Premier League disease spreads to SL

Well one has to no doubt be fed up with the ongoing Indian Premier League in its fourth successive edition and bound to become more and more worthless and boring at the same time. Now, it would come in as another blow when a neighboring country tries to copy the same irrespective of whether it would become successful or not. As stated earlier, the 4^th edition of the IPL is nothing but total crap with lack of any cricketing technique. One can hardly see any high scores chased down or any sort of big hitting from the blades of say Brendon McCullum.

I hardly have the patience to go through the website to check out who holds the orange and the purple cap and on the other side who is the topper on the charts. But, through newspapers and sports magazines, I can say that the real action is missing out totally not partially. There is no Anil Kumble who could do wonders with the ball and people like Shane Warne and Muralitharan who have shown great expectations are highly below the mark with the ball deciding not to respect these elders in the game. Likewise, Glenn McGrath is missing from the action from the past 2 years.

And, coming to the batting, someone like Sanath Jayasuriya and Brian Lara have been shown the gates before they had decided to enter one when they were not picked up by any of the franchisees. With that apart, now one more goat is found following its parent when the SLC not only plans to do a replica of the same but also ends up kick starting one. Pakistan had one shown interest in holding such an event on its soil but may be didn't go ahead with the same citing security reasons hosting and venue reasons. Well, I'm afraid whether this would definitely work.

Though most of them would now be looking forward to Entertainment,travel & living blogs, the Indian premier League is of some interest but that can never be guaranteed regarding the Sri Lankan counterpart whatsoever. I wonder what teams would feature in the Sri Lankan Premier League with the entire nation as big as one state in India. Perhaps! Every gully will have a team of its own. Added to that, the Sri Lankan cricket board should also look out for the dates on the calender with the entire year busy. All cricket boards cannot be lucky as the BCCI are.

Centuries - Now and then!

Well recently, I came across Sachin Tendulkar's 50^th ton in test match cricket and just though from where to where is the records heading towards. I can just recall the 34 centuries by the Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar whose record was for a change broken by a non Sachin Tendulkar when Brian Lara scored his 35^th test hundred against one of the eight test playing nations whose name is not important at the moment. This was some 5 -6 years down the lane. And now, Sunil Gavaskar's record stands in the 6^th place behind Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Kallis.

Likewise, Sunil Gavaskar was the first and the only one until the above mentioned ones took his place and then overtook him to score 30 centuries in tests or more. Sunil Gavaskar was the only non colored player to have scored more than 30 hundreds in tests. The other batsman to cross 30 hundreds was Steve Waugh who had worn the yellow color. As a matter of fact, the color dress in one day cricket was introduced in the 1992 world cup played in Australia/New Zealand while Sunil Gavaskar retired from all forms of cricket in 1987. Since then, all the aforementioned players have worn their team color.

Now, with totally six players joining the 30+ hundred club, shifting our focuses on batsmen who have scored 20 or more hundreds, the list is even more long with batsmen from all teams barring Zimbabwe and Bangladesh being excluded from the list. The 30+ club includes 3 batsmen from India, 1 from South Africa, 1 from West Indies and 3 from Australia, with teams like Sri Lanka, New Zealand, England and Pakistan missing out from the list. However, the 20s club does not exclude batsmen from these countries with the list going endless with as many as 33 players from 8 nations making it to the club.

Coming to the one dayers, 17 centuries by Desmond Haynes was the highest ever scored which stood for almost a decade and now, that figure stands in the 10^th position jointly held by Kallis and is ever decreasing. Similar to the fate of 30+ hundreds scores in tests, 20+ centuries in one dayers stand at number six with Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar, Ponting, Ganguly, Saeed Anwar and Gibbs having achieved that. Keeping in mind these figures, there might be more number of batsmen in the days to come to score atleast 40 hundreds in tests and 30 in one dayers. Of course, very few might do a combo of 50 hundreds in both forms of the game.

Crap this allrounder!!!

