Happy Birthday Sachin

As you turn, 36, we wish you a very happy birthday, a great cricketing calender ahead and a great life. Not that it really matters to you as you being the little master we all worship, but nevertheless we all do.

You undoubtedly have millions of fans and deservedly so. Over the past 20 years, as you have been rigorously involved in highest level of cricket, your fans have watched you with utter passion, love, awe and surprise at times. You have personally seen ups and downs in your careers despite ruling the game for most part of your career. I have been one of your fans who has watched you as much as I could and have also watched and kept an eye on your fans. This has allowed me to personally classify your fans among three broad categories.

Category -1 : Mad about Sachin: No matter what you do, how you play, how you perform, it is all about you for them. You are the boss and hence you are always right. When you are criticized, it hurts them and they think, someone is tarnishing your image and questioning your commitment. They madly defend you, sometimes to the extent of talking by the collar of the other person. They you to win all matches, score a 100 everytime and take wickers whenever you bowl and when you don't, they feel defeated and low.

Category-2: Sad about Sachin: They are exact opposite of category-1 but nonetheless they are your fans in equal measure. Afterall they follow you and they do so with the same intensity as the Category-1 fans do, only that they belong to category-2. They at times, invest more time than the category-1 fans. This category of fans, try to look for mistakes you might make which you are entitled to as a cricket player as well as a human being. When you score the first 90 runs with a strike rate of 100 and then take 18 balls for the next 10 runs, they rant about it declaring you play for your personal records, even though 100 of 108 balls overall still is a good score. They analyze you more than the category-1 fans and in fact force the category-1 fans to spend more time analyzing you, and hence they deserve attention. They also expect you to win all matches, score a 100 every time and take wickers whenever you bowl and when you don't, they get a chance to open their mouth.

Category-3: neither-mad-nor-sad about Sachin: They are more mature and probably understand the thing practical way. They know that as an individual's roles and responsibility changes over time one grows up, you also have changed and your roles and responsibility have changed over the period of time. They know that you can't play like a 16 year old kid when you are 36 and you are not supposed to. They know that you have to play like a 36 year old sachin among the younger Raina's, Sharmas and others, guiding them and helping the team achieve a balance. They are happier when you score runs, but not sad when you do not. They accept you, the way you are.

All are your fans and I know you accept them all because deep within you, you know that there has to be a balance in everything. As much as adulation is required, at times a bit of criticism also helps in keeping the feet grounded. Most interesting thing is, very few individual have been just one all the time. For example, I used to fall in category-1, then I also fell into category-2 for a while but now I certainly fall into Category-3. Most of your fans have been like that.

On your 36th birthday, Category-1 fans are sad about your future as they know you have added one more year to your life and you won't be playing out in the middle for long. They can't see cricket beyond you. Category-2 have been ranting about it ever since you crossed 30 anyways, but you proved things wrong many a times. They will do it more no matter what you do, but you have never cared for them as you know it better. I am sure you are going to continue the same way. As usual category-3 is not thinking anything, they are just enjoying your new role, your new responsibility and want to enjoy your contribution to the game as long as you play. And you are the BOSS as all of us say, so you must decide when the time comes. You only have the right because none of us, asked you to play so well over a period of 20 years.

Here is wishing you again, most success, many ODI and test centuries and victories for your loved team, India that is, and also for Mumbai Indians. A very happy birthday :-).

Incessant Rain ends Knight Riders’ Hopes

Unfortunately Kolkata Knight Riders’ worst nightmare came out true as they have been kicked out of IPL not by one of the IPL teams but by the Incessant Delhi rain even without a single ball being bowled.

Interesting Equations:

IPL in its last phase is getting interesting as the cricketing equations are changing to some extent at the end of everyday. Since Kolkata Knight Riders are out now, this confirms a semi final spot for Punjab Kings XI. With this, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings XI are confirmed semi finalists.

This washout means Delhi must win their last game of IPL against the Mumbai Indians at the same Ground. Rain permitting, if Delhi beats Mumbai, they would have 15 points, 3 more than Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians in that case will have to win their last two games against the Rajasthan Royals and Bangalore Royal challengers to get 16 points and beat Delhi for the semi final spot. In case the rain doesn’t show any mercy and the weather forecast is definitely not with Delhi, Delhi would only have 14 points and Mumbai would only need to win one of their remaining games to qualify for semi-finals.

