The Cricket Nation

The T20 WC cricket final – live from Lords

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:05:00 +0000

I was at the final at Lords yesterday and also reported for cricinfo from the game. Here’s the full version of that article without any edits (the cricinfo team took out some inappropriate comments :-) and also made me adhere to the word limit). Plus the headline makes me look like a Pakistan fan in the cricinfo article.

Why i went for this game?

The Englishmen in their coats & ties in the Members stands and the South East Asians with flags and war paint all over - of course I wanted to watch tradition battle modernism at the Mecca of cricket. I had grudgingly accepted that Pakistan would win as the law of averages had to catch up with the Lankans after 6 straight wins.

Key performer at the finals – the unsung hero

Yet another outstanding big game innings (54 in 40 balls and a tight spell) meant that Afridi was rightly the man of the match. However the unsung impact was Razzaq’s whose 3 key early wickets of Jaysuriya, Jaywardene and Mubarak left Lanka reeling at 4-32 and sealed the game.

One thing I’d have changed about the match

Of course I’d have had India in the finals :-) More seriously I believe that Sangakarra made a tactical error in not giving Malinga the 18^th over with 26 run still needed. A wicket or a tight over then would have changed the game. Instead he bowled Udana who gave away 19 runs and the game was all but over.

Face-off that never was

Afridi won the battle with Murali when he smashed a 6 and a 4 off the first two balls to pillage 14 runs of the 14^th over and change the trajectory of the game.

Who’s the batsman here ? Shot of the day

A striking straight drive from Angelo Matthews off Saeed Ajmal that rocketed to the boundary. It was as crisp a straight drive as Tendulkar has ever hit but more important coming from a number 8 under pressure. It inspired confidence that Sri Lanka could make a game of it (and they scored 29 runs in the two overs after that to reach a competitive total)

The Crowds – why i saw green.

The sea of green meant that we might well have been at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore and not a packed Lords crowd. Constant chanting of “Pakistan Zindabad’, “Jor se bolo Pakistan, Dil se Bolo Pakistan” with “Boom Boom Afridi” reverbrated across the ground. Rajdeep Sardesai (who congratulated the Pakistan supporters on his way out) and Mohammed Azharuddin and Sangeeta Bijlani (who tried to rush away after the game but no one recognized them anyway :-)) added some star power to my stands.

We don’t need no cheerleaders – the entertainment

The PA system was pumping up the volume – the Rolling Stones seemed to be a favorite. This was coupled with the ‘Heat is on’, the Yahooooooo sponsor anthem (have to plug yahoo as they gave me tickets) and “Dil Dil Pakistan” – an upbeat song by a group called Vital Signs. This even had the non Asians rocking but surprising that the PA system played an obviously pro Pakistan song. The fireworks were no comparison to the IPL extravaganza but thankfully the focus was on cricket and not long speeches by Lalit Modi equivalents.

War of words - Banners of the day

Very few catchy banners in the stadium (some folks wishing their Dad a happy father’s day). However many banners among the celebrating Pakistanis on the streets of St James Wood asking what a billion Indians are asking – “Where are you now India? Did you watch us win?”. There was also a huge protest just outside the Lords with 100’s of people demanding “ICC Ban Sri Lanka for Tamil genocide” adding a political aspect to the final.

Overall – the final verdict

The wild celebration on the streets with thousands of Pakistani’s chanting and creating a traffic jam reinforced the importance of this win for a country where the game has been devastated (the bombings and the refusal of International teams to visit). Hence this result was worth far more to Pakistan and perhaps an apt outcome. Pakistan did after all beat the top two teams in the tournament (SA and SL) to win the cup. And of course they are the only team to be in both of the two T20 world cups held so far.

In summary , a beautiful day, great atmosphere, raucous crowds & for the most part the match was worthy of a final. However if the Lankan’s had managed to get even 10-15 runs more (the player of the tournament Dilshan’s duck was a shame) it would have made it a real close game and a 10/10 irrespective of the outcome instead of a current rating of 8.

