Win some and lose some

Whew! IPL 2009 is over. What a tournament? We won some and lost some. Let review.
It was a well organized tournament courtesy IPL administration and SA spare a "dog" in the first game.
DD were looking invincible all the way till semifinal when Gilly pounded them to submission.
Most valued & most talked about team lost matches and their most admired & reverved owner lost respect even while its marketing team created maximum brand value. Yes we are talking about KKR.
Most derided and bootom placed teams from IPL 2008 finished 1 & 2.
Broadcaster gained after 10th over due to commercial...oops...strategy break...while teams lost momentum in 11th over.
Indian players, who play all 3 forms of game, look jaded after non-stop playing on foreign shores - NZ and SA. Viru, Gauti, Yuvraj and Dhoni didn't perform half as well as they did last year. Zaheer and Ishant were not even as good as second string Indian bowlers. What will happen in ICC T20 championship?
Last but not the least my prediction about semifinalists was only 50% off mark IPL 2009 Semi-finalists :)

Twenty thoughts on the IPL

Good article from cricinfo
Twenty thoughts on the IPL

It is BAD that regular openers of DD have not performed so far...

I am watching second match between DD and RR. We are at halfway stage of first innings. DD is batting and, as has been the case this season, they are down two wickets. They lost their openers very early. In one of my earlier posts, I made a case out of failures of DD openers.
It is good that regular openers of DD have not performed so far...

The title of this post is exact opposite of my earlier post. What is happening?
DD is through to semis without any significant contribution from the regular openers. Courtesy middle order batsmen, DD was the first team to qualify for semis. It has been good so far for DD but the openers have to perform to go all the way as the competition in the semifinal will be tougher.
The failure of openers, though good for other semi contenders, is not a good news for an Indian fan. ICC T20 championship is just round the corner. Viru and Gauti are regular openers for India team as well. Both of them are important cogs of Indian batting line up. In fact, Gauti was highest Indian scorer and second overall in last T20 championship. If they do not gain momentum before ICC T20 championship, Indian batting line-up may face tough time. They should go to England with few runs under their belt. The competition will certainly be tougher in ICC T20 championship than it is in IPL.
Even a DD hater would be hoping that DD openers get their act together.

Realize your mistake and move forward

Rajasthan Royals
RR was not among favorites before the start of IPL season 2. They lost 2 of their best performers from season 1 due to different reasons - Watson and Tanvir. Analysts were not very confident about Shane Warne's bunch even though they were defending champions. In the initial games RR didn't do anything to belie analysts prediction. They won only 2 of their first 6 games and were languishing at the bottom of points table. One of the games RR won was against hapless KKR; that too was won only by a whisker. In first 6 games their batting was woeful and below par. Smith, one of the stars of IPL season 1 was failing consistently, None of the other batsmen, except for Pathan, was playing up to their potential.
In next 5 games (RR has played 11 matches so far), RR won 3 and also posted tournament's highest total so far - 212. What changed between first 6 games and next 5 games? Warne realized that they have to improve their batting in order to make a dent in IPL season 2. So he recalled Naman Ojha who was sent back to India even before the tournament begun.
Insulting to have been sent back: Naman
Naman Ojha wants to make his journey count
In the 5 games, that Ojha has played so far, he has scored 136 runs at an average of 34. Ojha is now the 4th highest run scorer for RR whereas the top 3 run getters namely Pathan, Jadeja and Smith have each played 10 matches; Jadeja has the highest average among them (27). Ojha has not set the ground on fire with his batting but has made significant contributions for winning cause.
The cardinal point is that Warne realized that team management made a mistake by sending back Ojha and they need to rectify it before it is too late. Now, after 11 games, RR are among the top 4 teams.

