Mumbai have been unlucky

First, they went and gave themselves the most unimaginative name possible: Mumbai Indians; then, they picked up an even cornier tagline: Duniya hila ke rakh denge.

As if that was not enough, they handed over the captaincy to Harbhajan Singh. If the bigwigs in Reliance do not wake up at least now, and show their famed brinkmanship, they might soon have to start buying helmets to hide their faces.

The first thing they can do is hilao the entire team itself.

Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock are, no doubt, two of the finest cricketers around; the only problem is they have been around for too long a time. They can still win matches on their own steam but they surely can’t do it consistently anymore.

In a format like the IPL, that should have been the buzzword. Worse, if you want to think a little ahead, of what value will they be a year or two hence? They are both professionals and will ensure they remain fit and sharp enough. But can we really expect them to make a difference in the future?

Mumbai Indians’ second biggest buy, not counting Sachin Tendulkar, was Harbhajan. One wonders whose idea it was to shell out close to 9 lakh dollars for a mercurial spinner, that too for a Twenty20 tournament.

Their other foreign purchases too are very interesting, to say the least. Ashwell Prince has played exactly one T20 game before this; Aussie imports Dominic Thornley and Luke Ronchi are not exactly wizards at this game either. Dilhara Fernando can be a handful though.

Their best buy was perhaps Lasith Malinga. The slinging fast bowler, however, pulled up with an injury, leaving the team way short on firepower. Dwayne Bravo can make an impact but sending a jet for an untested Ashish Nehra is another gem that only Tendulkar can explain.

The good news, however, is that the star performers of the first two rounds are on their way back home. The departure of the Australians and Kiwis is going to badly hurt the leaders: Team Chennai. Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, Team Hyderabad and Mohali are also going to be affected. Only Team Jaipur and the Mumbai Indians will not feel the pinch. They will continue to remain as strong or as weak as they have been so far. The MIs have quite a few local players: that means at least their hearts are in the right place. The question is: can these boys rise to the occasion.

Even before the Indian Premier League’s (IPL’s) first season draws to a close, all indicators seem to suggest that Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai Indians could be a write-off as far as the first year goes. Whether on or off the field, the Mumbai franchise has been unable to make its mark in its debut year.

On the larger canvas, this exodus will also mean a huge test for the IPL. Without so many mega stars, will the crowds continue to come to the stadia? Will they be excited about watching local players? Or will the fizz go out of the competition?

Boundaries Shortened For IPL Matches?

Have you folks noticed anything special about the boundaries at all the stadiums? They’re all looking very suspicious to me. In today’s Eden Gardens game, it looked like the boundaries had been pulled closed by about 3-4 meters! This was even very noticeable at the Bangalore Chinnaswami Stadium where the boundaries looked shorter by 2-3 meters. Someone got a six at Eden Gardens at just 68 meters!

It is conceivable that this has been purposely done to suit the Twenty20 format where the sixers matter more than anything else. By bringing in the boundaries closer, there are more sixes than what would otherwise have been easy catches. It also seems suspicious that so many sixes are getting hit, and that to soo easily, and not many catches at the boundary lines.

This, if true, is very disappointing. Its like the sixes are being manufactured!

Why did Sreesanth cry? 10 (stupid!) guesses

Man, for a moment I thought that “lions” do cry. LOL

Why the hell did Sreesanth cry like a baby after the end of the match? The Punjab X1 guys are babies? Rumors are that he had a connection with Preity.

But didn’t we also hear it earlier that he had a soft corner for Priyanka Chopra? Read the

The news channels told that Bhajji slapped him. He says it’s part of the game. Bhajji says that’s usual. And Preity did not even comment on it.

So what could be the reasons Sreesanth cried? Here are our guesses.

1. Because Preity hugged Brett Lee
2. Because Priyanka Chopra wasn’t present at the event
3. Because Bhajji slapped him
4. Because Preity didn’t bother to mind him at all and he was waiting for her.
5. Because the camera man avoided him and went towards Preity
6. Because he wasn’t playing for kerala
7. Because he overheard bhajji talking to Priyanka on the phone
8. Because nobody was congratulating him
9. Because he felt homesick
10. Because Preity congratulated him saying “Thanks Sree, I love you. This is my number……”

So what is the right answer? Clue - see pic below.

Super knock by Super cool Captain Dhoni helps Super Kings win

Indian Premier League Team - Chennai Super Kings continue to dominate the IPL under the Twenty20 World Champion captain. They have won four out of four matches here and they are looking ever so dangerous.Today they closed their innings with a moderate score of 178 thanks to Dhoni’s cool knock of 65 with 3 sixes.

Bangalore came to bat with all the hope to defeat their arch rivals playing in their home ground. Even it looked as if Rahul Dravid and his boys could pull a winner this time. But with once Taylor got out it was all the way for Chennai. Even with whatever bowlers Some silly running took toll on their nerves as well and they ended 13 runs short of the Chennai target.

Score:
Bangalore Royal Challengers: 165-all out (19.4 Ovs)
Chennai Super Kings: 178/5 (20.0 Ovs)
Chennai Super Kings win by 13 runs
Man of the Match - Mahinder Singh Dhoni

IPL teams will miss Oz power

Australian players were the most sought-after at the IPL auction despite the franchises being aware they would not be available for the full complement of matches. Leave alone the current players, even the retired guys like Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath were picked up with great delight by the bidders.

The franchises and the spectators have been rather lucky the Australian players have made an appearance in the early part of the league. They could turn up here only because their tour to Pakistan was put off because of the terror situation following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The teams have made the most of their availability and the players too have lived up to the reputation. They have made a huge impact on the IPL in the limited opportunity they have had.

But things will change here on and the teams will have to rework strategies and rethink options, because the Australian Test players will return home on May 1 to attend a five-day preparatory camp from May 5 ahead of the tour of West Indies. Luckily, the players who are part of only the Aussie One-day squad, like Shaun Marsh of Team Mohali and Shane Watson of Jaipur, will stick around till the end of the league as the ODI series starts from June 20, following the three-match Test series. The IPL concludes on June 1 with the final in Mumbai.

So, how many Australian players, most of whom have hogged the limelight in the initial stages, are presently with each of the teams? Cricket Australia had put a restriction of signing up only two centrally contracted players per each of the eight IPL teams. That should have restricted the number to 16. But Team Mohali have as many as five Australians in their ranks.

So how did they manage that? They signed up two centrally contracted players in Brett Lee and James Hopes. Simon Katich has been give a central contract only last week. However, as he has also been included in the Test team, he is required to quit the league and attend the camp. Hopes is only in the ODI squad and so will stick around till the end of the league. Team Mohali, to cover up for the departure of Lee and Katich, have roped in the up-and-coming duo of Shaun Marsh and Luke Pommersbach. They may be unknown names for Indian fans but are players with great potential. Marsh, son of former Australian wicket-keeper Rodney, has just been given a central contract and has been included in the ODI squad for the series against West Indies.

The influence of the Australian players on the IPL has been much in evidence. The Jaipur Shanes, Warne and Watson, are the perfect example: the two have inspired the cheapest team in terms of money spent at the auction and lifted the young guns to surprising heights.