Dhoni whatever but Daddy knows best

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:01:00 +0000

So that's that - India is out. A billion dreams have been dashed and there will be much media bashing. The usual hero to zero screams of 'inconsistency, fickle team, jadeja at no 4, dhoni doing too much advtg etc etc'. That's probably unfair and the subject of a later post.

For someone like me though (who predicted India would lose to the Windies but beat England. My prediction was England scores 147/7 so marginally off) it was a bitter pill to swallow when my Dad got it way more spot on. In the 20th over Harbhajan bowled the penultimate ball as a wide. A billion eyes (and then the 20,000 in the 'partisan' crowd at Lords) watched in horror as one of our best fielders allowed the ball to (almost) slip through his feet towards the boundary for 5 byes instead of 2. Yuvraj stood dazed as Dhoni ran back to the pavilion thinking that he'd take 153.

My Dad said "mark my words - that my friend was a costly mistake and will cost us the semi final spot". Cut to the end of the match and India lost by 3 runs!!!!!!

ps: so whats my prediction. For the last few days its been SA, Pak, SL and Windies as the semi-finalists. Two solid teams in SA and SL and two unpredictable teams in Pak and Windies. The best teams may or may not be in the semi's but certainly the teams that played the best so far look like they will make it. But then again, i havent heard what my Dad has to say ....

T20 cricket world cup opening day drama: Netherlands ends English dreams?

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:15:00 +0000

So the T20 world cup has kicked off - and what a start. Who'd have imagined that the Netherlands would beat England. Continues to raise the question of skill vs luck in the shorter format of the game but I'd argue that its still skill - just a different type of skill. The room for error is low , individual performances can seal the day and it gives every team a chance.

The scary thought then is - what about Bangladesh and Ireland? The same teams that were in the Caribbean world cup with us ?? Fingers crossed.

Prediction: Too early to call but Misbah and Younus might just pack off the English team to play football instead (and the Dutch may not mind playing them there either)

For readers who missed the exciting final moments; here's the last over...

2009 T20 World Cup: Indian team odds?

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sat, 30 May 2009 08:50:00 +0000

The IPL is history and here comes the T-20 world cup. As fans get over their withdrawal symptoms , its time to brush off the bollywood times of cricket and don the national colours. Team India are defending champions but are they ready to win?

Let’s take a look at the Indian Team for the T20 World Cup 2009:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R P Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha and Irfan Pathan.

Here's what might matter -

1. IPL performance based form:

a. Young talent: super performances from Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Pragyan Ojha , RP Singh, Ravindra Jadeja are good signs.

b. Good News, Bad News: None of the stars really fired with match winning performances. at the IPL Sehwag and Gambhir out of form, Dhoni, Yuvraj & Y Pathan very inconsistent , Zaheer injured and Harbhajan not really at full potential. If they dont get into form or adjust to English conditions, it will be hard. But perhaps they will peak now and IPL lacklustre was a good thing – well , only if the glass is half full.

2. Conditions: The conditions will be critical and seam should play a big role. With Zaheer struggling for fitness, Ishant tormented by KKR results, its only RP (who is having the time of his life) - and he may find it a huge burden to bear.

3. Home (dis) advantage? : Nasir Hussain once commented that he was disappointed with the crowds as the stands were full of British (Indians) fans who supported India. So the diaspora will be out in full force and maybe there’s no home advantage lost.

4. Bench?: They will probably start with Ishant, Bhajji instead of Ojha, I Pathan (& even Ravindra Jadeja) . That might be a mistake & there's no time for mistakes . (this is a 2 week tournament unlike the IPL)

So net, i think the big names need to strike form (Sehwag, Gambhir and Yuvraj in particular) and Dhoni needs to get the balance of the side right for India to make the finals.

