Not so Special, Dravid

A smiling Rohit knew he had nothing to lose. His team was about to accomplish what deemed impossible. Umpires were surrounded by Rajasthan Royals players who seemed unaware of equation which itself was surprising considering their coach is the very intelligent Rahul Dravid. However Dravid and co was not alone- there seemed to be a cloud all over with Ravi Shastri wondering aloud if a wide can save Royals. Finally when the Royals were cleared of their ignorance, Tare came with a clear message. He knew what to do. There was not much fuss. There was no need to fuss with him knowing, if Royals continue bowling filth like they have been doing that night, he had the game in his pocket. And Faulkner’s full toss onto the leg stump looked like a symbol of love and Tare gleefully accepted it tonking over square leg.

With Sachin happily giving away free hugs, Dravid did an odd thing. In fact it was very odd considering it was Dravid. He threw his cap away and he took it back. Now imagine if Virat had done this. “Nah mate. He isn’t mature enough. This is not acceptable for a cricketer” Or had Raina/Rohit done this they would have got cricketing lessons along with beahvioural lessons from media. Harsha would have been disappointed and tweeted (in small case. He is sick of Caps Lock for some reason) with words such as cricketers, role models blah blah and RTed his junior who would have tweeted the same, albeit in different words. But then it was Dravid. Believed to be overshadowed, not understanding that anyone would have been overshadowed by a cricketer of that calibre.

There was sympathy for the great man which was very stupid and evident in social media. Some were like Dravid overshadowed again! I was like What? WTF? How on earth? And then a few said Dravid didn’t deserve this. That made me giggle. If there is anyone who deserved this more, that is Dravid.

An usual disclaimer to start with. Rahul Dravid was a brilliant player and he will always be mentioned as one of the finest of all times there with Sachin, Ricky, Kallis – to name a few from his generation.  The Indian Team under Dravid did considerably well and he is known to be one of the poignant thinkers of the game and he proved his worth leading the 'underrated' Royals to unmatchable heights. Guess what? That begs to wonder what really happened in this IPL season.

When RR was all set for a playoff spot, what went wrong? Where the downfall started?  It all started with the Mumbai game at Motera. The team management had decided not to play Rahane, Tambe and Smith. Have you seen anyone dropping team’s top three players for three rookies? No I haven’t. That was weird. Considering what happened at Wankhade, it seems Royals wanted to avoid a playoff spot at any cost for Mumbai Indians. No, really. That is the best explanation I could manage.

As predictably Rahane and Tambe was back in the eleven for the next game but the momentum was then injected into Mumbai Indians at the cost of their own team's fortunes. Then again Smith wasn't back but you really cant question with Brad Hodge taking his place.  

By that time Smith wouldn’t have imagined he won’t get another game. Nor he would have known why he had to bat below Binny in all but one game he played. Let’s talk about Binny. The guy who was retained before auction and the guy who managed to retain his place in the playing eleven even averaging a mere 12.3 at a strike rate of 101.65.  Maybe he would have wondered too- why he wasn’t dropped by the team management which was known to show no bias. But why did he get that long a rope? Only god knows. Or maybe Dravid knows.

To add a few more, the constant shuffling of batting order especially openers- even after they found the right pair in Karun and Rahane- and not to forget Bhatia's promotion or the likes of  Ankit Sharma, Tewatia batting a position above Hodge. It was all mess. 

You could say the experimentation was one notch too high and Binny was backed more than what he deserved and finally you could only pity the players who were not aware/not sure of the equation prompting a big conference with umpires right in the middle of the match.

By the way, Good luck for the next season. Hope Smith plays and bats ahead of Binny at least in the next season. XD. 

(Disclaimer: I love Dravid as much you do, Just in case.....)

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Chinnaswamy Zindabaad!

From drizzling to sixer show to bowling scare, it was all the typical Bangalore at show on 13/05/2013 when RCB were matched up against the ‘always terrible’ Delhi Daredevils. The buzz around the Chinnasamy was unbelievable at around 3 pm itself that you would be forgiven for thinking it’s an evening game. 

The innumerable police force and the ‘full black’ gym boys aka the private security force was at full force making a mini traffic jam in Queen’s road on the pretext of working. They basically had nothing to do with an exception of only one instance when a bunch of kids ran near the gate when they assumed- after watching the police and security lining up on either side of the road-the players are about to arrive. When asked about it,

“Bhai, RCB would arrive now. They have to warm up no? And add net practice to that. They should be here by 3 30 or so” 

They little knew the team would arrive three hours later than they imagined and they were happy to get a close look of their favourite stars, with the most favourite being Gayle and ABDV, finally after a long wait. Not surprisingly their enthusiasm never dropped in that three hours and in fact it went up with every minute in anticipation which was very much visible in their answers to my questions.

Starting with “Jeetega bhai jeetega bhai RCB jeetega”, their most favourite player among Gayle, Virat and ABDV was Gayle because “Gayle can hit big sixes”. Hardly a surprise again and they never seemed to care about the fee paid for Yuvi  that ate the fund which would have accounted a reliable bench nor did they singled out any player for team’s terrible fortunes unlike the Social media. I was taken aback when they moved to the Chinnasamy bus stop after the team bus entered the stadium. I ran towards them and wondered aloud to know, “We were just here to get a glance at em and now we have to hurry back home so that we don’t miss the toss”. 