Even Michael Hussey, who was not the favourite at the auction and was picked up by Team Chennai in subsequent rounds, surprised not only the cricket-followers but even himself but hammering a superb century at Mohali off just 50 balls, with fours and sixes flowing from his bat. Known to be a grafter and a nudger, he surpassed himself to give Chennai a rousing start.

Subsequently, Andrew Symonds (Hyderabad), Lee and Katich (Mohali), Matthew Hayden (Chennai), Adam Gilchrist (Hyderabad), David Hussey (Kolkata) and Glen McGrath (Delhi) have shone brightly for their respective teams and given match-winning performances. Ironically, the only team which has not opted to rope in Aussie stars is languishing at the bottom, losing all four matches. Mumbai have two unknown Aussies, Luke Ronchi and Domenic Thornely in their ranks, and they have not made worthwhile contribution. Is there a lesson for other teams in this?

Soon, most of the Aussie players will quit the league for national duties. How the teams will cope with their absence will be crucial when the league enters the next phase, with squads fighting for the semi-final berths.

Harbhajan Kicked Out Of IPL - A slap costs 3 crores!

It seems Harbhajan can’t get out of all controversies unscathed. The latest “slapping” controversy has proved costly for Harbhajan with the Match Refree slapping an 11-match ban on Bhajji. That effectively ends his IPL stint. And I’m inclined to say he deserved it.

This is not the first time Bhajji’s behaved like a 8-year old. Slapping folks is absurd behaviour in the game of cricket. I mean if you have something to say, let your bowling do the talking. Its stupid to get aggressive. I mean, agression is a part of cricket, and we’ve all agreed to draw the line at “sledging”. Say whatever you want, but absolutely no physical contact. The captains even signed a “spirit of the game” declaration at the start of the tournament, and the BCCI had made it abundantly clear right from the start that this kind of nonsense will not be tolerated. They’ve decided to make an example of Bhajji.

This has gone on for far too long with Bhajji. The controversy in Australia was border-line, and the Indian firmly stood behind him. But he’s been pushing his luck too far. This time he turned on one of his own. Absolutely unacceptable. Some folks in the blogosphere have made this about Sreeshant. The argument is that he behaved melodramatically with the crying and all. But that is beside the point. How Sreeshant reacted is a separate matter, and it doesn’t reduce the magnitude of what Harbhajan did. He totally deserved it.

The Australian media have predictably picked this up and flashed it all over. They’re still bitter (with some justtification) over the “maa ki - monkey” incident, and they’re eager to hang him for it. Well, he bought this upon himself.

Now this leaves the Mumbai Indians in a precarious situation. Sachin is still out injured, and they’ve lost 4 out of 4 games. Harbhajan’s outster couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Royal Challengers Commit Suicide

So its looking like its going well for the home team at Bangalore against the as-yet-unbeaten Chennai SuperKings. Two batsmen have gotten 50s, and the team needs to score at a comfortable 8 runs an over with 7 wickets in hand. Looks like its going to be an easy win from here for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

But then, inexplicably, the Royal Challengers just throw away their wickets. Rahul Dravid leads from the front, getting out on the very first ball - Yet Again! This is just absurd. How can a team collapse so thoroughly in just 5 overs?!? They must have been practicing!

The Bangalore Royal Challengers have put on disappointing performance after disappointing performance, with the team absolutely leaderless. Dravid is clearly having a lot of trouble adjusting to the Twenty20 format, both in terms of batting and captaincy. He’d better call up his India team-mate Dhoni, who, by the way, is doing a spectacular job for the Chennai SuperKings with the bat, the gloves and the captaincy hat.

Well done Dhoni! You’ve truly shown that you deserve to be the highest paid cricketer in the IPL!

No More CSK Ambassador

One more off the field controversy now. Nayanatara, Tamil film actress has been dropped as brand ambassador of Chennai Super Kings with immediate effect. As per the contract, Nayanatara had to appear for all the 7 matches of home team played at Chennai. Nayanatara did not turn up for the first match at home for Chennai IPL team against Mumbai on April 23. This apparently had irked the owner of franchise, Gurunath Meiyappan of India cements, which resulted in the omission of the actress.

Deal was signed for Rs.40 lakhs of which the actress was paid Rs.20 lakhs as advance. Now, Gurunath wants her to return back Rs.15 lakhs paid with Rs.5 lakhs being paid to her for her appearance in the inaugural function. On the other side, Nayanatara who was shooting in Hyderabad, maintains that she had fainted on the sets of Kuselan and was hospitalized, whereas the official communication from franchise states that they were kept in dark about this event till the start of the match.

DY Patil Stadium looks Gorgeous!

Mumbai’s brand new Dr. D.Y. Patil stadium hosted its first IPL match yesterday between the hosts Mumbai Indians and the Deccan Chargers. Apart from the blistering fastest-hundred-in-the-IPL-yet from Adam Gilchrist, the newest stadium in Mumbai was looking gorgeous!

The capacity crowd that game in was impressed too. It has three levels all around and can seat 55,000 people! The speciality of the stadium, apparently, is some new design that eliminates the need for pillars in the middle of the stands, giving spectators an unobstructed view of the match. The commentators also told us that the dressing rooms were exquisite, and the brand new seats were all very comfortable too. Interestingly, it apparently also has tennis courts and indoor badminton courts!

This is great news for infrastructure in India. We need a lot more stadia like these to suppliment the fireworks of the IPL.

IPL Cheerleaders under threat!!!

Well sometimes people just need to get a life.

One of the biggest plus points of the 20-20 format is the entire packaging. Everything from the time factor , pace, the way the players are seated in the dug-out, the cheerleaders, the performances makes it a good experience.

Well im still skeptical about the IPL though it has started with a bang and i still feel Subhash Chandra of ICL deserves some credit because BCCI are just cashing in. But im here to tackle something more grave....

Today the news channels were all running a story on the proposed ban on the cheerleaders in the IPL. Well my first reaction was "this is crap".........i mean these cheerleaders have been "imported" from US and they are actually training an Indian group of cheerleaders as well..........and clearly they are hot.........so who's the loser.....us......

Shatrugan Sinha says organisers are making a mockery of cricket. This ban has been proposed by the Maharashtra Government. I mean this is the height of hypocrisy. At one end you have your Rakhi Sawants and Mallaika Aroras getting paid in lakhs to perform on stage with even lesser clothes and then these people say this(cheerleaders) is degrading to the women and must be banned.

This is clearly the thing with us Indians, we claim to be moving forward and then we do something like this. Moreover they are fighting against this on the grounds of technicality claiming they do not have performance licences.

This is just too frustrating............one more argument was that there are people to cheer the teams and we don't need cheerleaders. WTF man.........the baseball games and basketball games in the US have more viewers and great crowds but its such a prestigious thing for them, cheerleaders have to go through rigorous training to get there.

Every time theres a 4 or a 6 or a wicket these guys just spring up and give their best and maintain their energy levels throughout and one must give them some credit for that.......if Bollywood can have meaningless item nos. then why not one for the IPL, well bollywood has come together with cricket here right???

