IPL Daily Dose – 17/05/2008 - IPL improves TV ratings in Dhaka and why bookies were missing in Jaipur

RCB Vs RR

Rahul Dravid arrived at the crease at 31/4 and stayed on till 132/9, scoring 75 runs. Therefore, he scored more than 75% of the runs scored off the bat while he was at the crease. That is a tremendous achievement by the Bangalore captain and also a sorry reminder of RCB’s batting woes in the tournament.

Abdur Razzaq’s debut was the other notable point in the game. Was this move intended to increase TV ratings for the IPL in Bangladesh? I cannot see the cricketing reason for his inclusion. Vinay Kumar had figures of 3/0/15/0 and 2/0/11/1 in the last two games and was dropped for no justifiable reason.

Misbah-ul-Haq continues to make Dr Mallya look like an idiot. The owner had apparently fired Charu Sharma for not communicating his desire to play the Pakistani to the team management. Another failure (golden duck) later the decision to keep Misbah on the bench looks like a stroke of genius.

And by the way the Royals won again as expected. Were the bookies even offering any odds for this game?

KXP Vs DD

A game of two overs - both of which brought Mohali right back into the game, just when Delhi looked like gaining the upper hand. The cardinal rule for all rain truncated games is to bowl your best bowlers first. You never know when the overs could be reduced further and the quota for each bowler gets whittled down. Sehwags logic was flawed in multiple ways.

Bringing on a part time spinner (himself) just because a regular spinner (Amit Mishra) bowled well completely ignored the fact that Mishra was the most successful spinner in the IPL and Sehwag was close to the worst of the lot. Bowling himself well before Maharoof was even introduced into the attack and before McGrath’s quota was finished was foolish bravado and nothing else.

The Daredevils now need to win all their games to keep their hopes alive. And even that might not be enough. If Mumbai win 3 of their 5 remaining games (quite possible even if they lose to DD) and Chennai beat RCB and DC (shouldn’t be too much trouble) then we could have the possibility of an 8 win team missing out on a semi-final berth. Rajasthan and Mohali should win more then 8 and qualify for sure. Net run-rates are going to be extremely important.

The game also showed that the Kings of Punjab have the most explosive and the deepest batting line-up in the tournament. All their batsmen are attacking players and collectively they offer no respite to opposition attacks. Every batsman has also played at least one important innings in this tournament so far. They didn’t flinch when they lost Shaun Marsh and Yuvraj early. Mahela’s performance was like a cold blooded assassin’s which showed that he had been suffering from lack of opportunity and not lack of ability.

Dude of the Day – Close call between Mahela and Dravid. The award goes to Dravid. This guy has been under immense pressure and answered his critics in the best possible manner. At least the ones who questioned his batting and fighting abilities.

Dud of the Day - Cannot include the entire RCB side. The villain of the day is Virender Sehwag. Forget his fifty; his decision to bowl himself will haunt him when he is watching the IPL semis on television.

Sphere: Related Content

IPL Daily Dose - 12/05/2008 - The BCCI has a genius of their own and a new excuse for Mallya

Kings XI Punjab have walloped the Royal Challengers from Bangalore. Don’t know what Dr Mallya is going to say now? "That I was sloshed after having 10 bottles of Royal Challenge, when I decided to bid for the franchise."

Rahul Dravid was gracious in defeat. He accepted his team’s shortcomings and was full of praise for Shaun Marsh and gang. That’s the Dravid we have all come to love and admire. Thank God he’s back.

There’s not much a bowling captain can do when the game is over with almost five overs to go. But I cannot understand why both Praveen Kumar and R Vinay Kumar were not given their quota of 4 overs. Their figures of (2.4/0/15/0) and (2/0/11/1) respectively were outstanding in the context of the game and the format. But no more criticism of Dravid. He’s been through enough already.

Now for some praise of Tom Moody. He continues to excel wherever he goes. And he’s got an eye for talent as well. The likes of Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach might be relative unknowns in the cricketing world but Moody saw enough of them during his time at Western Australia to select them for Mohali. And he must’ve had a say in getting Sangakkara and Mahela as well. It’s a blessing to have a well-travelled coach for an international league. Guys like Moody also end up doing the de-facto job of chief scout. His experience in England will come in handy when the English players join in.

