Why Kolkata and Bangalore deserve to see the bottom?

It is too early to predict who is going to win the IPL this season and a bit foolish too given that only 6 games have been played so far. However, I am not talking about “WILL”, but I am talking about “Should” giving the game of cricket its true value and spirit.

Many of us surely think that the table is going to change this season for good reasons. Change is necessary. However, Bangalore along with KKR MUST go to the bottom. This is my completely personal opinion. I have nothing personal against the players of either KKR or Bangalore but am simply thinking about the sanctity of the game we all love. 

Why Bangalore?: Firstly because they do not have a strongest T20 team and secondly because their owner has done little to correct the problem even after last time's dismal performance. They were tagged as the greatest test T20 team ever and despite that nothing concrete has been done. Sure he lobbied for KP ahead of Flintoff, fired Dravid as the captain despite Dravid being one of the better scorers last season and fired the first CEO of challenger, Charu Sharma out of sheer frustration only showing the true cricketing acumen that he might posses if any. Lots of money, cheerleader babes and things remotely related to cricket will not fetch wins. They have somehow managed to win a game against a lackluster Rajashthan and then lost to Chennai and Hyderabadmiserably. Once KP goes back to England after 2 weeks, it is going to be even harder for them. 

This is not a beer bajaar after all, this is entirely a different ball game and it has to be. It needs to be played differently. At the end, personal ego must be burnt by this great game of cricket and the fans must celebrate that.

And why KRR?: Almost for the same reasons. They have been the most talked about team for non-cricketing reasons. Multiple captaincy theory,sleeping-with-the-boys theory and what not have been all over the media before the IPL kicked off. A change of captaincy just before the IPL started was a non-sense move, it might have surprised McCullum more than Ganguly. They would get what they targeted, probably the attention, but win would be hard to come by. McCullum and Gayle after all can not fire every game. Gayle is already slated to go soon. It is also hard to figure out why Mendis has not been tried so far looking at the successes, Murali and Kumble have achieved. God was gracious a bit for KKR against Punjab but were completely overwhelmed by Deccan.

So much talk and so little cricketing considerations. It looks like, the coach has found a new field to experiment different theories and satisfy his personal ego while the owner doesn’t seem to differentiate between acting on big screen and playing on the field in real time. Do not deserve to win cricket games. Ego must be burnt again by this great game of cricket and the fans must celebrate that.

Many of you might disagree, but compare other teams with KKR and Bangalore based on only such matters and you might get a conclusive hint. As I keep my eyes fixed on exciting IPL, I would soon bring why two of my favorite teams, might make it to the final.

The Royal Blame Game Continues

As per a recent article from timesofindia.com, the blame game of Royal challengers refuses to attain some maturity. The report says that the IPL team owner and the beerwalah, Vijay Mallaya wanted Dhoni, Uthappa and McCullum in his team rather than Mark Boucher, Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi or even Rahul Dravid. This is a serious Masala news for every reader and no wonder this news has been first reported in times of India.

I am outlining a few revealation from the report that is eye catching. My thoughts on these would follow.

1. While Mallya was really keen to get Dhoni and wanted to bid for him, Dravid insisted that "there is no need for such an expensive player". The same went for McCullum, whom Dravid is believed to have turned down and instead settled for Mark Boucher.

2. Sunil Joshi, whose cricketing career is almost over, was taken in the team just because he is supposed to be a close friend of Rahul Dravid. This was a surprising decision to many of the Royal Challengers Officers.

3. Kumble had to be selected in the T20 team being the nice guy Dravid himself is.

4. RC officers also blamed Charu sharma for taking things easily at the start. He is learnt to have suggested that "the boys need to bond, let's go to Ranthambore for four days".

5. Seeing the performance in the IPL debut, Royal challengers are not ruling the possibility of changing its players in the next IPL season if the rules allow to do so.

I have serious reservations about the point number 1. I do not think Mallaya might be having such a good cricketing knowledge that he wanted Dhoni, Uthhapa and McCullum. This revelation is only a continuation of what I already posted 2 days ago. This is only a blame game at best. Now that things have not worked, impose it on the obvious scapegoats.

Point number 2 and 3 are acceptable. By no cricketing logic, Sunil Joshi and Anil Kumble deserve a place in the Twenty20 Team. A close look at the other IPL teams would show that none of those teams have picked similar players. Dravid has failed in this regard completely. The question is, why would he do so? One reason could be friendship as mentioned in the article, but I believe Dravid (and Co.) might have taken this IPL stuff too lightly. Probably as a time pass fun game.

As for point 4, probably 4 days for outdoor activity was a bit too much given the tight schedule IPL has, but the idea was not a bad one altogether. Lack of experience of Charu Sharma at this level and unexpected money that he probably was supposed to receive probably worked against him.

Only future would tell what actually Royal challengers would do about point 5 or if they at all be allowed to do something they have started thinking right now given the fact that there is a slimmest of chances for every team from now on to make into the semis.

Seeing all this "halla bol" by the Royals, It aptly proves the fact that IPL is in its nascent stage. This is only its first year. Probably these experiences would come handy for all teams in the subsequent season as the Organization IPL and all its franchises would mature.

But my conclusion remains the same, and more so if they are not allowed to change players at their own desire, they are not doing anything good by making all such things open for public even when there are so many games to go in the current IPL. Vijay Mallaya and Co need to understand that only 4 out of 8 teams would qualify for Semis and others would have to sit out. There is no end of the road for those teams who would be out. In sports, you win some and you lose some and more importantly everyone can't be a winner. Do we have a term called "Gracious Loser". I believe it is a more respectable tag than simply "loser".