IPL4 Week 2 - Malinga reigns supreme

Lasith Malinga was in the news the last week for having retired from test cricket. His reasoning was that his knee injury could not withstand the rigors of cricket where he had to bowl 15 overs or more in a day. In this context, the T20 format of four overs per bowler fits in ideally in his case. The fact that his ex-captains, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, supported his decision lends creditability to his decision. No one has been criticizing the decision like they do of others.

Not just off the field, Malinga continues to don the headlines on the ground as well. Look at his exploits for Mumbai Indians in 6 matches so far. 16 wickets at an average of 9 runs per wicket, economy rate hovering around 6 runs per over and more importantly a strike rate of a wicket every 9 balls approximately. This literally means that his average bowling figures this season have been 4 overs for 24 runs while taking at least 2 wickets. What a performer!

Similarly, on the batting front, Sachin Tendulkar has led the way (again, another Mumbaikar) with a strike-rate that is decent in T20 and a staggering average for this format. His performance dipped a bit, more due to the demise of his spiritual guru rather than any cricketing reason. Ably supported by Ambati Rayudu, SRT has dominated the batting most of the times. When he does not, the rival teams have to put up with Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds - imagine the plight of the bowling attacks! And we are not even talking about Pollard. This shows why Mumbai are the favorites to make it a successful season for Sachin - an IPL tournament win will be the icing on the cake for this season.

Shaun Marsh and David Warner are two Oz who must be wondering why they are not part of their national team more often. They are making statements regularly and this must be a good platform to showcase their form to the national selectors. Shane Warne, though, must be showing the same set of people what the current team is missing by his exploits. What a legend he has been!

Related articles

• Malinga retires from test cricket (cbc.ca)

IPL4 Match 27 - Mumbai eases past Deccan

First it was the Rohit (Sharma) and Roy (Andrew Symonds) show. Then, Malinga took over with the ball and reduced Deccan Chargers to a chase that never was.

IPL4 news - players retained by franchises announced

IPL4

Wednesday was the deadline for the IPL teams to announce the players they were planning to retain. All of them (including the ones who are doubtful of competing in the next version) have announced the names.

I had done my bit of crystal-gazing earlier on the probable retentions. While I had suggested correctly that most of the seniors like Rahul, Kumble and Ganguly will not be retained, there were few surprises otherwise.

• Chennai SuperKings has decided to part ways with Murali the spinner while retaining Murali, the opening batsman.
• I had expected RCB to retain Uthappa (local player), Kallis and Taylor. But, I guess, the team must have looked at the price quoted for these players earlier and decided to let them go (this must be true for all other teams as well)
• Mumbai opted to retain four players - the only surprise to me was retaining Malinga for Zaheer Khan. Zak would have provided a bit more local support but there is no doubt on the effectiveness of Slinger Malinga.
• It was surprising to see Delhi Daredevils leave out Gambhir, David Warner (who is definitely a future superstar in this format) and Dilshan. Again, their costs must be weighing on the mind of the franchises.
• KKR let go of McCullum - a real loss to the team that is anyway not making a difference in any of the IPL so far. They expect Gayle to lead the team in the next season, looks like.
• Deccan Chargers could have retained Andrew Symonds but again his high price paid earlier will prey on the Management. I am sure, given an opportunity, DC will take him again on a lower price. It will be interesting to see how many players will be taken back by their previous teams for a lower price.
• At 41, Shane Warne still commands respect in Australia - reporters asking him to make a comeback to test cricket which needs much more stamina than a T20 match. No wonder, Rajasthan Royals have retained him. Another surprising omission from them is that of the latest hero, Yusuf Pathan.

Many questions arise after these announcements. What happens to the retained players if Rajasthan is shown the door? Will Kochi and Pune teams be given the first option to grab some marquee players? Time, as usual, will reveal more answers.

Related articles

• IPL 4: Dravid, Ganguly, Gambhir up for grabs (cricketnext.in.com)
• MI retains key players (thehindu.com)
• Rajasthan retain Warne and Watson (espncricinfo.com)

Why are the Oz targeted?

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

First it was Harbhajan calling Symonds a monkey (even though it might be interpreted differently as a different phrase in punjabi)

Now, it is Asif calling Shane Watson a "bloody white" (considering the lack of English language finesse of the Pakistan players, I don't know if he was aware of any other gaali to mouth)

Why is it that the Aussies are always at the receiving end, especially from teams of the sub-continent? Do they not realize that what goes around, comes around.

