Three years back in 2008 when the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League kick started, all eyes were glued to the television sets as though a major encounter would happen in the days to come. During that time, the sport was at its peak with the T20 version of the game having a high run with things like the ICL and the ICC world T20 having their say. Things remained the same until last year when there were takers for almost every game. But, the spirit happens to be no more or rather has got faded to a great extent.
There were players like Mathew Hayden, Sanath Jayasuriya, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne etc who had retired from international cricket but could be seen in tournaments like the IPL then. But slowly and steadily, all the aforementioned players started departing from the tournament one by one. And people like Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne have lost their glorious days. Someone like Mathew Hayden played his last game in IPL 2010 which was famous for his mongoose bat. Glenn Mcgrath has been shown the gates from Delhi Daredevils after the inaugural edition when his style of play suited only the longer formats of the game.
Sanath Jayasuriya, despite his fireworks was forced to warm the benches in last year's IPL and has never been chosen by any franchisee in this year. Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Brendon McCullum etc are not the big hitters of the ball once they were. There were hardly any century scorers in the tournament though there were three batsmen who had amassed more than 500 runs. Only players from India are showing the spirit and enthusiasm since 2008. The list includes Sachin Tendukar, Suresh Raina, Dhoni etc to name a few. Overseas players include Paul Valthaty, Shaun Marsh and Chris Gayle.
The first blow came when Anil Kumble pulled himself out of the tournament. Added to that would be the fact that players have changed sides after they were picked up by a different franchisee. Chris Gayle had earlier played for Kolkata while Dravid played for Bangalore. So would be the case with Gilchrist, Gambhir, Ganguly, Muralitharan. Top spinners like Shane Warne and Muralitharan have been just ordinary players. In the years to come, there will be players like Gilchrist, Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar etc who will be missing from action. Shane Warne has already called it a day. With all these, will the IPL still be accepted by all?
Showing posts with label Mathew Hayden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mathew Hayden. Show all posts
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Monday, 30 May 2011
Chris Gayle unparalleled in IPL 2011
Anyone who can go through the batting charts of this year's IPL would be amazed to find Chris Gayle on the top of the list in most of the batting records starting from the highest run getter in the tournament to the maximum umber of ducks. Yes, Gayle has two ducks to his credit which is luckily equaled by so many like Gilchrist, Sangakkara, McCullum etc but not exceeded. In a way, Gayle happens to be the king of them to have scored two ducks playing in 12 games which is more than any other batsmen who has scored two ducks in the tournament.
Other than this bad record, Gayle is the only other batsman in the history of the IPL after Sachin Tendulkar to have aggregated more than 600 runs in a single edition. Sachin Tendulkar did it last year when he had amassed 618 runs from 15 matches. Both of them were awarded the man of the series with both of them ending up as runners-up. Added to that, the tally of 44 sixes is far ahead of any other batsmen in this year's IPL. The second highest six hitter in the tournament happens to be Mahendra Singh Dhoni with 23 hits out of the ground.
The next major contribution from Gayle happens to be the fact that Gayle had two hundreds which was more than anybody else. In fact, only Gayle has managed to score 2 hundreds. Then we have Gayle once again having a strike rate of 183.13 and an average of 67.55 which is more than anybody else in the series needless to be said. Chris Gayle's tally of 56 boundaries was the second best only to Sachin Tendulkar who has 67 hits to the fence. However, Sachin Tendulkar has attained that feat from 16 games compared to 12 played by Chris Gayle.
Had Gayle played equal number of games as Sachin Tendulkar did, there was every possibility that Gayle would have overtaken Sachin Tendulkar's tally with 11 more hits. However, Gayle falls to the third position (shared by many) with Badrinath top scoring with 5 half centuries followed by 4 half centuries by Virat Kohli. However, with both 50s and 100s put together, Chris Gayle's tally is equaled by Badrinath. Coming to the end, Gayle was is the fastest to reach 600 runs in an IPL when he did it in 11 games compared to Sachn Tendulkar who took 15 in 2010.
Other than this bad record, Gayle is the only other batsman in the history of the IPL after Sachin Tendulkar to have aggregated more than 600 runs in a single edition. Sachin Tendulkar did it last year when he had amassed 618 runs from 15 matches. Both of them were awarded the man of the series with both of them ending up as runners-up. Added to that, the tally of 44 sixes is far ahead of any other batsmen in this year's IPL. The second highest six hitter in the tournament happens to be Mahendra Singh Dhoni with 23 hits out of the ground.
The next major contribution from Gayle happens to be the fact that Gayle had two hundreds which was more than anybody else. In fact, only Gayle has managed to score 2 hundreds. Then we have Gayle once again having a strike rate of 183.13 and an average of 67.55 which is more than anybody else in the series needless to be said. Chris Gayle's tally of 56 boundaries was the second best only to Sachin Tendulkar who has 67 hits to the fence. However, Sachin Tendulkar has attained that feat from 16 games compared to 12 played by Chris Gayle.