Well exactly 9 months back a star fast bowler in Shane Bond retires from test cricket owing to the same reason as the current "under discussion" player Andrew Flintoff. Shane Bond had announced his retirement from test cricket owing to a back injury which he assumes makes it difficult to play the longest version of the game. Now, with Andrew Flintoff following suit, it looks as though records can hardly be bettered by the present batch of youngsters. This was all the more expected from Flintoff when he bid adieu from test cricket after the Ashes last year owing to a knee injury.

And, almost one year later from that announcement, Andrew Flintoff is now seen calling it a day from all formats of the game. This is indeed a huge blow to the cricketing world who rarely see all rounders like Andrew Flintoff make it to the international arena. Andrew Flintoff is an all rounder one of his kind with South Africa's Jacques Kallis being the only other to parallel him. However, when both their careers are compared, Kallis stands apart with more than 6 years of international cricket to his credit. The point here is not to compare anyone with Flintoff.

Instead, Flintoff needs to be cursed for not being able to give his fullest to the game which has given him fans outside England as well. Citing his achievements in international cricket would be just another boring set of words. But, I personally condemn his retirement at this age which now reads just above 32 years. Andrew Flintoff could have gone on to play for another world cup scheduled in another 6 months from now onwards. On one side of the cricketing world, there is some Sachin Tendulkar who started his international career more than a decade before Flintoff and is bound to continue even after Flintoff has retired.

Someone like Sanath Jayasuriya is all set to take the crease for the sixth time in world cup while Flintoff has just two of them to his credit. Flintoff was not even available for the third edition of the Indian Premier League earlier this year for the same reasons. Flintoff is the only bowler whi can bowl decent fast balls and also hit the ball hard with the willow. It is very rare for the cricketing world to find fast bowlers like Shane Bond and all rounders like Andrew Flintoff. But, with their limited service to the game, their entry is of hardly and cheers whatsoever.

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.

Something similar between Lara & Sachin

It is not an undisputed fact that Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar are the finest of all batsmen of their era. The decade has seen batsmen like Inzamam Ul Haq who could pull his team out from the jaws of defeat in the semi finals of the 1992 world cup which Pakistan eventually won. Then there is Shahid Afridi, who claims that his favourite shot is "anywhere for six" and holds the record for the fastest hundred in ODIs and then there is Jayasuriya who holds the record for the maximum number of sixes in one day cricket. Otherwise also we have gr8 batsmen like Ponting, Gilchrist, Symonds etc who have been exceptional with the willow.

However, the world of cricket, if the last 15 years or so are considered, the only batsmen who have been enjoying a huge fan following are only two- Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. No one would dare to rate any other batsmen among these two greats and so would I. A Sachin fan can justify himself with most of the batting records in both formats of the game belonging to him. But, as far as Brian Lara is considered, if not for the unbeaten score of 400 against England, none of the records really belong to him in either formats of the game.

If Lara is given a little bit of concession, he held the world record for the highest number of runs in international test cricket until it was broke by none other than Sachin Tendulkar. Lara stands fifth when it comes to the number of 100s scored behind Sachin, Jayasuriya, Ponting & Ganguly. Lara's place when it comes to the highest run aggregate would be behind Dravid, Ganguly, Inzy, Jayasuriya and of course Sachin. But, there was one thing that struck my mind when Sachin scored an unbeaten 200 yesterday against South Africa.This was Sachin's 2nd score over 180 which is in par with two 350+ scores of Lara in tests.

It was somewhere in October 2003 that Australia's Mathew Hayden scored 380 runs against Zimbabwe to break the old record of 375 put up by Lara against England in 1994. Exactly six months later, Brian Lara notched up the first quadruple hundred in test cricket that broke Mathew Hayden's record and also was a new landmark in tests. Similarly, in ODIs, in August 2009, Charles Coventry scored an unbeaten 194 against Bangladesh which broke Saeed Anwar's record of the same score without the asterik symbol following it. And exactly after the same duration of 6 months, Sachin scores 200* which also put up a new landmark but in ODIs. Moreover, both Lara & Sachin use bats that are sponsored by MRF.