Of course, one cannot compare the choice of words used by the Oz players vis-a-vis the other teams.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Come back Andrew Symonds, all is forgiven (thepunch.com.au)

The tale of 2 overs

Image via Wikipedia

The match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers hinged upon 2 overs - one each in either innings. These 2 overs were the turning points in the match.

The 1st over was in the KKR innings - Sourav Ganguly and David Hussey were repairing the KKR innings and slowly but steadily accumulating the runs. The run-rate was still not something for DC to be alarmed about. Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, was brought on by Adam Gilchrist for his last over - very bad choice since Sourav was at the crease.

For your convenience, I have added the Cricinfo commentary below:

End of over 16 (9 runs) Kolkata Knight Riders 125/3 (RR: 7.81)
DJ Hussey            19* (19b 1x6)        SC Ganguly           70* (50b 9x4 2x6)

16.1 Ojha to Hussey, no run, another missed stumping, beaten by the turn there, landed outside leg stump, Hussey came down the track but couldn't get his bat to it as it turned away, he missed and so did Gilchrist

16.2 Ojha to Hussey, 1 leg bye, spun away after pitching on leg stump, goes for the slog-sweep, is struck on the pads as it turns away, steals a leg bye

16.3 Ojha to Ganguly, SIX, massive, turning into him and he bends low to sweep that powerfully over the deep backward square leg boundary for a big six

16.4 Ojha to Ganguly, 1 wide, full and wide, saw him coming down and fired it wide but Ganguly got back into his crease in time

16.4 Ojha to Ganguly, SIX, Ganguly has spoiled Ojha's figures here, flighted on middle and he swings it miles over deep square leg, took it from a length and punished it

16.5 Ojha to Ganguly, 1 wide, Ojha is struggling, tried to get him stumped again off a wide ball but Ganguly's not falling for it, it's called by the umpire

16.5 Ojha to Ganguly, SIX, Ganguly's on fire, full toss by Ojha and Ganguly shovels that gift ball over deep midwicket, the crowd is delirious, long time coming

16.6 Ojha to Ganguly, OUT, holes out in the deep, the shot was on, on middle and on a length, Ganguly was in position to send that into the stands but connect this as well as he had the earlier ones, found Rohit in the deep
   
SC Ganguly c Sharma b Ojha 88 (54b 9x4 5x6) SR: 162.96

That ends an excellent innings, giving Kolkata a great chance of posting a more than challenging score on this slow pitch

The run-rate of KKR jumped by almost 1 run per over after this blast by Ganguly. Even if KKR had a good over of about 10, the score would have been 10 runs less. Thanks to Dada's trio of sixes, the run-rate became a healthy 181. The missed stumping of David Hussey also added to DC's pain.

The 2nd over that sealed it for KKR was the penultimate over - of course, the target was huge - 40 runs from 2 overs but Andrew Symonds was at the crease and he was looking in good form. Shane Bond was brought into the attack by Sourav Ganguly.


Commentary from Cricinfo added below:

End of over 18 (8 runs) Deccan Chargers 142/4 (40 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 7.88, RRR: 20.00)
A Symonds            38* (29b 4x4)     TL Suman            7* (7b)             
18.1 Bond to Symonds, FOUR, low full toss and he connects well, strikes it cleanly over the bowler's head wide of long-off for a one bounce four, first four since the 14th over says the TV commentator, took a while to come

18.2 Bond to Symonds, no run, trying an inswinging yorker there, moves away to steer it past point but it's fuller than he would have liked, misses

18.3 Bond to Symonds, no run, mixing it up very well, it takes some wily bowling to keep Symonds in check, the slow legcutter there, he didn't pick it and missed, another dot ball

Symonds says he can't quite see the ball, but the umpires have refused him a newer one

18.4 Bond to Symonds, no run, failing to get them away, short on middle, tries to swat that past the bowler, ends up playing it straight back to him, dot balls galore

18.5 Bond to Symonds, no run, another one, tight line, bowled on a good length on the off, strikes it back to Bond, big cheers from the crowd

18.6 Bond to Symonds, 2 runs, another superb over, finishes off with just a couple, driven wide of long-off

Shane Bond bowled exceptionally with a combination of slow balls, length balls that did not allow Symonds to attack at all. Other than the first and last balls, Symonds could keep tapping every ball. Amazing. Again, if not for Bond's control, DC could have easily scored at least 10 runs more in this over. Of course, KKR played really well in the last 5 overs of DC's innings - the runs were hard to come by and Sourav shuffled his bowlers around to keep DC guessing.