Oh the tales about unadultered bunch of real fans and thankfully there were different sets of people to entertain- Those lot who wanted to buy tickets, Those few who wanted to sell tickets, those vendors wanting to make everything out of this one odd day and finally those who were restless to get inside the stadium. The beauty of this, obviously, is the tales everyone had. The first set- those who wanted to buy tickets- were the best of the lot. They never cared to hide their desperation to get tickets running here and there with rubber banded hundred rupee notes.  All they did was to ask anyone and everyone if they were selling the ‘825’ tickets. They had little luck though. They rarely found sellers of the cheapest tickets in Chinnasamy. The luck was not with the few sellers as well as they were finding takers for costlier tickets. Maybe the franchise should consider revising the ticket structure which hardly made any sense.

There was no trouble whatsoever in getting into the stadium which took just five minutes from the gate to seat with four minutes going in Police/Watch dogs massaging- well, almost- you in the name of checking for things you are not supposed to take inside the stadium.  As I walked off the remaining one minute, I spent it cursing the stupid Bangalore weather which had a terrible sense of timing. If we had an Indian Premier League on weather, Bangalore would have been the unopposed ever existing champions. The game play of weather was that good. 

It went from no hint of any rain to drizzling to stopping for a while delaying the toss by just twenty minutes to drizzling again to raining to drizzling again and it was 8 40 pm when it decided to show some mercy on us. The stadium workers would have cursed rains as much as we did or even more than we did because they were the ultimate losers having to take covers on and off. 

The toss was just fun watching Virat looking upto KP which had the same effect of watching Parthiv and Gayle together.  Nothing was audible and I deciphered KP is quite lanky.

Aaaaar Ceeee Beeeeiii slowly became Weee want sixxx as Gayle took the strike. Gayle being a good man responded tonking Shami over midwicket.  Having let Duminy escape in the first over Gayle was not prepared to waste the second opportunity. Sending one ball to second tier, he hit a four. Just as the crowd believed he hits six whenever asked for, he saw his stumps fly coming down the wicket trying to smash Shukla. Jersey number 18 was the next. He looked as troubled as ‘Ashwin against Maxwell’. Just as the example there was only winner out there as Virat failed again. However as a sequel to Ashwin Maxwell tale, Yuvi looked as comfortable as Maxwell treating every other bowler as his Ashwin.

One interesting thing is the crowd never really seemed to worry with falling wickets. The cheer for the next batsman was increasing with every wicket till ABDV got out. Because Sachin Rana was the next batsman. ABDV was welcomed with the loudest cheer and he made sweetest sound with his bat. The sound of ball hitting his bat was as gorgeous as the man himself. Abraham Benjamin de Villers is all about love. He is kind of a super hero who never disappoints anyone. He appreciated the crowd whenever possible- thumbs up, clap, oh that beautiful smile- and the crowd didn’t hold back its love for the man. If you ask me, the most loved, most appreciated and undoubtedly the most gorgeous player in Chinnasamy is him. I hope I can express my love for ABDV someday.

The crowd erupted with Aaaaai Beeeee Deeeeeeee and it seemed everyone in the crowd is leading a troubless life with unbelievable joy dancing on their faces. And then their love was bowled ending up in a faint Aar Cee B chant. To be honest, no one in the stadium thought we would celebrate Diwali in a while. Every six of Yuvi was greeted like a Diwali. The Yuvraj Singh trademark bat swing was back with crowd going crazy from Aaaaaar Ceee Beeeeee to Yuviiiiiiiiii Yuviiiiiiii to Singh is King.

RCB started defending its total with no one daring to predict the outcome of the result after what Smith and Faulkner did. With every over the crowd lost a substantial part of its nail and nothing was left to bite during the final five usually nightmare overs. For a change, RCB managed to do the impossible- Defending a total.

Virat Kohli’s celebration after victory means full paisa vasool for the umm 25 percent empty Chinnasamy crowd. Walking off the steps, where Vada Pav and the not so tasty Veg -not a biryani- was forty rupees less than it cost during the game, wondered how worse would have been the situation for RCB had it not been for DD. Thank you Delhi  Dardevils for being utter shit and helping us save our grace every single time. 

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Dear fellow RCB devotees...

With the first leg of T20 overkill done and dusted in Bangladesh, the second one, Internationally acclaimed domestic T20 cricket aka the IPL is all set to begin in UAE. So here comes the multizillion dollar question,

"What should one expect from the Royal Challengers of Bangalore this time around?"

A few frowns, a few sighs & more than a few outrages with my inner club cricket goddess self later I can tell you, well let's not expect a lot. For the impatient, qualifying for the playoffs looks like quite a big ask. Before I jump to my predictions, let's have a look at the cutlery we have been offered by Dr. Mallya, with love.

Oh Yuvi, oh..

Is it too soon to address ourselves as disgruntled fans? Because I'm pretty clueless about our marquee signing. Even more so, after four very painful hours of twenty-twenty cricket contested between India & Sri Lanka at the World T20 Finals. Even more more so after seeing our-supposed-to-be-the-trumpcard-of-the-season eating twenty one balls, Virat Kohli's patience & the cup. Even more more more so after visualizing him having a tournament like that for RCB in my mental HD.

I nearly got a coronary but let's just stop there.

