Dare to chase 198!

Well needless to be said, whenever a team scores 198 on the board, it is well understood that majority of the bets would fall in favor of that particular team. Any something more is that majority of the times that particular team wins the contest and yesterday was no different when the Deccan Chargers simply crushed the Kings XI Punjab by 82 runs at Dharamsala. Something more special would be that someone like Shikar Dhawan made his presence count in the playing XI. Until then, Shikar Dhawan was there in the team just because the rules of the tournament had forced his inclusion.

As all of us know, there is a restriction on the number of foreign players that a team can have in the playing eleven and Shikar Dhawan being an Indian makes his move faster into the playing in the XI member squad. Now, anybody who would have thought of dropping Shikar Dhawan upon the slightest of all opportunities will have to think many times I suppose. However, in addition to Dhawan, there was Ravi Teja who became another master piece in the IPL scoring 60 when until then all he was expected to was to strike the ball blindly to gain some extra runs.

The tough job of laying a foundation to their team is held by experienced people like Adam Gilchrist, Paul Valthaty, Chris Gayle etc and someone like Ravi Teja is expected to just continue the good work initiated by them. In case the top order fails, the middle order is bound to fail majority of the time. Coming to the match, two batsmen were more than enough to belt the bowling of the Kings XI Punjab. In the Kings XI side, if not for Adam Gilchrist, no other batsmen stood up to the occasion. The pitch was a batsman's paradise which is evident from the scorecard.

However, in addition to Shikar Dhawan and Ravi Teja, there was Amit Mishra who once again had a magical spell scalping 4 wickets giving away just 9 runs from his quota of 4 overs at 2.25 runs an over that included one over maiden as well. In my opinion, it should have been Amit Mishra who should have been awarded the man of the match and not Shikar Dhawan. But, it looks like the organisers of the tournament hardly cast their eyes on bowling department and are focused on the batting department alone. Restricting someone like Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh etc is tougher than belting some Bhargav Bhatt and Piyush Chawla.

Ganguly scores a Naught

This would be the match for all Ganguly crazy fans who would have been delighted by the return of the King and secondly for getting out for a naught in his second match for the Pune Warriors. However, it is not all about Ganguly in the game between Pune Warriors and Deccan Chargers. There were ten other players leaving Ganguly who could have got the job done for the Pune Warriors. But, all they could manage was a mere 136 runs which had chances of being chased down with minimum effort. But, the Deccan Chargers needed more than minimum effort to reach that target.

One thing for which the Pune Warriors need a pat on their back would be because they didn't lose all their ten wickets by saving one wicket toward the end of their innings. Some reconsideration needs in the Decan Chargers' captain giving the ball to J P Duminy when Ishanth Sharma could have been given another over who was not only a major strike bowler but also one among the bowlers who maintained a decent economy of 6.33 though not enough. Very rarely does a bowler end up with an over maiden in a T20 game and Amit Mishra was the lucky one in this regard.

In the Pune Warriors' innings, the highest individual score came from the blades of Mitchell Marsh who batted at number 8. And, may be because of his strokeplay, the Pune Warriors crossed the hundred run mark. One can imagine the fate of a team which has to rely on a number 8 batsmen to complete the innings. If that was all about the Pune Warriors, the Deccan Chargers were no less when it came to showing a dismal performance when they had to wait until the last over to score than winning run. A band of Yuvraj Singh, Ganguly, Uttappa and Jesse Ryder could only fill in the vacancies.

With limited resources, the Deccan Chargers did more than what was expected from them. The big names from the Deccan Chargers include Sangakkara, Dhawan and Duminy. But, that much was more than enough to chase down 136 successfully. Whatsoever, this is not the end of the roads for both teams and according to me, both teams lost when it comes to performing up to a certain level. But, as far as the rules of the game go, there can be only one winner at the most and that happened to be the Deccan Chargers. There are much more games to come.

Another debacle by another home team

This was one of the rare matches in T20 cricket where bowlers have everything to say right from the target what they understood would be chasable on that ground and secondly aiding their batsmen to try everything new. One can go through the scorecard to see that neither did the Deccan Chargers lose wickets nor did they be instrumental in getting to a match winning score. There have been matches that follow suit. So would be the fact that it is the home team that faces the music like yesterday Deccan Chargers lost to Pune Warriors. Lucky are those teams that do not host IPL matches.

The Deccan Chargers got off to a decent start with their top six batsmen getting double figures with notable ones being Shikar Dhawan's 24 followed by Ravi Teja's and J P Duminy's 30 runs. But, in the end what mattered was the big hitting factor which all the batsmen of the Deccan Chargers lacked. The highest strike rate was that of Shikar Dhawan with 141.17 and a score of 24. Or else there was Dale Steyn who stroke 183.33 runs for every 100 balls faced but managed an unbeaten 11 which was to hardly any avail. It is indisputable that the pitch favored the bowlers to a greater extent.