Who Can Stop Sri Lanka from losing?

The fact that a team that could contain top rated batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar and VirenderSehwag could not continue the same when it comes to a 28 year old Gautam Gambhir and ViratKohli who a couple of years ago was seen lifting the under-19 world cup can make people laugh and nothing else. A couple of days ago, I happened to read in cricinfo regarding the chances that Sri Lanka can draw out of the injuries haunting Indian players-Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in particular. And the result of all is that Sri Lanka have had their worst defeat so far in this tournament.

It is just disgusting to see someone like Ravindra Jadeja & Virat Kohli tearing apart the SriLankan bowling that included the likes of Lasith Malinga and co in the initial stages of their cricketing career. Added to that is Dinesh Karthik whose presence is felt only in the absence of the regular wicket keeper in Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Still, even he is able to make a mark against Sri Lanka. The lone six in the Indian innings came from the bats off Virat Kohli though it was Gautam Gambhir's 150 that sealed Sri Lanka's chances of being alive in the series.

Added to this was the 16 wides the Sri Lankan bowlers bowled as compared to 10 by the Indians. I just couldn't resist closing my eyes when the replays of Sri Lankan batsmen TissaraPerera hitting the ball straight in the air and nowhere when it came to the distance were shown repeatedly. That was the time when Perera was in full form and a responsible decision would have seen Sri Lanka piling up a more 20 runs. Neither did Sri Lanka lose wickets at regular intervals nor did they end their innings with a partly total like they have been doing in their previous matches.

It is not an unknown fact that in the last 5 years or so, a total of 300+ is not considered safe for any team. But, until yesterday, this was opposed atleast by the Eden Gardens where stats suggest that the highest run chase so far has been 293 by Pakistan once again against India in 2004. For the second time and fortunately in this year and against the very same Sri Lanka, Gautam Gambhir has scored exactly 150, the only difference being that this time he was unbeaten. The previous time Gambhir was found doing this was in February 2009 at Colombo that saw India taking the lead to 4-0 in the 5 match series. Next time, India can play their under-17 team to both beat Sri Lanka as well as get some match practice.

Lankans Deceived

Well it has been a very long time since I last held a pen in my hand to blog something about cricket. But, I blame it all on the lack of some or any convincing turn around that really went on in the world of international cricket really. Still, I thought that waiting further for the same would just mean losing my fans who have encouraged me till here. So, I drew some points from the on going test series which featured Pakistan after almost a year or so. And they did the very same in a more decent manner whatsoever. The just showed the cricketing world that they haven't yet forgotten the game of cricket and test cricket in particular.

If Sri Lanka who were facing Pakistan after their debacle against India off late had two players, whom they had thought to have made a difference to their team, they were totally mistaken. For, even the Pakistani test team was well equipped with war heads like Younis Khan who put up a fighting triple century. In the process, Younis Khan became the third Pakistani batsmen to notch up a triple hundred. So, it is now left for the remaining subcontinental teams namely India and Sri Lanka to boast of another batsmen to have scored a triple hundered. Sri Lanka and India have two batsmen who have scored triple hundreds with Pakistan making it three.

For Pakistan, there have been three batsmen off late namely Hanif Mohammed, Inzamam Ul Haq and recently Younus Khan who have a double hundred against their name. While India have two triple hundreds, both of them being scored by Virender Sehwag alone and on the other hand, Sri Lanka too have two batsmen in Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardane to have notched up a triple hundred for their country. This has always been the case with a test match being held on Pakistani soil. Every match played on Pakistani soil becomes a batsmen's paradise and a bowlers' nightmare. More so in the India's tour of the country in early 2006.

In the first two of the three test matches, there were four Pakistani and two Indian batsmen who scored a hundred only to see the first encounter end in a draw. In the second encounter, debutant pacer R P Singh was named the man of the match in the drawn test for taking four wickets. This was the fate of test cricket. All that the first two test matches could witness was smashes from the bat of Shahid Afridi, who hit Harbhajan Singh for four consecutive sixes. And in the first test, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag lost out on putting a record first wicket partnership of 413 when Virender Sehwag lost out hastingly when the scoreboard read 410.

