been a good support.

Minuses:

• Apart from Dhoni and Fleming, the team lacks a leader who could lead the other players into playing a good knock until the end.
• The team has very few international players to choose from.
• The middle order had failed to impress a lot of times in the series.
• A search for a good opening pair for the team has always been a headache for the team ever since Matthew Hayden left the team.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

City: Kolkata

Captain: Saurav Ganguly (Icon player)

Coach: John Buchanan.

Franchisee: Red Chillies Entertainment.

Owners: Sharukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Jai Mehta.

Official Website: www.kolkataknightriders

Team Composition:

Siddarth Kaul Ajit Agarkar Aakash Chopra Debabrata Das Ashok Dinda Chris Gayle Brad Hodge David Hussey Iqbal Abdulla Murali Kartik Brendon McCullum (wk) Ajantha Mendis Mohammad Hafeez Ricky Ponting Wriddhiman Saha (wk) Salman Butt Ishant Sharma Shoaib Akhtar Laxmi Shukla Tatenda Taibu (wk) Umar Gul Rohan Banerjee Ranadeb Bose Saurasish Lahiri Cheteshwar Pujara Yashpal Singh

Kolkata Knight Riders started as the early favourites for the semi-finals with an excellent knock of 158 by Brendon McCullum in the very first match of the IPL. The batting was well supported by pacers Ishant Sharma and Ashok Dinda. KKR was soon declared to be the toughest team to face until they suffered several defeats in a row and also key players had to leave in the earlier stages of the tournament due to national commitments. But reinforcement came in the form of the Rawalpindi express, Shoaib Akhtar whose presence provided comfort in the dressing room and they seemed to get back in joining the race for the semi-finals berth. But fortune did not favour them as they lost crucial matches because of rain and their only hope in getting to the semi finals is that the other likely teams should perform miserably bad.

Pluses:

• Saurav Ganguly, the former captain of India and also its most successful captain ever, is a player anyone would like to play under and his guidance and knocks has been a big plus for the team.
• Ishant Sharma, the quality pacer who rocked the Australian batting line up in their own soil, rocked the other teams with his fiery spell.
• Shoaib Akhtar, the new Kolkata Express, has always been a nightmare for the batsmen and his spell could just turn the tide of the match.
• Ashok Dinda has been a great support for the bowlers and he has been in good nick.
• Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand batsman wicket-keeper showed his other side of his batting skill proving that he can be more aggressive than he already looks to be.
• Ricky Ponting, the Australian Captain and also currently the best captain ever, has been a great selection for their team and his presence added more power to the batting.
• David Hussey’s good batting knocks have come in good times and also had won several matches for them.
• Umar Gul, the most successful bowler of the T20 World Cup held last year, had his bowling skill to the best as he provided good support for the bowling.

Minuses:

• The team’s middle order failed miserably at times.
• Ricky Ponting failed to get a good knock in his limited duration of playing for the IPL. His scores, if they had been massive, would have made a big difference.
• The team lost its momentum in the middle stages of the tournament after having had a good start. This led to compulsion to win the remaining matches.
• The team lost most of its international players due to injury and national commitments in the earlier stages of the tournament. Even players who were called in the middle had to leave so soon. McCullum and Ponting are the players they would definitely miss.

(To be continued)

Indian Premiere League – A Review (Part I)

For all you cricket fans out there, you wouldn’t have missed watching the Indian Premiere League, the first of its kind. Even those who weren’t fond of watching ODI matches started watching IPL since it was T20 cricket and also because it is war between the popular cities of India.

‘How IPL emerged?’ has a very interesting answer. Some people say, “Everything that happens is for good”. That saying is applicable to IPL. Yes, it all started with India losing the Cricket World Cup 2007 in the earlier stages of the tournament having won only one match. Too many controversies floated around at that moment. That included people asking the BCCI to sack the senior players and let the younger players take over their place. Not to forget, even Sachin Tendulkar, who is considered as the God of Indian cricket and not generally blamed, was blamed this time for his poor performance.

Just when the controversies were floating around, Zee Entertainment Ltd announced that it would be launching Indian Cricket League, a league to promote domestic cricket and also improvise the standards of Indian Cricket. Activities soon started, even with disapproval by the BCCI. ICL was soon the talk of the country and it started signing contract to players from all over the world. BCCI made sure that none of the players under it and also other International players to join ICL.

ICL, however, managed to sign in a lot of players and also a few international players and the teams were announced. Each team represented the various cities of India and the inaugural ICL tournament was conducted last year and Chennai Superstars won the tournament. ICL was a hit among the public and attracted huge crowd.

BCCI was not far behind. Meanwhile they had announced the launch of the Indian Premiere League, a league almost similar to ICL. Unlike ICL, IPL was officially approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and a lot of players currently playing in India (international as well as domestic) and also a lot of international players were roped into play the tournament.