This time as well the Pune Warriors didn't quite experiment with their bowling by bringing 4 of their bowlers to bowl their complete quota. Yes, it is understood that there was no need to experiment with the bowling when the going was so smooth for them. Can anyone of you explain why Bhuvneshwar Kumar was allowed to bowl 3 overs when Shrikant Wagh bowled just 1 over when both of them gave away runs at 8.0 an over? The only thing that the Pune bowlers didn't do was to bowl extra deliveries if not for one wide delivery. So was the bowling accuracy of the pitch.

Mitchell Marsh's 4/25 from should I guess go down as the best bowling performance of at least this year's IPL. Life was not easy even for the Pune Warriors who took 18.2 overs to chase down that total which should have been achieved in at the most 15 overs. Kudos to Jesse Ryder and Manish Pandey who laid a solid foundation despite the ball doing its own tricks and joining hands with the bowler. If not for Duminy, no other bowler got belted from the Pune Warriors'. One man's presence that everyone would have been waiting for was Sourav Ganguly who didn't disappoint his fans.

A soft target for the KKR

Well with the Kolkata Knight Riders showing their comparatively best performance in this year's Indian Premier League, the opponent which they have been scheduled to play against happened to be another apple pie with the Deccan Chargers crashing once again after failing to get past 169 set by the Kolkata team. Though that was a decent total, that was definitely not a total that could not be chased. With batsmen like Sohal, Sangakkara and Christian in the side the total should have been chased down which as usual didn't happen. However, that is a different issue with ups and downs being prevalent.

It is still a mystery that the home team usually stays at the receiving end of the thrashing that the visiting team gives. This time as well, the situation was hardly different with the home team namely Hyderabad falling short of the target set forward by the visitors namely the Kolkata team. Starting with the Kolkata Knight Riders' innings, the visitors left hardly any stones unturned with all of the six batsmen contributing to the total of 169 which could promise a start or at least save some face for the team. Needless to be said, Yousuf Pathan's 47 was the highlight.

With the results apart, the Kolkata Knight Riders' captain - Gautam Gambhir should reconsider having Jacques Kallis in the playing eleven with his style of play suiting only the South African team and that too only in the longer forms of the game. One can go through the scorecard to see Kallis scoring 30 runs from 31 balls at just run a ball efficiency. This is one of the many times Kallis has been seen dong this. Had there been some blows from the batsmen, the team could have seen Mark Boucher and Yousuf Pathan play a little more than expected.

All fingers point towards Kallis for consuming too many balls en route to his double figure score. So should Eoin Morgon and Manoj Tiwary to a greater extent. Like it has always been happening, the Deccan Chargers' bowlers showed no signs of experimenting with their bowlers with four out of six bowling their full quota of 4 overs and one bowler bowling 3 overs. The bowler with the least economy bowled just one over with Shikar Dhawan being the lucky guy. This doesn'y mean he should have been given another over to spoil his team's chances. But, Amit Mishra could have been given another over.

Deccan Chargers slinged!

Well, the two players who have been any franchise's bargain in this year's IPL is no doubt Chris Gayle who was bagged by the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the second one is Lasith Malinga whose devastating spells were evident for the second time yesterday in the match against the Deccan Chargers on their home ground. Not even Sachin Tendulkar has been the pick of the players in this year's IPL. With that apart, in the game between the Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers, Lasith Malinga was outstanding needless to be said. This was not because he scalped 3 wickets from the Deccan Chargers.

If one can take some pains and go through the scorecard, not only did Lasith malinga scalp three wickets from the Deccan Chargers' side but also had them single handed. Two of his three wickets had the batsmen bowled while the third batsmen was caught and bowled by Lasith Malinga seeing that Malinga gets no help from any of the fielders or the wicket keeper. Added to that, Malinga had the Deccan Chargers' batsman-Cameron White run out. This brings down four wickets from the Deccan Chargers side by Lasith Malinga alone meaning Lasith Malinga has 50% of the Hyderabad wickets.

Moving away temporarily from Lasith Malinga, one can see from the scorecard that the Deccan Chargers used just five bowlers to bowl their full quota of 4 overs without opting for any other option. This always becomes the stepping stone for a loss by a team which has no guts to experiment with their bowlers. I have cited teams bringing in 7 to 8 bowlers when the going gets tough but, that is not any sort of criticism whatsoever. Though the playing XI of the Deccan Chargers lacks any well known bowlers, Barath Chilipi and Ravi Teja might have been worth a trial.

Similar to bowling, more batsmen making it to the crease means more pressure on the batting team and that was evident when all batsmen from the Deccan Chargers were found making it to the crease. One has to wonder why the word "home team" keeps on making rounds with most of the time in this IPL, it has been the home team that succumbs to pressure no matter what. The list is dominated by Delhi and Hyderabad to a greater extent. If the bowling of the Deccan Chargers brings in worries, so does their batting. If not for Sangakkara, no other batsman is found to hit the headlines for the right reasons.

C once again comes before D

Well if the title of this post seems to confuse you, then I wish you go through the English alphabetical order where the letter 'C' happens to come just before the alphabet 'D'. Well if once again you are confused as to in what way this has got to with the ongoing Indian Premier League,then I take the responsibility by citing yesterday's loss of the Delhi Daredevils (DD) at the hands of the Deccan Chargers (DC) where the Hyderabad team scripted a 16 run win over the Delhi team which can be claimed as Deccan 'C'hargers' victory over Delhi 'D'aredevils.

