Australian Team is favourite

ICC T20 World Cup 2010

Or this is what betting men think!

As per Lardbrokes Odds in favour of Australia wining the tournament is 7/2 which is better than any other team. This seems to be ridiculous. It is true that they have the pedigree and are the best side in One day internationals but T20 is a different ballgame. Consider this:

• Australia has just won 15 of the 29 Internationals played by them.
• Their record in World Cups is even poor. They have lost 5 of the 8 T20 matches played in ICC T20 World Cups.
• They have a new look team with players having little international experience.
• They have a new captain.
• They could not even qualify for Super 8s in last World cup.

I would not discount Australia. They can still go on to win the tournament but I think the odds are heavy. In T20, on their day, even a weak team can beat a stronger team. Remember how India in 2007 and Pakistan in 2009 became world champions despite odds.

In my opinion Australia are a beatable side and putting a pre-tournament favourite tag on them is too much. There are better team in fray.

It seems that the betting is rigged. Or are we missing some information here.

Some defeats are harder to digest than others!

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.

ICL was good for cricket

It is a common knowledge that ICL was the first professional T20 league in India. Mr. Subhash Chandra, of Zee fame, announced ICL much before India won the inaugral T20 World Cup. It was announced immediately after India lost in first round of World Cup 2007 held in West Indies. At that time very few people in India knew about T20. And travesty is BCCI resisted entry of T20 cricket in India.

  

ICL was a moderately popular league but it could not survive the onslaught of cash rich BCCI and financial ressures. It sparkled for few seasons before it died down. Its promoters are trying to salvage some pride by engaging BCCI in a legal battle. In all probablity nothing will come out of the legal battle. By launching T20 in India and giving respect to neglected domestic players in India, ICL spawned a whole new era. It gave the cricket world following:

• IPL and the only Mr. Modi we know - ICL was initiated and run by a certain Mr. Himanshu Mody. IPL would never have started unless BCCI felt the heat from ICL. Today IPL is hugely popular and Mr. Modi is a househld name.
• New techniques like overhead moving camera - this innovation was first introduced in ICL.
• Excellent talent like Ambati Rayadu, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Rajagopal Sathish.
• Respect for domestic players.

A healthy competition is good for everything. Although unlikely, revival of ICL may give rise to betterment of IPL and Indian cricket.

What is worst thing about DD?

What else? Cheerleaders outfit...

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.

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?

Why is Rajasthan team called Rajasthan Royals?

Read it on Cricinfo

Rajasthan Royals at their globalising best today. An Englishman born in South Africa is opening with a batsman from Madhya Pradesh. The players who follow represent the following teams: Vidarbha, Baroda, Western Australia/Notts, Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Hampshire/Victoria, Mumbai, Gujarat and South Australia. Now someone please tell me why they are called the Rajasthan Royals?