The contest just seems to get dull

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?

Dammit!

Well this was one such match that all cricket crazy fans and Aussie haters on earth would have been looking forward to. The match between Australia and Sri Lanka had to be washed off with only 32 overs of the game being able. I just cannot stop cursing myself and the rain gods for having spoiled such an enthusiasm. Australia have been beating Sri Lanka on the past five occasions with two each in the 2007 world cup and the 2003 world cup. They are the team to have been at the receiving end of Aussies in world cup taking into consideration their glory days after 1999.

India have had the taste of the Aussie ego thrice since 1999 with one in 1999 and two in the next edition in 2003 at South Africa while Pakistan have been quite lucky for not having been so. Pakistan beat Australia i the league match of the 1999 world cup by ten runs before losing to the same in the finals of the same miserably. And then in 2003, Pakistan might have missed out on meeting Australia had they not been grouped in the same pool. Pakistan was beaten badly by 82 runs in that world cup as well when the Aussies were just unstoppable.

Likewise, South Africa have had their taste four time with two each in the 1999 and 2007 editions with England having only one each in 2003 and 2007 world cups. And then, New Zealand have been losing to Australia since 2003 world cup with them being lucky in 1999 to have beaten them by 5 wickets. The match was going on at a decent pace as far as Sri Lankans were concerned with their run rate being well above four an over and Sangakkara and Samaraweera having a brilliant unbeaten 71 run partnership until rain intervened. On the other side, there was Muralitharan who could have shown his magic on home soil.

The same thing happened to the match between Sri Lanka and Australia in the 1996 world cup when Australia and West Indies decided not to tour the trouble torn country following which points had to be given to Sri Lanka for no efforts. Now, the points happened to be shared and Australia have escaped a would-be defeat at the same venue four world cups later. Nevermind, even Australia had an equal chance of winning with players like Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Mitchell Johnson etc. Now, the only choice left for Aussie haters is to wait and watch what happens to Australia in their pool match against Pakistan.

The curse of 299

Well yesterday in the finals of the triangular series between India and Sri Lanka at Dambulla, not only did India suffer a loss in yet another finals of a tournament involving three nations or more but, also collapsed while chasing a total of 300, with Sri Lanka closing in on 299. This was the same score at which ten years back India slumped to their worst ever defeat in one dayers when they lost all their ten wickets for 54 runs while chasing the same target of 299. That match was a memorable one for Sanath Jayasuriya's epic knock of 189.

Similarly, the series being memorable one for Muttiah Muralitharan when he took 7 wickets giving away 30 runs in a game in the league stage of the tournament once again against India. That was the third time in history of one day cricket that a bowler had taken 7 wickets after Pakistan's Aqib Javed and West Indies' Windson Davis (who took 7/41) . For the second time in that series, India was at the receiving end of a bowler who took 7 wickets. The venue was Sharjah in both the occasions which makes it even more delightful for team India.

As a matter of fact, India and England are the only teams against which two bowlers have taken a 7 wicket haul. The other teams that have had it one are Zimbabwe against whom Chaminda Vass took 8/19 and Windson Davis taking 7/41 as mentioned above against Australia. As a matter of fact, no one has been able to take even a 7 wicket haul against Bangladesh. Anyways, coming to yesterday's match, this was a time when chasing even 350 should not have been tough atleast for India which didn't happen. One thing that is to be noticed is that this was India's second loss to Sri Lanka in the finals of a tri nation trophy.

Last time when India met Sri Lanka in the finals of the Asia cup, India won the match and prior to that, Sri Lanka won the finals in the triangular series late last year which also involved New Zealand. Of course, India didn't enter the finals of the tri nation tournament involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. It is now a difficult task for anyone to hold the number of games played between India and Sri Lanka since 2008. Any tournament that stands canceled is found to be compensated by an India-Sri Lanka series. May be that is the reason Sachin Tendulkar was dropped despite there being fears of a series loss.

Match Slowly Turning Into A Test

Just a day ago, when the Indian batting line up saw as many as five scores above 50, out of which three had scored hundreds, the match was thought to be just another boring draw. But, only to be mistaken. For, the pitch was found to deteriorate on the second day of the test match itself when the remaining eight Indian batsmen could amass just above 200 runs to finish the innings at 642 losing all their 10 wickets. The run-rate at the end of the first day's play read just below 5.0 an over which at the end of the innings reduced to 4.16 to be exact.

Things that followed were just that can be expected an an ideal test match. It looked as though the Sri lankan batsmen were deceived by the pitch when they had assumed the pitch to be a batsman's paradise only to kick themselves at the end of the day. However, things weren't too tough for the Sri Lankan batsmen when they had 9 wickets still to go despite Tilekeratne Dilshan getting out for a duck. Moreover, spin bowlers like Muralitharan were found getting a lot of turn at the fag end of the first innings of team India's batting and so was the way the fast bowlers when they found getting a bit of swing.

