With IPL getting complex and interesting, With 5 teams struggling for 2,3 and 4^th place, it was the “nothing to lose” team KKR had yet another last over finish but fortunately they were on the winning side this time. Apart from 2/3 matches most of the matches for KKR were last over finish and if they were batting first they used to finish it in first few overs itself. ( please do not ask how? ) 

It was great chase by Kolkatta Knight Riders. Macculum played beautifully well for is 81 in 48 balls and Hodge I think played his best innings in IPL so far. Having said this, I know he has also played couple of good innings this season as well but they were on losing side both the times. KKR has been a perfect example of how it is when things are not going your ways. They dropped simple catches, the top edges went to boundaries when they were bowling and then the same top edges or even good shots went directly to fielders when they were batting, few bad decisions against them added something more to it. Frustration was visible on Macculum’s face. 

They say Agarkar is inconsistent but I really feel he also is a damn unlucky man. He was bowling with no fire in first couple of matches but started bowling well later but even for him edges went for boundaries, lower full tosses went for sixers. If you have seen it carefully he has bowled  excellent bouncers this time similar to one he bowled to MS Dhoni yesterday. I think he needed some confidence to be given to him which  Macculum has given and looked pretty active after been dropped twice. He bowled an excellent 19^th over against Deccan Chargers, it was a perfect Malinga over with all the Yorkers bowled on the spot giving away singles on each delivery, had he been with a little luck he would have got atleast couple of wickets. I normally do not believe in luck but incidents like Yuvaraj Singh taking 2 hat-tricks , Rohit Sharma taking one make me believe in luck, fortune etc.

 For Chennai Super Kings it was like they have won the match, half before the match, 25% after the toss and 25% after scoring 188. I heard someone from their team saying it was good enough score to win. ( against Kolkatta J is what actually he meant J ). Dhoni in after match interview perfectly described the match, “ One of the greatest chase in IPL and One of the worst bowling performance in IPL. Dhoni would not have thought even in his wildest dreams that they will lose the match. It really came as shock for them. Now they need to win their last match or at least not lose it with huge margines.   

 I hope KKR to put up another cracking performance against Rajasthan Royals tomorrow and gain some confidence for many of them to claim a position in next year IPL. Let’s look forward to today’s match where I want Royal challengers to beat Delhi Dare devils… this will make it even more interesting

A bookie calls Shane Warne before the match between Kolkata KnightRiders and Rajasthan Royals.

Cell phone rings. Warne picks up.

Warne : hello

Bookie : I am ….. Here.

Warne : yes tell me

Bookie : how is the pitch

Warne : ya dry and good for batting

Bookie : I want u to loose today’s match

Warne : impossible

Bookie : I will pay u $200,000

Warne : will be difficult to make KKR win.

Bookie : I will pay u $250,000

Warne : May be I could help you by reducing the margin. u tell by what margin we should win. will be much more easier

Bookie : no KKR should win

Warne : OK. I will try my best

Bookie : no make it.

Warne : OK.

Bookie : what will be the score

Warne : 200, if we bat first

Bookie : no make it 120

Warne : Impossible. Agarkar and Kartik are playing.

Bookie : 120 no change.

Warne : I will try

Bookie : OK. If KKR bat first

Warne : 110

Bookie : no make it 175

Warne : no u are asking too much. Ganguli is playing.

Bookie : OK make it $300,000

Warne : This would be the toughest match in my life

Bookie : OK, deal is made.

Warne : yes

Bookie : bye.

Match starts KKR bats first. KKR score only 120 in 20 overs. During the lunch break Shane’s cell rings.

Warne : hello

Bookie : its me. why did KKR score only 120. Our deal was 175.

Warne : What can I do ? They run one when they could run three, defend full toss, get out on wide balls, all catches and shots. I mean, if there is any. exactly directed to the fielders. But I will tell you this, Knight Riders are too good at this , I tried re-arranging the field.but they never miss a fielder.

Bookie : still u could bowl more no-balls. We got only 53 extras.

Warne : I asked all my bowlers to bowl badly. I also made Smith and Asnodkar bowl.

Bookie : Okay. leave that. I want u to loose the match.

Warne : I will try.

Bookie : Rajasthan Royals should be all out for 110

Warne : OK.

Bookie : bye.

Rajasthan Royals bats. They are making a serious attempt to not hit the ball and if at all they hit trying their best to hit to the fielders. They try to run only singles for doubles. But sometimes, they can’t stop themselves from running.

All Rajasthan Royals batsmen charged down to Kartik’s bowling and they purposely miss the ball hoping at least one
would hit the stumps. But they got to run a bye for that as McCullum is still searching for the ball . Inspite of the bad display of batting, they score 118 of 19 overs. Last over, 3 runs
required, the worst part is that its an Agarkar over. Warne is batting with Carseldine.

