Well if one goes through yesterday's match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Mumbai Indians, once again the Kolkata Knight Riders were sen getting to their old tactics when they retained as many as 7 wickets by the end of the 20th over yet again putting up a modest total of just over 150 on the board. None of the three batsmen who made it to the crease had their strike rates more than even 140 when a strike rate of 150 is said to be ideal in the T20 match. The KKR innings was more or less like a test innings where wickets are kept intact.
No matter that all three batsmen from the Kolkata Knight Riders namely Chris Gayle, SouravGanguly and Owais Shah came up with decent scores when they scored 75 and 31 each. But, what is the use of the same when that could hardly guarantee them a face in the match let alone a victory. They had to be specially reminded that they were facing a team that is at present positioned at the top of the points table. Nothing special could have been expected from SouravGanguly and Owais Shah taking into account their hard hitting capabilities. But, Gayle is known for his hard hitting abilities.
Chris Gayle was the first batsman in the history of the T20 game to have scored a century when he belted the South African bowlers for a 57 ball 117 in the first match of the inaugural T20 world cup held at South Africa. But, the way he was found batting in the game against the Mumbai Indians once again showed the pressure which he was supposed to be having that was imposed by his team and not by the opposition. If this is the way the KKR are found playing repeatedly, it shows what the coaches are upto. When an ordinary cricket enthusiast like me can find the drawback the KKR are facing, it is confusing why the coach has not been able to do?
On the otherhand, even the Mumbai Indians lost not more than 3 wickets like the KKR to overtake the total of 155 to win. More than the effort by the Mumbai team on the field, it was their game planning which saw them victorious at the end of the day. They were well aware of the team strategy of the KKR that they would not get into a good score despite having so many wickets in hand. This was evident when Sachin Tendulkar bought in just 5 bowlers who bowled their complete quota of 4 overs each. No matter if they couldn't get wickets but were successful in restricting the opposition to a below par total.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
The way the RCB's IPL campaign starts
Well despite the fact that yesterday the Royal Challengers lost their first match of the tournament to the Kolkata Knight Riders, this need not draw any sort of criticism be it from the fans, the owner or even the coach f the RCB- Ray Jennings. This has been the usual way the Royal Challengers kick start their IPL campaign by losing the very first encounter rather miserably be it against any opposition. This time as well, the result was no different when the RCB lost to the KKR who were positioned last on the points table in the previous edition held at South Africa.
It was to the same Kolkata Knight Riders that the Royal Challengers Bangalore lost miserably in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League a couple of years back. That was the match where Brendon McCullum scored the highest individual score of 158* aiding his team to a total of 223 on the board. And, the Royal Challengers had absolutely no answer to McCullum's blasting shots. They gave up the match the moment a total in excess of 200 was put up on the board. The RCBs lost all their 10 wickets for a score of 82 runs on the board, which were 76 runs short of what McCullum could manage.
The only reason for the Royal Challengers to feel happy was that they did not lose all their 10 wickets despite being unable to challenge the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers. The RCBs put up a run rate in excess of 6 an over which at one stage of the match seemed a tough task. The RCBs made the KKR batsmen to come close to the ultimate over to score the winning runs. This can bring up the statement that "had the RCBs put up an additional 20 runs on the board, they could have well won the match" no matter to what extent the statement holds good.
Whatever happens, Jacques Kallis can never let his team down and this time as well he has done the same when he carried his bat throughout the innings despite wickets falling from the other end. At the same time, one cannot dispute the fact that the Kolkata Knight Riders were playing in the Eden Gardens wherein they are guaranteed the home advantage. This time, fortunately for the Royal Challengers, Brendon McCullum was not present in the KKR squad to remind the RCBs of the nightmare he had inflicted on them a couple of years back. Anil Kumble once again came back to his test playing days when he bowled 4 overs by not taking a wicket but still not even going in for runs as well.
It was to the same Kolkata Knight Riders that the Royal Challengers Bangalore lost miserably in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League a couple of years back. That was the match where Brendon McCullum scored the highest individual score of 158* aiding his team to a total of 223 on the board. And, the Royal Challengers had absolutely no answer to McCullum's blasting shots. They gave up the match the moment a total in excess of 200 was put up on the board. The RCBs lost all their 10 wickets for a score of 82 runs on the board, which were 76 runs short of what McCullum could manage.