I’ve always loved that statement. “Against Indian Culture”. It’s brilliantly ambiguous and convenient, and can be used to cover just about every topic under the sun. For starters I don’t believe in the existence of an “Indian culture”. No one in their right mind would ever equate Punjabi and Tamillian culture. Butter chicken might well be against Tamillian culture, and so on.

Maybe the government objects to the fact that “girls” are being used, since it didn’t seem to have a problem with Akshay Kumar throwing his shirt into the crowd. “Dances” ? Hmm, maybe the government expects us to stand at attention during an exciting cricket match ? That too seems unlikely. Which of course leads me to conclude that the only word in that statement which the government actually objects to is the part where the girls are “clad”. No need to go any further there, especially since the other day some guy who commented on my post on The IPL Blog told me he was still at school ! Close your eyes kid ! Don’t read this !

Seriously though I don’t see why there’s such a big fuss over this whole issue. Hours of media time are being wasted on an insignificant issue. At least I get to post an entry on The IPL Blog ! Sadly I don’t think that’s the case with all the politicians and T.V. channels. Maybe it’s a good thing ! Think about Shatrughan Sinha on The IPL Blog!

Sachin's absence prolongs agony

With Sachin Tendulkar continuing to miss matches in the IPL - the Sunday game against Team Hyderabad was the fourth he missed - people are beginning to compare the Mumbai Indians with the Mumbai team in the ICL, Mumbai Champs.

The Mumbai Champs' skipper Brian Lara played just a few matches in the inaugural edition, but missed all in the next one. And he cost Rs four crore. Sachin's case may turn out to be similar but Mumbai fans are getting impatient because the team needs the charismatic Sachin to lift their drooping spirits after three losses.

So why is Sachin's recovery taking time? According to orthopaedic surgeon Dr Dilip Nadkarni, who has worked at international tennis and squash events, rest is the only cure for a groin injury. Said the doc,"There is no surgery for groin injury. It is the body's repair mechanism that has to work. If there has been an old injury, a tear, the latest tear will take more time."

Sachin had the groin problem in Australia and team doc John Gloster had advised rest but he played the first Test against SA. The moot point was whether Sachin took adequate rest as advised by Gloster.

Happy belated B’day: Sachin's Top Five

The genius turned 35. For nearly two decades now, he's enthralled millions worldwide with his sheer brilliance. Do we expect more outstanding performances from him in the future? Only time will tell. It would be foolish to write him off - I personally look forward to watching him bat as only he can.

On a birthday which the entire cricketing community celebrates, as a humble fan-tribute I'd like to describe five of his best that I have seen (I begun watching him play from the 1996 World Cup).

1. 169 v/s South Africa at Cape Town
(2 Jan 1997)

During the initial phase of his captaincy, Sachin and Azhar got together at 58 for 5 in reply to an imposing South African total of over 500 at Newlands. What followed was an epic partnership in which both players matched each other stroke for stroke. They showed complete disdain for the likes of lightning fast Donald, immaculate Pollock, young tearaway quick Klusener and Brian McMillan. Sachin produced some beautiful hooks and square cuts, even playing on the up with ease. The partnership ended when Azhar was run out, yet Sachin continued till the end and was the last wicket to fall. Even though India went on to lose the match, it was a magnificent counterattack.

2. 104 off 97 balls v/s Zimbabwe at Benoni
(9 Feb 1997)

It was a do-or-die match for India. Surprised in the initial stages of the triangular ODI series by the Zimbabwean seam attack, India had to win at an increased run-rate to qualify for the finals. The target 241 off 40 overs. The pressure was on the Indian batsmen with an indifferent record in the series. India lost a couple of wickets early, but then Sachin began turning the screws - dancing down the track to play lofted shots straight down the wicket. The Zimbabwean hero of the series, Eddo Brandes, was taken to the cleaners early on as he was taken for 18 runs in an over in his first spell. Although Sachin got out with the end in sight, Jadeja and an in-form Robin Singh took India home in the final overs.

3. 143 off 131 balls v/s Australia at Sharjah
(22 April 1998)

An innings which needs no description. A couple of days before his 25th birthday, India again were in a do-or-die situation, needing to chase and score 237 off 46 overs to qualify for the finals. Not a daunting target, but as usual, Sachin was running out of partners pretty fast - Mongia contributed as a pinch-hitter and Laxman stuck around near the end, but that was it. As some of the newspapers described it the next day "A storm of runs in the midst of a sandstorm". Play was interrupted in between, but Sachin put on a belter of a display, hitting five towering sixes in the process. Not only did India qualify for the finals, at one stage it looked like Sachin would dispatch any delivery bowled to him outside the ropes. He followed up this innings with a particularly classy 134 in the finals, helping India win the Coca-cola Cup in the process, on his birthday.

4. 136 v/s Pakistan at Chennai
(28 January 1999)

Perhaps his best test knock ever. Also, perhaps the most tragic. Reduced to 82 for 5 while chasing a target in excess of 270 on the final day of a dusty track, India looked towards its favourite son to deliver - and boy, did he deliver! Finding an able partner in Nayan Mongia (again!) who was willing to stick around, Sachin fought the pitch and his own back to produce a gem of an innings. Finally his back gave way and he departed with India just 16 behind and three wickets in hand. Pakistan won by 12 runs. It definitely has to be the best test innings to end in defeat.

5. 98 off 75 balls v/s Pakistan at Centurion
(1 March 2003)

An innings which powered India's charge to the finals in the 2003 World Cup. Talks of Sachin being past his prime were doing the rounds prior to the team touching down in South Africa. All of that was cast aside as Sachin toyed with the star-studded bowling lineup of Akram, Waqar and Shoaib Akhtar to set up India's run-chase and qualify for the super sixes. His six over third man off Shoaib became legendary, to say the least. He was unfortunate to miss out on a hundred as cramps took over, but Yuvraj and Dravid saw the team safely through the end overs.

All of these are examples which epitomize the fire, passion, class and pure genius that is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. I salute you on your 35th birthday. May you continue to delight us for days to come!

Double-bluffs and goof-ups – Best moments of yesterday’s match

Jaw-dropping shot of the day

Brendon McCullum briefly threatened to reprise his smash-a-thon. The shot that would have caused the most jaws to drop was the six in the third over, when he pulled Jacob Oram off the front foot, a shot so ferociously struck that it sailed over midwicket for a big six. It was just slightly short but more than enough for McCullum. He had already reclaimed the orange cap from Kumar Sangakkara, an honour bestowed on the highest scorer in the tournament.

Double bluff

Oram got his revenge with the next ball: a fuller one that slightly left the batsman. McCullum's flick didn't work and the leading edge ballooned straight up for extra cover. The next ball produced another wicket. It was full and in the slot for the drive but the slightly slower pace undid Ricky Ponting, who drove straight to cover, and fell for his second successive duck of the tournament.

Saha runs out of luck

Wriddhiman Saha paddled, top-edged and tried innovative sweeps to break the shackles. Up against an accurate Manpreet Gony, the medium-pacer, he top-edged a four over the keeper before replicating a similar shot for six, way over the ropes. Gony, visibly frustrated, followed up with a full, quick, in-ducker and was duly rewarded: Saha castled by one that ripped through the yawning gap between bat and pad.