Whatever, coming to the match, it was not a right call from Sangakkara to win the toss and elect to bat first. THe pitch was a perfect batsman's paradise where even a total in excess of 200 might have been chased with no or little effort. Of course, towards the end of the game, the team batting first ended up victorious but, had the game been between a tougher and a better opposition like the Royal Challengers or the Rajasthan Royals, the result might have been exactly opposite. In this year's IPL, the Delhi team are found lacking in confidence and approach as well.

Despite their lacklusture performance this time, the Delhi team came close to reaching the target when they fell short by just 16 runs. Had 168 been chased in a tougher pitch, then coming close and that too crossing the 150 run mark by a team like the Delhi Daredevils would have just been an illusion. On the whole, the entire match was a crap with the Deccan Chargers piling up just 168 runs on the board with the pitch aiding a 200+ total and then with the second team falling short to chase the small total and losing the plot yet again.

Deccan Chargers couldn't get all the ten batsmen out from the Delhi side which speaks of their inefficiency. Likewise, neither did the Delhi bowlers get all ten wickets of Hyderabad team. But, this should not matter with the Delhi team losing the entire match let alone getting their opposition all out. If not for David Warner, no other batsman showed any sort of resistance to the Hyderabad bowling. At last, the man of the match being awarded to Sohal should come under scrutiny with Harmeet Singh playing a pivotal role with the ball scalping 2/27 on a batting pitch when Sohal's innings was not a highlight.

175 is too big a target

Well he moment a score of 175 is put up on the board, 99% of the time, it should be understood that the team wins and the case was no different yesterday in the match between the Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Very rarely do we come across games where 175 gets chased down like it happened the other day between Chennai and Punjab, with the Kings XI Punjab team grabbing it all in style. However, unlike Delhi, Deccan Chargers should be appreciated for not making a blunder at home soil losing both games in the very first week of their play.

Starting with the Deccan Chargers' innings where the players who took to the crease made double digit figures and with some Barat Chipili scoring the only half century of the Deccan Chargers' innings when he scored an unbeaten 61 off just 35 balls, a respectable target for the Royal Challengers Bangalore was always on the cards. This is how a team has to go on with all or at least most of their batsmen making it big or at least not small. This can happen very rarely with the very next innings of the Royal Challengers Bangalore being a best example for a lack of the same.

The only notable scores regarding the Royal Challengers Bangalore was an unbeaten 71 runs from the blades of Virat Kohli followed by a quarter century (in case that can be called so) Cheteshwar Poojara and last but not the least we have the opener Mayank Agarwal who scored 16 runs no matter how much balls he took to do the same. However, Royal Challengers Bangalore supporters have a reason to smile as the highest individual scorer of the match happened to be Virat Kohli with his 71 being 10 runs greater than what Chilipi could manage. Had there been an award for the highest run scorer in a match then Kohli would have had a run.

The scorecard suggests a perfect 5 from the Deccan Chargers with all five bowlers from the side bowling their full quota of 4 overs each. One need not confuse this to be because of the huge total that they put up. Instead, the Deccan Chargers never had depth of any sort in their bowling department which forced them to go in for just 5 bowlers as mentioned. Howevrer, a bowlerless Deccan Chargers' team had a rare gem in their crown with Dale Steyn being the pick of the bowlers with both teams put together. But, the tenth wicket of the Bangalore team never fell highlighting that the Hyderabad team has to keep an eye on their bowling.

Kolkata have their day

Well I just cannot recall whether the Kolkata Knight Riders team had a win in their second encounter no matter against which team they played. Oh! Yes, I just recall the way Brendon McCullum thrashed the Royal Challengers Bangalore by scoring an unbeaten 158 in the very first encounter of the maiden venture exactly four years back. But, the end result of the tournament was that the Kolkata Knight Riders didn't even make it to the semi-finals of the tournament. Of course, neither did the Royal Challengers Bangalore. With that being past, yesterday, for a change Kolkata won the match.

The scorecard reveals a complete team work by the Kolkata Knight Riders' batsmen namely Jacques Kallis, Manvinder Bisla, Manoj Tiway and Gautam Gambhir all of whom scored double digit scores. However, the total of 163 was a little bit below the mark when as I have quoted in my earlier posts that a run ate of anything less than 9.0 runs an over is just below average. But, all that mattered was the fact that towards the end of the game, the Kolkata Knight Riders team were victorious by 9 runs which should be a good sign, given their records in the previous three editions.

The players from Kolkata Knight Riders could have played much better cricket with still to come batsmen like Ryan ten Doeschate, Eoin Morgan and Iqbal Abdulla who could have well seen the score past that ideal figure. Instead, the Kolkata Knight Riders stayed with four batsmen which just gave them a whisker and nothing else. One has to highlight the presence of a player from a lesser known cricketing nation with Ryan ten Doeschate hailing from Holland and still attracting a franchisee. There are so many players from decent countries like Australia who have failed to get their names bid.