The only reason for the Royal Challengers to feel happy was that they did not lose all their 10 wickets despite being unable to challenge the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers. The RCBs put up a run rate in excess of 6 an over which at one stage of the match seemed a tough task. The RCBs made the KKR batsmen to come close to the ultimate over to score the winning runs. This can bring up the statement that "had the RCBs put up an additional 20 runs on the board, they could have well won the match" no matter to what extent the statement holds good.
Whatever happens, Jacques Kallis can never let his team down and this time as well he has done the same when he carried his bat throughout the innings despite wickets falling from the other end. At the same time, one cannot dispute the fact that the Kolkata Knight Riders were playing in the Eden Gardens wherein they are guaranteed the home advantage. This time, fortunately for the Royal Challengers, Brendon McCullum was not present in the KKR squad to remind the RCBs of the nightmare he had inflicted on them a couple of years back. Anil Kumble once again came back to his test playing days when he bowled 4 overs by not taking a wicket but still not even going in for runs as well.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Just one man extra
Well as the game of the T20 cricket goes, just one solid batsman is more than enough for the opposition to start thinking what to do next. And, this time it was Yousuf Pathan who did the job for Mumbai Indians (the job of evoking panic among the Mumbai Indians). Everything was going on smoothly until Yousuf Pathan stepped in and tried to do a Virender Sehwag Shahid Afridi when he scored the fastest hundred in ODIs the Indian Premier League by consuming the same number of balls as that of Shahid Afridi in ODIs. Unfortunately, Pathan couldn't do what Afridi could do when he scored the world's fastest hundred.
It was a team effort from the Mumbai Indians' part wherein, as many as 6 batsmen who took to the crease scored double digit scores and all of them had their strike rates above hundred with only two of them ending upo scoring at a strike of less than 150. There were 7 bowlers from the Rajasthan Royals side who tried to stop the team work of Sachin Tendulkar's men which was finally valiant. A score of 200+ on the board could not be stopped from scoring despite the efforts of Shane Warne and Shaun Tait who were the only well set bowlers from the Rajasthan Royals' side.
Rajasthan Royals never ever deserved to win despite the top class batting of Yousuf Pathan for the sole reason that cricket is a team sport and not an individual's game like table tennis and badminton for just one player to outplay the other. If Yousuf Pathan's score of 100 is deducted, the score from the remaining 8 batsmen from the Rajasthan Royals' side including the extras comes up to be 108 runs from 13.5 overs. Yousuf Pathan's score of 100 was close to 50% of the team total excluding the extras which accounted for just 5 runs. It was a mistake from Shane Warne when he bought on Amit Uniyal when Shaun Tait could have done a better job with the bat.
Had there been one man in addition to Yousuf Pathan, Rajasthan Royals would have made the match as theirs. Though there was Paras Dogra who scored 41 runs that was bettered by only Yousuf Pathan, the players who followed Pathan's dismissal could not support him from the other end and under pressure, Dogra had to sacrifice his wicket by getting out in the same fashion as Yousuf Pathan. One thing that can be noticed from the scorecard is that the two batsmen who had taken the Mumbai bowlers' for a run could not be claimed by any bowler and had to make a mistake on their own which saw them get out. But, a team effort always pays which is once again evident from the Mumbai Indians.
It was a team effort from the Mumbai Indians' part wherein, as many as 6 batsmen who took to the crease scored double digit scores and all of them had their strike rates above hundred with only two of them ending upo scoring at a strike of less than 150. There were 7 bowlers from the Rajasthan Royals side who tried to stop the team work of Sachin Tendulkar's men which was finally valiant. A score of 200+ on the board could not be stopped from scoring despite the efforts of Shane Warne and Shaun Tait who were the only well set bowlers from the Rajasthan Royals' side.
Rajasthan Royals never ever deserved to win despite the top class batting of Yousuf Pathan for the sole reason that cricket is a team sport and not an individual's game like table tennis and badminton for just one player to outplay the other. If Yousuf Pathan's score of 100 is deducted, the score from the remaining 8 batsmen from the Rajasthan Royals' side including the extras comes up to be 108 runs from 13.5 overs. Yousuf Pathan's score of 100 was close to 50% of the team total excluding the extras which accounted for just 5 runs. It was a mistake from Shane Warne when he bought on Amit Uniyal when Shaun Tait could have done a better job with the bat.