Who is Yuvraj singh to us? Inside each of us, we have a special place for him. The man who won us two world cups and countless matches. The man who showed us what a comeback means. The man who gave us memories, the man who inspired a generation. But the fairytale ends here. A fairytale on general notions not certainly on cricketing ones. Or rather not acceptable on cricketing terms. He has forgotten consistency which was once his element in contributing to the team when he was most needed - 352 runs, 15 wickets, Man of the tournament  in WC 2011 and a couple of unbelievable knocks, 148 runs, a wicket in T20 WC 2007.  However, things for him have been pretty quiet or rather poor for a considerably long time now. A below par ODI run or his ever terrible IPL run doesn't bode well with our expectations. Well, what's next? Forget the terrible 21 ball 11 against Sri Lanka in the final. I am sure you would have forgotten the nervy chase against WI in the group stages. Now let's hope he continues his decent, if not good, run in T20Is scoring 401 runs at an average of 30.84 in 17 matches. When everyone wrote him off, he staged an unthinkable comeback. Comebacks are always alluring but to make it happen again and again makes it even more sweet. We haven't seen your last. We want to believe.

We believe in you. Your cricket. Your abilities.

Let's have some drumrolls. Can we say, Come on Yuvi!

It's not all gloomy. It's partially the best fireworks you could buy in the Diwali market.

#TEAMBEASTMODE

There is nothing much to say about Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers. Is there? These two are exceptional players, both of them are likely among of the greatest players in this generation. Their grace and their exploits are so outrageous that it seems like the other nations will ask authorities to drop them for level playing field. The joke is, it is not even an over exaggeration here.

© Royal Challengers Bangalore

We also have a Superman who re-invented himself from the fourth season of IPL who has been the showcase of power hitting since then. The SuperMan or rather WHAT-HE-EATS-MAN we are talking about is from Jamaica and he is called Christopher Henry Gayle - The only one to have scored 11 T20 centuries & also holding the record of scoring maximum number of sixes in the same format. Having scored over 600 runs in the last three seasons - being the only man to do so in the history of IPL, we can put our expectations on the big man to do for the fourth straight season.

Bowling, I don't even..

RCB, popularly Royal Chokers, are suitable for the tag –‘South Africa of IPL’. While the choking part holds up, the thing is RCB never had a great team unlike South Africa. They would probably top the ‘swag’ table with the likes of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers but that isn’t everything with rest of the team reduce to mere fillers in the team sheet more often than not. Always top heavy-with the above three scoring nearly 70% of team runs last season-they never had a bowler capable of running through the batting line-up let alone a bowling attack. The sad story here is team management doing little to mend the glorious errors of predecessors ending up increasing the weight of already heavy top order.

DON'T ASK ABOUT OUR BOWLING, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

When you look at the depth SRH possess - Steyn, Mishra, Sammy, Irfan, Rasool, Karan Sharma, Ishant - in bowling we are nowhere near. But considering Vinays and Mithuns and Arvinds of past seasons, we have a far better attack with an able leader- Lankier than the scariest Johnoson he strikes at a better rate than Dale Steyn, possessing an average that would make Malinga jealous. Mitchell Starc With a T20 average and strike rate of 15.34 and 13.1, the leader of the pack, will be the bowler to watch in this season. In Varun Aaron we have a lot of hope and pace and we should ensure our prayers make Ashok Dinda bowl better than what he is used to. There are many chances that our prayers will be answered considering who is presiding the bowling department- Allan Donald.


But to be honest, it's all old rum in new bottle, making the best use of the resources.

Well, where is the spin? In flat and dry tracks of UAE and India?

Only God knows.

So then...

Daniel Vettori, the coach or mentor, whose main task was to find a good spinner in auctions, failed miserably picking a burned out Muralitharan and a 33 year old Jakati with one good IPL season. While Muralitharan managed to pick three wickets at an average of 59.00, owner of the worst figures in RCB, Jakati didn’t manage to get a game for CSK last season. Now Vettori has no choice but to extract something with a rookie in Yuzvendra Chahal or expect 2011 WC magic in Yuvraj Singh.The chances of RCB lies on how much Virat Kohli, the captain, can push the bowlers and the team. We all know what he is capable of. He almost defended low scores in Asia cup, with equally poor bowling attack, which we would never have imagined if not for him. The shrewd bowling changes were only let down by fielding efforts which were a huge factor last season of IPL even. No one better than Virat knows how it is to drop a catch, the game and a playoff spot.
Though bowling and fielding is built on heaps of hope and only that, batting department is probably the best in the league. In Virat, ABDV and Gayle you have three best batsmen in this format. With these three taking up all the scoring burden usually, the new additions Parthiv Patel, capable of splitting powerplay field, and Yuvraj-we know what he is capable of - add more steel to the batting.


The arrival of Parthiv Patel is of huge importance here as it helps in more than one way. First of all- Ab de Villiers could be relieved from keeping duties thus adding a tremendous fielder to the outfield and then a settled batting order. In Parthiv there is a good support to the ever explosive Gayle to give solid starts to batting through to ensure the dynamic hitters- Virat Kohli, ABDV and Yuvraj- a platform.


Apart from all this, at the end of the day, qualifying for playoffs depends on how Yuvraj Singh expresses himself with the ball. Slow left arm is a gold mine in T20s and if he could get his bowling form back we’ve got another reliable wicket taking bowler in addition to Starc.

Best XI..