Had Gayle played equal number of games as Sachin Tendulkar did, there was every possibility that Gayle would have overtaken Sachin Tendulkar's tally with 11 more hits. However, Gayle falls to the third position (shared by many) with Badrinath top scoring with 5 half centuries followed by 4 half centuries by Virat Kohli. However, with both 50s and 100s put together, Chris Gayle's tally is equaled by Badrinath. Coming to the end, Gayle was is the fastest to reach 600 runs in an IPL when he did it in 11 games compared to Sachn Tendulkar who took 15 in 2010.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Back to the pavilion
Well this happens every year after the Indian Premier League gets over. The duration of close to two months which hosted the Indian Premier League not only was successful in showing a spectacular cricketing action on the field but was also responsible in showing the Indian sub continent as a world rather than as a country like it is after the IPL got over. In these two months of cricket's calender, most of the international players played just for one country nevermind that they played for different Indian cities but as a country it was India for which everyone was found playing.
Now, three days after the finals of the tournament which happened to be between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Superkings the players will have to go back to their respective teams to serve their international duties. Players like Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist who were seen picking up the willow even after their retirement from international cricket a couple of years back will now have to either play for their domestic team or else get back to some stuff like commentating or coaching young legs but would rarely be seen playing for any team or coming in front of the world for what they are known and have been known in their playing days.
The Mumbai crowd who would have cheered Sachin Tendulkar for his mind blowing batting will now have to dream "had Sachin Tendulkar been around in the upcoming T20 world cup" and worse come be contented with that. So would be the fans of Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble. And, players like Robin Uttappa, Virender Sehwag and Ambati Rayudu will have to be seen next year only with the selection committee picking Piyush Chawla for reason not evident to common man and is restricted only to the BCCI. In a way, players will also be losing a lot as said above.
And, finally the Chennai crowd who would have in the two months cheered the Sri Lankan off spinner - Muttiah Muralitharan will now have to make up their mind that he gets belted by some Yuvraj Singh or Rohit Sharma when India play Sri Lanka. So would be the case regarding Australia's Shane Watson, whom the Rajasthan Royals would now want to go back without scoring when he picks up his bat against India. Other such players who'd be rejoiced after being done so for their good performance until now will be New Zealand's Brendon McCullum, Shane Bond to name a few.
Now, three days after the finals of the tournament which happened to be between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Superkings the players will have to go back to their respective teams to serve their international duties. Players like Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist who were seen picking up the willow even after their retirement from international cricket a couple of years back will now have to either play for their domestic team or else get back to some stuff like commentating or coaching young legs but would rarely be seen playing for any team or coming in front of the world for what they are known and have been known in their playing days.
The Mumbai crowd who would have cheered Sachin Tendulkar for his mind blowing batting will now have to dream "had Sachin Tendulkar been around in the upcoming T20 world cup" and worse come be contented with that. So would be the fans of Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble. And, players like Robin Uttappa, Virender Sehwag and Ambati Rayudu will have to be seen next year only with the selection committee picking Piyush Chawla for reason not evident to common man and is restricted only to the BCCI. In a way, players will also be losing a lot as said above.
And, finally the Chennai crowd who would have in the two months cheered the Sri Lankan off spinner - Muttiah Muralitharan will now have to make up their mind that he gets belted by some Yuvraj Singh or Rohit Sharma when India play Sri Lanka. So would be the case regarding Australia's Shane Watson, whom the Rajasthan Royals would now want to go back without scoring when he picks up his bat against India. Other such players who'd be rejoiced after being done so for their good performance until now will be New Zealand's Brendon McCullum, Shane Bond to name a few.
Friday, 19 March 2010
No total is big for Hayden
It was just a matter of time before the orange cap holder in the previous edition of the IPL - Mathew Hayden returned back to his old ways of devastating the bowlers from the opposition especially with his newly acquired mongoose bat. One has to really feel sad for Mathew Hayden for not being able to get a hundred despite having gone until the 90s. At the same time, Hayden also deserves a lot of appreciation for not wasting deliveries in a selfish attempt to get into his hundred by forgetting the remaining ten who'd be at the receiving end of the opposition.
The return of Hayden would be an added advantage to not only the Chennai Superkings but also to the entire IPL that includes millions of spectators - some watching it live on television, some watching the highlights and the remaining coming to the stadium and making their day there. Moreover, it was not against some weak opposition that Hayden kick started his IPL campaign of this year's edition. It was against the Delhi Daredevils who were unlucky to miss the plot in the previous edition at South Africa. It was against a team that had posted a mammoth total of 185 runs on the board.
Had it not been for Hayden, may be the Chennai Superkings would have had yet another loss in this tournament. If one can take trouble to go through the scorecard of the match, if not for Hayden and Raina, no other batsmen really stood upto the Delhi Daredevils' challenge. Not much could be expected from the opener Parthiv Patel who had to return after scoring 6 runs. This was in a way an improved performance form Parthiv Patel considering his scores less than 6 in earlier games he played. Though Vijay's innings suggests that he would have done a fab job after scoring a 6 ball 14, nothing can be guaranteed in the long run.