The IPL format – is there a change needed? Article by Gautam Thakar

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:54:00 +0000

So Deccan have won a thoroughly close contest – and in general a tournament that was edge of seat for most of the last few weeks. (of course there will be the usual match fixing claims doing the rounds)

I already said in my last post that we shouldn’t be too surprised that last years bottom of the table team is this years winner. They did have the player of the tournament, the purple cap winner, the under 23 player of the tournament and X factor winners in Symonds and Gibbs.

In fact in an ironic twist the Deccan chargers today displayed total team work with everyone trying to do their bit whereas the Bangalore Royal challengers tried to go for the X factor individualism (Van de Merwe, Dravid, Taylor all attempting to close it out when just staying around would have seen them home). But there’ll be a million what if’s - i wanted to ask a different question.

Does the IPL format need a change – does the best team really win? Take a look at the pre semi – final points table.

As you can see – even if you adjust it for the semi – finals ; Deccan Chargers would end with 18 points. Two points shy of Delhi with an extra game and a worse net run rate. And their IPL lscoreccard against Delhi would be 2-1 to Delhi. (Actually 2-0 for Delhi vs Deccan and 0-1 for Delhi vs Adam Gilchrist). Doesn’t sound totally fair. You’d argue that this is true for all major competitions including cricket itself. Yes , that’s right however those games aren’t as elaborate – ie 8 teams playing 14 games each. It’s one thing to have groups with fewer games and a knock out and quite another to play so many games and then hinge on one bad day.

The English Premier league which by the way has 20 teams and each play 38 games DOES NOT have a semi-final and final. The team with the highest points wins. Well, the downside of that is less excitement and perhaps interest if one team is too strong but still a fairer result.

How about an alternative option?

Each IPL team plays each other just once (so 7 games instead of 14). I don’t think the home and away argument holds – after all we played a whole tournament very far away from home :-) The top 4 teams are then in a “semi-final league” where they play each other once (or twice even if needed). Then the top two from this play a best of 3 final.

Practically speaking as well – as the number of franchises increase it will be hard to have the teams play each other twice; unless of course T-20 becomes the only form of cricket!!!

I do think this will maximize the chances of the best team winning while keeping the total number of games played in the same range.

What think?

The dream team IPL XI – and why Bangalore Royal Challengers have a chance in the finals?

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sun, 24 May 2009 01:32:00 +0000

As the IPL carnival draws to an end I wanted to propose a dream team. The criteria is simple. (i) performance in IPL 2009 (ii) Minimum 5 matches played (iii) match winning potential.

So here’s my pick (consistent with the Mumbai team i proposed earlier) . Comments welcome.

Player	Nationality	IPL team	Status
Matthew Hayden	AUS	Chennai Super Kings	Retired
Adam Gilchrist	AUS	Deccan Chargers	Retired
Suresh Raina	India	Chennai Super Kings	Playing
AB De Villiers	SA	Delhi Daredevils	Playing
T Dilshan	SL	Delhi Daredevils	Playing
Rohit Sharma	India	Deccan Chargers	Playing
Andrew Symonds	AUS	Deccan Chargers	Dropped
Yusuf Pathan	Ind	Rajasthan Royals	Playing
RP Singh	Ind	Deccan Chargers	Comeback
Lasith Malinga	SL	Mumbai Indians	Playing
M Muralitharan	SL	Chennai Super Kings	Playing

A dream team always leads to heated debate (comments welcome) so here's some more color.

Hopefully no debate for first 6 on this list (Sharma could battle with Duminy/Hodge but he’s a proven match winner and hat trick bowler which nudges him in).
Symonds and Y Pathan fill the all rounders slots. (Yuvraj or Irfan Pathan didn't do nearly enough and while Ravindra Jadeja did, he doesn't inspire fear in the opposition).
The bowlers: Malinga was a clear choice - devastating (18 wickets in 13 games) with an impressive economy rate of 6.3. Muralitharan nudges out Kumble & Warne (who should be in just for captaincy) due to an awesome economy rate of 5.22.
The closest call: RP Singh vs Ashish Nehra – the two leading wicket takers of the IPL. Strike rate of 15.1 vs 16.1 in RP’s favor and economy rate of 6.8 vs 7.2 in Nehra’s favor. However RP smiles more :-)

So incredibly for all those of us who have marveled at how last years bottom ranked team made it to the final, this table suggests that this should not be a huge surprise. The Deccan Chargers have 4 of their players in there – all match winners – more than any other team. If lightning strikes twice it will be another no contest.

