Gilly the blaster and the IPL regional loyality

As Gilly’s thunderstorm knocked off the only north Indian team that could make it to the semis this year (as opposed to three last year, Punjab, Delhi and Rajasthan), the second edition of IPL has become even more interesting with mouth watering possibility of a final between two worst teams of the first edition of IPL, Deccan and Royal Challengers. Will that happen? Will resurgent Royals challenge the Super Kings tomorrow?

We will have to wait for another 24 hours to know about this, but for now, let us concentrate on the Special Gilly punch that stormed Deccan into the finals of IPL-2 and what Tishani Doshi mentioned as a north vs south divide in her cricinfo column even before the first semi final started, cautioning Daredevils with a “MIND IT DELHI”.

If you have followed the one day career of Gilchrist, today’s knockout punch would not come as a surprise to you. Be it the finals of the world cup 1999, 2003 or 2007, he has always attacked the opposition out of the game in no time and has produced his best when it mattered most in the so called big game. Today was no different. Most of us believed that Deccan was in for a good chance this time around and the first three consecutive wins only reinforced that belief, however when they wandered in the later part of the tournament winning only 3 of the last 10 league games, that belief was somewhat getting subdued.  Gilchrist probably was aware of that and leading from the front, he rose to the occasion and batted Daredevils, the most consistent team of the IPL-2, out of the tournament as he carved 21 off the very first over including 5 consecutive boundaries, 17 off the third over from Sangwan and the massive 24 off the 6^th over from the daredevils captain Sehwag. All packed in within 30 minutes of play and it looks like a keypad operated computer simulation of cricket game. His brutal attack had such massive impact on Delhi, that failures of Gibbs and Symonds from Deccan in this game have gone completely unnoticed. What Twenty20 fun!! Hats off to Gilchrist for a Twenty20 masterpiece. The message must have reached strongly in the Challenger and Super Kings Camp.

Given the outcome of the first semi final of IPL-2, Tishani Doshi’s article on north and south divide as far as cricket is concerned, would not have come at a much better time. On a funnier note, my own north Indian roommates have been after me because I have been supporting the non north Indian teams (Chennai, Deccan etc) so far. Looking around within my own cricket club, it is easier to find people being loyal to the IPL team that is related to their native place. Some of them have started becoming crazy to the extent that they become arrogant at times. Suddenly it comes to my mind, what a great idea it was to have City based teams in the IPL given the Indian set up. Probably this was the only way for a quick loyalty build up around the teams. Hats off to Modi and Co on this idea.

I would still be wondering, why it is tough to support a team based on the quality of cricket it is playing? And hence, how conveniently people would be able to switch loyalty back to the national team immediately after the IPL is over for the second edition of T20 world cup?

Steyn rubs salt on Mallaya, apologizes later

As if the embarrassing 7/8 was not enough for the Bangalore Royal challengers, Dale Steyn the South African fast bowler and a front line bowler for the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL, remarked that "the IPL was only four overs a game and it was like a paid holiday; you only had to work hard if you felt like it, which is probably why we finished second-last."

This perhaps tells the story about the loyalty of the players to their respective franchise as such and why the players are playing in the IPL. It proves further money to be a big factor and perhaps it would be a while before IPL can see the team loyalty among the players. At the time when we have been talking about whether IPL would be able to induce the loyalty for the local teams among the viewers and whether the viewers would be able to switch loyalties within months to support their national heroes once again who might have played opposite their local team in the IPL, this revelation by Dale Steyn has been an eye opener.

Later on, however, Steyn apologized for his comments saying "I was trying to be funny and just ended up being stupid - I was an idiot." and he reiterated his commitment to the Bangalore team by saying "I have written to the franchise to express my unreserved regret and apologies and tried to explain the circumstances of my comments. Sometimes, when you lose, you try to make a joke of it to lessen the disappointment. It was a stupid thing to say and a painful lesson for me to learn. I desperately regret my naivety and look forward to the opportunity of helping the franchise reach the semi-finals next year".

If you are ready to believe what Dale Steyn said later, I believe you are a big fool. The change of statement might have come after he realized how severely he might have damaged his future holiday plans in India, or it might have also come from the pressure created by already dejected and wounded lion in the form of beerwalah. Well, you never know..

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.

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)

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".

Corporate Culture and IPL Twenty20

Kolkata Knight Riders join, Royal Challenger Bangalore in enforcing the fact that Cricket is indeed no more cricket in its traditional sense in IPL. While Bangalore owner has reasons to fire its CEO and flay its captain for the lethargic performance so far in the IPL, It seems Kolkata Knight riders have something else in their mind as they asked 5 of their fringe players to vacate the hotel rooms today.

The reaction of Vijay Mallaya enforces the fact that the rules of the game are bound to change, as not only huge sum of money is involved but also the brand name of the corporate involved is at the stake. The decision of KKR to ask those five players, Ranadeb Bose, Rohan Banerjee, Sourasish Lahiri, Cheteswar Pujara and Yashpal Singh, to leave the hotel too can be taken in many ways.