And come to think of it that when Moody came to interview for the India job, some Einstein in the BCCI questioned his credentials on the basis of his mediocre record as a player. Will the great man be kind enough to show his own resume?


Dude of the Day – Unquestionably it has to be Shaun Marsh. Not many guys would have smashed Steyn the way he did; in any form of the game.

Dud of the Day – Dale Steyn. The biggest bowling star in the RCB ended up with the poorest figures in the match by some distance.

Sphere: Related Content

Dr Mallya can become the 'King of Great Sackings'. Here's how

Finally the reason for Charu Sharma's sacking is known. He committed the major blunder of not communicating Dr Mallya's wish to include Misbah in the playing eleven to the team management. And although it was Dravid's decision to bench the Pakistani, Charu really deserved it. After all what is sport without a few scapegoats. Dr Mallya deserves a lot of kudos for not having the balls to take his 'icon' player on.

The team has responded well to the sacking by being consistent in its performance. The skipper led from the front. Dravid's efforts to 'get his eye in' during the middle overs was a crucial moment in the game. His handling of Ganguly ensured that Bangalore continued to separate itself from the rest of the pack.

The pressure is again on Dr Mallya. The skipper has run out of excuses for his 'test team's' splendid run in the IPL. The owner needs to make a few more sackings to justify his team's performance to the fans. As of now the coach is safe and the captain untouchable. Having removed the big kahuna last time, Dr Mallya can now move to the bottom of the food chain. He should sack the guy who handles the team cricket equipment. After all the team's cricket bats haven’t behaved well so far.

And then he can move to the others. Sack someone after every defeat. The conditioning coach for not ensuring the bodies were moving perfectly. The assistant coaches for the team's batting, bowling and fielding. The bus driver for....well, we will think of something after he gets sacked.

The team has six games to go and we could be set for an interesting finale after the team's final game. Dr Mallya should top everything he has done so far by sacking himself. That would be one sacking that no one is going to complain about.

Sphere: Related Content

Care for some cricket chit-chat

Rahul Dravid got hit on the nose by a bouncer from R.P.Singh!!!!! (To read more on RP, check out the ‘The sorry state of indian domestic cricket’). I’ am yet to recover from the shock of hearing this. No, Iam not feeling sorry for Rahul Dravid (which is very mean), but wondering, how on earth could an impotent (pardon the term but cant think of anything better) bowler like RP inflict such damage on India’s best player of fast bowling (and that too on one of our lifeless wickets). Can’t remember the last time an Indian pace-man did this to a quality batsman. Perhaps, Dravid was totally lost in thought (he has so many issues to handle these days). Somebody tell the selectors, that our captain needs a break more than Sachin and Sourav.

Kapil Dev has spoken strongly against the selectors’ decision to ‘rest’ Sachin and Sourav for the Bangladesh tour. To quote him, “There are no half measures for me...Either you drop them or take them. There is nothing called 'rested’.” Kapil seems to have forgotten, that Indian selectors don’t know how to drop star players. Had they known better, they would have dropped him long before he broke Hadlee’s record.

Krish Srikkanth’s cricket based website krishcricket.com is going places. The site offers an impressive array of fantasy games (with multi user facility and mobile versions), photo galleries, live audio commentary, columns from eminent writers and live simulation of international games (with 3-D imaging and scripted commentary). The venture is sure to do well (as long as Srikkanth is not contributing the columns) and I wish them the very best. Their success is sure to keep the former India opener from fulfilling his media commitments; a sure sign of relief for all cricket fans and his fellow commentators.

Adam Gilchrist’s revelation of having used a squash ball to improve his grip has caused a major uproar in Sri Lanka, with board officials accusing him of using ‘unethical’ means to seek an ‘unfair’ advantage. Ian Healy’s response sums it up best – “maybe a tennis ball is better, they could try that”. Or maybe a football!!!

Sphere: Related Content