Shukla goofs up

It was an unusual way to be run-out but credit must go to the Chennai fielders for thinking on their feet. With two balls to go in the innings, Laxmi Ratan Shukla couldn't put away a yorker but Ishant strangely seemed intent to get the strike. Dhoni immediately threw the ball back to the bowler (Joginder Sharma) and Ishant had run too far. The bowler, though, didn't take the bails off immediately and waited for Ishant to start his walk to the pavilion. Once Ishant got into the striker's end, Dhoni spotted Shukla out of the crease and signalled to Joginder to take the bails off. It prompted Parthiv Patel to rush the bowler and urge him to break the stumps. One batsmen misjudged the run but the other had to go.

King Khan missing

After cheering his side for the first two matches, Shah Rukh Khan was nowhere to be seen today. He and his Bollywood retinue egged on the Kolkata side in their previous match but here they had to make do with Juhi Chawla, the actress, trying her best to cheer them on in the stands.

Power one, caress the next

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has shown to be a versatile batsman and nothing exemplified it more than his two shots off Shukla towards the end of the run-chase. The first, a wide ball, was slashed away furiously through third man for four before the second, a full one on off, was paddled deliciously past short fine leg. First the grenade, then the flower.

You know why Bhajji slapped Sree?

It seems there was an off-camera incident yesterday, after the Mumbai Indians lost yet another match to the Kings XI. It seems after the match, Sreesanth walked up to Bajji and said “Hard Luck”. This apparently pushed Bajji over the edge and he slapped Sreesanth.

Harbhajan Singh has courted several controversies in his career but slapping his teammate Sreesanth after the Indian Premier League match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI in Mohali Friday night will be right up there in the off-spinners' list of misdemeanors.

The tweaker, better known as the 'Turbanator', has a poor disciplinary record and has time and again landed in soup for his tongue. Known for losing his cool at the slightest provocation, Harbhajan's run-ins with the Australians are well documented.

IPL Teams - PROGRESS REPORT after 1st week

All teams have played at least two match each in the season. Lets look what they have done and what they have to offer…The points given for batting, fielding and bowling are calculated considering what has been done in the concluded matches plus what they are likely to do in the future course of the league.

Royal Challengers
This team looks in better shape after their first win in the second match.Opening looks solid with Chanderpaul replacing Jaffer. Dravid might not be the bludgeoner but his presence at crease is calming to the nerves of the squad. Kallis and Boucher seem to be coming into form and it spells ominous for the opponents.

Fielding looks sharp. Virat Kohli has showed flashes of brilliance in the field and with the bat in hand.

Bowling is good and arrival of Steyn and a fit Kumble will make matters difficult to manage for opposing sides.

Batting – 7 out of 10
Fielding – 8 out of 10
Bowling – 8 out of 10 (but it could easily go to 9 or even 9.5 with Kumble and Steyn joining)

Chennai Super Kings
Hayden and Hussey have pulled of the two wins for the team. Raina, Parthiv, Dhoni and Badrinath are also middling the ball. But with Hayden, Hussey and Oram set to leave after two matches, the batting will be considerably weakened.

Fielding is very good and is likely to be the same even after the departure of the stars. Raina, Badrinath and Parthiv will look to pull of half chances in the field.

Murali is bowling very well and so are Joginder Sharma, Gony and Amarnath. Bowling will be further strengthened by the arrival of Makhaya Ntini.

Batting – 7.5 out of 10
Fielding – 9 out of 10
Bowling – 7 out of 10

Deccan Chargers
With three losses in three games, the team looks to be out of sorts but it is only half truth. The team was caught on the wrong foot batting first on a disaster of a cricketing pitch at Kolkata. They went down fighting against Rajasthan Royals. They are likely to pick up in next few matches.

Arrival of Gibbs will add fire power to the line up. But they will badly miss Symonds when he leaves for West Indies. At the moment, captain Laxman looks to be the weak link owing to his inability in scoring quick runs.

Apart from Rohit Sharma, Symonds and Afridi, fielding is average.

Bowling looks reasonably fine and will be strengthened when Styris replaces Symonds.

Batting – 8 out of 10
Fielding – 7.5 out of 10
Bowling – 7 out of 10

Delhi Daredevils
This is the team that looks to be on fire, steam rolling. Batting looks solid but hasn’t yet been really tested. And this could be there only undoing. Sehwag is bound to hit some and miss some. But when he hits he will more often than not win the match for his team.

This is the best fielding side in the league. De Villiers or Dilshan joining the eleven will only make it sharper.

The bowling looks superb with Mc Grath, Asif, Maharoof and Vettori not ready to offer any loose balls. But the truth is that, nobody has tried to take the attack to them as yet.

Batting – 7.5 out of 10
Fielding – 10 out of 10
Bowling – 9 out of 10

Kings XI Punjab
They have lost both their matches and one was to Rajasthan Royals. They undoubtedly have world class batsmen but seem to lack fire power. Apart from Hopes and Yuvraj nobody has shown the ability to hit big sixes.

Fielding is quite good but it can only supplement the bowling which is not in tune at the moment.

On paper, they have a very good bowling attack but have been unable to perform. Sreesanth has not had control. Lee’s pace is aiding shot making. Piyush Chawla has been totally ineffective. But encouragingly, Pathan seems to be in a very good rhythm. The good with them is that, things can only get better.

Batting – 7.5 out of 10
Fielding – 9 out of 10
Bowling – 8 out of 10

Kolkata Knight Riders
Knights seem to be riding on the laurels of Mc Cullum and a poorly tailored pitch. Batting has got a boost with the arrival of Gayle. But when Ponting and Mc Cullum leave after next two matches, it will be a big jolt. Ganguly is in no form at all and doesn’t look fit for this version of the game. David Hussey and Hafeez could be the men to look out for.

Hussey, Ponting and Hafeez are good fielders but not much to speak about else.

Ishant Sharma and Murali Kartik have been the stand out bowlers. They have shown tremendous accuracy and control. Inclusion of Gul would give an extra edge.

Batting – 6.5 out of 10
Fielding – 7 out of 10
Bowling – 9 out of 10

Mumbai Indians
Although the team has lost both its matches but they have been very closely fought. Youngsters have encouraged one and all and a fit Tendulkar would spell ominous for oppositions.

Batting has looked good but they are missing the presence of Tendulkar at the top. Uthappa looks in good knick and Nayar has impressed with some lusty hitting. Also Jayasuriya and Ronchi must stand and be counted now.

Fielding is reasonable with Uthappa and Harbhajan leading the way.

All the bowlers have been good in patches, but they need to get their act together now. Pollock and Nehra should take the responsibility up front.

Batting – 8 out of 10
Fielding – 8 out of 10
Bowling – 8 out of 10

Rajasthan Royals
Everybody had written them off before the tournament and nobody believe the CEO, Fraser Castellino when he said that they had a strategy and had formed a good team for T20 cricket. They nailed Kings XI first and then shot down pre tournament favorites, Chargers on their home turf.

