Talk about a favorite in T20?

Probably T20 is still in its nascent stage at the international level and probably things will change further in the years to come, but a few basic things that have emerged out of T20 world would probably remain the same. And I hope so, because that is good for cricket. One of such things is the end of dominance of a few teams over others. Compare it to Test Teams and the One day teams, where we have definite favorites going into a series or tournament. Agreed, upsets are a part in those formats too, but not to the same extent as we have been seeing in T20. After all, Australians have ruled the world of Test and One day cricket for almost a decade now.

Look at these facts. In IPL-2, the last year’s bottom ranked teams, Deccan and Royal Challengers were the finalists. Only three days into the World Twenty20 and one of the Kings of cricket teams thus far is out of the tournament. An associate member of ICC, Ireland easily Pushed Bangladesh out of the second round and England the host team were galloped by the nascent Netherlands in the opening game. Another finalist for the last World Twenty20 is struggling to move to the second stage.

So who is your favorite for World Twenty20? Yes, now you have the luxury to keep Australia out and probably by tomorrow you would also be comfortable to keep a few good teams out. But the question is, coming into this tournament, how many of us believed that Australia would crack like this? How many of us believed that Netherlands would punish a Team that is considered to be the father of this format? How many of us thought that Pakistan would be so unsure about its place in the second stage? Do we still dare to have a favorite?

One of my favorite writer, Harsha Bhogle, recently mentioned in his article about the impact of the duration of a game by saying “If football was played over 20 minutes Manchester United and Barcelona may not have been in the final.”. This is the underlying difference between a T20 and other fatherly forms of cricket. When the game is reduced to shorter duration, the strategies must change and at the same time, it adds an element of surprise into it. It is easier to play at your top level for 3 hours, but not so easy when you have to stretch the same to over a day. At the same time, there is a little room for making mistakes when you are up in the short format, since there is a little room for recovery. In the longer format of the game, even if you make some mistakes, there is time for you to recover, your team and the captain can plan out counter attacking strategies. But such luxuries are not accepted by T20. Such basic things have allowed us to see surprises more often which in fact are not surprises, because there have been far too many. This probably is the core of T20. And probably this would be the reason for T20 to be a huge success.

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?

Cricket once again seems to be winning over Glamour in IPL

After Kolkata kicked defending champions Rajasthan out of the second IPL today and Chennai almost shut the door on Punjab’s possibility of making it to the semi finals (mathematically they still have a remote chance), I wanted to have a look at the current standing in the IPL-2 as of now and could observe an interesting pattern. If you look at the below colorful points table, there is a reason why the last 4 rows have been marked yellow.

 

Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
DelhiDaredevils	13	9	4	0	0	18	0.251	1812/237.5	1788/242.4
Chennai	14	8	5	0	1	17	0.951	2086/255.3	1855/257.1
DeccanChargers	13	7	6	0	0	14	0.265	1953/252.4	1927/258.1
Bangalore	13	7	6	0	0	14	-0.253	1824/256.0	1869/253.2
Kings XI Punjab	14	7	7	0	0	14	-0.483	1787/251.2	1887/248.3
Rajasthan Royals	14	6	7	0	1	13	-0.352	1688/253.1	1810/257.5
Mumbai Indians	13	5	7	0	1	11	0.401	1732/236.2	1636/236.1
Kolkata	14	3	10	0	1	7	-0.789	1757/248.5	1867/237.5

 

 

Together with Bangalore, these four teams, Kolkata, Punjab, Mumbai and Rajasthan Royals would probably make the glamorous group within the IPL.  The common notable points about these teams: 

1. The ownership was mostly individual.
2. The running was mostly glamorous

Seeing these teams at the bottom of the table, came to my mind, could this be a basic lesson for those owners? Did cricket at the end seem to emerge as winner over the glamour yet again for the second time in a row? Is this game more than the individual and glamour would hardly fetch success on the field (off the field, probably yes)? If yes, when would the likes of Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta understand this?

 

Rajasthan was a much unknown team last season but with success came the glamour in the form of Shilpa Shetty and Co. and the team couldn’t make it to semis. Story about Punjab (Preity), Kolkata (Shahrukh), Mumbai (Neeta Ambani) and Bangalore (Vijay Malaya) is well known to everyone.

 

Probably these things are not directly related to the positions of the team as much but they sure have played a part.  Cricket is not an individual game and this fact puts cricket in a different league altogether among other sports. This is very much a team game and should best be left to those who play the game on the field in the real time. By making close and unnecessary presence in the dugouts and other places, the owners might just have made mistakes. Such things might have put extra pressure on the players to perform or the tempting glamour around might have just distracted them a bit from their focus. Who knows what exactly, but there was a correlation in the last IPL and there seems to be a definite correlation in this IPL as well.

 

This theory does lack to explain the Bangalore’s possible semi final spot, however on a funnier note, we can take that as an exception, given that Katrina Kaif only cheered her team from India this time, a mark able difference from the ways of other celebrities.

 

This feeling is also reinforced by the teams like Delhi, Chennai and Deccan making into top 4, where we didn’t see the owners’ presence onto the field area and these teams seemed to play like a proper cricket team. It still remains to be seen who finally will clinch the Mega Trophy, but the glamorous ones have been shown the door once again.