What would be the best eleven look like? You can't trust the team management to put one. After they made Dan Christian play a game or two. Maybe Virat Kohli and co. have a syndrome of going for reputation rather than form. Nothing could explain why Murali played that many games. They will come up entirely with a different, odd or if you can say, stupid, line up. Cursing the team management again, this is the best XI we could propose-


Gayle, Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli, Ab de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, Vijay Zol, Ravi Rampaul, Mitchell Starc, Shadab Jakati, Asoke Dinda, Varun Aaron.

Ladies & Gentlemen..

Let's not expect too much. Too many heartbreaks in a short span of time is pretty bad for our cricketing health. Let's hope for the best, cross our No.18 jerseys, offer the purest prayer to our Gods. Let's believe we might if we can seems too far away. Let's have faith in the modern day demi gods. Let's do it.


After all, you never know what is on the cards in this game of cricket. Do you?

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Memories & Moments - T20 WC 2014 (Twitter round-up)

What a tournament it was for Team India. Like a friend said, we came from "We won't get to the semifinals" to "HOW DID WE MESS THAT UP? HOW?" Speaks volumes, doesn't it? Before everyone gets into IPL mode, here are what fellow Twitter people had to share about the tournament. Enjoy!

Anand Natarajan [@aThakkali]

I would have ideally loved to have written this happily from the winner’s corner rather than with a team which after threatening to kayo all opposition finished with the silver medal in the just concluded World T20 in Bangladesh. While admitting to not being too sold on the shortest version of International Cricket, I do follow it like any other fan especially if it is a Nation vs Nation tournament. And hence a sense of disappointment aired in the opening lines of this note. Looking back there were quite a few positives to come out of the tournament. 

Firstly India reinforced that they are a powerhouse in the subcontinent and the only competition to this team is possibly and equally endowed team from the subcontinent, Sri Lanka in this case. What happens when this team travels to England and in longer formats is a debate which I postpone to a later date. Secondly, and this  is not restricted by any geography, is the reconfirmation of the fact that the next batting superstar from India is well and truly underway to dominate all bowling in the years to come. No points for guessing that 

I refer to Virat Kohli who is likely to become the ‘prized wicket’ in the decades to follow. Thirdly, whether it was the pitches or the confidence shown in him or simply the belting he received at the hands of M S Dhoni during practice or a combination of all these, Amit Mishra yet again staked his claim to be the best leggie in India at the moment and by a mile. A large heart comes as an asset if you have to do what Mishi did in the tourney, attack and look for wickets and not be overtly bothered by an odd boundary or two. Finally, the reincarnation of Ravichandran Ashwin as a wicket taking weapon. I am not given to going overboard but that Hashim Amla ball was indeed magic. That his wicket taking led to drop in economy rate was but an expected collateral benefit. Despite the loss in the final the team looks fairly balanced to win in the subcontinent and compete well abroad.The reaction post the defeat in the finals was unexpected to say the least. That people should resort topelting stones at Yuvraj Singh’s house shows that juvenility is still very much in vogue in the country.

Yuvraj Singh is easy target, an identifiable scapegoat. Objectively speaking even his diehard fans would readily admit that he has been off colour for some time now and should have ideally been dropped after the first or second league game. That he was played speaks volumes of the misplaced confidence the team management reposed on him. The most disturbing feature for me throughout the tournament though was the Captain. It was visible to the whole world except M S D that Yuvraj was struggling and like hell. Admittedly reposing faith on a struggling player is part of his role, winning for the team is his

primary one and MSD was found wanting on this count by backing past performance than present form.

Not dropping Yuvi, not changing the batting order to give an inform Suresh Raina a larger opportunity or promoting himself in the final ahead of Suresh Raina who has been at his fluent best in the tourney, preferring Mohit Sharma over Mohammad Shami………..many of these moves belies logic. While one may point out to similar cases in the past, Ishant and CT13 comes to mind, one feels it is time to remind the Captain that he is playing Cricket and not poker.

If the above lines give you the impression that I am nitpicking, let me assure you I am not. For it was evident to all of us, Sri Lanka bowled possibly the best death overs seen in a long long time. Don’t forget they reduced Dhoni to a strokeless wonder and denied Virat Kohli the strike. They looked hungrier too given the additional incentive to “do it Sangakkara and Jayawardene”. Reminds us Indian so much about a similar evening at Wankhede on 2nd April 2011!

Rishabh Gupta [@rishabhism]

What a tournament this has been for Team India. Barring the final, in which everything went against us, this was undoubtedly one of the most dominating performances by team India in an ICC tournament. 

Well, the team has given us a numerous unforgettable moments throughout the World T20, whether it's our very own Mishraji tormenting the batting line-ups in the group stages, a slight glimpse of the old Yuvraj against the Aussies, or Virat... wait, do I need to say anything about this man?

But one moment that tops the list for me is *that* Ashwin delivery to Hashim Amla in the semi-final. Pitching way outside the leg stump, the ball just flings it way through the off stump, and there you go, BOOM! 

You see, it wasn't a conventional Ashwin spin. Something which you never usually expect from any off-spinner, let alone Ashwin. And that makes the moment more special. As Gilly rightly said, 'T20 ball of the century'. Indeed.

Daniel Armstrong [@StumpdOffaWide]

The recetly concluded wt20, was a bag full of surprises. From associates punching above their weight to the tournament favourites, Australia fighting for the wooden spoon with the hosts, the tournament was unpredictable. The tounament had the spark in most of the games except the boring one-sided games India played. So far over five editions the wt20 has had five different winners and goes on to show how t20 games cannot be predicted.

