DD vs KKR at Eden Gardens, Kolkatta
IPL Season 3
Today was one of those defeats when DD was well ahead till 15th over then wickets started tumbling.
Showing posts with label DD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DD. Show all posts
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
IPL Season 3 - Halfway
All 8 teams have played 6 matches except MI and DC, who have played 5 matches. The positions of different teams and how they have played till now gives a inkling of how they are likely to perform in future.
MI and RCB are looking settled and they are likely to go through to semis. MI, with Tendulkar at helm, is looking formidable to go all the way through. But one can never safely predict in this fickle format. Remember what happened to DD in the last season.
DC are doing OK. They are not performing as well as last year as bowling attack is missing sharpness.
CSK, as in last 2 seasons, is without good bowling attack but their batting line up is extremely good. They may have lost few matches in a row but they still are contenders for semis spot.
At the start of season 3 DD were looking very powerful as their team was settled but injuries to Nehra and Gambhir have cost them dearly. The balance is missing but somehow they are still perfoming well. Gambhir's return may augur well for them.
RR is looking more weak then it was in last 2 seasons. Watson is playing to Australia, Smith and Dmitri are injured and Jadeja is not playing. But still they have started gelling well as team.
KKR is looking better than they were in the last year. Unnecessary controversies were very costly. They, in all probability will do much better than last spot of IPL season 2.
KXIP are a poor shadow of first two seasons. Neither their batting order nor their bowling is looking settled. It looks as if Sangakara's captaincy is brewing unrest in the team.
The best thing is India can look forward to new breed of talented youngsters.
MI and RCB are looking settled and they are likely to go through to semis. MI, with Tendulkar at helm, is looking formidable to go all the way through. But one can never safely predict in this fickle format. Remember what happened to DD in the last season.
DC are doing OK. They are not performing as well as last year as bowling attack is missing sharpness.
CSK, as in last 2 seasons, is without good bowling attack but their batting line up is extremely good. They may have lost few matches in a row but they still are contenders for semis spot.
At the start of season 3 DD were looking very powerful as their team was settled but injuries to Nehra and Gambhir have cost them dearly. The balance is missing but somehow they are still perfoming well. Gambhir's return may augur well for them.
RR is looking more weak then it was in last 2 seasons. Watson is playing to Australia, Smith and Dmitri are injured and Jadeja is not playing. But still they have started gelling well as team.
KKR is looking better than they were in the last year. Unnecessary controversies were very costly. They, in all probability will do much better than last spot of IPL season 2.
KXIP are a poor shadow of first two seasons. Neither their batting order nor their bowling is looking settled. It looks as if Sangakara's captaincy is brewing unrest in the team.
The best thing is India can look forward to new breed of talented youngsters.
A logical deduction - DD is the best team of IPL Season 2010
Indian squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2010:
MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma
There are 4 players from DD, 2 each from CSK, KXIP, RCB, MI & RR (if Jadeja is still considered part of RR) and 1 from DC. There is no player from KKR.
By sheer numbers, it seems that, DD has best Indian lineup. Unfortunately 2 out of 4 are not playing in IPL 3 due to Injuries and DD is not doing as well as last year.
Does it mean KKR is the worst team in the competition?
MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma
There are 4 players from DD, 2 each from CSK, KXIP, RCB, MI & RR (if Jadeja is still considered part of RR) and 1 from DC. There is no player from KKR.
By sheer numbers, it seems that, DD has best Indian lineup. Unfortunately 2 out of 4 are not playing in IPL 3 due to Injuries and DD is not doing as well as last year.
Does it mean KKR is the worst team in the competition?
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Alas! DD lost but it not so sad
IPL Season 3, 2010
DD v. MI Ist Match
I am a staunch DD supporter having stayed most of my life in Delhi. I was definitely sad when DD lost yesterday. Winning is never easy when opposition posts 200+ total on the board. Moreover DD lost one of the best T20 batsmen and their captain right at the starting of the match; it made the arduous task much more difficult.
But like every SRT fan, I was more than pleased to his batting. It is true that he plays for MI but he is an icon of our age. He took the game away from DD; bowlers just didn't have answer to his range of shots. His batting was riskfree to the extent of being faultless. May he do even better in forthcoming days but not at the expense of DD.
Signed
Confused SRT and DD fan...
DD v. MI Ist Match
I am a staunch DD supporter having stayed most of my life in Delhi. I was definitely sad when DD lost yesterday. Winning is never easy when opposition posts 200+ total on the board. Moreover DD lost one of the best T20 batsmen and their captain right at the starting of the match; it made the arduous task much more difficult.
But like every SRT fan, I was more than pleased to his batting. It is true that he plays for MI but he is an icon of our age. He took the game away from DD; bowlers just didn't have answer to his range of shots. His batting was riskfree to the extent of being faultless. May he do even better in forthcoming days but not at the expense of DD.
Signed
Confused SRT and DD fan...
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Delhi Daredevils - Would they be third time lucky?
IPL Season 3, 2010
I sincerely hope so. And I will passionatley root for them. There are no points for guessing which team do I support. :) Still the question is can they go all the way?
They have the team, tenacity, brilliance and above all pedigree to win the tournament. Let us keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.
Some of the the things that may go against them this season:
1. There is o Glenn McGrath
2. There is a new bowling coach as TA Sekar over to Mumbai. This one and the point above may not have direct bearing on the team as a coach works at the back end while McGrath didn't even get a game in IPL season 2. But things change when 2 senior bowling experts leave the camp. I hope the change is not too bad as the new coach is extremely good.
3. The other teams, especially DC, MI and RC are more formidable & settled then before.
4. DD's best spinner (in fact the world's best), Daniel Vettori, is on national duty.
I sincerely hope so. And I will passionatley root for them. There are no points for guessing which team do I support. :) Still the question is can they go all the way?
They have the team, tenacity, brilliance and above all pedigree to win the tournament. Let us keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.
Some of the the things that may go against them this season:
1. There is o Glenn McGrath
2. There is a new bowling coach as TA Sekar over to Mumbai. This one and the point above may not have direct bearing on the team as a coach works at the back end while McGrath didn't even get a game in IPL season 2. But things change when 2 senior bowling experts leave the camp. I hope the change is not too bad as the new coach is extremely good.
3. The other teams, especially DC, MI and RC are more formidable & settled then before.
4. DD's best spinner (in fact the world's best), Daniel Vettori, is on national duty.
Monday, May 25, 2009
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 :)
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 :)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
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.
Monday, May 11, 2009
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.
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.
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