Where Have The Remaining Ten Gone?

Well at last, after much of the fuss, the first one day international match between India and SriLanka takes place at Dambulla. But, this as per my view or opinion, is not that great start for the series. For, the series expected a lot of expectations regarding some blistering fireworks from the blades of Sanath Jayasuriya. of course, Sanath Jayasuriya did fire with his bat despite being aged close to 40. But, I think that it is now necessary that one has to remind Sri Lanka that there are as many as eleven players in the team rather than only one man who id supposed to show his greatness with the bat.

From the Indian point of view, I can just relax for, it is my country who has made its day and as expected, India did win the match. But, if one is a real follower of the game of cricket, he would be surely interested in playing or watching someone play good and exciting cricket on the field rather than just wait or pray that his team wins no matter what. And this is what the game of cricket is all about. How can one expect someone to compromise with some thrilling stuff in return for a boring encounter like it happened at the Dambulla in the first one day international? Only three out of seven batsmen out there came out with some decent performances on the field.

could be considered to be a bowler rather than as a batsman. So, in the sense, only Out of the three batsmen whio showcast their skills with the bat, one of them- Farveez MaharoofSanathJayasuriya and Kumara Sangakkara were really worth the praise and regarding other batsmen it was just like "fill in the blanks". If such is the performance of the Sri Lankan batsmen on their home ground in Sri Lanka, what else can be expected from them and what is the mistake of the Indians who can well walk away with the victory in their hand from the very first one day international?

If this is the kind of opposition that some team in India, who are riding very high on their confidence after whitewashing England 5-0 in November, it would not be a big task for them to take over the Sri Lankans who are running very very low after their recent loss at the hands of Bangladesh and their dismal performances against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe where Sri Lanka had a last gasp for victory. Sri Lanka never ever tried to correct their mistake and in turn continued to do the same and this is what they have landed with. A rather humiliating defeat against a team which lost miserably in the finals of the Asia cup 2008. So, better luck next time Sri Lankans.

Pakistan Back With A Bang

It looks as though the Pakistanis can never get rid of making blasts. For the wrong blasts that the country has been responsible for since a year or so, which in turn forced the ICC to yield to the security concerns of Australia, England and South Africa later, which ended in the ICC dismissing Pakistan as a venue for the ICC champions trophy 2008 and scheduled in 2009 at the same venue. But, now Pakistan team is found making news for blasts, and just relax for this time it is for the right reasons. Pakistan blasted Sri Lanka in the first one day international at Karachi by 8 wickets.

All Sri Lanka could afford to do was to be a mute spectator on the field, with Salman Butt belting the ball into the boundary. All that the Sri Lankans could afford was just 2 wickets that cane at the fag end of the Pakistan innings, when a Pakistani win was almost hit the headlines of newspapers. It was a real pity to see the aged Sanath Jayasuriya run to the boundary and do the job of a ball boy whenever Salman Butt hit the ball over the ropes. The first wicket fell when the scorecard read 168 from 37.1 overs and the second one at 205 at 43.2 overs.

It was not that Sri Lankans were not in the game since the start. A close look at the start of the game,which saw Sanath Jayasuria and Tilakeratne Dilshan hammer the ball frequently over the ropes was just amazing. It all started with the fall of these two stalwarts, which saw a total batting collapse on the Sri Lankan part. Some rarely known name in Iftikhar Anjum made most of the opportunity to become the leading wicket taker in the match by ending with figures of 4/42. Then another new comer in Khurram Manzoor scored 83 which involved a 168 run opening wicket partnership with Salman Butt.

Well, it was just obvious for, the Sri Lankans had to earn every run and every wicket when they recently played Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. They struggled to win against Zimbabwe and there was also a loss at the hands of the Bangladeshis. This tale was more than enough for the reason as to why the Sri Lankan batting ha such a collapse. It is a wonder as to how come the Sri Lankans managed to take two Pakistani wickets. This was indeed an achievement on the Sri Lankan part. For this, the Sri Lankans should feel ralaxed and should be proud that the Pakistanis did not finish off the game in just 35-40 overs.