The KKR Coach, Buchanan, says that with IPL almost in its closing phase, he pretty much has the team in his mind and these players might not get a chance in this season. And that is why there is no reason why they should be with the team. The owner Shahrukh Khan backed Buchanan saying that the decision is practical and cricketing in nature. He adds that carrying those 23 players for every practice session and managing it is a tough task. That is why they want to concentrate their energy on a smaller set of players. 18 instead of 23?

Both these reasoning sound logical to me, but have we ever seen such logics being applied in cricket? That is where I observe the change in the culture. Obviously this will be very discouraging for the players who have been asked to go for now. Can this be a move towards cost cutting? Imagine their lodging and related bills for so many days in a 5 star hotel? If it is all about cost cutting, is this a small hint of how much success IPL is providing to its owners, given the fact that the cost involved with these 5 players would be a very tiny amount compared to the millions of dollors already spent by each franchisee? In another words, does this sound like baniyagiri?

If the players are being tracked at such a minute level, the rules of the game are set to change. It is definitely going to keep all the players on their toes. We might see improved performance because of this OR the players might fail to absorb such extreme pressure too. It seems the corporates owning the IPL teams have their goal set in mind. Make enough money out of this tamasha and do whatever it takes for that. I would take such early developments in IPL cautiously or shall I say Fifty50?

Beerwala blames Dravid and Charu Sharma for Lack of Royal Challenge

The internal dispute of the bangalore team is finally out in the open for public masala and I am enjoying it. Vijay Mallaya is shouting that "He virtually had no say in the player's selection for his own Team".

"When Rahul Dravid was not present in the second auction, I wanted to acquire some players but Charu Sharma was very tentative about them. I mean I bought Misbah-ul Haq because I was determined to do it. There were other players I was discouraged about,".

This statement makes reader believe that Rahul Dravid and Charu Sharma had together hired Vijay Mallaya for Bangalore team and it is not the other way around. I mean how can Vijay Mallaya now complain about not having his say on his own team? Cut the crap.

I do not see it more than a result of extreme frustration, loss of self belief and fear of losing that macho attitude. ATTITUDE? You remember that line after the IPL auction? "Give me any team and I would make it glamrous". With KK? bole to Katrina Kaif?

Well Mallaya saab, you did try your best to make your team one of the most glamorous of all IPL teams. The red skin cheerleaders, gorgeous Katrina kaif and many such things surely would add to the G factor. I would clap for you for your innovations in your area of expertise. You have probably given a new face to Twenty20 in India and many people are enjoying it more than the cricket. But thats about it. What about T20 factor? Have you been so busy in the G factor that you completely ignored this T-20 factor? You didn't even know if the persons you hired were good enough untill the results are showing that. You have proved that you were not good enough for cricketing matters. You can vent your frustration by firing the CEO, and all other staffs, but the at the end of the day Royal challengers have not produced even a bit of a challenge in the IPL so far and you have to now live with this fact. A complete lack of Royal challenge.

Cricket is sports. Glamour can pull you crowd and fetch you money, but that can not win you matches. You simply forgot this basics. Now that you made the statement that "At the end of the day, people need to understand that the IPL has a corporate side to it, and a very definitive corporate side. It is not at all cricket in the traditional sense,", it is pretty clear that you are taking it as a corporate loss and I am afraid to sense that you might even take it as a personal loss, Bangalore's loss. Afterall you might not like to lose. Would you?. Now to run away from the face of defeat, you are trying to blame every TOM, harry and dick so that at least, your face is not defamed. You are blaming everyone but yourself for the outcome. You need to understand that in sports, you can't change things by hiring and firing. You need to have the morale and the enthusiasm of your team players at all time high and positive. You can not achieve all this with this blame game ever. After all it is a runtime team game and there is no retake in this. It needs extreme level of planning and execution of all those plans in a timely manner.

The IPL story so far would suggest to anyone that Rahul and Charu sharma were definitely not the right persons to select the T20 team. They probably lacked the imagination and the experience for this format of the game. But having said that, It is hard to believe that they almost forced Vijay Mallaya to go with their selected team. They didn't pay any hid to Mallaya's cricket experties?. Probably Mallaya saab was more busy in planning for those red skin cheerleaders, Katrina Kaif and in changing the face of Indian cricket.

This is also a perfect example of what association of corporate giants into cricket can do to the game.When businessmen buy teams and spend exorbitant sums to become owners of cricket celebrities, the rules of the game are bound to change. The focus of "corporate culture" is only on winning and on returns. The end product of their entire endeavour is profits and the Indian Premier League has given them an opportunity to build their brand image. They will do anything for that. Afterall, this corporate attitude has to win at any cost with the morale banner running high.

I do feel sorry for Rahul Dravid that a person who would virtually have no knowledge of Cricket (in comparison to Dravid for sure), is now blaming everything to Game's one of the most respected cricketers. This will only exert more pressure on the cricketers and the cricket in general. I won't wonder if we can see some match fixing stuff re-surfacing again in years to come. And ofcourse cricket being the team game wherein the team's spirit plays a big role, I would not be surprised to see complete lack of Royal Challenge from Bangalore.

This article has also been published in www.cricweed.com