So can Bangalore hope to do it (no entry in the dream team) ?

They can, precisely for the reason that they have no entry in the dream team.

The key difference between the two teams is that Bangalore has , since Kumble took over , played a total team game. Everyone from Kallis, Kumble, Dravid, Boucher , Taylor & Kumar to now Pandey, Kohli, Roelof Van Der Merwe have raised their hand and made it happen in bits and pieces to win 5 on the trot. So tomorrow’s game is between X factor players capable of winning matches on their own against a TEAM. Kumble's Team Bangalore.

Tomorrow's script will confirm whether T20 is about team work or inspired individuality!!!

So who the hell is Manish Pandey?

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sat, 23 May 2009 17:50:00 +0000

Born September 10, 1989 in Nainital Manish Pandey came to Bangalore when he was 15 and stayed back when his father was transferred to Rajasthan three years later. In those three years Pandey represented Karnataka at the Under-17 and Under-19 levels & also represented India in the U-19 World Cup in 2008(though he didn't get many chances in that winning side).

He played one U-19 test match against SA and scored 47 and has played fifteen U-19 ODI’s (mostly against Bangladesh) scoring 328 runs at an average of 32.8. He was with Mumbai Indians in IPL 2008 & as with other sound team selection decisions, they let him go!!!

What he will be remembered for though isnt any of this - its the magnificent 114 (73 balls) in the last league game & an equally important 48 (35 balls) to take them to the finals with 2 consecutive man of the match awards.

If he can repeat his performance against the Deccan Chargers in the final then one thing is for sure , Pepsi and Coke will be fighting to put that soft drink bottle in his hand!!!

The Australian effect part deux: A tribute to Adam Gilchrist

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:13:00 +0000

In this “young man’s” T20cricket guess who the top 2 run scorers are? Retired Australian batsmen!!!! Matthew Hayden at 546 runs so far (and he missed a couple of games) at an astounding average of 54.6 and a strike rate of 145 . And then there’s Gilchrist; 495 runs at a strike rate of 153 but most importantly a destructive 85 of 35 balls today to shut the Delhi Daredevils out of IPL 2009. What tragedy for the league leaders but they were outclassed by one of the all time great destructive innings. It was Adam Gilchrist vs. Delhi Daredevils and it was a no contest. I said in my post yesterday, don’t write Deccan off as the Australians can do it and Gilly did. So should we expect the other Australian to take Chennai through tomorrow or will it be the bottom 2 teams from the 2008 IPL to face off in the finals??

Watch this space…

4, 2 ka 1 - Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers; the Australian effect

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:06:00 +0000

So another incredible performance from a team that was almost written off after its first 5 matches. Bangalore did all of Mallya's euphemism's proud and suddenly looks like the team to beat from the pack of Delhi Daredevils, Chennai Super kings, Deccan Chargers and Bangalore Royal Challengers. So who will make it to the finals? Dare i make a prediction given that my semi final lineup prediction didn't really make it after Rajasthan lost a game they should have won? What the hell , here we go but one at a time.

Delhi DareDevils vs Deccan Chargers.

On paper you have to give it to Delhi. (i) Most wins in the league stage and clear tournament favorites at this stage (ii) Excellent batting line up with De Villiers, Dilshan and Karthik in great form and Sehwag and Gambhir hitting their stride now (iii) Surprise package bowling attack with Nannes, Nehra, Sangwan and Amit Mishra doing the job so well that they are keeping Vettori and McGrath out of the team (iv) They have defeated Deccan in all 4 previous IPL encounters.