The Unforgettable Brian Lara

Even after a year and a three fourth being passed since the West Indian legend Brian Lara retired from all forms of international cricket, it is just not possible to forget the batting of Brian Charles Lara, which was a combination of delightful flamboyance and solidity. The man who had cited that he would continue playing test cricket, which Lara calls it to be a version where the real challenge of the game lies. And on that particular day in the match against England in the super eight of the ICC world cup 2007, Lara says it is all over. including test cricket. How disappointing?

Still, not all hopes were lost by Lara's fans over the world, for once Lara hinted that he would be entertaining his fans in the ICl, by signing up for the Essel's group. His statement then was "t gives me great pleasure to join the Indian Cricket League. You can't keep me too far from cricket and hence I return to the game in this exciting new avatar that the Essel Group has launched". This I hope would have bought back the lost smiles on the faces of the fans of this great batsman, who can surprise the opposition by stroking the ball into places where you would not expect him to do so.

But, even this didn't last much longer, for Lara was forced out of the tournament owing to a fractured arm that he is believed to have sustained while playing in Trinidad & Tobago. The last time one could see Brian Lara in action was against Hyderabad Heroes where he scored just 16 (15b,2x4). Since then its always been a wait game for his fans, who are expecting him to be available sooner or later. But, this has never happened so far. And is it never bound to happen?So, it is as though the man who can tame the bowlers of the world with typical nonchalance is now a matter of the past.

Someone like Inzy, Jayasurya, Shane Warne, Sourav Ganguly, Glenn McGrath, Shane Bond and much others who have called it a day from international cricket are now found entertaining their fans by participating in leagues like the IPL and ICL. This is an undisputed fact that these leagues are to a greater extent colourful due to the presence of these stalwarts. Missing players like Wasim Akram, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh etc really hurts. But, nothing can be done regarding the same what so ever. All that can be done is to just rewind the button and watch these players' highlightes during their playing days. Last but not the least, even now if Lara makes a return to the ICL, it would make the cricketing fans jump with joy.

Cooool Sri Lanka!!!

Something that is to be noticed in the ongoing test series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, wherein, a day of the test match was called off owing to elections in Bangladesh. Not at all. This is of course not at all a big issue, not it is made into one. All such things are part and parcel of the game. However, Sri Lanka does need some justification as to why the players of the caliber of Muttiah Muralitharan are still leading the Sri Lankan bowling party, even against a minnow team like Bangladesh? And much to their fortune, the major wicket takers in the ongoing first test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are Chaminda Vass and Muttiah Muralitharan. The two bowlers who have been known to international cricket since the last decade or so.

And the major run contribution coming from the blades of Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardane. Of course, not to forget the 90 contributed by Thilan Samaraweera in the first innings. Jayawardane scores 166 and Sangakkara 67 in the second innings. The same two batsmen who put up a world record of 624 runs against South Africa some three years ago. It is as though that Sri Lanka has not realized that a cricket team consists of 11 players, as against some five to six of them saving the face or winning matches. If this is the case against a team like Bangladesh, one would imagine the fate of the same, given their run against other major teams like India and South Africa.

Its our fortune that Sanath Jayasuriya was not recalled once again for the second time, after he bid aideu to test cricket last December after the test series against England. A target of 521 runs is imposed on a Bangladesh team. What for? Are the Sri Lankans afraid of a major upset in test cricket? No doubt that Sri Lanka will for sure win the test series 2-0. But, the standard of the team as well as his ability of taking chances will surely be under question. Every test match, in addition to the result of the same, also hints the capability of the team to face bigger challenges. The common names in Sri Lankan cricket, Jayawardane, Sangakkara, Murali and Vass have been their major match winners in test cricket.