Bookie gets really furious.
Warne is ready to face the last over his cell rings (he plays with his cell).

Warne : hello

Bookie : its me! . What are you upto ?

Warne : We tried the best we could

Bookie : OK forget it. I want u to loose the match

Warne : what can I do. Fate !!! Agarkar is bowling

Bookie : I don’t know. u are loosing

Agarkar bowls. Warne tries to hide his bat behind his back. But the ball hits the bat and goes to third man. So they take a single.
(cell rings)

Warne : sorry what can I do I was hiding my bat but still the ball comes and hit my bat. If I play much worse than this everybody will find out.
Bookie : (gets really tensed). OK I can understand. But please don’t take last two runs.

Warne talks to Carseldine. Agarkar bowls. a juicy full toss. Carseldine uses all his batting skills to restrict that one to a single. Scores are level.
(cell rings)

Bookie : OK. Past is past. Atleast finish it in a tie. I don’t know what u are going to do u are not taking a single or u give u’r bat to the umpire.

Warne : OK. OK. Don’t worry this time I will! see to it we are not taking the single. Let it be obvious also. I am not taking the single.

Agarkar bowls, unfortunately he bowls a no ball. RR wins the match.
Bookie goes mad and Shane warne faints in the field itself

Last week the prospect for the tournament was looking extremely dynamic with 7 out of 8 teams having opportunities to make it to top 4. Unfortunately, this week it does not look that great. Still a plenty of fun in the points table is possible – but may be only theoretically.
Week is set to separate top from bottom. What looks more likely is -
Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings are well set to grab the positions in semis. Kolkata Knight Riders have already occupied an unenviable (:)) position of no-stress and 2 teams Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore depend on others’ failures as much as on own success. They will cherish failures of Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers more than relishing their wins. If KXIP and DC do well in their next 2 games, MI and RCB would soon be fighting for 6th spot. Rajasthan Royals are in a spot of bother too; however I feel they are well equipped with Warne’s cricketing acumen to see them through.
I just had some fun calculating what can happen theoretically. Considered all the remaining matches and gave 2 points per match to the team which is lower in the points table than the other one at the moment – for example, RCB Vs KKR, calculated 2 points for KKR and 0 for RCB; MI Vs DD, 2 points for MI; DC Vs RR, 2 points to DC and so on. With this hypothetical (but not impossible at all) calculations what we may have in the end is – MI and KXIP in the semis and any 2 of DD, RCB & DC will qualify based on Net Run Rate.
Another extreme consideration like, DD & KKR lose all their matches, MI & RCB win all their matches, KXIP win all matches except against MI & RCB and for remaining matches same logic as above, we will see DD, CSK & RR not qualifying for semis.
Hypothesis! Hmm…what if it goes that way.
Can we hope for such scenarios? May be not. But also things are not so clear yet. We may still have a lot of fun hidden in this IPL-2. Let’s wait and watch what actually happens.

KKR, I feel is the weakest team in the IPL, I have been a great follower of this team since the start of the IPL but have disappointed to a large extent.  SRK must be wondering what is going wrong with his team.

Reason 1. - I don’t know but on paper  the team has good players and the likes of Macculum, Gayle, Ganguly, Ishant Sharma are capable of winning matches single handedly but none of them has done it so far. The team may have different reasons but they remind me of Indain team before captain Ganguly. The reasons may varry but still the thing is they have approach of losers. 

Reason 2. - Another reason in case of KKR is the team has got a lot more visibility than any other team and the reason is obvious “SRK” and to some extent Ganguly and to some extent “Buchanan’s theorem of multiple captains”. Except Ganguly I don’t think there is anyone who is ready to face this much of publicity, most of the players from KKR must have come to know that the fan following of KKR is more than their country’s population and that is a huge burden of expectations. This must be affecting their performance. It could have been the same case had been a positive visibility.

Reason 3. Another reason I think is both SRK and Buchanan are trying to handle ( not Solving ) the problems using their charisma and philosophy about the game respectively. On the management side both of them are dominating personalities and on players’ side Ganguly, Gayle and Macculum are also dominating types. This becomes a deadly combination and takes care of small problem turning out to be a  bigger problem. I don’t see any analysis has been done before the match and after the match and if it’s done I don’t see anyone ever implemented it. Some one please update me if he /she has seen any kind of home work done by KKR and plan well executed by them.