Chennai on the other hand must be cursing themselves for losing the game against the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Had they won, they could have qualified for semi finals by now. They also need to win at least one of their remaining two games against Rajasthan Royals and Deccan chargers respectively. In the worst case scenario, if they lose both, and Delhi also lose to Mumbai, they will tie at 14 points with Delhi and NRR will decide their fate. As for now, Delhi has a much better run rate (+0.350) than Chennai has (-0.209). So Chennai Super Kings would definitely not like to leave it to the NRR. However if Chennai loses both the remaining games and Delhi beat’s Mumbai and Mumbai in turn beats both Rajasthan Royals and Bangalore, Chennai would be kicked out.

Remaining games now don't deter the semi final chances for Punjab and Rajasthan, but they would certainly love to go into the semi finals with the momentum in their side. Cricket at times is all about momentum.

IPL Observes Chocker's Day

IPL saw a day which can aptly be termed as "Chokers Day". First, Mumbai Indians collapsed from a winning position, thereby denting their semi-final chances to some extent, and in the second game, the Chennai Super Kings collapsed from a similar position chasing a modest total against a team that had lost 5 of its previous games.

The loss of Chennai Super Kings would surprise many pundits given the modest total they had to chase, but more surprisingly it is going to surprise even the Bangalore Royal challengers. They hardly did anything extra ordinary, but it was CSK that created a panic situation out of nowhere. Kumble was the main bowler with 3/14 and was ably supported by Styne towards the end. This game has further exposed the frailty of Chennai's batting line up and it is a definite cause of concern for them as their bowling attack is not one of the best when we are talking about the semi finalists. As their captain put things aptly at the end, rash shot selections and perhaps the over confidence was the key to a shameful loss, which seem to have dented their chances for semi final a bit. After all this was a game, they should have won easily.

Mumbai Indians, on the other hand were equally big chokers. After the brilliance of Shaun Marsh and LA Pomersbach saw Punjab put a big total of 189 runs, Tendulkar and Jaysurya provided a perfect start to Mumbai Indians adding 36 runs in the first three overs. DR Smith later joined Tendulkar and continued from where Jaysurya had left and it looked as if the Mumbai were all set for their 7th record consecutive win in IPL. But a tight spell from Chawla changed the things as Mumbai indian's completely panicked and collapsed once Tendulkar was run out in the 17th over. As many as 6 run outs in the Mumbai Indian innings confirms the panic in the Mumbai camp, not to foget the last one of Yeligati outdone by a brilliant Yuvraj.

Chennai would like to remember this loss when they meet another joker in Hyderabad next time. Playing an underdog at times is really tricky because the underdogs have nothing to lose and hence they are under no pressure.

Mumbai Indians on the other hand, still have three games and the confidence of 6 straight wins prior to this game. This should make them positive for the next three games.

Semi Final Gate slightly opened : With two top teams, Chennai and Mumbai, losing their games today, it has slightly opened the semi final gate for Delhi Daredevils. Delhi's only way for a semi final spot remains the same- win both the games, however they would be helped a bit from the panic created in the camps of Chennai and Mumbai after today's loss. As it was seen today, both Mumbai and Chennai failed under pressure and panicked at the time they should have maintained their calm. Delhi Daredevils, would hope CSK and Mumbai Indians continue in the same vein for the games to come.

Analysis : IPL Semi Finals Spots Nearly Fixed

With today's match, (May 20th, 44th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals) where Rajasthan Royal's thrashed the Kolkata Knight Riders by 6 wickets, the Semi Final spots in the DLF IPL seems to be nearly fixed. At least we are in a position to know which teams are not going to make it. Below chart shows the current standings and it follows my own analysis:

Jaipur: They certainly have emerged as the Royals. Topping the chart with 9 out of 11 wins so far, they have sealed the semi final spot without any doubt now. Even if they lose their remaining three games (worst case scenario), they are going to comfortably make it to semis.

Mohali: They are number 2 right now and the good news for them is they still have 4 matches to go namely against Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. They would certainly like to win against the Deccan Chargers as it might be their easiest game of all. They would also like to win against the KKR, since that would eliminate all possibilities of KKR advancing into semis. Only with these two wins, they should command the number 2 or 3 position.