On a rare occasion, as it happened against India, Ajantha Mendis did the job. Else, taking the recent past of Sri Lankan test performances, its been Jayawardane and Sangakkara in the batting department, followed by Murali in the bowling. Now one can realize as to why the selectors had to go in for retired Jayasuriya for the test series against England. If this continues, one could even see Murali playing until the age of 45 so will Sangakkara. The only trump card being that of Mendis. This is also the case when it comes to their one day and T20 games. One cannot forget the way Murali single handedly winning the third test against England in Nottingham where he took 8/70 to see England succumb fo 104/2 to 190 all out.

If this continues, one has to wonder as to how long can Sri Lankan cricket go, once these legends call it a day. Keeping the fact of the present Australian team, after the retirement of Warne & McGrath.

A Second nightmare For the Mumbai Indians?

Well everyone knows the spat that happened in the clash between the Mumbai indians and Kings XI Punjab.That was the spat between Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth (where Sreesanth was slapped by Harbhajan Singh which in turn led to Harbhajan Singh being suspended for the rest of the IPL matches).And this time also the result was the same as long as the clashing teams in Mumbai Indians and kings XI Punjab were considered.

Well the only thing that was different when compared to the earlier clash was that, this time the Mumbai Indians were seen putting up some sort of effort as against last time where,Mumbai Indians could manage to score only 116 for the loss of 9 wickets in response to Kings XI Punjab's 182.However this time,the match came close until the last ball was bowled.Unfortunately,the first bowl out of the tournament never happened till date.

But,as far as the Kings XI Punjab team were considered,it was only two men who took charge of their batting.Shaun Marsh and Pomersbach who when their scores were totaled in addition to the extras (12) summed to 172 out of the team total of 189. Meaning only 17 runs being scored by the remaining batsmen.But,what more could have been done with the Mumbai Indians reluctantly not being able to let-alone chasing down,but also failing to break the long standing partnership between the two.

Some patience in the last over by the Mumbai Indians would have helped solve matters to a greater extent I believe.As many as 4 run-outs,out of which two happened in the last over.One of Ashish Nehra (who risked by converting an impossible two into a three) and that of Chitnis (who hurried in taking a double when only one was on the cards).All these happening when a waist high full toss was bowled in the first ball of the last over.Still,the opportunity could not been utilized by the Mumbai Indians despite a handy half century from Sachin Tendulkar and the blistering works of Sanath Jayasuriya.

The only positives being that the audience who had gathered out there were able to watch some thrilling encounter.Still,we miss you "HARBHAJAN SINGH".

Royal Challengers......?

Hmm..when the name Royal Challengers come to someone's mind one thing is for sure..either they are considered to be talentless,unlucky,not hard working..etc...But, if one could watch the match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Delhi Daredevils,one difference that could be seen is that the Delhi Daredevils were found to make a tough going when the going got to be tougher and tougher.This was what the Royal Challengers Bangalore were found lacking.Throughout the tournament,all that the Royal Challengers could manage was a shuffle in their batting order and nothing else.Also some selfishness in the bowling department wherein there was a leading bowler in Zaheer Khan who emerged as one of the leading wicket takers though not helping his team win or even save some face for his team.

And this time in the match against Delhi Daredevils,Oh!what a fantastic position they were in when they had a 24 run last over courtesy:Misbah-Ul-Haq.Though not a decent total posted by the Royal Challengers Bangalore,there's no rule that it shouldn't have been defended.Likewise,the best example being the Kolkata Knight Riders who rattled the stumps of the same Delhi Daredevils when the total they were defending was a handy 134.What's something special in Shoaib is that his hand bends legally and that shouldn't have been a major threat-because the same bowler was shown the gallows by Sanath Jayasuriya against Mumbai Indians.

Now,I guess the debate of the hour is the lack of a batsman of the caliber of Jayasuriya?Why are the likes of Jacques Kallis and Misbah (who nearly pulled off a win in the finals of the T20 finals) there for?

And coming to the latter part of the same,a complete control after Sehwag left should have made much use of.For,the Delhi Daredevils were struggling at 123/4 (3 wickets for 33 runs).But...?