This has at present givn the Sri Lankan batting line up consisting of the two Jayawardanes in addition to Samaraweera and Sangakkara a warning not to take the pitch for granted after the Indian batsmen made most out of their first batting after winning the toss. However, not to be mistaken, this was not the way things were going on on the first day's play. Not only that the Indian batsmen viz Gambhir, Sehwag and Dravid got quick runs but also the bowlers were struggling to get some movement off the seam. This is quite evident from the fact that someone like Dravid could maintain a run-rate of 4.0 an over who has made a name "The Wall" for himself.

Finally, after a long time one can expect a test match that can assure a result. The last time India played a test match was against New Zealand in march-April which India won 1-0 in the three match test series. After India had won the first test by 10 wickets, the second test was just another run accumulator with New Zealand belting 613 runs that followed with India 305 and then 476 after allowed to follow on. The third one saw India having an upperhand with New Zealand just avoiding follow-on and also the defeat by a whisker when they were just 2 wickets away from losing the series/test with the scorecard reading 281/8. Atleast now, a test match giving a result can be thought about.

Another Final Between 2 Sub Continent Teams

Well what a relation is the one between the top run getter in the ongoing T20 world cup and the Sri Lankan team! Tilekeratne Dilshan not only became the top run getter in the world cup but, in yesterday's semifinal match against the West Indies, he remained unbeaten throughout the Sri Lankan innings which is referred to as "carrying the bat throughout the innings" in cricket terms. After their win against the West Indies in the semifinals, Sri Lanka become the second team in this tournament who have been unbeaten in this world cup and to face Pakistan after the Proteas. For the 2nd time in succession, the final is a contest between two sub continent nations.

And if the body language of the Pakistani players is taken, they are in no mood to compromise. May be that Sri Lanka have earlier in the super eights match beaten Pakistan, but the finals is obviously a different game. Remember, in the 1999 world cup in England, Pakistan had in their league stages of the tournament beaten Steve Waugh's men by 10 runs and later in the finals of the same, Pakistan were no where in the game when they took on Australia for the second time in the series. And this time as well, the situation is no different either if not for Pakistan who would be at the delivering end.

And I would cast my vote solely to Pakistan with 100% confidence of them lifting the world cup. This I had done even before the world cup had began-believe it or not. And in the match against Sri Lanka, it was just a formality for them. The West Indies had lost the game when they had to chase down 158. And I wonder as to how come the West Indians could lose 3 wickets in the first over in the semi final of the tournament world cup? When South Africa couldn't win against Pakistan despite being unbeaten in the tournament until then, it would be stupid to consider West Indies to win against Sri Lanka.

After the second semi finals of the T20 world cup 2009, my memories date back to the 1996 world cup where both South Africa and Sri Lanka had been unbeaten throughout the series and South Africa crashes out of the tournament after their shocking loss to the West Indies and Sri Lanka end up victorious. Now, Sri Lanka have just reached the finals of the tournament. But, my heart still goes out to Pakistan for coming back so strongly after losing to England and Sri Lanka long before all gates seemed to be closed for them. If history is taken, both Sri Lanka and Pakistan have an equal chance of lifting the world cup. So, at the moment the only thing left for us is to just wait and watch.

A World T20 Final Like Situation

Well one can imagine the teams that made it to the finals of the inaugural T20 world cup that was held in South Africa a couple of years back. The teams who made it there were India and Pakistan, the same two teams who were eliminated from the earlier world cup the same year in the Caribbean earlier that year after their losses at the hands of minnows. Pakistan lost the match to Ireland and India on the other hand lost their match to Bangladesh, thus disappointing the fans and the tournament on the whole who were deprived of a major challenge.

However, it was the same two teams out there who made it to the finals of the inaugural T20 world cup. And this time too, in the second edition of the Indian Premier League, the venue is once again South Africa and, the teams who have entered the finals of the IPL 1 namely, the Deccan Chargers and the Royal Challengers Bangalore had finished at the bottom of the points table in the last and the first edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008. Deccan Chargers ended up at the bottom most and they were followed by the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Anyway, coming to the semi final match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Chennai Super Kings it was a terrible bowling effort from the bowlers of the RCB, for, it was the bowlers who laid the foundation for the victory by restricting the CSKs for a comparitively low total of 146. The CSK at one stage were at 102/2 at the end of the 13th over. Meaning only 44 runs were scored from the remaining 7 overs at a run rate of just above 6 an over. Anil Kumble won the toss and put the CSKs to bat, with the fact weel in his mind that the pitch would suit the batsmen and chasing a decent total on this track would not a challenging.

Unfortunately, the man of the match was handed over to Manish Pandey who just exctracted something out of the pitch. My man of the match would be Vander Merwe or Vinay Kumar, because they did something for which the pitch never gave them any sort of assistance. The CSKs lost just 5 wickets, once again doing the mistake what the KKR did throughout the series. There was Gony, Muralitharan (if his experience is to be taken) and Balaji who could have added 20 more runs to the CSK total had the earlier batsmen gone in for some risks. Had this been done, the run rate required would have been around 8 an over. And the match was all over after the CSK innings. The only question left unanswered was by how many wickets would the RCB emerge victorious?

The RCB indeed need a pat on their back for making it not only to the semis but also to the finals when they were on the cards to be the first team to be out of the tournament until the captaincy was taken care of Kumble. Congrats Anil!!!