Wow , Deccan should just give up and go home then?
Not at all. (i) They match Delhi in raw batting talent just as much if not more. Gilchrist and Gibbs, Symonds and Rohit Sharma pack a powerful punch (ii) RP Singh is the purple cap holder with the highest wicket and Pragyan Ojha has turned out to be a wily bowler and Symonds has a lot of experience (and is hurting to prove the Aussie selectors wrong) (iii) they have pulled off some very close games most notably against KKR (iv) the law of averages might just benefit them. However in balance , the bowling is weak with Ryan Harris scalping only 2 in the last 6 matches and Jaskaran Singh looks suspect.

The last word- Its all about Australia: Unless Gilly and Symonds fire its all over for the Chargers and Sehwag will have the last wallop.

So near yet so far.....5/6 is not too bad though

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Thu, 21 May 2009 03:56:00 +0000

Ok - so i got 5/6 predictions right in my post last week. Unfortunately the one i got wrong was the critical one. Both because it meant my personal favorite team is out but also because it has now rendered the remaining games somewhat irrelevant.

So Rajasthan came so close but threw it away. Once again a poor batting performance (Graeme Smith not being in the team for a cruical game will remain a question mark - though his performance justified being dropped. I think Warne got this one wrong - the already brittle batting was woefully exposed). But after having Kolkatta on the ropes at 42 for 6, they should have really closed this out. Rajasthan, the team that has pulled off last over victories miraculously(think Munaf Patel) and KKR the team that has lost in the last over against all odds (think Rohit Sharma) - surely this couldnt have happened. I was hoping till the last over but after the keeper fluffed 2 run out chances it was all over. In some ways a miracle that the team without Shane Watson, Sohil Tanvir, Graeme Smith making it even till here is probably a great outcome.

So I'll stick with my predictions for the rest of the league but given its all irrelevant, the teams might experiment and things could change. Predictions for the finals and winners tomorrow but can you imagine if this IPL is won by Vijay Mallya's not so long ago test team???? This season has been so unpredictable that anything is possible....

Answers to last week's trivia

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:19:00 +0000

No one got it all right so here goes

1. The cheerleader is janine kallis; jacque's sister working for chennai super kings!!!
2. kamran khan is the youngest; sanath jayasuriya the oldest player
3. fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com is the most visited cricket blog.
4. Sohail Tanvir had the purple cap last year.

Till next time

Ideal outcome for the remaing IPL games

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Mon, 18 May 2009 04:11:00 +0000

Here's something that i called out yesterday in terms of results - first two are on track; more to come...

-----Original Message-----
From: Thakar, Gautam
Sent: Sun 5/17/2009 1:22 AM
To: alokegupte@jp.com
Subject: ideal outcome

Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab - Punjab wins
Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals - Delhi wins
Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders - Kolkatta wins
Royal Challengers Bangalore v Delhi Daredevils - Blore wins
Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals - Rajasthan wins
Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab - Chennai wins
Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians - Mumbai wins
Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers - Deccan wins

This will be the ideal outcome in terms of excitement till the end and still have Delhi, Chennai , Rajasthan and Deccan qualify Not great odds of all of these happening but this is my pick so lets see...

So where did the Mumbai Indians fall short?

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:00:00 +0000

So what really happened to Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians?
1. Poor team selection: but enough about that in a previous post

2. Its the bastmen stupid: The bowlers actually did a fine job with an overall economy rate of 6.83. Funnily enough the Mumbai batsmen scored at exactly the same runs per over at 6.83. The other teams had a far worse economy rate with Delhi (7.31) Deccan (7.37) & Chennai(7.48). And clearly the batting is where they fell short. The comparables were Chennai (7.71), Deccan (7.46) and Delhi (7.21). A closer look also reveals that apart from Duminy no other batsmen really fired with Tendulkar barely crossing an average of 30 (each of the other teams had at least 4 batsmen averaging greater than 30). The youngsters never really clicked and Jaysuriya didn't fire.