Reason 4. - Macculum may be a good captain but I still think he can not lead 7  Indian players as language is different, he himself has hardly seen the other Indian players except Ganguly which makes his job difficult. Every one can not be Shane Warne to make Kamran khan look like a greates bowler of all time.

And a suggestion to SRK and Buchanan - This is not an inexperienced “Chak de India” team, but most of them are seasoned players and can not be motivated with his style, attitude etc. He needs to come out with something extra ordinary to boost the spirit of the team  and Buchanan should start looking for a next captain, may be a non playing one, may be one of his sons.

I don’t see KKR’s fortune changing in near future ……… God Bless them !!!

After 1st match, Tendulkar said, “…I think the strategy breaks are hampering the momentum of a team. The seven and a half minute breaks are a bit too long.”
And it is still playing on his mind.
I wonder what is so special about this time-out for the Master. Each of his Test match centuries would have gone through number of breaks – every hour drinks break, every two hours either lunch break or tea break or end-of-day. Each of his ODI centuries would have gone through at least one drinks break, if not two. If Sachin was a batsman to get disturbed by breaks this much on consistent basis, he wouldn’t have scored these many centuries. Here, century is just a simple indicator of a big innings. He has successfully handled breaks in Tests and ODIs in cases whether he was well set or not set; in form or out of form. Then why is this break bothering him so much?
After mastering all possible skills as a batsman, I think there is atleast one thing which is challenging Sachin – strategic time-out.
Whether the break really bothered him or just because of his reservation he got bothered, I am just wondering this has costed Mumbai Indians a match against Deccan Chargers on 25th April and restricted them below 200 on 27th April against KKR. Though it is ambitious to make statement like one incident costs a match, I can’t avoid the temptation.
Tendulkar and Duminy were well set – well set being an understatement. They tore apart the DC attack and looked like cruising towards two points. And then came the strategic time-out. How uncomfortable Sachin was in that over just after the break! It looked like he was waiting for the inevitable. Series of uncharacteristic shots and he was a goner.
That evokes a necessity of understanding dos and donts for the batting side during those seven and half minutes.
In form and well set batsmen do hate breaks and this is well known. Teams have to make sure that batsmen are calm and relaxed during the break. Each batsman has his own method to handle the breaks. Some of them may want to have a look at bowling chart of opposition and target a bowler. Some of them may want to calculate runs per over. Some of them may just want to relax. Let the batsmen choose how they want to handle the break.
Over enthusiastic suggestions, bombardment of strategy points and motivational talks etc are absolute no-nos. I feel the staff and the bench of batting side would do well to leave the on-crease batsmen alone and provide on-demand (i.e. only if the batsmen ask) support. At the best, two not out batsmen may spend time together. Fielding side in a huddle makes sense, but not the batting side.
On the other side, batsmen need not be over cautious about the strategic time-out. I do not believe in the theory of seeing-off 11th and 12th overs. This theory over emphasizes the time-outs. Easier said than done – still I feel strategic time-out may not bother experienced players so much. Just for a simple reason – they have handled breaks in all other forms of the game successfully before.

As much as winning is a habit, losing also is a habit. This philosophically interesting sounding statement was made in commentary during RC-Bangalore’s match. Not sure who the commentator was; may be Danny Morrison. And I think, this statement summarizes Bangalore team’s story so far.
Delhi Daredevils had put themselves in precarious situation. Ambitious to say but a couple of misfields by Royal Challengers turned match in Delhi’s favor. But that was incidental. To me the problem lies in their minds – no belief, not at all.
Body language of neither on-field players nor off-field players & staff suggested that they believed that they could win.
On consistent basis now, key players are looking out of sorts. Robin Uthappa needs to recollect himself – what he is losing is as big as the place in India T20 World Cup squad. He will do well not allowing this IPL to decide his future. Boucher doing well with bat worsens the scenario for Robin further. I will not be surprised if Robin is not part of playing XI in next game. Either he has lost in his mind completely or enemy of him has taken charge of his mind through black magic. Certainly this is not the Uthappa we know.
KP disappointed again. Kallis’ bowling is a worry factor now. Unfortunately enough, Royal Challengers have to bank on his bowling again and again. Taylor, a big hope, is struggling to make impact which would be proportionate to his abilities. Kumble could not offer much threat to the batting side either. Whether men or boys, nobody is believing that they can win.
KKR is doing badly till now because their focus is diverted on anything other than on-field cricket, at least till now. Why are Royal Challengers failing? May be losing is a habit.
Hope they turn it around in the next game.

People who saw yesterday’s Ganguly innings must have seen the old determination, focus on his face. It wasn’t even a half century but a true Ganguly admirer or a hardcore Ganguly critic ( this number is huge ) must have felt that he is back to normal and not only to normal but he was even running pretty well in between the wickets and the sixes he hit to Munaf were awsome hits. One should remember that one of them was a pull of a short delivery and was a just shut up shot.