And, if a player from Holland has been able to do so, that should be rejoiced for a team is coming up in its own terms. Glenn McGrath was forced to opt out from last year's IPL when the player lost hopes in the Delhi team management too see him bowl yorkers and line & length deliveries which forms a different story. In yesterday's match, however it was boring to read a few names which were never heard before like Ishank Jaggi, Barat Chipli, Dwaraka Ravi Teja etc to name a few. Howevrer, Steyn Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma have been decent bowlers if not a team with decent batsmen.

Absence of Gilchrist felt greatly

Well this year's IPL has seen a lot of changes with the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya missing out from the tournament and lots of players like Adam Gilchrist, Gautam Gambhir shifting from their original teams. The list also includes Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. However, in the second game of the tournament itself, the Deccan Changers have lost to the Rajasthan Royals with the Deccan Chargers team now being captained by Kumara Sangakkara. However, Kumara Sangakkara is also a decent captain but not a better batsman compared to Adam Gilchrist. The hard hitting Australian wicket keeper is second to none.

One has to decide the fortune of the team which has its captain out for a duck. Despite eight batsmen making it to the crease, the team total towards the end of the first innings of the Deccan Changers read 137 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. In my last post I had cited that a run rate below 9 an over is as good as a below par total equivalent to a total of just over 200 in a one day match. A minimum run rate in a T20 game needs to be 180 at 9 runs an over.

Had Adam Gilchrist been there, then may be the total would have touched that figure. I used the word "may be" because, Adam Gilchrist has last played cricket somewhere one year down the lane in last year's IPL where his performance was also below par. In the edition before that, at South Africa, Adam Gilchrist was awarded the man of the series award for his splendid performance both the the bat and behind the stumps. Added to that was the fact that he guided his team to victory beating Anil Kumble led Royal Challengers Bangalore. But, as time goes by, body fades.

Someone like Mathew Hayden, Glenn McGrath and others have been opted out for the same reasons we guess. Despite being the highest run-getter in the 2009 edition, Hayden was hardly preferred in the playing XI a year later. But, that was not the case with the Rajasthan Royals with someone like Ross Taylor and Johan Botha around. They did most of the scoring for the Jaipur team with Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Warne and Amit Singh doing the damage with the ball. One has to see the way Shane Warne has made his presence felt despite his age deafening.So, lets look at other games as well.

Shades of match fixing in IPL

Well this has been the news that has been making rounds since the latter part of the third edition of the Indian Premier League wherein the match fixing issue has taken precedence. This is after a decade that someone is charged with a match fixing offense or more than less atleast hinted to be one such thing. And, if this edition of the IPL is considered, as a cricket blogger, I can sense some hints which suggests that match fixing has indeed taken place especially after I suggested some major turnarounds in few of my earlier posts wherein most of the teams have lost after betters had their say on the losing team.

To start with, the major shocking news in this edition of the IPL was the defeat of the Mumbai Indians in the finals of the tournament to the Chennai Superkings by a margin which is needless at the moment. When most of the betters having their money invested in favor of the Mumbai Indians to win the trophy, a major blow would have been received after the same team crashed out in the finals much to anybody's surprise. One side of the coin comes in for all praise towards the Chennai Superkings for winning the trophy when all odds had termed them off after most of their key international players like Flintoff, Oram and Mike Hussey bowed down to injuries.

The other side of the coin suggests that may be the Mumbai Indians intentionally lost the game in the finals and also the Deccan Chargers might have intentionally lost to the Chennai Superkings in the semi finals. Semi finals was the third encounter between the Chennai and Hyderabad team which Chennai was playing after losing to them earlier twice. Of course, Chennai had beaten Mumbai earlier in the league stages but, odds always supported Mumbai which no one can deny. Anyone there to say that they expected the Chennai Superkings to return victorious? May be if your heart goes towards Chennai.

So was the case in the match which was played as a third off stand which would decide as to which team would make it to the Champions Trophy this year due in South Africa. Once again, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were facing a Deccan Chargers team which had beaten them convincingly in the earlier two encounters played in this edition. And, if one looks at the way the Deccan Chargers lost that important match when they failed to cross the 100 run mark, shades of match fixing has to be there. One has to decide as to how can a team play for 18+ overs and still score less than 100.

These are just a few points which suggest that matches might have been fixed in this year's IPL. Similar such cases exist in the earlier two editions as well.

Delhi yet to find a platform

Delhi daredevils are the team who have the hardest hitting batsmen in Virender Sehwag, the batsman who scored the maiden century of the tournament in 2008 in David Warner and the first century scorer in the second edition of the same last year in South Africa. Sad that they are found gasping for a win even against an average team in Deccan Chargers who have to depend upon just one or a couple of their batsmen in case they have to see their team victorious. But, if yesterday's game is considered, the stats look to be reversed for both the Deccan Chargers and the Delhi Daredevils as well.

Out of the 8 batsmen who took to the crease from the Deccan Chargers side, as many as five of them were worth the money what they were paid and also worth the hope their captain showed in them when they were selected in the playing eleven. All the five batsmen who came out scoring double figure scores had their strike rates above hundred. This was one of the rare occasions of the Deccan Chargers' innings not being dominated by Adam Gilchrist alone or by Andrew Symonds alone. Instead, in addition there were players like Herschelle Gibbs and Rohith Sharma as well who contributed.