Had there been one man in addition to Yousuf Pathan, Rajasthan Royals would have made the match as theirs. Though there was Paras Dogra who scored 41 runs that was bettered by only Yousuf Pathan, the players who followed Pathan's dismissal could not support him from the other end and under pressure, Dogra had to sacrifice his wicket by getting out in the same fashion as Yousuf Pathan. One thing that can be noticed from the scorecard is that the two batsmen who had taken the Mumbai bowlers' for a run could not be claimed by any bowler and had to make a mistake on their own which saw them get out. But, a team effort always pays which is once again evident from the Mumbai Indians.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
A surprise on the first day itself
Well hardly anyone would have expected the team that finished last in the previous years' edition of the Indian Premier League to beat the team that won the championship the same year. Things started the same way as expected for the Kolkata Knight Riders when they lost 2 wickets even before the scoreboard had something to read. It was fascinating to see the first two wickets falling when the score was zero and the next two wickets falling when the score was 31. And, what happened following that is well aware from the scoreboard itself which is needless to be said I suppose.
The Kolkata Knight Riders did exceptionally well to see their team go past 150 runs when at one stage even a 100 on the board would have made the players of the Kolkata Knight Riders feel satisfied for the fact that atleast they can bowl 10 overs to the Deccan Chargers who had the likes of Gilchrist and Symonds in their ranks. The run rate when the fourth wicket fell was just above 6 an over which eventually happened to be over 8.0 an over. All thanks to the two men out there namely- Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews who put up an unbeaten 131 run partnership.
Angelo Mathews was found to be a failure in the bilateral series between Sri Lanka and India which was played a couple of months back. But, this time he was the man who ensured a turnaround to his team which not only won the game but also Mathews was awarded the man of the match. It is nonetheless another case of underestimating the opposition from the Deccan Chargers who had anticipated a win against the Kolkata Knight Riders even before the match had begun. And, finally they had to pay the price for the same. A close look at the KKR squad doesn't reveal any strong batting names.
The only batsmen who can be thought of to have a huge fan following them were Sourav Ganguly and Brad Hodge, both of whom departed at early stages of their innings. Following them were Pujara who did what was expected off him when he went back runless. On the other hand, the Deccan Chargers had the likes of Gilchrist, Rohith Sharma, Symonds and Gibbs, all of whom were thought to be big hitters. Likewise, only Gilchrist & Symonds would have been enough for any opposition which didn't happen in the 1st match. So was the case with the KKR's bowling which had no decent names if not for Ishanth and Langeveldt and that too compared to the other bowlers of KKR.
And, the Deccan Chargers had Symonds, Vass and Ojha who have played international matches before but could not bail their team out yesterday. THis is the magic of T20 cricket and more so in the IPL.
The Kolkata Knight Riders did exceptionally well to see their team go past 150 runs when at one stage even a 100 on the board would have made the players of the Kolkata Knight Riders feel satisfied for the fact that atleast they can bowl 10 overs to the Deccan Chargers who had the likes of Gilchrist and Symonds in their ranks. The run rate when the fourth wicket fell was just above 6 an over which eventually happened to be over 8.0 an over. All thanks to the two men out there namely- Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews who put up an unbeaten 131 run partnership.
Angelo Mathews was found to be a failure in the bilateral series between Sri Lanka and India which was played a couple of months back. But, this time he was the man who ensured a turnaround to his team which not only won the game but also Mathews was awarded the man of the match. It is nonetheless another case of underestimating the opposition from the Deccan Chargers who had anticipated a win against the Kolkata Knight Riders even before the match had begun. And, finally they had to pay the price for the same. A close look at the KKR squad doesn't reveal any strong batting names.
The only batsmen who can be thought of to have a huge fan following them were Sourav Ganguly and Brad Hodge, both of whom departed at early stages of their innings. Following them were Pujara who did what was expected off him when he went back runless. On the other hand, the Deccan Chargers had the likes of Gilchrist, Rohith Sharma, Symonds and Gibbs, all of whom were thought to be big hitters. Likewise, only Gilchrist & Symonds would have been enough for any opposition which didn't happen in the 1st match. So was the case with the KKR's bowling which had no decent names if not for Ishanth and Langeveldt and that too compared to the other bowlers of KKR.
And, the Deccan Chargers had Symonds, Vass and Ojha who have played international matches before but could not bail their team out yesterday. THis is the magic of T20 cricket and more so in the IPL.
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