If the bowling of the CSKs are considered, Suresh Raina's inexperience as a captain could well be felt with the fact that someone like Joginder Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin were given the ball to bowl their entire quota of 4 overs despite going in for over 10 runs an over. On the other hand, experienced bowlers like Laxmipathy Balaji and Albie Morkel were made to bowl just 3 overs which saw them giving runs at the rate of 7 an over and 8 an over respectively. The Delhi Daredevils did a fab job with the entire team contributing to their total of 185. But, had it not been for Hayden, the CSK's fate would have been different.
The return of Hayden would be an added advantage to not only the Chennai Superkings but also to the entire IPL that includes millions of spectators - some watching it live on television, some watching the highlights and the remaining coming to the stadium and making their day there. Moreover, it was not against some weak opposition that Hayden kick started his IPL campaign of this year's edition. It was against the Delhi Daredevils who were unlucky to miss the plot in the previous edition at South Africa. It was against a team that had posted a mammoth total of 185 runs on the board.
Had it not been for Hayden, may be the Chennai Superkings would have had yet another loss in this tournament. If one can take trouble to go through the scorecard of the match, if not for Hayden and Raina, no other batsmen really stood upto the Delhi Daredevils' challenge. Not much could be expected from the opener Parthiv Patel who had to return after scoring 6 runs. This was in a way an improved performance form Parthiv Patel considering his scores less than 6 in earlier games he played. Though Vijay's innings suggests that he would have done a fab job after scoring a 6 ball 14, nothing can be guaranteed in the long run.
If the bowling of the CSKs are considered, Suresh Raina's inexperience as a captain could well be felt with the fact that someone like Joginder Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin were given the ball to bowl their entire quota of 4 overs despite going in for over 10 runs an over. On the other hand, experienced bowlers like Laxmipathy Balaji and Albie Morkel were made to bowl just 3 overs which saw them giving runs at the rate of 7 an over and 8 an over respectively. The Delhi Daredevils did a fab job with the entire team contributing to their total of 185. But, had it not been for Hayden, the CSK's fate would have been different.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Captain's Knock For Losing Cause
It was the captain of the Rajasthan Royals-Shane Warne with a last moment aggression when he scored 21 runs off just 11 deliveries equipped with 1 six and two hits to the fence. But, this was only to cross the 140 run mark and in the process maintain s run rate of just over 7.0 an over. And what more can Shane Warne do when the rest of the team deceive him so badly? The top scorer for the Rajasthan Royals-Greame Smith scored 30 runs but with a strike rate of just 90. And then there were Asnodkar and Ravindra Jadeja who saw to it that their team didn't lose out on their face.
The target never looked to trouble the Chennai Super Kings and neither did the opponents-Rajasthan Royals seem to be a cause of concern for the Chennai team despite losing to them in the finals of the first edition of the Indian Premier League. For the second time in this tournament, the Chennai Super Kings defeated the Rajasthan Royals and this time victory was even more convincing one. I just could not stop watching the orange cap holder- Mathew Hayden swing his bat to loft the ball all over the ground. This was the continuation of the punishing mood where he had left in the last match against Kings XI Punjab.
The spinners from the Rajasthan Royals viz Shane Warne and Yousuf Pathan were found getting some turn. There was a ball from Shane Warne that spun so much that the umpire had no other choice but to term it as a wide ball. This showed that there was much scope for the spinners in the game. But, none of the spinners could make use of the advantage. The Rajasthan Royals' bowlers made no impact on the Chennai batsmen. Mathew Hayden was found repeatedly stepping out of his crease in an attempt to loft the ball. May be that he was not able to connect it everytime. But, what difference does it make when they show no signs of pressure on their faces?
This time there are five contenders for the semis berth viz Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab. Out of these five, the Rajasthan & the Chennai team are found playing good cricket. Despite a respctful class, the Kings XI Punjab jave lost 3 of their last 4 games. And the Deccan Chargers & the Daredevils are found winning only when the day favors them. Or else no.
The target never looked to trouble the Chennai Super Kings and neither did the opponents-Rajasthan Royals seem to be a cause of concern for the Chennai team despite losing to them in the finals of the first edition of the Indian Premier League. For the second time in this tournament, the Chennai Super Kings defeated the Rajasthan Royals and this time victory was even more convincing one. I just could not stop watching the orange cap holder- Mathew Hayden swing his bat to loft the ball all over the ground. This was the continuation of the punishing mood where he had left in the last match against Kings XI Punjab.
The spinners from the Rajasthan Royals viz Shane Warne and Yousuf Pathan were found getting some turn. There was a ball from Shane Warne that spun so much that the umpire had no other choice but to term it as a wide ball. This showed that there was much scope for the spinners in the game. But, none of the spinners could make use of the advantage. The Rajasthan Royals' bowlers made no impact on the Chennai batsmen. Mathew Hayden was found repeatedly stepping out of his crease in an attempt to loft the ball. May be that he was not able to connect it everytime. But, what difference does it make when they show no signs of pressure on their faces?
This time there are five contenders for the semis berth viz Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab. Out of these five, the Rajasthan & the Chennai team are found playing good cricket. Despite a respctful class, the Kings XI Punjab jave lost 3 of their last 4 games. And the Deccan Chargers & the Daredevils are found winning only when the day favors them. Or else no.
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