Much to the surprise of everyone, all these five batsmen under discussion had a six to their credit and moreover, all the sixes hit in the Deccan Chargers' innings came from the bats of these five batsmen only with the share of the remaining batsmen being negligible zero. So has been the story regarding the number of boundaries hit in the Deccan Chargers' innings. And, this has to be obvious when no other batsman from the Deccan Chargers' side had their individual score go past 3 runs. And if the bowling of the same is considered, 4 out of 5 bowlers who could have bowled their full quota of 4 overs were found doing the same.

Only the remaining four overs were divided between R P Singh and Rohith Sharma. On the Delhi Daredevils side, there were just three of them who could do the job as batsmen with Sehwag surprisingly not being listed. Whenever the Delhi Daredevils' batsmen take to the crease, all eyes would be on Virender Sehwag who in the current edition is found to disappoint either as captain or as batsman. 7 of the 11 batsmen from the Delhi Daredevils side returned back to the pavilion scoring single digit scores and one batsman in Moises Henriques was quite intelligent when he didn't fall into that category of batsmen who scored less than 10 runs when he got out scoring 11 runs so that no fingers point towards him.

Does Gilchrist wants ICC taken over by the BCCI?

It is really hard to decide whether as an Indian to feel good that there are players who support the BCCI though they once belonged to a different nation. And, this is what Gilchrist has to offer off late when he wants the IPL window to be included in the ICC international schedules table. Reason: The players no matter from which countries can feature themselves in the IPL and at the same time, needless to be said earn big bucks in addition. This, even though is not Gilchrist's personal problem with him already retired from all forms of international cricket.

It would not be a million dollar guess that if the IPL schedule is included in the ICC table, as a captain of the Deccan Chargers, Gilchrist can hope to have a lot and better choice of selecting the playing XI. However, this is not a problem when it comes to selecting 7 players with the rule that there should be atleast 7 players from India featuring in the playing XI. But, the question would obviously be the remaining 3 players if Gilchrist himself is excluded. And, there is Andrew Symonds who is at present not been found making it to the Australian squad and may be by the next year after the 2011 world cup he might retire as well.

However, coming to the point, irrespective of what plans Gilchrist has got in his mind, having IPL as a part of ICC international tours table would no doubt be a sort of putting pressure on the world governing body. Had the IPL been named as WPL then, may be the suggestion can be thought of seriously. But, the IPL has got to do a lot with India alone and not the world. Like, restrictions have been made regarding the number of players from outside India that can be included in the playing XI and also the venue where the tournament is held is India.

So, what has the ICC got to do with India alone with 8 other teams being a permanent part of it? And, if the IPL window is thought about, in what way does it make justice by keeping similar leagues held by other cricketing nations out of the ICC tours table? Is it for the sole reason that the IPL can guarantee great money for all players of the world that Gilchrist joins his hands for such an appeal? The BCCI has in the past as well been adamant on its issues though other boards have given their nod for the same. The best example for this would be the clauses put forward by the WADA that was accepted by all nations except India.

And, if the IPL window is given a nod, no doubt it would surely make the BCCI decide the international tours for the year and not the ICC.

No Jai For Viru

How many of us would have thought that a team that ended high in the points table with 10 victories in its kitty to crash out so badly in the tournament? How many of us would have thought the team that beat the Deccan Chargers on both occasions to lose out to the same Deccan Chargers so badly in the semi finals of the tournament? How many of us would have thought the return of Virender Sehwag back to form would be of no use to his team? How many of us thought the number 1 team to lose so badly to the number 4 team in the tournament? But, these were witnessed by the helpless fans out there in Centurion.

The total of 153 was neither a bad one nor a good one for that matter. And defending the same by the Delhi team or chasing the same by the Deccan Chargers would not have raised many eyebrows. But, the moment the first over of the Deccan Chargers' batting ended, the result was well in front of us. The first over went for 22 runs with Adam Gilchrist striking 5 boundaries. And how does it matter if the other opener Gibbs gets out for a second ball duck as long as there was Gilly to solve the matter? The only disappointment that Gilchrist gave was that he couldn't score a hundred. Perhaps, that I think would have been the fastest of the IPL so far-including the earlier season in 2008.

After the Delhi team's loss in the first semi finals of the Indian Premier League, I was reminded of the South African disappointing exit of the 1996 & 1999 world cup. In 1996, the Proteas won all of their 5 league matches only to lose against the West Indies in the quarter finals. There too, it was a victory of team 4 versus team 1, with the South Africa on number 1 (Group B) and West Indies being number 4 (of Group A). In 1999, the South Africans won all the matches if not for their loss against Australia in the super sixes, only to lose the semis to the Aussies by zero runs.

This was the third encounter between the Delhi team and the Hyderabad team, and after every match, the match has been found closing in on the Deccan Chargers. The first match between these 2 teams was washed off by the Delhi team, the second match though being won by the Delhi team yet again, the Chargers gave the Delhi team a tough fight and lost out only in the end after being in the match for so long. And this time in the third encounter, the Delhi team was nowhere in the picture. It was a clean sweep by the Deccan Chargers and Adam Gilchrist in particular.

