IPL10 - CSK win for third time

The IPL10 finished with its regular share of twists and turns, and the Comeback Star Kings (CSK) won it for the third time.

Picture Courtesy - espnCricinfo website

Called the "Dad's Army", CSK had nine players who were 30+ and turned the disadvantage to a plus! One of the oldies came to the rescue in every match, taking the team past the winning post in every match (Dhoni, Bravo,Rayudu, Tahir and Watson).

In the final, it was a great effort by CSK to win the title easily. Let us use the R-B factor to see how the winners got through. A look at the individual numbers (R-B) gives us good insight. Watson tops the list here too. Du Plessis and Rayudu have negative R-B but their contributions in partnering Watson when he was struggling was invaluable. All the others who batted, have a healthy R-B value, adding to the overall run-rate & ensuring CSK won the match by lots to spare. Just imagine the case that Dhoni, Bravo & Jadeja did not have to bat at all - that much fuel was available for CSK in the tank!!

Now, let us see the charts of SRH.Kane Williamson, Carlos Brathwaite  & Yusuf Pathan were the ones who did well with a R-B rate of 40+. The rest of the batsmen were guilty of consuming too many balls to score their runs! If the others had gotten up their R-B rate higher, CSK might have ended up chasing a score more than 200. But, as I mentioned earlier, three big-hitters did not step on to the field at all - Hence, CSK might have still ended up winners!

What do you think might have changed in the IPL final, in hindsight?Please share your thoughts.

Who is cricket's Alex Ferguson?

News all over the world, especially the sports variety, is about Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement from ManU. Amazing record for 26 years at the club from the veteran. Hold on! I am not going to write about football now...the question that I wanted to ask you was who is cricket's version of SAF?

Quite a few names come to mind - Bob Woolmer, Duncan Fletcher, Intikhab Alam, John Wright and so on.
From the current crop, Gary Kirsten has the credentials to claim credit to the title. Twice he has coached countries to the No.1 position in tests, won the World Cup 2011 with India. Not something that others has achieved - only complaint is that he doesnt stick on to his position for a long time :(

In IPL, Stephen Fleming has done a remarkable job for Chennai SuperKings (winning IPL and Champions League) while Darren Lehmann has won the IPL twice for different teams (though his team has been struggling for the last 2 versions).

There is obviously no one who has gone on for so long but these are the few names that come to mind. What do you say?

Champions League starts

The T20 Champions League started on Saturday with crowds thronging the stadium even when it was held in South Africa. It reiterates the fact that club cricket has in fact won over the others in the T20 format. The ICC should encourage this more than the farcical T20 World Cup that it conducts every two years.

Four IPL teams are in the fray while two each from Australia and South Africa domestic T20 tournaments vie for top honours. Mumbai Indians, who won the previous version, will be eager to show their mettle once again while Chennai Super Kings, under MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming (coach) will be waiting to regain their lost pride.

While all this is happening in South Africa, the domestic cricket has started back in India - Duleep Trophy to be precise. Some of the stars whose team have not qualified are appearing in this tournament more to catch the eyes of the selectors in anticipation of the English and Australian team visits.

What can one expect from the Champions League? Lot of natural spills and artificial thrills on the ground while some players might be eager to make their presence felt. The players from the Caribbean will be looking to increase their bank balance (even though they won the T20 World Cup last week!) while the ones like Kevin Pietersen, Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan will be looking to restore old pride.

Nothing to write home about nor anything that you will miss if you blink your eye.

Will the BlackCaps be a walk-over?

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Mark Greatbatch has ridiculed his team publicly about their performance in the recently-concluded Bangladesh series. He has set the expectations so low that whatever the team does in the forthcoming series will be a bonus. It is now expected that the Indians will whitewash the Kiwis in the 3-test series. In fact, the coach is not looking at a win at all - they would consider a draw (2 of them, as Greatbatch mentioned) to be a 'moral win'. But, the question on one's mind is whether Greatbatch is qualified enough to coach the team? Why not change to Stephen Fleming, who has proved himself on the IPL scene?

With this public lashing, what will be the morale of the team? How will it affect the team spirit before they reach the Indian soil? In fact, if one looks at the history of NZ test cricket, there is hardly a series where they have played with their full-strength team. They have been the under-dogs in every series, which has suited them just fine. After the recent series debacle, the Kiwis will be raring to go. They will be looking to catch the Indians by surprise. There is news that McCullum might bat higher in the lineup to shore the batting which seems to be the weakest in the eleven - whether this will help them remains to be seen.

The Indians must ensure that they are not complacent in the test series for that is when the NZ team can be most dangerous. If they play as well as they did against the Oz, the whitewash result is a foregone conclusion. My take will be a 2-0 win for India - maybe rain will prevent the whitewash in one of the test matches. Let us wait and watch. What is your prediction?

Related articles

• NZ coach Greatbatch lashes out at players for bad performance (topinews.com)
• Fleming signs with Chennai for three more years (3news.co.nz)
• McCullum likely to bat in top order (cricinfo.com)
• Williamson, Bennett in Test squad (cricinfo.com)

Sachin and Kirsten in demand

The Oz tour is done and dusted - the teams have gone back to their bases but still talk about Sachin Tendulkar has not gone down.

Whether it is the Oz press talking about the width of his bat or Hussey being inspired by him playing so well at this age, Sachin cannot stop getting news bytes. He cannot stop getting awards either - Lebara People's choice award recently was another feather in his cap.


Similarly, Gary Kirsten is another person in high demand. It looks like his country now wants him back, after noticing his exploits with the Indian team. Will the Indian team let go? It would depend on Kirsten himself. I would add Stephen Fleming as the replacement probable for the Indian team coach role after his exploits with Dhoni's CSK team in IPL and CLT20.

Related articles

• India beat Australia easily in Bengaluru (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Bat autographed by Sachin up for grabs (topinews.com)
• Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar (r-bloggers.com)
• India-Australia ODI series - Second-hand treatment (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)