 

Disclaimer: This blog could seem to be illogical and furious to few, but it is intended to those who would find it logically funny.

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.

Stay Away Shahrukh, this is Cricket after all

IPL is not purely cricket in its traditional sense. Recent developments have proved it adequately. As we have masala movies in Bollywood, it seems to be masala cricket . IPL has business tycoons owning the teams, red skin cheerleaders, and Bollywood as its integral part. Every part has already injected some spice into IPL so far. For example: Cheerleaders are making news about racial allegations, Vijay Mallaya made headlines by revealing how he was not given importance during the selection of his own team and Shahrukh khan made headlines by declaring his team as the best one to be followed and worshipped by every cricket fan. He further did everything to remain in the news and before the camera. Of course he is the master of all this, after all he is a big Bollywood star. Camera by default follows him and he knows what it takes to grab the attention everywhere he goes.

IPL at its core is all about business and everyone involved is naturally concerned about money, fame or advertisement. The movie “Jannat” has already got its due profit from the IPL if the reports are to be believed. Did we see Imran Hashmi roaming all over the places talking about the film? Having said that, trust me, if business Corporates and Bollywood have to walk along with Cricket, this is all but natural and should be accepted. No objection till this point.

However it would be most disappointing for many cricketers and cricket lovers when someone would try to bend the rules and encroach into the privacy of cricket and its rules savoured for many years. What would be even more disappointing is, if such rules are bent for a specific case or a specific personality. This is neither good for the game nor for the audience. This doesn’t leave a good message for which people are so passionate about cricket or any sport in general.

In this light, I believe Shahrukh Khan’s over involvement with his team was adequately incorrect. Agreed that he is the owner of the team, but that doesn’t mean he should be allowed to do anything he sees fit. I find many reasons to mention why Shahrukh khan should not been allowed into the private dressing rooms or the dugouts which are exclusively meant for the players, manager and the coach of the team (As per the ICC rules):

1. By definition: The dug outs and the dressing room are exclusively meant for the players, manager and the coach of the team. He is none of them.
2. Businessmen Vs Sportsmen: SRK is after all the owner of the team and has invested 80 million dollars to buy Kolkata Knight Riders. That is a big money. Anyone who invests such a big money is a businessman. A businessman would do anything it takes to see his returns multiplying. Did we not learn a big lesson out of match fixing controversies already that you get millions of bucks to lose a game? If a businessman is making millions by losing the game, I wonder why he would not do it. SRK might claim to be a sportsman himself, he might go on record saying he own the kids of his team and they are like his own kids, but at the end of the day we all know, IPL is all about business more than anything else. Why take a chance and out the game’s honors on jeopardy? ICC’s Anti Corruption unit has its existence for some valuable reasons after all. If ICC is allowing all such people in those private areas, it is basically opening a chance for messages from the bookies to be passed right on time.
3. When would we start respecting the laws? We talk about India getting developed and all that, but tell me one developed country where you find such laws by the book are bent to favor someone just because he is a movie super star? Will we ever learn the basics that everyone is equal before the laws?
4. For the sake of ICC’s existence: ICC is the supreme body of Cricket and every sport has its equivalent. It is of paramount importance that ICC has its place and say. If today the rules are bent for SRK, tomorrow it would demand a similar change from another personality. By allowing all this, where would ICC land up?

From a person who claim’s to be a sportsman, such things are not expected and it is indeed a demoralizing things for all youngsters to see and follow. At the same time, it could equally be possible that he was not briefed about the actual rules by the officials and he was doing all this for the lack of information. In that case, I would blame it to Lalit Modi and Co. who could also be seen in the dugouts and in the players’ private areas. He himself should refrain from doing this. Did we ever see any cricket board’s officials visiting the dressing rooms before in a test match or one day match?

What was more disappointing was Shahrukh’s statement that he would do anything to see his players and no one can stop him. WOW. He needs to be reminded that he is not acting in one of the Bollywood flicks and he has the freedom to tweak the dialogues, this is live sports called Cricket and rules of the game are completely different here. No tweaks are allowed. Owning a team, doesn’t give him rights to do anything he sees fit. And if you observe the happenings clearly, now probably that he realizes this mistake, he issued a statement saying “He would not meet his players in the dugouts etc until he has reviewed the ICC rules”. For me it simply sounds like a emotional dialogue from Veer Zara. Or is the reason more practical now since the beloved Kolkata Knight Riders is virtually out of the IPL?

BCCI’s action has also been very disappointing. They seem to be inching towards supremacy in cricket but this phenomenon should get its due respect. It should not make them arrogant. Anything to dishonor the rules and spirit of the game would certainly fire them in the long run. I would also expect ICC to be more strict when handling such matters if they really plan to exist in the future otherwise they would be galloped by BCCI soon. Issuing a statement today and changing it the other day, doesn’t convince anyone in the public, it just proves that you have no power whatsoever.

PS:- The views expressed are completely personal and are not inteded to hurt sentiments and the loyalty of the fans of anyone or anything.