So, after the first semis, the IPL which consisted of entire India has now dropped to only South India, with the East, West and the North crashing out. Now the fight is between the three South Indian states in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.

Vow! From Position 8 To Position 3-RCB

This regarding the Royal Challengers Bangalore, I just can say that is a miracle and nothing else. Might be because as I have stated in one of my earlier posts, might be due to the change in the number behind the T-Shirt of the Royal Challengers' captain Anil Kumble. However, forget about making it to the semis, it would have been a sigh of relief for the franchisee of the Royal Challengers Vijay Mallya in case the Royal Challengers didn't finish at the bottom of the table. Thanks to the Kolkata Knight Riders who made that spot theirs. At one stage of the tournament, the RCB saw themselves at position number 8.

And look what they are at present!!! Position number 3. OMG! This is just unbelievable. The Royal Challengers have shown us how to make 8 into 3. I remember in my school days where I had scored 13 out of 25 marks in a test and had to go for unfair means to make that score of 13 as 18. And I did it by stretching the curves at the left end which makes 3 look like 8. But, until the Royal Challengers jumped from position 8 to position 3 in the points table, I was unaware as to how to make 8 as 3. For, it is not easy to rub off the extra curves in an attempt to make it number 3.

And the RCB can also boast of having the only Indian and the second player in the tournament to have scored a century though Suresh Raina of the CSK came close to that score when he scored 98. Adding to that was the fact that he is the youngest player to do so and also this is the highest score made in this particular tournament. Despite the 114 runs scored by Manish Pandey, the RCB settled for a score of just 170 losing just 4 wickets. Cooool! This is not the case of the KKR where they neither lose wickets nor put up a mammoth total on the board.

It had to take the RCB franchisee-Vijay Mallya the tour of England over the West Indies to inevitably go in for Anil Kumble to captain the team and this really worked out well. Just imagine had the England players been available for the entire tournament like the players from New Zealand and South Africa were available? Then, still Kevin Pietersen would have captained the side and continuing the good work he was doing until then. Losing matches and helping the betters not to bet on RCB. If not for Gibbs, none of the Hyderabad players really stood upto the challenge. But, still, their partly contribution could bring them close to the score of 170 despite losing the match by 12 runs.

The day however belongs to Manish Pandey, for if not for his dominance with the bat, the score of 170 would not have been possible and thanks to the drop catch when Manish was on 2.

Is The Color Change Behind The Deccan's Success?

Recently, after a thorough consultation from a known numerologist, Anil Kumble changed the number on the back of his T-Shirt to number 37 which until then read 37, following which there has been a change in the match result against the team which he was supposed to face off late. The change in the number on the back of his T-Shirt meant in the change in the fortune of his teak in the series itself. Similarly, there has been another team in Deccan Chargers who after finishing last in the last and the first edition of the IPL in 2008 have been one of the front runners to claim the last four spot in the current edition.

One thing that the Deccan Chargers have done in this edition compared to the previous edition is that they have changed the color of their team shirt that previously was somewhat a coffee color. And this time it has been changed to a navy blue shade. Otherwise, there has not been any major changes as far as the team be it its players, captain is concerned. This time, the Deccan Chargers were not with their top players like Andrew Symonds and Chaminda Vass who were a hit in the first edition. But, still, they were one of the favourites to lift the trophy in the beginning of the tournament. And even today if not for some mishaps, they still lead the race.

This time, the Rajasthan Royals could not snatch the game away from the Deccan Chargers like they did in the previous game against the same Deccan Chargers. In the first encounter between the Deccan Chargers and the Rajasthan Royals, the Rajasthan Royals came back from nowhere to end up victorious at the end of the day. But, this time the Rajasthan Royals were nowhere in the run chase. The Rajasthan Royals' batsmen were bowled out for a score similar to telephone numbers, with each batsman spelling out a digit. And, Symonds is proving out to be the best bargain for the Deccan Chargers.

Color change was not only reason for the success of the Deccan Chargers. It was a team effort by the Deccan Chargers wherein almost every batsman came out and did what he could have done best. Some batsmen might not have got a big score but, their readiness to take risks have to be given much applause. The Deccan Chargers used 9 of their batsmen unlike in most of the cases where at the end of the 20 overs as I usually point out, a team is found using only 2 to 3 batsmen. Kolkata Knight Riders have a greater share in such stats. The Deccan's innings was not dominated by a single batsmen but at the end, it was a decent total on the board that saw them through.

And one moe thing that is found regarding the color of the teams' T-Shirt is that out of the existing 8 teams there are 3 teams who are in with the color blue may be of different shades. If this saga continues, it would be no better than a test match where teams wear no other color but for white. C'mon guys, the world is no less of colors.