Media has always been “kind” with him when it comes to promote the controversies and critisism that he has been facing from the day he entered the international circuit… be it the drinks issue or opting out from a match, losing captaincy, losing his place from Indian team or the super duper hit Greg Chappel incident. After facing all this now SRK and John Buchanan have joined the band wagon.

 So having so many people including his boss to critisize him, he had a task cut out and that’s where I feel he is at his best. The innings I felt was very mature and very few people could have handled that pressure; generated more by Shane Warne’s delaying tactics of shuffling fielding after every ball and acting to be in a serious discussion with the bowler after each delivery than the target. Ganguly was the best possible person out there to handle all this.

SRK must have learnt a lot of things from Ganguly’s innings like one needs a mentally strong person to play in these coditions, there are lots of skills required other than just hitting sixers, taking wickets and having multiple captains. Having done all that Ganguly has given it back to SRK and Buchanan. So I would like to ask Mr. SRK and Mr. Buchanan , “who is going to be the next captain after losing 2 matches out of 3?”

It could have been a cherry on cake if KKR had won the match but atleast I am happy for Ganguly for his innings, the way he handled Shane Warne, the way he dismissed Munaf, the way he hit back to SRK and Buchanan and proved his capabilities yet again. People ( Ganguly’s critics) may find it partial but that’s the way I ( and Ganguly’s fans ) feel. I can see better Ganguly innings coming in next few matches as he must be feeling task half done. He proved his point but was unable to win the match for KKR which is his half job remaining.

Two cracking games. One high scoring (CSK Vs DD) and the other tie with super over (KKR Vs RR).
The missing component - thrill on the field, in this tournament is now brought back in the picture by 4 teams.
I felt, teams which were more hungry and eager than their opponents won the respective matches.
CSK & KKR both would be extremely disappointed in the end. However, organizers and cricket lovers are really happy for the fact that ‘thrill’ is back.
Millions of us would be discussing whether ‘Mendis was the correct choice or not?’ ‘What was Yashpal thinking when he played that shot?’ ‘After playing so well, why couldn’t Dada finish the job?’ ‘What an innings by AB de Villiers!’ ‘How well Nehra bowls once in a while?’ and many others.
I am happy that we would be discussing cricketing aspects more than off-field dramas. And hope that we get such cracking games more often than not.
Hey…there is an interesting discussion topic on ‘in case of super over, which bowler to choose in each team?’

IPL is still about cricket played on the field

Looks like KKR is finding it difficult to understand that IPL is necessarily a cricket contest played, won/lost on the field. It is still a battle between bat and ball.
SRK would do well if he uses himself as a brand which pulls crowd, gets traffic on KKR website, motivates players, fights for players and supports all senior - junior players. SRK may detach himself from passing on cricketing judgments and trying to do too many changes in the team structure, endorsing innovations in cricket, slamming and apologizing ex-cricketers etc. Showing long faces after the match won’t help brand SRK. It is in SRK’s interest to keep looking cheerful and supporting players. By him being involved in cricketing aspects and making big statements is not going to help KKR. KKR will win if players perform. Even if KKR loses, being a positive energy SRK as a brand will still remain as winner…. Bazigar! Harkar bhi jeetne wale ko…!!!
Looks like insulting Ganguly has become a fashion. Now SRK also wants to adopt and promote that fashion.
My sincere feeling is all cricketing aspects should be left for Dada. He has successfully lead and encouraged raw teams with a lot of spirit. Buchanan should help out young players for honing skills.

In corporate analogy, I feel roles (roles, not titles) should be as follows –
SRK: Head - Marketing
Buchanan: Head - R&D
Ganguly: Head - Projects Delivery

KKR is packed with some of the top-class international players.
Unfortunately, a team can play only 4 of them in any match. Imagine all of them are available for selection for a particular match. Wonder who will get dropped -
1. Ricky Ponting
2. Brendon McCullum
3. David Hussey
4. Mashrafe Mortaza
5. Ajantha Mendis
6. Chris Gayle
7. Brad Hodge
8. Morne van Wyk
9. Moises Henriques
10. Angelo Mathews
11. Mark Cameron

Chalo, lets eliminate no. 8 & below.
Now, choose your 4.

My pick -
2. Brendon McCullum
3. David Hussey
5. Ajantha Mendis
6. Chris Gayle

Considering the bowling line-up as Sharma, Agarkar, Dinda, Mendis and Gayle, Hussey, Ganguly being the part timers.

Oh my god, did I just drop Ponting?