There were quite a few moments which were a delight to the cricket lover, throughout the tournament. Halestorm, the West Indians performig the gangnam, Netherland's blitz vs the Irish, Ashwin playing carrom with the best strikers of the cricket ball, sensational death bowling by Steyn, Malinga at different stages of the tournament and Glenn Maxwell being Australia's only saving grace in another mediocre tournament for the men from down under.

Two out of these stand out for me, being a huge fan of the lanky offie, Ashwin's carroms and the Dutch performance on the whole.

ORANGE NATION

No one expected them to qualify for the Super 10s, they were placed in a group with Zimbabwe and Ireland. But they did, and emphatically. To chase down 190 odd in 13 odd overs is not easy for the likes of Virat Kohli even, irrespective of the bowling attack but Stefan Myburgh and Tommy Cooper did it like they do it everyday. The Irish were left all tattered. And then started the Dutch fairytale, not before a miserable show against Chandimal's men. They held South Africa right till the very end, only to choke at the fag end of the chase, they made the Kiwis to earn a win with some good bowling. Then came one of the match of the tournaments for me. A repeat of Lord's '09. The English bottled again by the Dutch, only saving grace for the English was that it wasn't home for them, like their previous defeat vs the men in orange. That one-sided win, capped an impeccable three weeks for the Dutch in Bangladesh. These guys could be giant killers in the tournaments to come.

PLAYING CARROM WITH TOP STRIKERS

Ravichandran Ashwin raised a few eyebrows when he was persisted by skipper MS Dhoni after a poor showing over the last few months. Going into the tournament, no one expected him to perform like he did. He kept firing those carrom balls around the wicket to right handers and it zipped like a leg spinner and earned him some priced scalps in Maxwell, Finch, Francois du plessis, AB de Villiers. Adam Gilchrist even went on to call his ball that got Hashim Amla out as T20 ball of the century. He ended the tournament with eleven wickets at the expense of just 120 odd runs going at about 5 to the over. He also raised the eyebrows in the pressers with his comments with the long sleeves used by other spinners.

Oindrila Chakrabarti [@TheDreamyMiss]

2014 T20 WC was a tournament one would love to remember & wince everytime he does.

It took us close. Painfully close. & then snatched it away.

The finals will certainly not be one of the fond memories for an Indian fan.

The semifinals, however must be everyone's favourite!

The bat of Virat Kohli, the strokes he played against a quality Protea attack, the composure, the way he chased, the way it achieved. Mercurial.

The Ashwin delivery to Hashim Amla, as well, will stay a while in the happy memories!

Another great bit was the quality of a tournament Amit Mishra had after being benched for so long. And it was good to see an out of favour Suresh Raina striking the ball sweetly.


Paridhi Srivastava [@BeingKohlicious ]


After watching India’s overseas performances in South Africa and New Zealand, almost no one has expected that India would ever perform incredibly brilliant in WT20. But, it surely came as a surprise for us. And India dominated the tourney with becoming the ‘title favorites’.

The whole tournament was full of surprises, barring the finals. The most impressive moment for me was our ‘bowling departmentt.’ As got the ‘weakest bowling attack’ tag, it was because of bowlers we got the semis berth. Spinners were absolutely brilliant. Leggie Amit Mishra was playing his  dream tournament this time. And like Ashwin, he’s also turning out to be a ‘trump card’ for MS Dhoni. And that googly by Mishra to dismiss Anamul Haque was a beauty of a delivery…

Ravi Ashwin’s, as per Gilly ‘ball of the century’ to dismiss in form Amla, I still can’t get out of that. What a ball was that! After long time, I witnessed Bhuvi’s in swingers in power plays.
And about Virat’s golden form…I am literally speechless. I don’t get any words to describe his batting. In fact, no one has any words left to describe his performance. He’s going through a golden phase of his career. As Gilly said ‘be it any department bat/bowl/field, whatever Virat touches, turns into GOLD’. Its cent percent true. Good to see that Raina also hit the bowlers nicely in the tourney. Disappointed with Yuvi’s performance in the whole tournament despite 60 off 43 balls against Australia.

All in one a great and fruitful ICC tournament for us. India really wanted a tournament like this to regain momentum of winning matches. And it worked for us. Hoping more of such performances by our men in blue in near future.

Vipul Yadav [@Sporty_Baba]

We were placed in a very tough group.  West Indies were the defending Champions, Pakistan had the best bowling line-up and Australia were tipped by many as the favorites. We still managed to breeze through the group with a 100% win record

Amit Mishra was a revelation. A lot of modern day batsmen are not used to playing quality leg spin bowling  and very few spinners actually flight the ball in the shortest format. Mishra delivered on both counts .Facing him in WT20 matches was not easy. He ran through every side in group matches whenever he was given his full quota of overs.

Yuvraj was clearly struggling. His innings against WI was painful. He had a good outing against Australia but then he went back to struggling against SA and was brutally exposed against some quality depth bowling by Sri Lankans in the Final.  I still think it was a fatal mistake by Dhoni to send Yuvraj over himself & Raina. Raina is probably one of the best T20 players in sub-continent conditions. Sending a completely out of sorts Yuvraj Singh over him made no sense whatsoever. 