Symonds & Sreesanth Targetted By Bad Luck

Just two posts back, I had stated regarding the class of a team that could help the team in getting itself into better position despite a loss. The Kings XI Punjab once again proved this by pulling off a last ball victory against the Deccan Chargers and restrict their successive loss to 3 at the moment. Still, the Kings XI Punjab are not placed in the top four of the IPL. But, if they continue to show the same class as they showed in their games so far, they can make it to the semis this time as well. One view would place them even higher compared to the Deccan Chargers who at the beginning of the tournament were one of the undefeated teams in this series.

In today's cricketing world, a last ball victory is no longer a subject of thrill. Not even a last ball six when the situation demands the same is enough to thrill the audience who are watching the feat being achieved almost once a year. It was the time when Javed Miandad hit a last ball six at Sharjah when the team required 4 runs off the last delivery. That feat made him be alive in the hearts of many cricket fans over the world. After this, there have been a number of such feats. But, the concern is that, they are found repeating itself recently after 2005.

I still remember Inzamam Ul Haq scoring a boundary against India in the last ball of the match when Pakistan required 1 run off the last ball. Then, in a match between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe won the match when one of its batsmen hit a last ball six. Also, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderapaul scored a last ball six to see his team through against Sri Lanka last year. So, now a days incase the match is to be considered as a last ball gasp, the team should emerge victorious scoring something like 24 runs off the last over. This should happen once in a bluemoon incase the fans have to rejoice the moment.

Anyway, in the match between the Kings XI Punjab and the Deccan Chargers, the degree of bad luck of Andrew Symonds was evident when despite him scoring the lone half century of the match had to compromise with the losing side. On the other, another entry in Brett Lee had a wonderful day not with the ball but with the team, for he belonged to the winning team. Even last year, Andrew Symonds was in the losing in the match against the Rajasthan Royals despite him scoring a hundred. In the sense, the hundred scored by Symonds was the fastest one till date, until Adam Gilchrist overtook the same against Kings XI (I guess).

God Has To Save The Mumbai Indians

The ongoing second edition of the Indian Premier League has witnessed some of the most amazing facts in the cricketing world. One aspect being that the well known names like Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasuriya etc have got only initial knocks that were limited to just one or a couple of games. While on the other side, batsmen like Abhishek Nayar, Yousuf Pathan and Suresh Raina have displayed rather decent knocks almost in every match that they have played. And no recognized bowler has been able to take a hattrick so far in this tournament. But, lesser known part time bowlers like Rohith Sharma and Yuvraj Singh have done it despite it not being their cup of tea.

And one can imagine the caliber of the team that provided full support for a part time bowler like Rohith Sharma not only take a hattrick but also capture 4 wickets giving away just 6 runs in the two overs he bowled in the match. Even Rohith Sharma would be thinking how stupid was the team against which he had played? There was a rare distinction that the Mumbai Indians had. That was the fact that they are the only team that are gifted with openers in Sanath Jayasuriya & Sachin Tendulkar, who have been doing the job for one and a half decades for their respective teams.

No other team in the IPL has this benefit. The top scorer of the match was J P Duminy but to no avail. He was also the lone half century scorer in the match. The Mumbai Indians side lost 8 wickets at the end of the day. Out of those 8 wickets, 4 were bagged by Rohith Sharma meaning half the wickets were named against Rohith Sharma. From this I recall the group stage match between India and Namibia in the 2003 world cup where Yuvraj Singh ended up with the same figures of 4/6. From this , atleast on that particular day, the Mumbai Indians were like a Namibia team that went through the world cup without even a single win.

If there can be a Yuvraj Singh and Rohith Sharma who can come out successful with the ball and someone like Robin Uttappa who is found to keep wickets for his team despite that not being their cup of tea, it would not be wrong for one to expect someone like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, R P Singh and other lower order players to come and score a hundred. For that matter, similar for a team not to have had any recognized bowlers to take a hattrick, no well known batsmen if not for A B Devilliars has scored a hundred in this tournament. So, just imagine a team losing 7 to 8 wickets within the first 6 overs and the tail enders scoring a century.Awesome isn't it?

East London Prefers The CSK Over Deccan Chargers

There was a time in the start of the second edition of the Indian Premier League where the Deccan Chargers along with the Delhi Daredevils were at the top of the points table having beaten almost all the teams out there convincingly. However, as time passed by, both these teams started losing games in the very same manner as they used to win previously. It all started with the Delhi Daredevils losing their first match to the Chennai Super Kings and the Deccan Chargers losing out at the hands of Delhi Daredevils. Now, it is rather doubtful whether the Deccan Chargers would make it to the last four or not.

Owing to the fact that the Royal Challengers Bangalore have realized to start winning matches before all becomes lost for them. The only team at the moment who are yet to make a come back are the Kolkata Knight Riders, regarding whom the discussion for the moment is just a waste of time. Let us leave the discussion of the KKR to the team owner himself. Otherwise, the remaining teams are faring better than they used to in the beginning of the tournament. The other exception being the Mumbai Indians. But, I don't think that all is lost for them as well for the moment.

When fate doesn't want something to happen, all effort goes fruitless. This was what happened to the Deccan Chargers at East London. Explosive openers namely Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs who set up the match in the first encounter against the same CSK were found getting out for a golden duck at East London. Of course, VVS Laxman is new to this format of the game and is suitable for only test cricket. I wish to ask the DC captain-Adam Gilchrist a concrete reason for the inclusion of VVS LAxman who is not believed to even be included in the ODI squad for the past four years.