3. Nerves & temperament:a. Lost to Punjab by 3 runs chasing just 119 b. Lost to Rajasthan by 2 runs needing 4 in the last over.

Am trying to be positive now. Good news is that the last year the Mumbai Indians had a poor team on all counts, did not hold their nerve and the youngsters didnt fire. At least they got the bowling right this year. Perhaps next year we'll get the batting right and the year after the youngsters wont be be young anymore....

Some Trivia for IPL 2009

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:28:00 +0000

Every match in the last few days has been close without any exception. Even today it went down to the wire in the Punjab Kings XI vs Delhi Daresdevils. Preity Zinta almost lost her bubbly smile as Yuvraj trekked back - till Irfan Pathan whacked those 3 sixes and got them over the line. With so many close matches this week i thought I'd not talk about the games as there's too much to say. Hence some trivia for the day.

First reply gets bragging rights:-) Hint:all the answers are somewhere in the blog.

1. Spot J. Kallis in the 'Picture of the week'?
2. Who are the youngest & oldest players in the IPL?
3. What is the single most visited cricket blog in the last 30 days?
4. Who was the purple cap winner last year?

I'll post the answers in the comments section of this post by the weekend but am hoping some of you get it before that. Till then...

Cliche - but cricket is the winner

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:36:00 +0000

What an unbelievable day at the IPL. Two super close games but nothing comes close to the Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals match. A critical make or break game for both teams.

1. Shane Warne vs Tendu/Sanath in the battle of the oldies (Victory to Warne in this round. Tendulkar lbw Warne, Sanath Jaysurya caught Pathan bowled Warne!!!)

2. Shipa Shetty vs Neeta Ambani in a battle of the owners. The visual of Neeta Ambani sitting meekly in the dugout and Shipla animatedly in the box. Perhaps thats another example of where the X factor lies and ultimately the 'X' factor saw Rajasthan through.

Who would have thought that Munaf would bowl the last over and give only 1 run while 3 wickets will fall!!!!! What a game. I have to say i was torn throughout (particularly as the little master was rampaging) but at the bottom of my heart was willing on last year's champions and the underdogs to go through.

The line up is still wide open and makes for a really exciting run up to the close.
Prediction: It will go all the way to the Raj/KKR as well as the Blore/Deccan game before we know who makes it.

Mumbai - proving me wrong???

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:49:00 +0000

Well - mixed emotions. I am super happy that Tendulkar is finally hitting his stride. Its been too long. And as disappointed as i was with the Mumbai Indians, i am hoping that they prove me wrong. I'd rather eat my words and have them go all the way than have them lose just to be right. After all I'm a home boy. So where does that leave us for the semi finals.

1. Delhi and Chennai in very safe position
2. Deccan - if they can win 2/4 they are through; great odds as they play Punjab, Blore & Kolkatta. Who knows , maybe they pull it off against Delhi tomorrow. So most likely will take the 3rd spot
3. Punjab - have to win 3/3 to be safe. Tough opponents in Delhi, Deccan and Kolkatta
4. Blore - also need to win 3/3 ; Delhi and Deccan but also the beleaguered KKR.
5. Mumbai - have to win 3/3 to be safe but given the shared point due to rain, may squeeze with 2.
6. And finally Rajasthan - need to win 3/3 to be safe but may squeeze in with 2 due to the rain point.

So its really close - and i am going to be so torn when Rajasthan play Mumbai. Unless by some crazy miracle, they both make it.

Till then , hoping Sehwag comes back against Deccan tomorrow and 'trumps' the score...

