Although the IPL is over with Rajasthan Royals as the winners, let us anyway go through the remaining team reviews. Let me talk about the winners this time.
Rajasthan
Royals:
City: Rajasthan
Captain: Shane Warne
Coach: Shane Warne
Franchisee: Emerging Media
Franchise cost: $67 million
Team Composition:
Aditya Angle Swapnil Asnodkar Ravindra Jadeja Mohammad Kaif Kamran Akmal (wk) Sumit Khatri Taruwar Kohli Darren Lehmann Parag More Morne Morkel Pankaj Singh Munaf Patel Niraj Patel Yusuf Pathan Mahesh Rawat Anup Revandkar Dinesh Salunkhe Jaydev Shah Graeme Smith Sohail Tanvir Siddharth Trivedi Shane Watson Younis Khan Justin Langer Dimitri Mascarenhas
This team was called as the underdogs of the tournament with very few known faces. Especially after the first devastating loss to Delhi, they were let down but after that loss, they never looked back and got to winning ways and it seemed that none could stop them but luck. They have won 13 of the 16 matches they played. Was it because of the enthusiastic youngsters determined to win especially after being called as the underdogs or is it because of the ruthless Warne, whose captaincy never showed any worries in the side.
Pluses:
- Shane Warne’s Captaincy: A commentator from IPL described Shane Warne as the best captain Australia never had. Such was the impact he made. It is not easy to guide an inexperienced side to victory but he made most of it a dominating victory. He has also shown that he has not got old and can still spin the ball.
- Shane Watson, the all rounder from Australia and also the man of the series, struck both with his batting and bowling and this guy was the one the opposition was careful about.
- Yusuf Pathan, the guy who couldn’t make a mark in the premiere T20 World Cup last year, let out his aggression this time smashing the ball to all the corners of the ground. Even Sehwag would’ve been considered defensive. This guy can bowl too and his tidy bowling has also won crucial matches for the team.
- Graeme Smith, the South African captain, has been the asset for the team as a specialist opener who believed in exploding the fireworks in the later stages of the tournament while his partner does it before him.
- Swapnil Asnodhkar is the guy the opposition would be targeting. The tiny master blaster is capable of hitting all the balls for six and has proven that he is a good all rounder.
- Mohammad Kaif, Niraj Patel and Kamran Akmal have helped in some way for the team atleast in one or two matches.
- Sohail Tanvir, the highest wicket taker in the IPL, terrorized the opponents with his unorthodox bowling and his movement of the ball showed no signs of hope for the opposition.
Minuses:
- Though they have won the series, they won some of the matches only by luck.
- Their weaknesses were visible in the ending stages of the tournament.
- Most of the players couldn’t resist hitting the ball out of the ground and that sometime landed them in troubles.
Ban
galore Royal Challengers:
City: Bangalore
Captain: Rahul Dravid
Coach: Venkatesh Prasad
Franchisee: UB Group
Franchise cost: $111.6 million
Team Composition:
Abdur Razzak Neravanda Aiyappa Balachandra Akhil KP Appanna Jagadeesh Arunkumar Mark Boucher (wk) Shivnarine Chanderpaul Bharat Chipli Shreevats Goswami (wk) Wasim Jaffer Sunil Joshi Jacques Kallis Zaheer Khan Virat Kohli Praveen Kumar Anil Kumble Misbah-ul-Haq Ashley Noffke Devraj Patil Dale Steyn Ross Taylor Vinay Kumar Cameron White Nathan Bracken
Even before the tournament started, this team was considered unfit for the T20. But Rahul Dravid brushed those views aside saying that his team is a good composition. Their first devastating loss to Kolkata relit those views and the team never had a good time in the series so far except for some wins in the tournament. Even then, they can be proud of the fact that they found their strengths in the later stages of the tournament and that is a good sign for the team in the next version of IPL.
Pluses:
- Rahul Dravid’s captaincy: He has been the captain of India and his calm captaincy has worked wonders for the team in the later stages of the tournament. Dravid fooled everyone that he too can keep his strike rate above hundred when needed.
- Jacques Kallis, the South African all rounder, has been the backbone of the team and he can be called as the consistent player of the team. He has got good runs in most matches and also picked up crucial wickets but all to losing efforts.
- Zaheer Khan’s return to form has been a greater asset for the team.
- Misbah-ul-Haq, the man who held India’s victory until the last over of the match in the T20 World Cup last year, was the greater pick of the team but he showed his fireworks only in the later stages of the tournament.
- Wasim Jaffer shocked everyone that he is not a test player and can play T20 for part time too.
- Pravin Kumar, who rocked the Australian batting order with his bowling earlier this year, is the all rounder the team needed and he has made use of it.
- Mark Boucher, the South African wicketkeeper and also the team’s has been the second captain for the team and his advises to the bowlers has worked wonders and helped them get wickets the very next ball.
- Dale Steyn, the world’s quickest bowler bowled up to his reputation and has made batsmen think twice.
- Some of the youngsters like Goswami, Chipli and Kohli have shown remarkable performances.
- Anil Kumble, India’s leading leg spinner, got into his rhythm in the later stages of the tournament.
Minuses:
- The team though having promising individuals lacked team effort.
- The team failed to realize their strengths in the earlier stages of the tournament.
- Some controversies about the team’s losses have also let the team down further.
- Anil Kumble, the man who retired from the ODIs last year couldn’t make up to his reputation as one of the world’s best spinners.
- Cameron White, who was considered to the most destructive player before the tournament began, failed miserably.
- The team lacked the winning formula in the earlier stages of the tournament.
Breathing Neon (Beta) 