Despite giving the Deccan Chargers lives after lives by the CSK the Deccan Chargers' score never went past 100. Just imagine had these chances not been wasted the the CSK fieldsman? Anyway, ifs and buts can change the entire story. One has to salute the way the Deccan Chargers' batsmen Rohith Sharma and Dwayne Smith put on a 50 run partnership after losing the first three wickets for just 3 runs on the board at the end of the second over. One must indeed appreciate the guts that Dwayne Smith showed when he pulled off 19 runs from the over bowled by Albie Morkel and maintained a strike of 213 when he got out. The 50 run partnership mentioned above took just 21 balls.

This is no joke, for the pressure that mounts with the initial loss of wickets cannot be overcome by many. And such a thing to have been done by the two deserves much applause. The knock shows the class of the Deccan Chargers, which will help the team in a match or two.

Misfields & Drop Catches Make Their day

It was really unbelievable for most of us for, one could not think as to how come the Rajasthan Royals could manage a win against the Deccan Chargers at the end of the day when the Deccan Chargers held the upper hand for most part of the innings. First by putting a decent total (if not a satisfactory one) of 141 and later by destroying the top order of the Rajasthan Royals' batting by reducing them for 58/5 at the end of the 10th over. Was it the strategic break that comes after every 10 overs responsible for the Royals' comeback? Well not really!!!

If at all anyone has to take the credit for the Rajasthan Royals' win against the Deccan Chargers, it is the Deccan Chargers team itself. For, without the co-operation of the Deccan Chargers' fielders the task would have been just impossible. At the fag end of the Rajasthan Royals' batting, when the team needed 10 runs off an equal number of deliveries, Dwayne Smith fumbled a run out chance. Well it could be said that by bthat time the Rajasthan Royals were well in control with a victory just a stone's throw. The other mis field includes the one by Rohith Sharma who didn't collect the ball and the missed runout off Edwards in the penultimate ball.

Shane Warne was dropped in the second ball of the 11th over after he had hit the previous ball for six and then another maximum one the very next ball after he was dropped. This was more than enough for any team to win a match, when one drop catch in a super six game of the 1999 world cup saw Steve Waugh winning the same. So, one can imagine the result of a match that has had as many as five mis fields and drop catches altogether. However, the fighting spirit of the Rajasthan Royals have to be appreciated here for, normally a team in such a situation would have lost all its wickets for just another 10 to 20 runs after being 57 for the loss of 5 wickets.

However, it looks like after the match against Rajasthan Royals that the Deccan Chargers have got back to where they had left in the first edition of the IPL in 2008, where they finished at the bottom of the points table, spoiling the hard work of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. This time, they might have won the fist four matches of the series but, this loss could never be forgiven though the one earlier to this against the delhi Daredevild could be given a pass, for even the Daredevils have maintained a winning run similar to the Deccan Chargers. So, if it is assumed that the DCs to be favourites, better think again before betting!!!

No One Is The Best

Until the match between the Deccan Chargers and the Delhi Daredevils, there was atleast one team that remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and that was Deccan Chargers. But, after that particular match, even the Deccan Chargers joined the party that included the rest of the 7 teams who have lost atleast one match in the series. However, the Deccan Chargers can still continue to rejoice for, they along with the Delhi Daredevils are the only team to have at present lost just one game so far. While the Deccan Chargers lost their first game against Delhi Daredevils, the Delhi Daredevils lost a game to the Chennai Superkings.

It looks like both the Deccan Chargers as well as the Delhi Daredevils have made it to the semi finals of the IPL already. Well lets wait until the semi finals line is up officially. But for now, the match between the Deccan Chargers and the Delhi Daredevils is something that matters us the most. If not for the openers who made way for early breakthroughs for the opposition team, the rest of the Deccan Chargers' batsmen showed good amount of resistance by all of them scoring in double figures. This feat might not be too satisfactory but, this happens very rarely where five consecutive batsmen score double figures in succession.

For a moment, the Deccan Chargers' batsman Dwayne Smith threstened the Delhi Daredevils team to take the game away from them but not too longer after Daniel Vettori has him in his hands in the deep off Ashish Nehra. Though a total of 148 was not too convincing and more so in this particular format of the game, there have been many instances where a modest total have been difficult to chase. But, this particular total was easily chased by the Delhi Daredevils batsmen more so by Tilekeratne Dilshan. Finally, I was delighted that atleast there was one team in the tournament to beat the Deccan Chargers.

I was really fed up by watching Australia being unbeaten unbeaten throughout the 2003 as well as the 2007 world cups, by winning all 11 matches that they played. Atleast in the match against in the 2003 world cup, the Australia were on the verge of losing but, it was Michael Beaven who spoilt the party and in the match against New Zealand where they were 84/7 ended up winning the match by 96 runs. And in the 2007 world cup, there was not even a single close encounter that the Aussies faced. From the match one against Holland until the finals where they played Sri Lanka all the matches were taken for granted by Australia. Thank God that it was not the case in this IPL as well.