Kohli went on from strength to strength in this WT20.  The chase against SA was planned to perfection. That innings was a masterclass in how to keep the scoreboard ticking. He kept the NRR in check without taking a lot of risk. Ashwin had a very good WT20 as well. That ball with which he got Amla out will be talked about for a long long time.  It was sad that Mishra could not deliver in the Semis and Finals after his performance in the group matches.

Overall,  it was a great Cricketing tournament and massive success for ICC.  The Netherlands incredibly chased down 190 in under 14 overs and then went on to embarrass England. The celebrations of West Indian players after their win over Aussies had that unforgettable “take that” Gangnam  style payback for all the crap talk that happened from Faulkner in the build-up.

 Sri Lanka bowled well in depth throughout the tournament and that touched the zenith when it mattered most in the final. The Final was a fitting end to Sanga and Mahela’s T20 career.  It was an anti-climax for Indian team for whom the entire tournament was a smooth ride till the loss in the Final. Sri Lankan fans have experienced “so close yet so far” feeling way to often in ICC tournaments. For once, their team won a big ICC event Final to send that beautiful small island into delirium.

The next WT20 will be in India. It promises to be one big party.  To make it sure that I make the most of it, I plan to take the Indian flag and travel across the country to support the Indian team with my North Stand Gang of Wankhede. :)

If you have memories to share, mail us at oindrilarjun@gmail.com! We will keep this one updated. :)

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Madcap Recap Part II

Continued from Madcap Recap, the World Cup diares, Part I,
March 24, 2014.

Another great performance and I think my prediction has gone terrible. Yet again. The last thing I predicted was Virat Kohli will fail in South Africa. The last time Dhoni lost a toss, the match was abandoned. That was the luck of Ms Dhoni and tosses. With the bowling attack built around spin, he can’t afford to lose the toss he has been successful so far. Yesterday was all about great bowling, captaincy-which cannot be said often- and terrible fielding. Surprisingly Dhoni was spot on with team selection (once again) and bowling changes with Indian bowlers made Raina’s prematch comments (or trash talks as you would say) look legendary. The West Indians never bothered to rotate the strike nor hit sixes like their Captain reckoned in the pre match presser. Chasing was all successful and it was done without a sweat under the guidance of master chaser Mr. Virat Kohli.  However the great take away from this game is the confidence boost in Bhuvi-who had a bowling figure that would make Steyn and Malinga jealous- and Rohit Sharma letting his bat speak after a considerably long time. Dhoni was all usual Dhoni in the presser wanting Yuvraj to get his mojo back. By Dhoni standards, he won’t be dropped but you can never guess whats up with our cool captain.However the point of discussion yesterday was about India not going for NRR. In my opinion, I dont think it will haunt us later and the outrage was all just for the sake of it surprising the folks who didnt expect a comprehensive win. First thing being, the rest of the teams has already lost a game in our group. (Not considering Bangladesh for obvious reasons. ) and my prediction is we will win the remaining games even. Hopefully my prediction is right at least this time.

March 29, 2014

You don’t often see an international game-not just cricket- with two team’s national anthem written by the same person. The person is Rabinthranath Tagore and the match started in a predictable manner right from the toss.It looked liked the replay of the previous game which indeed looked like the replay of the first game. There was a heavy discussion if India played the same game thrice in succession. Virat Kohli did what he was supposed to. He could do no wrong and he didnt. It was all simple and Dhoni wanted some batting practise which he got. India became the first team to qualify for WT20 semi-finals making my prediction look like a joke. Yet again. 

March 31, 2014

What just happened? I missed most of the game and I am literally shocked. My title favourites were knocked out and they were preparing for a battle of wooden spoon with Bangladesh. I did follow Yuvi blitz though. As usual, not surprisingly, Dhoni fans wanted the credit for their thala. I didnt have any clue and didnt offer any opinion for obvious reasons. Another surprise though, was Ashwin claiming more wickets than Mishra and I am pretty sure the guys who accuse me of regional hatred would have been happy. Happy for you, guys. 

April 4, 2014

My first full game of cricket since the New Zealand series. 
& ofcourse, from hopes to stakes to nerves to tension, everything was pretty high. It was India playing the Ch.. err sorry, Proteas in the second semifinal in Dhaka. With weather issues looming large, MS Dhoni did what he does the best. Lost yet another important toss. Du plessis decided to bat first & why not, MSD with a few guts to leave Dhawan & Shami out, playing the unchanged side from the Kangaroo roasting a few days ago.
With a deck that looked 160-165 par to Shane Warne, Africa lost de Kock right up, unsuccesfully fending at an outswinger & guiding it right into the trusted hands of Captain nowadays-not-so-cool. Amla, Faf got going but then a screamer from Ravi Ash that got Dada gushing cleaned Amla's middle stump up. It was the carrom ball that turned. Many, post match, termed it as the ball of the century in T20 cricket. Ashwin, a wizard of words as he is giggled & defended it with a straight bat. "To be honest, I have no idea if I can bowl that one again." Du plesis, Duminy - after a brief quiet period, put their feet right on the 4th gear. Amit Mishra, ineffective for the first time in the tournament added another frown to Dhoni's forehead. Suddenly one from Ashwin turned again & the next moment, Faf was on his behind, bewildered that how it hit his stumps. But there was no time for a breather. Abraham Benjamin de Villiers coming out, marking his guard - it was as if the nation took the notice & offered a collective prayer to the almighty.

Oh AB, not today.

Oh AB, not today.

Reverse swept for four on the fourth ball.