Chennai Super Kings
CSK, like RR, were also not doing too well initially even though they started as pre-tournament favorites. CSK's balling was well below par - Flintoff, Gony and Sharma were failing consistently. Batting too was not at its best - even though there was a mini-competition between Hayden and Raina to win Orange cap, rest of the batting was failing badly. In first 5 matches they won only 1 match.
After the initial hiccups, they took some tough decision. They replaced IPL season 1 top bowlers - Gony and Sharma with an unknown name Jakati and a world class player Murli. Flintoff had to leave due to injury. Similarly in batting they replaced Patel with an IPL novice Vijay. All of them performed and today, after 10 games, they are sitting pretty at second place in points table. They won all of their last 5 games. Again the credit goes to Dhoni and team management who realized their mistakes and turned the tide.

Kolkata Knight Riders
I am sure there would have been many more tough decisions that CSK and RR would have taken to improve their standing which are not so apparent. On the other hand KKR are committing mistakes again and again which are apparent to the whole world but not to their world renowned coach. The controversies also are not just dying down.
'Racial rift between KR coaches, players'
Anatomy of Kolkata's disaster
Mr. Khan made a mistake by not listening to Mr. Gavaskar before tournament began. Mr. Gavaskar is respected in cricketing circles not only for his test records but also for his astute cricketing knowledge. I hope Mr. Khan comes out of his silence and acts fast - let their be some more controversies for a better IPL season 3.

It is good that regular openers of DD have not performed so far...

In IPL 2008 DD had a very good team; in fact it was one of the best. The opening combination was supposed to be the best among the 8 participating teams. Viru and Gauti had a great history of scoring profusely at the top; they opened together in all formats of the game both in International and Domestic cricket. They only increased their reputation during IPL 2008 by performing exceptionally well. DD won the matches mostly due to brilliant performances of the opening combination; Shikhar Dhawan at number 3 bolstered their batting line-up. When DD won, they won by huge margin only because of openers and in some instances Shikhar Dhawan. The middle order never really got any chance to play in winning matches. This proved to be a bane for the team, middle order was never tested. When openers failed, middle order just could not deliver and team failed. Sadly DD could win only 7 out of 14 games at league stage.
IPL 2009 has started on a very different note. Viru & Gauti are not performing and Shikhar Dhawan is playing for MI. In the absence of opening cushion, middle order has blossomed. The performance of team in IPL 2009 is better than that of IPL 2008. The team has won 7 out of 9 matches played so far. There has been no change in middle order except that Shohib Malik is not playing. Rest of the middle order consisting of AB, Dilshan, Karthik and Mithi have given the team necessary impetus to win most of their matches.
Moving forward, it can get only better. The opposition can thank their stars that regular openers have not performed so far because if openers perform, it will become extremely difficult for them. The class players that Viru and Gauti are, it is only a matter of time when they start delivering for the team's success.

Media, Money and Betting

This is a good article that apperared in "The Hindustan Times".
Gambling on skills game isn’t playing straight

Most Hundreds in tests

Who holds the the record of scoring most hundreds in his test career?
There are no points for guessing the right answer. The record is held by one and only "Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar". At the time of posting Tendulkar has 42 test hundreds against his name.
More important question is when will "number of centuries" record be broken?
The answer is never.
Unless there are serious changes in the way test cricket is played the record will never be broken. Maybe they start playing with wider bats or white ball; maybe boundaries are shortened or number of fielding players are reduced. All these scenarios are unlikely.
In current form of test cricket, the record will never be broken. It took brilliance of Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (who retired with 34 centuries against his name) to break decades old record of Sir Donald George Bradman of 29 centuries. None of Bradman's or Gavaskar's peers came close to breaking their record. It took Tendulkar's brilliance and his love for the game to break the record.
Can anyone match or exceed Tendulkar's talent in future? Yes.
I am an optimist and an avid cricket fan. I think many more players will come who would be as brilliant as Tendulkar, maybe more so. But it is highly unlikely that anyone be able to play as many test matches as Tendulkar in future. With the advent of T20 cricket and dying interest in tests, I don't think, anyone will be able to surpass Sir Bradman's record let alone come close to Tendulkar's record. In near future a player would play lesser number of tests per year. I am not against test cricket; in fact I like test cricket as much T20 but given the current trend T20 holds more public interest.
Is there a remote possibility for record to be broken?
Only Ricky Ponting (37 centuries) and Jacques Kallis (31 centuries), who are plying active cricket have outside chance of coming close to Tendulkar's record. Ponting has better chances than Kallis but I still think they too will not be able to break the record. On the other side Kevin Pietersen or Mahela Jayawardene may go past Sir Bradman's record but that too seems unlikely.