Batting may not be that star studded but is certainly effective. Yusuf Pathan, Watson and Jadeja can hit big and Kaif can grind and hold and Smith can play both the roles. Kamran Akmal could massacre the bowlers on his day. When Mascarenhas joins in, it would be party time.

Fielding is very good. Pathan, Kaif, Smith and Watson are live wires on the field. Munaf lets them down in fielding at times.

Bowling has not been that good but Warne seems to be getting in the groove and Siddharth Trivedi, the youngsters has shown that he is special. The advantage they have is that, they have many options.

Batting – 7.5 out of 10
Fielding – 9 out of 10
Bowling – 7 out of 10

Royal Challengers getting Royally Screwed

The Rahul Dravid led Royal Challengers suffered their second defeat at home, and that too at the hands of the “dark horses” Rajasthan Royals. If you saw the game, it was quite clear that the Bangalore team was not jelling together as one team. When Dravid was asked at the start of the game how he was “adjusting” to T20, he replied “oh, its great fun, you know… blah blah”. And when he came in to bat, he was out, the very first ball.

The Royal Challengers in my opinion are having the same problem the Deccan Chargers are. They have a good team on paper, with lots of big-ticket names, but they’re not doing a good job playing as a team. Twenty20 in particular needs a very agressive vibe on the field, during both batting and feilding.

Compare these to the Shane Warne led Rajasthan Royals. I must say, Shane Warne has done a spectacular job leading the team both as captain and as coach. The youngsters in the Jaipur side were all behind their captain, they all knew what exactly they were supposed to do, and how to co-ordinate amongst themselves. They looked very sure of themselves on the team.

The Royal Challengers, on the other hand, looked completely lost at their own home ground. Well, its still early days in the game, and things can change rapidly, but the Royal Challengers need to pull together, and quickly.

Aussies Dominating IPL!!

The Australian players are thoroughly dominating the IPL series in the Indians’ own backyards! Splitting up the IPL teams nation-wise is probably not a good idea, but lets just do it for experiment’s sake. When you look at the IPL that way, it is quite clear that the best has by far come from the Aussies. The Hussey brothers have smashed match-winning knocks, Hayden is scoring big every game, Symonds hit the fastest 100, Watson is being increasingly confident with the bat. And the deadly trio of Warne, McGrath and Bret Lee have lifted the quality of bowling in the Twenty20 format. I can’t but resist and ask the question: Why is this?

One obvious answer is that the Aussies are probably the best team in the world, and even their individual players are capable of pulling out miracles by themselves. That, although factually true, doesn’t really explain it for me. We know of a few other Indian players that fit that qualification, but are not doing too well in their own home grounds.

I think the bigger reason is that of motivation. First, and obviously, is the money. The Aussies can make significantly more money by playing in the IPL, and they seem to have a strong desire to come back next year. And the player-trading game and salary-negotiations-game are all looking like they’ll start next year, and the Aussies want to capitalize on this. There are some obviously overpaid and underpaid players in this season, and it is inevitable that a rationalization will take place at the end of the series. The Aussies look to benefit the most!

The second reason is the raw will to dominate all forms of cricket. The Australians have not been taking Twenty20 very seriously over the last few years, preferring to focus on their traditional strengths of Test Matches are ODIs. But after Twenty20 suddenly burst on the screen this year, the Australians now can’t get their heads off of it.

Whatever the reason, its great entertainment watching these folks play everyday. But the party for the Australians is going to come to an end soon, with several of the players returning this week to play for the national side. We’ll see what happens after that!

TO BAN OR NOT TO BAN…

Cheerleaders are taking Indian cricket by storm, but some are wondering if this conservative South Asian nation is ready for dancers with bulging breasts and gyrating bellies parading in packed stadia.

Many foreign cheerleaders have been imported to India with this month's inauguration of the India Premier League (IPL): a shortened form of traditional cricket that transforms the game into a more glitzy US-style sponsored sport event.

But some outraged politicians say it is an affront to Indian culture while a few of the cheerleaders themselves complain lewd comment and insults from spectators is making their job a misery.

The self-proclaimed moral police of Monday attacked the cheerleader concept that has been imported to India. Minister of State for Home Siddharam Mhetre apparently finds the cheerleaders “absolutely obscene”, and finds it especially disgusting since we are in a country where “Womanhood is worshiped”. He’s talking about a ban on cheerleaders, and will certainly not allow them to perform in Mumbai.

I wonder if the honorable minister has been watching Bollywood item numbers lately? He may have a point, but this holier-than-thou attitide is not winning him any friends (but it may win him lots of votes, unfortunately).

Be associated with everything popular and make a controversy. That’s what the rule book these so called ‘moral police’ follow.
I hate this vote bank politicians. They need some REAL work to do. There are many issues to be tackled before you talk about woman worship and other such politically correct sounding nonsense. Control female infanticide first, you moronic Babus.

"It's been horrendous," Tabitha, a cheerleader from Uzbekistan,

"Wherever we go we do expect people to pass lewd, snide remarks but I'm shocked by the nature and magnitude of the comments people pass here."

Who’s leaving and Who’s coming?

The coming weeks will see some Australian, New Zealand and West Indian players leaving to play for their countries. Lets take a stock of who’s leaving and who’s coming in. The re-org would shake up teams a bit in their upcoming matches which could reflect in the final result.

Bangalore Royal Challengers
Ashley Noffke and Ross Taylor leave on May 1
Shivnarine Chanderpaul will leave on May 15
Misbah-ul-Haq has arrived
Dale Steyn will arive on April 27

Chennai Super Kings
Hayden and Hussey leave on May 1
Jacob Oram catches the flight on April 30
Stephen Fleming will not be on bench
Makhaya Ntini will arrive on April 27

Delhi Daredevils
Daniel Vettori leaves on April 30
AB de Villiers will arrive on April 27

Deccan Chargers
Andrew Symonds will leave on May 1
Gibbs will get into action

Rajasthan Royals
No one’s leaving
Graeme Smith, Younis Khan, Sohail Tanveer have arrived
Dimitri Mascarenhas will available between May 12 to 26

Kolkata Knight Riders
McCullum will leave on April 30
Ponting will leave on May 1
Chris Gayle will leave on May 15
Salman Butt, Tatenda Taibu and Umar gul will fill the void

Kings XI Punjab
Brett Lee, Simon Katich and Kyle Mills will leave on April 28
No foreign replacements coming in

Mumbai Indians

Dwayne Bravo will leave on May 15 Loots Bosman will arrive on April 27 Domnic Thornley will be fit to play from the third match

Deccan chargers - The stoppables

All the star power in one team is not doing any good to the Deccan Chargers. Three consecutive matches lost by the Deccan Chargers. I feel that the bowling is too weak and some innovative captaincy is required from the Deccan team to bounce back. Something is just not working for the team even though they play well. The line of loosing and winning is too thin in Twenty20 and the need to be on the side of winning is what one needs to master in Twenty20.

The match between Super Kings and Mumbai Indians also had a thrilling finish. Super Kings held their nerves to notch a victory. The same scene repeats for Deccan Chargers need to defend 17 runs in their last over and Shane warne belts to glory making the chargers as ‘The Stoppables’ compared to their tag line of ‘The Unstoppables’.