AB please.

AB please.

And he scoops it up to Rohit on the boundary.

As if we won the match already. Thank you Bradman, Sachin, God, Heavens, Ashwin & whoever else did that. Phew.
But Duminy didn't listen. Adding to Bhuvaneshwar's newfound wayward deliveries & foreverfound death woes, he took him & Mohit for the cleaners along with some god-awful raw striking from David Miller to give South Africa a possible non-choking total of 172.

Big ask. No joke.
But there was something inside each Indian fan, now as confident in chasing as an Entrance examinee writing a 5th grade paper,
"You know, if there is someone who can pull this one off, it's us." The belief that radiates from the team itself to the fans, the worshippers, the lunatics but misses a few nutjobs on Twitter, hitting on all the positive energy with their negative titbits.
Oh shut up you guys.

Out came Rohit & Rahane, determined to set up a launchpad. All thanks to Faf who had Steyn fielding the boundaries when Duminy was taken for 14 in the first over itself. No sight of the shit scary mohwak even in the second over. 

God bless Faf du Plesis.

39 good runs & the maggie timer went off. The neurons in Rohit Sharma's brain had this sudden urge for a nap & the next thing you know is the ball is soaring higher & higher & higher, complimenting the chords of Sanjay Manjarekar in the commentary box.

Drop it.
Drop it.
Drop it.

Nah, out of luck. Caught. Gone. Idiot.

Rahane's neurons, proven to be far better than Dhawan & his just dismissed counterpart kept faring well. But the focus had changed.

On the other end of the crease was a man whose jersey resembled the 10, the 19 & it only knew to score. & score. & score.

He was the center of all the hopes. Focus of the spotlights. Topic of the discussions. Demon of the opposition.

His name was Virat Kohli. He came, dropped the anchor & sealed it with superglue. Not looking to match the set Rahane, playing his own game, in some zone of his, in some other world where cricket balls appear like footballs & fielders go invisible.

Single here. Single there. Bad ball, four. Single. Bored with singles. Let's play with the in field. Two. Two. Two. I dont like spinners. Six. Rotate. Repeat.

Before you finished your first nervous coffee of the evening, Kohli sir stormed into the thirties. Rahane, in a sudden bug, pulled one straight to de Villiers. 

Damn, son. Why let the boat toddle? Bad, very bad.

He although, played well. Shikhar certainly needs to pull his socks up. Now what happened with Yuvi coming in, on a pitch tough to accelerate rightaway, the proteas smelled a long shot at victory, effectively cutting off the twos, some dots, decreasing the boundary frequency & making Virat execute all his this-is-crisis-I-did-not-expect expressions on the other end.

Calm down, son. This is a run chase, no? You have them for dinner all twelve months, no? 

Calm down Virat.

Don't get out.

Don't mess this up.

We can do it.

You can do it.

He listened. He did. Smoking a rememberable maximum off Imran Tahir, notching up his 50, going past the Netherlands duo to sit firmly on the top of the leading run getter list. 
Yuvi didn't look like he did against the hapless Oz, spooning one up & giving the proteas some more hope, yet again. We could lose. We had to do what our opposition does the best. Choke.
NO, said Virat.  You don't lose matches when I'm in. 

Stow the negativity, kids. I'm taking this home. Now.

He didn't wait. Not long enough to let his & Dhoni's different finishing methods have a giant clash. Suresh Raina, like a well instructed,supremely oiled machine, took on Wayne Parnell like he had eaten his quota of ice cream every single night this month.

Bang. Six.
Two.
Flunk. Four.
Whip. Four.
You could smell it.
23 runs. 18 balls.

Final chance of any mess up. Dale Steyn running in. Steyn who? I can only see a football. & it's coming for the middle of my bat, said Virat. Eighteen runs. Steyn scratches his head, looks at his captain, then at Kohli, takes a deep breath & starts walking towards long on.
Something you don't see everyday.
You could smell it.

Raina however smelt like something is burning in the dressing room. Lobbing Hendricks up to mid off on the 19th with just six runs required. Nuthead.

You could smell it.

In comes MS Dhoni with a bat that looks heavier than himself.
Helicopter time.
Virat pulls one off Hendricks. Takes a single.
Scores are level.
YOU CAN SEE IT.
MSD WILL SPANK THIS ONE TO MOOOOOON......
Virat gives his biggest, cutest, bubbliest My-job-is-all-done grin to his skipper.
SPANK SPANK SPANK.........
He plays it down quietly.
ERM?
Ah he wants his boy to score the winning runs.
There comes Dale Steyn.
Outside off.
His eyes light up like Diwali.
Whip to midwicket.
Favorite shot. Favorite son.
A roar to the sky. A thanks to dad. Some love to Yuvi paaji.


Be prepared, Sri Lanka.


10.00 AM, 6th April, 2014

I have this non-final like cheery vibe today....
Maybe because it's India vs Sri Lanka for the shitllion-th time....
Maybe because we have been so clinical throughout the tournament.....
Maybe I am overconfident. Let's not mess it up.

7th April, 2014

Yet to forget last night. 

We messed up.

Big time.

You can't win any T20 on a subcontinental pitch with 130 on the board. Unless your bowlers had magic performance enhancing & multiplying potion for dinner. 

Neither did we.

