IPL-8 Match-9 - Smith helps Royals go past Mumbai Indians

If Smith made Indians toil in Australia, he ensured Mumbai Indians received the same treatment.

2015 World Cup - India's campaign ends in semis

Hopefully, this is not the image that you want to remember as MS Dhoni's last walk back in a World Cup match. He himself has not ruled out a possible appearance in 2019 but let us see. Dhoni reminded me today of the Bollywood legend, Amitabh Bachchan in 1990's. Why is that?

When Amitabh made his entry into films, he made it big thanks to the combined efforts of directors (Manmohan Singh, Yash Chopra, Prakash Mehra), writers (Salim-Javed) and music directors (RD Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal). Hits after hits rained from Amitabh because of this combination. Slowly script-writers split, directors lost their touch, music directors faded away - Amitabh continued to make his impact because of his skill and presence. In the 1990's, things came to such a stage that Amitabh was expected to carry off any role without any backing of script, music or direction. This led to movies which flopped and the halo of Amitabh started vanishing. The legend then went into a self-imposed exile and reappeared in a new avatar to continue his legacy. I wish MSD will also make a comeback in similar vein to take India to new horizons - a supremely fit India that does not fear any team, any where in the world and capable of emulating the 80's Windies and Australians (of the new millennium).

For Indian fans, the campaign came to a screeching halt thanks to one man who terrorized the Indians throughout their stay Down Under - Steve Smith. Without him, Finch would not have been able to settle down without worrying about the run-rate or the state of the match. Without Smith, the Australians would not have been able to build a platform that made the latter batsmen throw their bats around with gay abandon. Steve Smith also contributed to the DRS review of Ajinkya Rahane during Indian innings as well as a catch. What a thorn he has been for the Indians this season?

The Indian bowlers did a good job by picking wickets regularly in the final phase and restricting their target, without being able to replicate their 70/70 performance in the first seven matches. Some of the bad practices that were visible before the World Cup (one poor ball in the over going for a boundary) appeared back. Shami could not make any breakthrough despite a wonderful first spell. Ashwin must have realized how his new style of bowling will get him a lot of wickets as well as plaudits.

On the batting, the Indians continued their trend of not losing a wicket (even if it means scoring slowly) in the first ten overs. Just when they started to accelerate, Dhawan fell and that induced a collapse that needed MSD and Rahane to stem the rot. That passage of play was when the Australians made maximum leverage and tightened the screws on the Indian team. Despite Dhoni's heroics, the end was visible by the 40th over.

IPL5 - KKR gets past CSK

KKR finally had their moments of glory in their fifth attempt. After several controversies, they had the trophy to cherish under a captain who led from the front. If reports are true, there will be a bus ride in Kolkata and the team will be honored by the Chief Minister of West Bengal! Manvinder Bisla deserves his moment in the sun, thanks to his blistering knock.

Let us look at all the teams and see how they fared overall:

1. Kolkata Knight Riders - Gautam Gambhir proved that his demotion from the post of vice-captain from the national team was so wrong. He put runs on the board consistently and ensured that there were winners from the rest of the team as well. Kallis was wonderful with his all-round abilities while Sunil Narine gave the mystery factor to the team. Best Indian player - Gautam Gambhir. Best Foreign player - Sunil Narine.
2. Chennai Super Kings -  Lucky was the word attached to the CSK team. In the knock-out stages, they showed that they had the skills to match as well. Without a singularly outstanding player in their team, CSK was able to reach the final and take the team to the last over. Simply hats off to the overall franchise for being able to be consistently successful. Best Indian player -  Suresh Raina. Best Foreign player - Faf Du Plessis.
3. Delhi Daredevils - A team that was so consistent in the league phases, Delhi failed in two attempts to reach the final! Call it choking or bad strategies but Sehwag's team had done all the right things in the initial phase.With all their international players (Kevin Pietersen, David Warner, Mahela Jayawardene) firing, Sehwag provided the Indian touch to ensure Delhi reached the final stages. Sehwag also nurtured the Indian fast bowlers Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron very well - a good sign for the national team. Best Indian player - Umesh Yadav. Best Foreign player - Morne Morkel.
4. Mumbai Indians - While Rohit Sharma shone in bits and pieces, Mumbai was also helped by timely knocks from Rayudu, Tendulkar and Pollard. The bowling was in the safe hands of Munaf and Malinga. Harbhajan led well though his individual form was not encouraging. Best Indian player -  Ambati Rayudu. Best Foreign player - Lasith Malinga.
5. Royal Challengers -  RCB was unfortunate to lose out on the knock-out stage because of their run-rate. Their dependence on Chris Gayle was worrying for the management while Murali's efforts on the field was exemplary as usual. Though Vinay Kumar and Zaheer Khan were among the wickets, they were not consistent enough to threaten the other teams. Best Indian player - Mayank Agarwal. Best Foreign player - Chris Gayle.
6. Kings XI Punjab - David Hussey captained the team mostly in the absence of Adam Gilchrist but the role Punjab played mainly was that of party-poopers. Spoiling RCB's chances to move to the next stage, Kings performed well in patches thanks to the efforts of Mandeep, Awana and Piyush Chawla. Best Indian player - Mandeep Singh. Best Foreign player - Azhar Mahmood.
7. Rajasthan Royals - Led ably by Rahul Dravid, Rajasthan lost steam after their good start. Ajinkya Rahane, Owais Shah and Shane Watson shone for the team but the bowling was their weak-spot. Siddharth Trivedi was their best bowler and he was ranked 18th on the wicket-taking list - proof enough that the team was lacking the firepower. If the team can introduce more star power to their bowling lineup, they can do much better than where they finally ended up. Best Indian player - Ajinkya Rahane. Best Foreign player - Owais Shah
8. Deccan Chargers - The only surprise from the Chargers was how they managed to avoid the wooden spoon this year. Thanks to Dale Steyn, the Chargers gave their opponents a lot to worry about but the batting was not consistent despite the efforts from Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White (both appearing in the Top 10 list of top scorers). Best Indian player - Shikhar Dhawan. Best Foreign player - Dale Steyn.
9. Pune Warriors - Sourav Ganguly's team was erratic to start with and then went downhill in the latter part of the tournament, not knowing whether the captain was part of the team or not. Robin Uthappa and Steve Smith tried their best with the bat but their efforts were not enough. The bowling department lacked penetration which is reflected in the overall position of the top wicket-taker Ashish Nehra (25th)! Best Indian player - Robin Uthappa. Best Foreign player - Steve Smith.

If there was a team selected from the other eight teams to play against the winners Kolkata, this would be my list of sixteen players

1. Shikhar Dhawan
2. Chris Gayle
3. Ajinkya Rahane 
4. Suresh Raina (captain)
5. Mandeep Singh
6. Robin Uthappa
7. Azhar Mahmood
8. Steve Smith
9. Mayank Agarwal
10. Ambati Rayudu (wk)
11. Lasith Malinga
12. Dale Steyn 
13. Piyush Chawla
14. Parvinder Awana 
15. Umesh Yadav
16. Morne Morkel

What would be your list?