Deccan Chargers need some re-org and need to have some good bowling replacement ordered at the earliest. Few things what Deccan chargers may think of doing…

1. Get a good bowler who can bowl along with RP (Wonder who is available from the International arena)
2. Captaincy to Gilchrist
3. Always bat second when it is a good batting pitch as the bowling is weak
4. Bowl smart
5. May be try Nuwan Zoysa for a match instead of Vassy

New Strategies Start Emerging!

Its been almost 2 weeks since the IPL kicked off, but the intense competition has already seen the rise of a few unique strategies in this format of the game. Here’s some of new strategies and tactics I’ve noticed the players using:

1) The Wicketkeeper’s job has become more difficult
The wicketkeeper is facing all kinds of new problems in the short version of the game. The foremost problem, of course, is that the batsmen are stepping out far more often, and not just against the spinners. This presents the keeper with an interesting problem while the medium pacers are bowling. Should he stand up at the wicket to put some pressure on the batsman? But keeping at the wickets for medium pacers is quite risky, with the batsmen flashing the bat all the time, it makes it difficult to watch the ball. Plus, the batsmen move around the crease all the time, and the wicketkeeper has to keep up with all that.

Yesterday, Ronchi was standing up to Pollock! I saw Gilchrist stand up to Vaas the other day too!

2) The Proliferation of the “Lob” shot.
Apart from the big hitting slogging that the batsmen have been doing, some of them have even perfected what I can best describe as the “lob” shot. It looks like a tennis shot, attempting at hitting a boundary over fine leg. This shot was rarely seen in the ODI format (and certainly not in the Test format), but batsmen have now adapted it for Twenty20. Hayden was yesterday playing the “reverse lob” with some success too!

After the game, one of the commentators caught up with Hayden and asked him if he’d been practicing the shot, and Hayden was not ashamed to admit he was! He said, rightly so, that in T20, these kinds of shots are essential in a batsman’s armory. Well done! Innovation at its best!

3) The return of the full toss.
I’m not sure this is a “feature or a bug”, but I’ve noticed that bowlers are using the full toss with increasing frequency in T20. The reason I say this might be an un-intended ball is that bowlers are mostly looking to hit the block-hole, and not getting it quite right. The result is a low full toss. But I’m not so sure.

Bajji and Warne (and even McGrath to some extent) have been seen using this ball with success! I think the reasoning is that if you ball it fast enough, the full toss may come as a surprise, and is difficult to hit for a six, especially if it is high enough. And in T20, the one’s and two’s don’t matter as much, it’s preventing the boundaries that matters. It’ll be interesting to watch the matches to see if this ball can become the “slower delivery” equivalent of the ODI.

Apart from these big three, I’ve also noticed some interesting things that I can’t really figure out. For example, have you noticed how there are lots of left-handed batsmen in some teams? The Super Kings had 5 of the 6 top batsmen left handed. I can’t figure out if this is an accident or they’re using some sort of strategy.

Another interesting thing is that the game seems to be going towards specialization instead of all rounders. I don’t have enough data to prove this, but I’m watching this carefully. Have you guys noticed some interesting strategies as well?

A visit to Wankhede - Where is the tri-colour??

The tri-colour is one of the key features at all the venues where the Indian cricketers play. The first thing that strikes you as one nears the Wankhede Stadium, the venue of the Match five in the Indian Premier League between hosts Mumbai Indians and Bangalore Challengers, is the absence of vendors selling the tri-colour. Even the small-time painters, who paint the faces of fans in saffron, white and green, were nowhere to be seen.

Once inside, the only flags that were fluttering were of the Mumbai Indians. The Team India T-shirts and hats were also replaced by the Mumbai Indian merchandise. Less, they might have been, but there were sure signs that the people were ready for the club-base loyalties.

Well, one might ask why such a kind of enthusiasm is missing when the Mumbai Ranji side plays the Karnataka Ranji side? Perhaps, the answer lies in the marketing of the game.

Azhar’s a VIP here

Mohammed Azharuddin might be an untouchable for the cricket’s world governing body, the International Cricket Council, but there are enough in the Indian cricket board who do not lose any opportunity to get in touch with him. The former Indian captain, who played 99 Test matches for the country and is still to completely come out of the match-fixing shadow, was yesterday, along with wife Sangeeta Bijlani, seated in the VIP stand of the stadium and there was no dearth of people coming to him to exchange plesantries with him including the BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty and Indian team's chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar. A number of players who were able to make eye contact with the stylish Hyderabad batsmen also too didn't lose the opportunity to acknowledge his presence.

The ICC has in the past banned Azhar from commentating during international matches. Azhar has been visiting grounds during the domestic matches in India and although the IPL is not recognized by the ICC, his presence in the VIP box of a stadium which is hosting a match with so much money at stake should raise some eyebrows.

Bollywood touch

As expected there was no dearth of glamour during the match. The cheerleaders, the blaring music and the Bollywood stars were all in place for the first match of the Mumbai Indians. Minutes before the start of the match, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan took laps of the ground putting the much-needed energy into the crowd. The three feature in the upcoming Bollywood flick Tashan along with Akshay Kumar. Kumar, of course, in the brand ambassador of Delhi Daredevils and so was not present here.

Isn’t this cricket tamasha?

Whether at a political rally or at a cricket stadium, crowds are the indicator of public enthusiasm. We are habituated to manufactured crowds creating successful political rallies. It’s even customary to give out complimentary tickets to fill out cricket stadiums. But the brazenly massive scale of that crowd-packing by event-management companies and the local associations in most of the IPL matches has been staggering.

Returning from Bangalore, a co-passenger in the aircraft after reading the newspaper reports of the IPL inauguration said; are Indians getting this game bastardized? The gentleman felt the game has a history and not at the cost of the history that we should twist the rules for us to get entertained with cheerleaders and publicity hungry celebrities.

I tried to reason out the benefits of the T20. Fielding and running between the wickets will improve. Pacers would try varieties on their own and not expect a signal from the captain. Prodders will go out of the game. No more ‘Hang around and runs will come’. It will now be 'Get runs or you will be hanged'.

Apart from Warne and Muralitharan all spinners are getting thrashed. The art of spin bowling is dead. There are no replacements for Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

What about batting? Arjuna Ranatunga made a pertinent point that just as we in the subcontinent made a mistake in adopting the fast and power-packed European hockey, we are again making a mistake by getting into the power game of T20. Now it will be strength plus skill.

All the Indian international batsmen after the first round realized that proper cricketing shots will fetch you more runs than trying unconventional shots. When you are batting, you are constantly trying to out-think a bowler with these unconventional shots. That a bowler has ten fielders to short-circuit your moves is forgotten.

Something needs to be done immediately. Indian cricket, if not controlled, is in trouble. It’s the duty of Tiger Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri who are members of the IPL governing council to act before the situation goes out of hand

What does Sreesanth think of himself?

The way Sreesanth behaved that day in the match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab was horrible. He is too arrogant and may be because of which the team lost. He is playing along with the world’s fastest bowler Brett Lee who carries so well on the field. Sree should learn to behave well.