All eyes on how to make Anil Kumble a scape goat now have to look out for someone else as the team had him ending up with figures of 2/18 off his allotted 4 overs.A test like stats.Wow!And at last,it is too much late for Goswamy.And Virender Sehwag is really worth the praise for he led the Delhi Daredevils courtesy:19 ball 47.Yet once again missing out on scoring the fastest IPL fifty.So Sad!!!

A Prefect Team Effort

Some occasions occur rarely.And in cricket one of the rare occasions is the one match in which there is a team effort as against a cricket game in which even in the winning team there is only a one man show.And this is most of the case in a losing team.But,in the game involving Mumbai Indians and the Deccan Chargers,one could see a team effort on the part of the Mumbai Indians,as all of the known batsmen were found to make a mark in the match.Starting from Sanath Jayasuriya,until Shah,almost everyone did what best they could have done with the bat.

Sanath Jayasuriya became the highest six hitter in the tournament with 20 big hits so far.The top scorer in the Mumbai Indians side was Abhisheik Nayar who scored only a handy 38 runs off 24 balls.But,the overall scorecard of the Mumbai Indians read 178/7 at the end of their alloted 20 overs.The run rate being almost 9.0 runs an over.Which is decent a decent one in the T20 format and that too in a team where none of them could manage a 50+ score.And when it came to the batting of Deccan Chargers,it was as usual.Lose couple of quick wickets and then towards the fag end of the innings,the prevailing batsmen can be seen only as though trying to draw a test match.

Shahid Afridi couldn't continue the good work he was found doing in the first three overs in the fourth over.It would raise eye-brows if one hears that Afridi's first three overs cost just 9 runs until he was blasted by Bravo for 14 runs in his fourth and the 16th over of the match.And when it came to his batting,the scoring was only in the minds of the fans of Shahid Afridi who are so far almost dejected.

An all round performance from Dwayne Bravo who scored a handy 30 off 17 balls with a couple of boundaries and an equal number of sixes.And in the second innings when it was his turn to take the ball into his hands,he never did a Virender Sehwag (who cost 22 runs in his only over against Kings XI Punjab).But,took 3 wickets giving away
24 runs from 4 overs.

The last time when the same two teams faced each other,the ball was on the Deccan Chargers' court owing to which Adam Gilchrist blasted a 42 ball hundred which was the then fastest hundred of the tournament.There it was a one man show unlike in the second round.But,Mumbai should have found it relaxing after it gave back Deccan Chargers what they (Deccan Chargers) had given them in the first meeting.

Captain Sets Up A Debacle for His Team

Well it would have been better had Virender Sehwag not got into such an act.This I mean is the decision of the Delhi Daredevils captain-Virender Sehwag who took the initiative by taking the ball in his hands,after some good work with the bat.As a result,this suicidal decision proved to be very costly for the Delhi Daredevils team as the over bowled by Virender Sehwag was belted for a costly 22 runs in the match which fate awarded it to the Kings XI Punjab after rain interrupted and the match had to be stopped after the Kings XI Punjab had batted for just 8 overs.Bad funda indeed!!
And a last ball six from the blades of Mahela Jayawardane locked the doors for the Delhi Daredevils.Oh!What a bad luck!Here comes the role of the unseen player in the form of fate which happened in this case to be the drizzles.Added to this,Virender Sehwag's score card read 47 runs from 19 balls and in the end 51 runs from 26 balls.Meaning just four runs from 7 balls towards the end of the innings.God knows as to why Sehwag decided to take the ball in his hands?

All batsmen belonging to the Delhi Daredevils team failed but for Sehwag and Gambhir.What better result can one expect with such a horrible thinking?With bowlers like Glenn McGrath and Maharoof,and with the showers pouring in,the unexpected could have been predicted.Don't know as to why Sehwag did this!It was something like the Proteas in the crucial league tie against Sri Lanka in the 2003 world cup which ended South Africa's world cup dreams for one more time.And one more such instance that I can give is the super eight match between Sri Lankaand Pakistan in which Mahela Jayawardane handed over the ball to Jayasuriya who got belted for 64 runs off his four overs,following which the same Jayasuriya scored a duck.

