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Showing posts with label sanath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sanath. Show all posts

IPL 2.0 weekly-update-1: It's a surprise bag

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 comments

The second edition of Indan Premier League started off on April 18th exactly on the same date of the first edition. Like the first the second season will definitely won't have the novelty factor. However different country, different conditions have changed the equations. Also, there have been a few surprises in the script so far. The team which finished at the basement in first season "Deccan Chargers" are on the top with 100% winning record. Last year's champs Rajasthan Royals have experienced mixed season so far. But their trump card Yusuf Pathan has already scripted two awesome victories.


Some highlights of last two weeks.

  • The first day belonged to veterans. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid came out with flying colors with solid batting and ensuread victory for their team. Anil Kumble made a difference by his extraordinary bowling figures 5/5.
  • Spinners are key players in bowling attack. Anil Kumble, Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan are keeping batsmen on their toes. Even part time spinners like Suresh Raina are able to check the scoring rate. In yesterday's match RCB v/s KKR, 15 overs of RCB were bowled by spinners. Who had speculated this before the start of the tournament ?
  • Malinga has been the best among pacers. The Sri-Lanka bowler representing Mumbai Indians has been a tough customer to handle with his toe crushing yorkers.
  • Gilly and Hayden are still the best. Former openers of world beating Australian team have been major scorers in the tournament so far. Their breezy innings had given solid foundation to their respective teams.
  • Rains have been major villains in this IPL. Two games were completely washed out. Also results of two matches of Kings XI were decided using D/L method. On both occasions Kings XI were on receiving end.
  • Super Over is a super idea! The first tie of IPL was the match between RR and KKR. The winners were decided using a new format super-over, a format in which both teams will given an over each to score maximum runs. KKR scored 15 runs and RR's Yusuf Pathan chased the runs in just 4 balls! The format has been welcomed by many cricketing experts.
  • Ajantha Mendis is not a mystery anymore. The KKR bowler who had been nightmare to batsmen is no longer a mystery bowler. The bowler gave away 16 runs in just 4 balls in a super-over decider. In other match againt Mumbai, the opening combo of Sachin and Jayasurya dismissed his deliveries to stands several times. In yesterday's match the mystery bowler was out of playing eleven.
  • International T20 stars may not be IPL stars. The major example for this Robin Uthappa. The T20 specialist who RCB had exchanged from Mumbai in place of Zaheer Khan is yet to bat beyond first over in the tournament. Not only batting he had been sloppy in the field too. In the match against DDD he dropped a catch at crucial juncture. At that point the match could have gone both ways.
  • One anonymous blogger has created flutters in the blogosphere and entire cricketing world by posting many funny inside stores of team KKR. The KKR team management is yet to find out who the mole is. It is some internal person or an enthusiastic bloggy on cyberspace. Still a million dollar question ...
  • Last but not the least - Strategy breaks! .. Lalit Modi's marketing brain's idea has received tons of criticism. On several occasions batting team has lost a wicket within first over after the break. For the viewers too it's a patch in the entertainment quotient of watching a T20 game.
[Image source: cricinfo.com]

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The Mumbai INDIAN Chewed the Calcutta Mitha Pan

Monday, April 27, 2009 Labels: , , , , , , 2 comments

They say a number is worth thousand pictures and a picture is worth thousand words. Sachin’s 68 of 45 balls neither does it give you the right picture nor do I have the right words to describe it. Even though he scored at a strike rate of 150 there wasn’t a single rash slog nor were there any mistimed shots looping in the outfield. It was like watching highlights of 2003 WC, the six against Ishant reminded us the one against Caddick. It felt like a 16 year old trying to woo his female classmates in the crowd. Gavaskar sahib would have been a very happy man seeing those high elbow and straight bat shots.

At the end of the day Mumbai’s 187/6 doesn’t reflect how well Sanath and Sachin played; if Sachin took the initiative to start with, Sanath played second fiddle. Once Sachin cooled down Sanath began to explode. At 111/0 in 11 overs there wasn’t scope for even damage control from the KKRs. It looked like Mccullum’s team had given it up, just going through the motions. As a bowler one could feel like a candle burning from both the ends. If Sanath bludgeoned over the infield, Sachin caressed through, both complimented each other very well. As a bowler you had to pick between getting caressed by Sachin or clubbed by Sanath.

When batsman start getting used to the pace and bounce of the wickets, generally one needs to take the pace off. Mendis, Gayle and Hodge did that but the ball travelled even further into the boundary, couple of them even saw the Port Elizabeth city. One has to just feel for KKR’s bowlers, there wasn’t much difference in the bad balls and good balls bowled; everything reached the fence, only probably difference was the speed at which they reached. Shukla ji bowled with a lot of heart picked up both the wickets of Sanath and Sachin. Bhajji did pinch on KKR wounds, rest of MI made us realize that there was something called pitch and conditions which affected the scoring.

Chasing 188 against the likes of Malinga, Zaheer, Bravo and Bhajji is a tough task and a touch tougher when Malinga starts with a Yorker. Gayle and McCullam’s opening seems overrated; Hodge and Ganguly did try to accelerate but got sucked up by Nayar’s variations. With lack of batting power the KKRs stumbled to a cliched score of 95 all down in 15 overs. Had SRK invested in same low cost players rather than a 600K Mortaza who hasn’t featured yet, it would have done KKR some good. The future for KKR this season as last season looks dark as their jersey.

One can confidently say that the MUMBAI INDIAN chewed the Calcutta Mithi Pan.

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