The oomph factor… Cricket Item Number

They are pompoming their way through what was once considered gentlemen's game, played in a staid and time-honoured manner. Today, it has metamorphosised into a 20-over circus, with Bollywood stars, fire shows the works. Oh, and the cheerleaders. In their itsy-bitsy dresses, in-your-face actions and those pom-poms, the young women are quite some crowd pullers.

Mostly foreigners, they are getting as much eyeballs as the men in white, oops make it yellow, orange, gold, black, fluorescent reds. In fact, the male of the species is walking in especially to have a dekko at these oomphy beauties.

Milking the Cash Cow!

Amidst boycotts and controversies, SET Max management are smiling all the way to the bank. SET Max has won the jackpot of broadcasting the IPL matches, much bigger than the cash pot it found during the world t20 days in South Africa. With IPL’s popularity growing day by day Sony has raised its ad rates from the current average rate, which is Rs.2.15 lakhs for 10 seconds to Rs.3-3.5 lakh. More on that, for the last 10 matches rates could go upto Rs.4 lakhs! Compare these with ad rates at the time of ODI world cup(Rs.1.5 lakhs/10 sec) and T20 World Cup(Rs.2 lakhs/10 sec) Sony has depicted IPL as ‘manoranjan ka baap’. Now it is turning out to be ‘ad rates ka baap’ too!

And the advertisers; they are a game too. They too want to play the game though entry fee is expensive! Though the ad rates are quite high that is not turning away the advertisers and why not when you are reaching a much bigger audience!

Importing Cheerleaders! (The NY Article)

IN the blink of an eye, India has gone from faith, prudence and chastity to ... Brittany, Courtney and Tiffani. On Sunday, a team of Washington Redskins cheerleaders landed in Bangalore to help create India’s first cheerleading squad.

According to the Redskins’ Web site, the cheerleaders will “conduct a national audition of Indian women.” The aim of the exercise is to set up a squad of indigenous pompom wielders for the Bangalore Royal Challengers, one of eight teams that will play in the Indian Premier League, a rich new Indian cricket league.

“Cheerleading is a unique American spirit and the fact that it is now a bridge into India and their national sport cricket, speaks to the world vision of the Washington Redskins,” said an American spokesman involved with the effort. But it speaks to other things, too. It shows how brash India has become, and also how this brash new India has transformed cricket — once the most staid of sports — into a game that is perilously close to a circus.

Yet how paradoxical it is, and how delightful, that Bangalore, a city that has leapt to global prominence on the back of work outsourced by America, is now itself outsourcing from America — outsourcing glamour, no less. How will India respond to cheerleading? An old language scholar I spoke to declared himself unsure of what a Hindi neologism for “cheerleader” might be. He offered “utsaah-pradarshak naari” — “a woman who displays enthusiasm” — as a candidate.

But when I countered that the job of the woman was as much to spur on a crowd as to spur herself on, we agreed that “utsaah-utpaadak naari” — “a woman who generates enthusiasm” — might be more apt. (We ruled out “utsaah-utpaadak-pradarshak naari” — “a woman who displays and generates enthusiasm” — on grounds of unwieldiness, although we have a sneaking suspicion that Hindi speakers will simply import “cheerleader” into their lexicon, as a loan word from English.

Inevitably, moral scolds — of which India, as a society, has a surplus — will write letters to the editor complaining about the vulgarity/anti-Indianness/neocolonialism of the cheerleaders. It is conceivable, too, that there will be demonstrations outside the cricket stadium by women’s groups and Hindu fundamentalists.

All this, however, pales when compared to the broader lessons. With the Redskins cheerleaders on Indian soil, one can safely declare that the British cultural influence in India has been entirely replaced by an American one, cricket notwithstanding. India’s relationship with the United States — economic, strategic, diasporic and cultural — is now its primary external alliance, with a complex nuclear deal at one end of the spectrum and 12 cheerleaders and two choreographers at the other.

First day, First Show

What a Show! The IPL show kicked off with a spectacular show today that absolutely was world class. The stadium was absolutely jam packed - some 50,000 people crowded in to the Chinnaswami Stadium to see what kinds of stunts will be in store. And they were not disappointed. Shankar Mahadevan was absolutely brilliant, as he came out to one of the better live performances that I’ve seen. He sang several songs, including the hit “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”, quite apt for this occasion.
There was no shortage of fancy-shmonshy laser shows, and fancily dressed performers doing their thing. Lots of song-and-dance with floating dancers, dancers on stilts and Japanese models in bubbles and all kinds of interesting showgirls! At one point, there were 8 acrobats apparently hung mid air holding the flags of the 8 teams! It was quite brilliant if you were in the stadium! But the real show-clincher for me was the fireworks show. The whole sky over the stadium was like it was on fire, the dark of the night completely overwhelmed by all kinds of fireworks. Spectacular!
And as Ravi Shastri introduced the captains, the stadium thundered with applause. Rahul Dravid, Laxman, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Ganguly and Sehwag received roaring applause. Even Shane Warne received a noticeably loud applause from the audience. They’ve certainly warmed up to the idea of foreigners playing (and even leading) the IPL teams. But it was Sachin who received the biggest roar by far! Well, no matter which team he’s leading, the little master always demands loads of respect! The stadium even broke out in chants of “Sachin… Sachin…” . Fun Stuff!

IPL ads making me sleep!

Is it just me or are the ads that are coming out of the teams very inspid? With all the resources, the star power and the big budgets, I certainly had expected much more out of it. I think everyone’s gotten a bit carried away with all the ads.
Take for example, the Kolkata ad. All the Viking-with-the-helmet ads are just plain silly, but the one starring SRK is pretty good. I have just one problem with it - It barely shows a bat and ball, and looks a LOT like a SRK item number. Now, we’re certainly not experiencing a SRK-item-number-drought, with SRK making an appearance on prime time TV several times a day with all his ads. Do we really need another of his item number?


This phenomenon, for reasons that I don’t really understand, has spread everywhere. The newest Mumbai Indians ad features Hritik Roshan and a kid, and guess what, its another item number. Now, don’t get me wrong, Hritik is a great dancer and all, but I absolutely don’t want to see him in a cricket team ad. The Mohali ad is slightly better, with at least some pretence of introducing cricket into the ad, but it is again quite clear that the whole ad revolves around Preity Zinta. And I can’t even understand what Vijay Mallya is doing in the cricket ad?