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).

Finall The Mumbai Drought Ends

Last night was a relief for most of the Mumbai fans out there not for on, but for many reasons.The first being the return of the local hero in Sachin Tendulkar,whose introduction would be foolish thing to do.And then,there was one batsmen from Mumbai Indians' side who finally came out with a classical knock when the fans witnessed the second fastest hundred in the tournament from the blades of Sanath Jayasuriya.

11 sixes by Sanath Jayasuriya on a ground where he was found blasting an unbeaten 151 to carry his team (the then world champions) to the finals of the Pepsi Independence Cup and eventually win the series.This is the second time that I know that Sanath Jayasuriya hit 11 sixes after the first instance against Pakistan in the Singer Cup 1996-where he blasted 134 off just 65 deliveries.And if this chance was let off by Jayasuriya,it would mean the end of hopes for the Mumbai Indians as well. Thank god he didn't let that happen.

His knock against the Chennai Super Kings reminds me of the knock played by Adam Gilchrist when he was found smashing the Mumbai Indians repeatedly over the mid on side.And Sanath Jayasuriya's knock was something similar to that.Don't know as to what might happen in future regarding either Sanath Jayasuriya or Mumbai Indians,after even the same Adam Gilchrist had nothing to prove after his fastest hundred.As far as this math went out,it was a treat to watch as i-a huge fan of Jayasuriya could see him blast the bowlers,though there was a superb bowling performance when he took 3/19 and also 2 catches to empower his team to victory against Kolkata Knight Riders.

The last time I saw Sanath Jayasuriya play a splendid innings was in the T20 game against New Zealand-where he scored 61 runs off just 42 deliveries.Well if this is the way people like Sanath Jayasuriya,Shahid Afridi,Adam Gilchrist...so on and so forth (who are known for their big hitting) goes,it would be a real success for a tournament where players are paid astronomical sums.

Same Faces Again And Again

Well the match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals as usual,not to mention..well I guess the result has already been guessed.Thats true..Well lets forget that.There's lots and lots that we can talk about the match.So lets not get our moods rotten by talking about Royal Challengers and their plight in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League.

It is once again Shaun Marsh who was the match winner in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore too as he was in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders. Some things-some good and the rest of them bad can and will never change. With the same people emerging as the match winners in each and every game they face.Some examples being Yousuf Pathan,Shane Watson,Brendon McCullum,Goutam Gambhir ...While there are some like Virender Sehwag,Sanath Jayasuriya,Adam Gilchrist etc who are good only on their particular days...while the third category which includes the likes of Rahul Dravid,Shahid Afridi,V V S Laxman..who are never found to fire what so ever.

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.

Rajasthan Royals' Journey From Bottom To The Top

In the beginning of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League,the Rajasthan Royals were considered to be the modest of all opposition.And much to the amazement of the viewers out there,it looked the same for the Rajasthan Royals team were found to lose the first two matches of the tournament.But,it was also the same surprise when the same team is now the top team even ahead of the Chennai Superstars-who started their games with a bang by winning most of their games.

But,today if the Rajasthan Royals are compared to what they were in the beginning of the tournament,it looks really fantastic and also one of the best contenders for the tournament.And something to be noticed is that the Rajasthan team have a different match winner out there every time they take on the field.Some names include Yousuf Pathan,Shane Warne,Shane Watson,Asnodkar and this time it was Sohai Tanvir.And just take a look at the bowling figures.My God!!It is the third time that the record has been broken after Sanath Jayasuriya and Glenn McGrath hod it against their names a week ago.

Only Morkel could post a 40+ individual score,and that too with a modest strike rate (when it comes to T20 cricket) of 127.Only four of them posting totals of over 10.The batsmen belonging to the Rajasthan Royals had absolutely nothing to do but just keep the score board ticking by rotating the strike as it is done in test cricket.Finally a look at Sohail Tanvir's feat on youtube.NJOY!!!