At the end of the day, KKR came out victors in the match by 24 runs. These 2 overs did make their mark in the match and ensured that KKR notched up another win over Deccan Chargers.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Angelo Mathews gives frugal Kolkata another IPL victory (guardian.co.uk)
• Indian Premier League 2010: Foggy start to live matches on YouTube (telegraph.co.uk)
• Kolkata Knight Riders Stun Deccan Chargers as IPL Opens in Style (bleacherreport.com)

Players who have shone in IPL3

Image via Wikipedia

The IPL3 has thrown up a number of performers (old and new) in the 14 matches played so far. Some of them are already certainties in their international squads but there are quite a few youngsters (and veterans) who are making the mark. 

Saurabh Tiwary has been consistent in his outings so far and he seems to have impressed his captain SRT so much that he has been asked to come ahead of superstars like Bravo and Pollard - his idol is MS Dhoni and that is very visible in his run-scoring. After non-performance in the first 2 versions, Saurabh has come of age both with his shot-selection and power-hitting. Similarly, Manish Pandey has been giving Jacque Kallis good company for boosting RCB's score in the initial overs - the lad is showing all the signs of playing international cricket in India and this experience will definitely help in the long run. Robin Uthappa is showing signs of form after a long innings of failures. Individual sparks of brilliance have also come from Manvinder Bisla (ex-India Under-19 captain), Abhishek Jhunjunwala and Manoj Tiwary.

The ICL returnees are making a mark in this version of the IPL with their abilities whether it is Ambati Rayudu with the bat, R Sathish with bat and ball or Amit Uniyal with the ball. They have shown that they are not out of place in this tournament and repeated their heroics from the now-defunct ICL.

Among the bowlers, it has been R Ashwin and Vinay Kumar - both have been part of the India squad (though not playing) already earlier in the season. They have taken wickets and made sure that their teams have benefited by their street-smartness. Jaskaran Singh is another bowler who seems to have attracted the attention of his captain - how he repays the faith of his captain seems to be seen.

Angelo Matthews was long touted as the ideal T20 player for Sri Lanka - he has shown that very visibly in this season for KKR and has been a vital cog in the wins that KKR has notched up this season so far. Yusuf Pathan scored a quick century in the first match but has not been able to score heavily in the following matches (the teams seem to be targetting him with short-pitched balls). But, he has been continuing to contribute with the ball, that has been vital for his team.

Among the veterans, it is quite interesting to see one topping the wicket-taking list (Chaminda Vaas) while yet another scoring the highest number of runs (Jacque Kallis). They were criticized by their teams and the initial perceptions of the think-tank was that they are not material of  the shorter version. They have now shown that they still have enough gas in the tank that is applicable to all the formats available. Similarly, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar, though not playing in the T20 format, have contributed to the team cause - they do not seem to be out of tune with the game at any moment. Andrew Symonds and Justin Kemp - both players of the similar calibre and both neglected by their boards for whatever reason known. They have shown the capabilities their national teams are missing. Whether the boards change their minds and select them for the World Cup remains to be seen.

A Tare of the Mumbai Indians has a lot of potential to be considered for higher honors (at least in the domestic version to start with, maybe the India A team). The others like Parthiv Patel and W Saha have not shown any great glimpses so far and hence Dinesh Karthick seems to be the replacement for MSD in crises. 

How many of these players perform consistently to be considered for the national team remains to be seen. Let us hope more players do well - it will only keep their national teams happy.

Related articles by Zemanta

• IPL3 - First 5 matches (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Jacques Kallis the unlikely star as IPL gets off to thrilling start | Dileep Premachandran (guardian.co.uk)
• Indian Premier League 2010: Adam Gilchrist salutes Deccan Chargers' return to form (telegraph.co.uk)
• Shane Warne's praise for Yusuf Pathan's 'flogerama' is an insult| Mike Selvey (guardian.co.uk)
• IPL: Pathan Ton in Vain As Mumbai Indians Start With a Win (bleacherreport.com)
• Angelo Mathews gives frugal Kolkata another IPL victory (guardian.co.uk)
• Countdown starts for IPL3 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)