Why Is Dravid Being Made The Scapegoat?

The picture is right in front of us, after the first inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League. Royal Challengers Bangalore finished last but one, only ahead of Deccan Chargers. This would obviously hurt, irritate and even make the sponsorer go mad, after investing the second highest amount in the tournament/league. For, Vijay Mallya invested a huge 442 crores for Royal Challengers team, that was just one crore less than that invested for the Mumbai Indians which was 443 crores. Well, that is not the discussion of the hour. All that Vijay Mallya could do was to sack the team manager Charu Sharma. Not a bad move, though not a good one.

And the recent news was that Rahul Dravid would no more be leading the side. In other words, Rahul Dravid's credibility in taking his team forward is being questioned by the owner. And more over, its been a buzz that Rahul Dravid has even been put up for sale. No idea regarding how true the story is. However, this is not good news and not fair on the part of Vijay Mallya. For, it was only because of Dravid that Royal Challengers ended a place above the Deccan Chargers. Else, the team would have been placed at the last position. No doubt that Dravid's style of play is more suited for the test cricket and not for T20 game which is the one concerned.

But, if Dravid can adapt himself to this format of the game, which is not considered his cup of tea, it really deserves much applause for it. I think it is still in the memories of Vijay Mallya the way Rahul Dravid snatched victory against the runners up of the tournament- Chennai Superkings, when all would have thought otherwise. And the way he belted an unbeaten 75 off just 35 balls against the champions- Rajasthan Royals is something noteworthy. All these with the above mentioned fact that he is a test player basically. Still if Vijay Mallya thinks of axing Dravid and even tries to get rid of him by auctioning him, I feelt that Mallya's cricketing knowledge has to be reconsidered.

If Dravid has to be axed, if Vijay Mallya is to be believed, so should be Wassim Jaffer and Sunil Joshi. And god knows as to what made Vijay Mallya think of having Zaheer Khan sacked inspite of him being among the leading wicket takers in that edition? And how successsful was Robin Uttappa in the Mumbai Indians' side? Why doesn't Vijay Mallya curse himself for bidding money on players like Sunil Joshi, Virat Kohli and Wassim Jaffer who don't even have the ability to stand for a long time like in test matches, forget about a T20 bash? If this is the way someone like Vijay Mallya thinks, I wish even the IPL chaiman Lalit Modi should consider sacking Mallya as a sponsorer who does not know to pick the right players for the game. But, money makes many things.

30+ Players Bowl Out kolkata Knight Riders For a Mere 60+

If people's memories are short,here is once again a reminder for the team that was selected for the Common Wealth Bank series in which senior players of the likes of Sourav Ganguly,Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman were left out owing to the false illusion of the fact that the team needs young legs (god knows why) and finally even stood by their selection when the team won the Common Wealth bank series 2008 in the first two of the three finals.Adding to that there was even the World Cup winning T20 side.And no credits to Sachin Tendulkar.

But,people,just take a look at yesterday's match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians.There was Sachin Tendulkar who took 4 catches to become the highest catch taker in a match,and then there was Shaun Pollock who took match winning figures of 3/12 and last but not th least Sanath Jayasuriya who had to sadly miss out on scoring the fastest 50 of the tournament.For he scored 48 of just 17 balls.But,some relief as he became the highest six hitter in the tournament by hitting 18 sixes to surpass David Hussey's tally of 17.

All of whom are aged 30+.Well on the other hand we even have players like Rahul Dravid,V V S Laxman,Ricky Ponting,Sunil Joshi etc who are found to prove these above written articles wrong.But,what about people like Robin Uttappa,Graeme Smith,A B Devilliars and few others who despite having young legs are yet to fire.Some firing young legs that I can show is Rohith Sharma & Goutam Gambhir.And there are even players like Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthick who can score a six only if the ball is extremely fast and hits the top edge.Congrats "Parthiv" on that(match against Delhi Daredevils in the first round).