A royal dose of bad luck

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:07:00 +0000

So i have to admit that i am beginning to get worried for the Royals. Its been a team that's always lived on the edge and frankly has never had huge star power. But it pulled off the impossible last year and i was very confident they would make it to the semi finals this year. Call it a passion for the underdogs, faith in Warne's leadership or the their pinch hitters(Yusuf, Dmitri, Asnodkar).

But today they have been hit hard(of course they also performed poorly).
1. Their top bowlers get 'chucked' out (kamran and Amit)
2. Their star bowler and captain has a suspect hamstring and may be out of action for 10 days.
3. Shane Watson - last years player of the year - is denied permission by the Australian board on fitness grounds. Just a few days after playing Pakistan.
4. And what can you call Graeme Smith's (non)performance on his home turf except a terrible run of bad luck for the Royals!!!!!

So now the royals are with their backs to the wall. This calls for a change of tactics and teams. Warne needs to drive from the backseat and change the teams. Get back Dmitri & Tyrone , move Yusuf & Jadeja up the order and shame Smith (sledge him from his own dugout :-)) into scoring.

They need to win 2 out of 3 at least and i am praying that they pull off a last minute Houdini act. Perhaps their luck will turn when they face their final opponents in the last game - the only team that has created their own (bad) luck. The Kolkatta Knight Riders.

It's time for the 'owners' to motivate the team...Halla Bol

Fantasy cricket - IPL

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:55:00 +0000

Ok , this one is for me.
Many of you may have participated in cricinfo's fantasy league for cricket which has about 40,000 entries. How do i know that? - well, just enter a team today and you'll be bottom of the barrel and will rank somewhere around the 40,000 mark.

So as we enter the closing phases - I've ranked number 25 among that pool at the moment. Just feeling good and hence this post :-) Purely self indulgent. Here's the list of the top 30 with the San Jose Marathas at 25!!!

Anyway, hoping that Pathan does well in the Rajasthan vs Deccan game tomorrow - after all he is my trump for the day!!!!

Powerplay

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sun, 10 May 2009 18:54:00 +0000

Delhi continues its total powerplay demonstration for this IPL. And its amazing that they continue to do so well without playing Sehwag, Vettori and McGrath. The rock solid De Villiers and Dilshan combined with new find Nannes (if Sehwag rates him fastest faced and hardest to hit , he's got to to be something) and solid performances from Amit Mishra and Nehra. Its interesting that Delhi was always a top contender for this IPL before the tournament but largely due to the players who aren't playing (and Gambhir who hasn't fired). I cant but help worry if their dreams will come crashing down with one bad day in the office in the semi-finals. Perhaps the format of this IPL may come into question then but that's the story of another post.

The KKR - what can one say except that their horror run continue unabated. Its reached a point where one almost feels sorry for the team. Certainly for Brendon McCullum who has the task of answering intelligent questions from Rameez Raja like "so whats really going wrong - is it the foreign players or the local players or what?". Between Shahrukh, Buchanan and Dada , poor McCullum has been stuck and never really had a chance. Its all chronicled in the fakeiplplayer blog (which i think is going downhill now - very average behind the scenes insight now) so i wont go there. It is however a classic case of professional vs. owner managed businesses. (with a crazy coach). Move over Vijay Mallya , you've just been spectacularly unseated this season.

Maybe just maybe , a couple of the knight rider's last games will be very interesting in as much as the fact that they could determine the team that makes the 4th semi final slot. At least they can leave the tournament feeling like they made an impact on the outcome.

Till then, its just a knightmare....

End of day's play

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sun, 10 May 2009 01:06:00 +0000

So who will make the final 4 at the IPL?

Here's what i think.

Delhi because Viru will win 2 matches on his own in his remaining games. Any team good enough to win after keeping McGrath and Vettori on the bench has to make it.
Chennai: great momentum and in form batsmen in Hayden/Raina/Dhoni. And I have to believe that the back up power of Badri/Oram/Albie will provide enough firepower. Their bowling is somewhat weak & I suspect defending a below 150-160 score will be hard.
For the other two slots: On paper it’s between Rajasthan, Punjab, Deccan and Mumbai (i dont think the Bangalore run will sustain).