Foreign players and IPL

I am writing this post while DD and KKR are enjoying their strategy break. The match is interestingly poised as Delhi needs 79 to win from 10 overs with 9 wickets in hand. What could be the better utilization of strategy break?
A news item caught my attention yesterday - Buchanan wants more foreign players. KKR coach wants more than 4 foreign players to be part of playing 11.
Some other coaches have also opined similar thoughts but Buchanan got more media attention as media is always on a lookout for juicy stories from KKR camp. I think this is a preposterous proposition and Buchanan wants to find excuses to justify the poor run of the team so far - KKR has won only 1 match so far out of 8.
Aren't all teams playing with this limitation; if at all this is a limitation? IPL is a domestic tournament and it definitely requires participation of more Indian players. The league is ment to professionalize and improve Indian cricket. In fact the foreign player participation should be reduced to 3 as it is in European soccer clubs. Every country has their own T20 tournament so why this noise for IPL? Is it because team owners has spent lot of money in buying 10-12 foreign players? Or does Buchanan want to pull some wool over the KKR fans?
Let us wait for 2 more years. After the 3rd year, IPL will introduce more teams and maybe then most good foreign players will be optimally utilized. For now, I hope KKR is soon able to win a match for Buchanan sake.

Can India become number 1?

BCCI selection committee is in a dilemma whom to select and whom to drop for ICC T20 world cup. Read the following article on cricinfo
RP in contention for World Twenty20
BCCI selection committee has a happy problem at hand. They have problem of plenty; they can choose 15 member squad from a pool of 20 or more quality players A team's strength can be judged by looking at the quality of players who are not part of team squad. India has very good quality players who are not part of international squad. These qulity players can walk into the team any day on the basis of their performance in IPL or other domestic tournaments.
In this decade India have remained serious contenders for number 1 only because of strong playing 11. But lately the bench strength has improved and they have been winning consistently. It has happened because of improvement at domestic level (Ranji, IPL et. el.) and under 19 level.

We can only expect that team will improve further and in near future India will become ICC number 1 team; albeit in T20 and one day. But test matches are a different ballgame. In test there are players staking claim to get into team but to it will be next to impossible to replace Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. Let us just hope for the best.

Why is Australia the number 1 team?

Australia has remained number 1 team for more than 15 years and barring a stray competitive series no one has been able to break their hegemony over the number 1 spot. In recent times, after they lost series to India and SA and SA displaced them from number 1 ICC ranking, there has been a talk of Australia going down as a team.

I think it is wrong to say Australia is no longer the number 1 team. 2008 was not a good year for them. They lost to India and SA but 2009 has started on a right note. They have regrouped and defeated SA and Pakistan in one day series. The team's strength can be judged from the quality of players who are not part of playing 11. Consider the current series where Australia have beaten Pakistan hands down. There is no Ponting or Hussey or Johnson, arguably the best players of the team. Clark has lead the side admirably in Ponting's absence. Moreover let us consider some other facts:

1. Some of the other extremely talented players like Warner, Hodge, Katich are playing in IPL and are doing very well.

2. Players like Gilchrist/Hayden retired last year and their places were taken by new players players

3. Lee is not playing due to injury.

Australia will remain number 1 team for a long time considering a second string team, without regulars, has defeated Pakistan comfortably.

Next post - Can India become number 1?