IPL popularity reached its peak when the auction was conducted last January. Several teams were formed, which were owned and sponsored by various Industrial people. Support also came from Bollywood, as a couple of stars owned a team each. The various teams were Chennai Super Kings, Hyderabad Deccan Chargers, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals.

Some of the famous players from each city were made as the icon player of that city and the only team that missed the icon player was Chennai. The auction was conducted one whole day and various players were bought by each team for a huge ransom. M.S.Dhoni was the player who bagged the highest bid and he was bought by Chennai which missed an icon player.

It brought many expectations from fans all over the world as various players from all over the world team together to play against other team comprising of a similar group. With T20 cricket format made as the inaugural IPL format, it promised a great contest as IPL was inaugurated on April 18^th, 2008. No one would call it as a failure as it is still being the craze of the country.

In the next post, we shall look into each team playing in the Indian Premiere League.

What a timing!

This month moves really fast than May normally do. Thanks to Anna University and Indian Premiere League. There was a funny mobile forward, that came during the exams, which read “How did they know what I didn’t study for the exams? ….. He is none other than AU question paper setter” Likewise, the schedule for most of the Chennai matches came right before our exams. How did they know?

TV channels, which were airing really boring programmes all these days, came up with very good programmes especially during the exams. It was like a festival day everyday. I wasn’t shocked to see a new movie or an interview being telecasted in any channel because it became a routine. But on one such day, I was shocked to see too many interviews and movies until I realized that it was May Day.

I don’t know what led these channels to this condition. Though it maybe summer special, I guess it is because of the Indian Premiere League which would’ve brought down the TRP ratings of all the other progrrammes in the evening. To compensate it, they go for morning and afternoon.

After the exams, there were some pre-placement talks given by some of the top IT companies and like ‘Plays of the Day’ column in cricinfo, I would like to mention some ‘Interesting moments of the Day’. Some of them were…

1. A HR of a top IT company, who has a good sense of humour, had to speak tamil now and then to add essence to his humour, and he asked whether anyone there couldn’t understand tamil. When one of them raised his hands, he jokingly replied, “Sorry I can’t help you. You need to have a translator beside you”
2. The CEO of a top IT company offered a cap to anyone in the audience present there and when none stood up, one of my friends grabbed the offer. I least expected it to happen. If there had been a split second delay, any other guy would have grabbed it.
3. We had an online mock aptitude test earlier in the morning and there were two people to discuss the questions. When they enquired about the test, one of the guys explained about a question whose answers were all ‘zeroes’. When he had tried the first ‘zero’ option, it showed that the correct answer is third ‘zero’.

See you in the next post asap!

Tagged!

Tagged by M.S.Karthikeyan! For the first time.

1)LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATRE?
Yaaradi Nee Mohini starring Dhanush, Nayanthara, Raghuvaran.

2)WHAT BOOK ARE U READING?
Started ‘The Prodigal Daughter’ by Jeffrey Archer long back and has given it a long break. Yet to finish it.

3)FAVOURITE BOARD GAME?
Chess. Monopoly and Scotland Yard.

4)FAVOURITE MAGAZINE?
No favourites at the present.

5)FAVOURITE SMELLS?
Chocolate, baking smell.

6)FAVOURITE SOUNDS?
Don’t know. Violin. Or a bat hitting a ball.

7)WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
When things suddenly go wrong when everything was going right in the first place.

8)WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN U WAKE?
What time is it?

9)FAVOURITE FASTFOOD PLACE?
No favourites at the present.

10)FUTURE CHILDS NAME?
Not yet thought about it.

11)FINISH THIS STATEMENT—’IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D’
Start a business.

12)DO U DRIVE FAST?
No I don’t.

13)DO U SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
No I don’t.

14)STORMS–COOL OR SCARY?
Its cool until no harm is done.

15)WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
I don’t own a car.

16)FAVOURITE DRINK?
Chocolate Milkshake , Frappe and ofcourse hot coffee

17)FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD…
concentrate on my own preferences.

18)DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
Hmmm… No… Whats a broccoli anyway? I have heard of the name before.

19)IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
Ha ha… Brown.

20)NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN?
Chennai. (Does it include cities where you have lived for one or two days too? :p)

21)FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Cricket.

22)ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Cool guy and a nice friend

23)WHATS UNDER YOUR BED?
Nothing. I might get a lost pen or a ball if I go searching :p

24)WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?
Yes ofcourse.

25)MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?
Mostly Night Owl.

26)OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
What does this mean???

27)FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX?
My home, besse beach.

28)FAVOURITE PIE?
Have tasted only Apple Pie. That was long back. I don’t remember the taste :-s

29)FAVOURITE ICECREAM FLAVOUR?
Chocolate, Dark Chocolate. Choco chips :p

30)OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
I guess it would be Inchara, but who knows! Anna Univ Exams are going on and there may not be any response at all.

So now I tag:
Inchara
Hari
Nithya.

These are the ppl who atleast sometime in their life update their blogs. Else there would be a pretty long list.