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.
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