Chennai Supper Kings: They have three games left against Bangalore, Rajasthan and Hyderabad. They need to win at least one of them. Given the performance of Bangalore and Hyderabad in the tournament so far, I believe it is going to be easy for them. 2 wins would make them comfortable at number 2 or 3.

Mumbai Indians: This team has been the biggest surprise so far given the way they started in the tournament. It seems ouster of Harbhajan Singh has motivated them to the same extent as the return of Sachin Tendulkar who is yet to play a valuable knock in this shorter version. With 4 games remaining for them, namely against Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Bangalore, they have time in their stride. Having said that, they at least need to win 2 of their remaining four games to be comfortable. They are now tied with Delhi, so they must beat Delhi as well.

Delhi Daredevils: It is a pity that after such a dream start the daredevils are languishing behind the top 4 teams. It is another pity that daredevils are the team who posses the best opening partners in the tournament and one of the openers (Gambhir) is also the most run accumulator in the tournament so far. Their opening bowler Mcgrath has been consistent and miser. In spite of all these facts, they are the joker right now. With two more games remaining to their name, they have the chance to make some upset in the last few matches before IPL heads for knockouts. All in all, they must win both the games against Mumbai Indians as well as KKR. They are going to see the toughest games, because both KKR and Mumbai Indians would try to beat them and seal their own chances for semis. Watch out for these two games.

Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers, Bangalore Royal Challengers: In my opinion these teams are out of the first edition of DLF IPL.

Obviously teams qualifying for Semis would not like to be at number 4 and face number 1 (Rajasthan in most probability) in the semi's itself. So every team would compete hard to leave the number 4 spot and give themselves a much better chance to advance into the finals.

Tie Ups: There are high chances that 2-3 teams would stand at the same number of points after this league round. This induces masala in IPL in the remaining games when the teams would not only want to win the games but win them comprehensively. Watch out for big hits and hence big failures.

PS:- This analysis is completely based on my opinion and it might not match everyone's. Not that I care, but I do apologize to the loyal fans of KKR, Deccan Chargers and Bangalore to mention that they are out of the IPL. (I assume, IPL has been able to infuse some loyalty among the local fans)

Can Sachin be the same force in IPL?

So finally he is back. After missing the Test series against South Africa barring the first game and then the first 7 IPL games for his Mumbai Indian team, he is all set to return for the game against Chennai Super Kings. Needless to say, this news would bolster the confidence of Mumbai Indians further more. After losing the first four games pathetically, they have done quite well under Shaun Pollock and are on a winning streak. Sachin's presence would also let the Harbhajan episode recede away slowly.

There could be so many positives about his arrival for Mumbai Indians and there is no second though on that. However, I have some questions coming from different corners. Some of them are mine and some of them belong to my friends. As he would make the debut in the IPL, I would keep my eyes open on the below questions, but what is the take of cricweed readers on these?

1. Match fitness: He has not played a single game for the last 8 weeks. Do you think he would be able to make an impact immediately? I mean would he be able to live upto the name of Sachin Tendulkar?

2. T20 Factor? : We have seen and observed that many good players have not been able to really align themselves in this format. There are so many examples: Ricky Ponting, Ganguly (Except that one innings), Dravid (ofcourse he is trying his best), Laxman and many others. Do you think this will be easier for Sachin, given he has only played 5 T20 games so far. We all know he is one of the best batsman of this era and if someone could change himself to suit to any format, Sachin should head the list. I really hope this statement is true.

3. He lands among the poors again: My personal dream at times has been what would have happened, had Sachin played in a very consistent and successful team. How he could have adjusted his game. Probably we would have seen his natural best or something that we never could see. I hoped IPL would probably allow him to show this to all of us, but allas, he once again belongs to Mumbai INDIANS, an average team so far, pretty much like our own indian team.

4. Captaincy: Shane warne has proved many things by now from his inspirational captaincy. I believe Sachin has something to prove in this regard (nothing would matter if he doesn't). This should atleast be very very inspirational for mumbai indian youngsters.

The above are my personal views. Readers are free to express their thoughts by commentining on the article. And FYI, I am also one of the biggest fans of THE SACHIN.