Punjab: ability to throw away matches (Yuvi, Irfan and even Sangakarra to an extent are in my mind not yet reliable)
Deccan: team may have peaked too early
Mumbai: needs to figure out batting strategy (what is shikhar dhawan’s role?). Jayasurya despite one hit is not the right guy.
Rajasthan: I think they will make it esp as Graeme Smith seems to be hitting form. The team has a much bigger X factor (think Pathan, Jadeja, Mascarenhas , Warne and Tyrone) and keep producing bowlers (munaf, kamran, amit singh etc).

So net, i think its Delhi, Chennai, Rajasthan for sure with a close call between Punjab (slight edge now with Brett Lee back) & Deccan. Sorry home boys of Mumbai but it is what it is – pay for poor selection.

Strategy break

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:21:00 +0000

So after a dismal showing by the Mumbai Indians, i spent a couple of hours doing an 'in hindsight' on the Mumbai Indians Team selection. Mostly because like every other citizen of the cricket nation i have strong views but also because i am genuinely not inspired by my home team. The key issue is that it doesn’t have have the 'X' factor and relies heavily on the aging openers. (Don't get me wrong, I am Tendulkar's biggest fan. However there's a reason why he's opted out of the T20 India team and why a youthful team won the world cup.
So keeping the following assumptions in mind, i am proposing my picks.
1. The max cap budget for the auction was 5M + 2M $ for this year.
2. Max 8 foreign players, 4 in playing 11 (no point having too many therefore)
3. Min 16 players to be chosen with a Min 4 to be under the age of 22.
4. Constraints of icons/captains unavailability + need to keep some local players
5. Player prices based on internet research - some scope for error here.

Name	Price $	Skill
Tendulkar	750000	Bat
Hayden	375000	Bat
Raina	650000	ARounder
Dilshan	250000	ARounder
Y Pathan	475000	ARounder
Bravo	220000	ARounder
A Nayar(22)	100000	ARounder
Ojha	50000	Bowl
Zaheer	450000	Bowl
Mailnga	350000	Bowl
P Shah (22)	100000	WK
Abdulla	300000	Bowl
D Kulkarni (22)	100000	ARounder
A Rahane (22)	100000	Bat
Warner	200000	Bat

Backup
De Villiers	300000	Bat
I pathan	925000	Arounder
Boucher	450000	WK
Harbhajan	750000	Bowl
RP Singh	875000	Bowl

The red is the playing 11. And the back up list is invoked if budget is 7M. This will likely be Harbhajan & Boucher and maybe one from RP Singh/Irfan (who are very expensive).

My controversial deletions are Jayasurya (past reliable sell by date) and Duminy (a million bucks!!! - don't tell me he's better than Pathan + Hayden + Dilshan). Just not worth it. Removing them also reduces Tendulkar's price (the icon's price is 15% higher than next highest player).

I think this team allows for a nice blend of experience (Tendu, Hayden, Zaheer, Dilshan), T20 expertiste (Raina, Yusuf, Nayar) and the X factor (Mailinga, YPathan, Warner, Abdulla)

What think?

Opening spell

noreply@blogger.com (12th man) — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:48:00 +0000

Hey everyone,

I thought I'd kick off my blog with a short introduction on why i started it. I have spent the last few weeks totally engrossed in following the IPL - from debating the team selection and potential semi-finalists (i still believe it will include Rajasthan despite the Chennai mauling today and Shane Watson being declared unfit) to spending hours on the cricinfo fantasy league (i was position 34 yesterday out of 40,000 participants).

So i thought why not create a blog to talk about it as also a general forum for fellow cricket afficionados to connect. I'm sure there are quite a few of these but over time i hope to make mine best in class for all those who really enjoy the game and like talking about it. For those who like myself are citizens of the global cricket nation.

I'd love your feedback and contributions.
More to come