Upsets After Upsets?

Well if there was Channai Super Kings in the last match,this time it was Rajasthan Royals who proved to be deceiving as good as a Shane Warne delivery that does to most of the English batsmen.The Rajasthan Royals lost the game to the Mumbai Indians- who were at the receiving end for most part of the tournament.But,now after the match against Royals,even Mumbai Indians have shown us what they are capable of doing.

A mean total of just 103?Is this the caliber of the team that has gone too forward in the tournament?Well I just couldn't believe in my own eyes!And some praise for Asish Nehra-who I'm seeing come up with a splendid performance only after a span of five long years.The last time I saw Ashish Nehra put up such a performance was in the league stage of the ICC world cup 2003 at South Africa where he came out with figures of 6/23 in a day-night encounter against England.

Only two out of eleven were able to put up a score of over 10+.And on the other side there was Robin Uttappa for the Mumbai Indians who took charge of their batting and put up a score of 34 unbeaten in 21 balls.And none the less for Shaun Pollock,Kulkarni and Bravo.

At the end I would like to say the the loss at the hands of the Mumbai Indians was only a strict reply to the ego of the Rajasthan Royals.

Which Format of Cricket Were the Mumbai Indians Playing?

More Money,more disappointment?

Hmm..with Mumbai being one of the four metropolitan cities in India,one difference if someone asks me is this..With the rest of the metropolitan cities namely Delhi Daredevils,Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Superkings being in a dominant position from the beginning of this tournament,the Mumbai Indians (sad to say) have so far just made a mess of their game.

Boasting of having an icon player in Sachin Tendulkar-who is still yet to turn up for his team and even if he does,god knows what would he be upto..And then the great Sanath Jayasuriya who has a record in ducks when it comes to the ODIs,also a responsible batsman for Sri Lanka.Some hopes of the Mumbai Indians that one can see is that of Harbhajan Singh and Shaun Pollock.It would be nice if these two are made to handle the entire 20 overs slot.

At the end of the Mumbai Indians' innings,the run rate read 5.8.Something rare in the present one day internationals also.And a common gesture in tests involving Australia against Bangladesh & West Indies.And Sanath Jayasuriya's score reading "1 run from 7 balls at a strike rate of 14.28".Then we have Robin Uttappa who has so far recorded two scores above 40.But,at a strike rate of just above hundred,when the series has witnessed strike average rates of 150+,and some of them crossing even the 200 mark.

A less experienced like Piyush Chawla picking up 2/16 from 4 overs.Khote's hit wicket-which is a rare manner of getting out.With teams like Mumbai Indians getting filtered so easily,it looks the multi million dollar Indian Premier League is becoming more and more predictable.

Dhoni's Comment On Seniors:Just An Ego..

After the T20 world championship win at South Africa,followed by a maiden series win in Australia,it seems as though Dhoni has got wings that could let him even fly in the air.This was from the statement he made on the selection of junior players over the senior ones.

Was that the result what Dhoni wanted in the T20 match in Melbourne?Well,as I said,there was nothing to worry about in my earlier posts.Lets take the Commonwealth bank Series itself,which provoked Dhoni to make the statement.Some awesome performance that I can highlight is the bowling of Ishanth Sharma-to win the first encounter against the Aussies,Praveen Kumar-who won a match against each Sri Lanka as well as Australia,& finally M S Dhoni who played some decent knocks to help India through.

But,what about the rest?Robin Uttappa who had just two decent knocks,Yuvraj Singh-who had just one score of 50+,Piyush Chawla,Sreesanth and much more players who were hardly of any weight.

But,Sachin's knock that helped India win on both occasions.And for the information, how come the contributions of Sourav & Dravid being taken lightly just because the youngsters did a fair job?And is Dhoni ready to take the blame for the young team's debacle caused by his decisions?Well..if Dhoni's predictions come true,I would suggest him to be an astrologer rather than a cricketer!!What Dhoni??