IPL Tickets: An Analysis

The ticket prices across the board have taken me by surprise, quite honestly. The ticket prices vary dramatically not only across stadiums, but even at the same ground, the ticket prices are priced widely. Coupled with the marked lack of interest at some venues of the tickets, this is quite surprising.
I think the owners had seen this coming, and have tried to price the tickets appropriately. The Mohali stadium, for example, is offering a large number of tickets for 50 bucks! 50 bucks!?! That’s way cheaper than Coffee at Coffee Day! The Punjab Kings, for sure, can expect a full stadium. To compensate for the large number of tickets that are being sold so cheaply, the Mohali Stadium has tickets going all the way up to Rs. 12,000! I’m sure there are a lot of Preity Zinta fans that are willing to pay that much, especially since Preity has promised to watch all home team matches. But it may be getting desperate, as Preity and Bret Lee were seen outside the Stadium on Sunday, personally autographing the tickets.
There have been other surprises as well. The Deccan Chargers are selling tickets with some awesome promises. From their official blog: “Refreshments would be provided free to all spectators in all the stands. Fans would also be treated to a variety of exciting entertainment shows and fireworks at the stadium. Deccan Chargers have also announced a lucky draw scheme. With every ticket, you get a coupon for a chance to win fabulous prizes which include a Mercedes Benz (C Class), seven Maruti Swifts, 35 Yamaha motorbikes and 35 colour televisions.”

The Shoaib Akhtar Saga

Well, you knew that the IPL would turn into a soap opera so soon. After flip-flopping for a few days, the BCCI decided that Akhtar would not be able to play in the IPL unless his masters at the Pakistan Cricket Board give him a “no-objection” certificate. That’s the official story, anyway. But something doesn’t seem right.
For starters, the PCB had explicitly said that the ban applies only to him playing for Pakistan in international cricket. Then why is the BCCI making a big deal about the no-objection certificate? But then, the BCCI has not cancelled his contract at all, but just said he can’t play. I don’t think that has any legal standing. Then there’s another issue. The ICC is running a separate investigation of its own about the bribery and match-fixing allegations made by Shoaib. And then the PCB is actually suing Akhtar for Rs 20 Crores!
Something is fishy. Why do I get the feeling that it is going to get very very ugly if he doesn’t get to play in the IPL. But it may not come to it. Akhtar is appealing the PCB’s decision today and we can hope to hear what happens within this week.

BCCI’s stupid media restrictions

The BCCI today came out with the so-called media rules for journalists (and presumably bloggers). The rules are so ridiculously absurd, that if it were announced a couple days earlier, people would have thought its an april fool’s joke. The BCCI says that media folks who take pictures at the games will not be allowed to use them anywhere without the BCCI’s explicit written permission. So let me get this straight. The photographer brings his camera, goes to the match, clicks a bunch of pictures, and then needs to ASK THE BCCI to publish them online?!?
But wait, it gets worse. The photographers are going to HAVE TO upload ALL the pictures they’ve taken to the IPL website in under 24 hours. If they fail to do so, they will not be allowed into subsequent matches?!? How stupid is that?

The IPL can’t keep an updated website, and they want me to believe that they’re going to be able to handle thousands of 6-7 MB image files being uploaded simultaneously?Photographers take anywhere from 100-500 images per match,and that means the IPL website will support 900-1000 GB of upload everyday? Ha! Don’t make me laugh. I’m willing to bet a thousand bucks that their website will crash on day 1.
But why is the BCCI being so stupid about this? How are online news editions like cricinfo and bloggers like us going to report on the matches if they’re not allowed to use the images? And what’s BCCI’s problem anyway? Why do they want so much control on everything? I can’t even imagine how these images can be “abused” as the BCCI is claiming. If the BCCI is going to go about suing bloggers and online media content providers, how are we going to keep up the IPL hype that they’ve created?

ICL kicks off new inter-country tournament!

After their latest tournament got burried in the pre-IPL hype (did you know the finals are going on?), the ICL is now trying out something new. They just announced an inter-country ICL tournament, which is kind of away from their inter-city league format.
The latest tournament, to be played in Hyderabad, is going to have 3 teams - India, Pakistan and “Rest of the world”. Hopefully they’ll have better luck this time with the “ICL World Series 2008″. Since the ICC isn’t recognizing the ICL, they might as well go international and try to get more exposure.

Is IPL really to blame for the test loss?

The Blogosphere is ripe with allegations, accusations and analysis of India’s spectacular defeat to South Africa in the second test. It was India’s worst defeat in some 50 years, and IPL is taking a lot of blame for it. Folks are speculating on a wide range of reasons - From the distractions of the IPL auctions, to the players taking it easy before the big IPL games start to avoid unnecessary injuries. While many of these theories are well reasoned, I am inclined to disagree with them. The IPL had nothing to do with the defeat.
For one, even the South African’s are in the IPL teams, and several of them turned out very good performances for South Africa. And then, there’s the issue of how they played so well last match. No, the real reason for India’s superbly spectacular defeat, in my opinion, is far more simple.

The Indians played bad cricket. Horrible Cricket. And they deserved to lose.
I think we shouldn’t read too much into this kind of defeat. Cricket is exactly the kind of game where you can have great days followed by horrible days, right next to each other. The Indians completely failed as a team, and I would argue that they failed to play as a team in the first Test too, when all the Batsman played for records. It didn’t seem like anyone was going for the win in the first test match. And then, they approached the second test with the trademark Indian overconfidence, “Ha! It’s a flat wicket at our home stadiums. Lets play like a ODI match and score 900 runs!”. And that is what led to the downfall!
No matter what Sehewag says, Test matches can’t be played like a Twenty20 game. Test matches need a different mind set all together, and if you approach it with the wrong frame of mind, then the game is going to eat you up. Tests require a lot more patience, planning and partnerships. The Indians completely ignored this, and got hammered for it. Well, its not all bad. Hopefully they’ve learnt their lesson.
But that’s exactly the good thing about the IPL. No matter which way the game goes, one team will always wins and the good thing is that both teams will be Indian. So India always wins!

Shoiab is really out!

When I first read this yesterday, I thought it was an April fool’s joke, but apparently its real! The Pakistan Cricket Board had one too many Shoaib encounters, and have decided to impose a 5 year ban on him! That effectively ends his international career, since he’s already 32. But I really don’t understand what the latest trigger was for the PCB to show Akthar the door. And Shoaib predictably came out saying he has been victimised.
But I’m of the opinion that this might actually be a good thing for Shoaib in the long run. He’s now free to concentrate on his IPL career. He’s got at least 5 years in the IPL remaining, and that’s plenty of time to become rich and famous. I don’t know what’s he’s worried about in the end, actually. I think it’ll be a good career move for him to apply for an Indian work visa and come live in Kolkata. I think he’ll enjoy it there!

Beyonce to dance at IPL opening ceremony?

This is being reported by the Times of India, so please take it with a pinch of salt. Anyway, the gossip is that Beyonce, who’s apparently pals with Vijay Mallya, has agreed to do a 15-minute dance number at the inaugural IPL match at Bangalore. Vijay Mallya has managed to talk the hottie into flying down to Bangalore just for this special, inaugural match on the 18th of April.
Oh, that’s not all. Also, apparently, Katrina Khaif and Deepika Padukone are not too happy that Beyonce will be trouncing them and began a silly war of words. The article even goes into name-dropping mode, claiming Vijay Mallya is sending his private jet to fly down David and Victoria Beckham among a bunch of other celebrities. Even SRK, apaprently has managed to convinve Amitabh Bacchan to cut the ribbon at the Kolkata Inaugural match.
I don’t know how much of this is true, but it is definitely a very entertaining read
Oh, and By The Way, it’s also probably an April Fool’s joke