It was awful. Yuvraj, out of sorts, out of everything, didn't middle a single ball.
It's all bad karma & not to forget, some stunning death bowling from the Lankans.
Hoped against hopes.
But not to be.
The oldies stole it comfortably in style. Sangakkara, Jayawardena. Farewell.
200 million ounce of sadness.
You couldn't look at Virat Kohli's face.
A man, so selfless, scoring almost 60% runs of the team total, breaking a handful of records.
For nothing.
So near, yet so far.
Even the heartless would've felt for him.

Come 2016, we will.

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Madcap Recap Part I

A first phase of T20 overkill before the Tamasha cricket is done and dusted.  Probably the only tournament which has a qualifying round one for the minnows even after respective teams qualifying for the tournament. The joke that is, is over now. This had everything from- TRP fixture aka the India v Pakistan to the mandatory India v Sri Lanka to South Africa reduced to a joke in multinational tourneys to England crumbling to spin.

Instead of waiting for some topics I decided to write whatever I observe in this WT20. A statuary warning is that it is entirely like my musings and probably it wont have anything new, if you expect.

Before the tournament, like everyone, I never imagined India would go this far. And having nothing to do, I thought of keeping a diary on India games, And this is that.

How was this for India? Clubbed with three better teams which had two favourites in them?

Even though England  lost a T20 series against West Indies just days before the WT20, ICC, for some reason, made them play again in a warm up fixture. So, if you try to make sense of ICC, you cant. So leave it.  A regular game against Sri Lanka to begin with.

March 18, 2014.

Though India lost yesterday, I am quite happy with my prediction of India going down is on track. It was all predictable. Dhoni won the toss and India chased unsuccessfully. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar continued to wane as his new ball prowess was lost somewhere in middle. He did increase his reputation,of being the worst choice to bowl at death, conceding seventeen runs- A six and a four to Kulasekara- and probably the game. The surprise though was Varun Aaron who looked sharp forcing Dilshan to a scratchy start. who was all about playing and missing. The main weapon, spin bowling, was drastic with Mishra doing nothing to change the skipper's perception on him while Ashwin outsmarted him easily. However the worrying thing was Yuvraj not getting to bowl in a pitch where even Raina managed to squeeze in two overs.

March 20, 2014.

The second practice game is a great example what happens when we are pushed to plan B without a choice- batting first- which never happens unless we lose the toss. We got away with that yesterday because Virat Kohli didn't retire after scoring a fifty-which usually happens in a warm up game and more because that was England. The consistency though was marvelous. Rohit and Dhawan killed the momentum with the bat and Bhuvi with the ball even before it showed up while Mishra's chances got reduced with everything against him. Yuvi didnt get a ball and he had nothing to show with the bat adding to perception that he is in the team as a specialist batsman who is seen as a far better choice to Rahane. The other important and predictable thing was Raina in Virat mode proving once again T20s are his best format.

March 21, 2014

I think India is going to the tournament knowing Rohit is not good enough up top and a serious contender for 'match ka murjim'. With Mishra ji going for runs I am pretty sure Dhoni will go for Varun Aaron. Even though Varun Aaron looked sharper in the first practice game I think he is a bigger liability than Rohit. Anyway I am not quite sure of having Bhuvi in the team. And that could be the only way Aaron could be in the team.

March 22, 2014

Winning the toss, with a sigh of relief, Dhoni was happy to bowl first and with reports doing around that he doesnt prefer Amit, he did prefer him and surprisingly the idea of three spinners. Probably the match was won with the toss and that decision. Mishra apart from one over, bowled beautifully with flight using up whatever the track offered. Jadeja proved why he is the third best performer in Indian team after Dhoni and Virat Kohli with a terrific spell. Ashwin being Ashwin, struggling for consistency in a over, did bowl well if not great. The surprise package though was the death bowling which was Steyn, Malinga esque considering our pretty bad standards. The chasing had no real trouble apart from the mild heart attack when Yuvraj got bowled to a straighter ball but one would imagine getting him bat before Raina itself was a huge mistake. However the idiots of the day award went to Bhatti and rest who tried to target Raina with short stuff, hilarious thing being, born and brought up in SC they didnt know the basics. With a comment of "Raina is the bradman of SC" somewhere in my twitter TL people were busy trolling the neighbours. To be frank I didnt expect India to win and I am sure we wont make it to the semi finals.

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What you need about CSK, RR and IPL scandal

Observing a lot of opinions on IPL corruption scandal and remarks of Supreme Court, I have come up with a short post. More like a compilation of various facts.  

First of all the perception regarding the hate for CSK. There is no such conspiracy to keep CSK or RR out of IPL. 'Hate' is probably a big word to use considering the team involves a lot of Indian players. The call for kicking CSK out of IPL is based on the findings of Mudgal Committee and the clause in franchise agreement. 

Clause 11.3 (c) of the Franchise Agreement says a franchise may be terminated with immediate effect if “the Franchisee, any Franchisee Group Company and /or any Owner acts in any way which has a material adverse effect upon the reputation or standing of the League, BCCI-IPL, BCCI, the Franchisee, the Team (or any other team in the League) and/or the game of cricket.”

The above clause is why there is a call to terminate CSK and RR from IPL. Since the allegations against Raj Kundra needs further probe let’s see a bit about CSK. The question regarding CSK is how much Gurunath is related with the team? 

When the scandal broke out CSK distanced itself from Gurunath Meiyappan. The hilarious thing here is the BCCI investigation which was formed said there is no proof of wrong doing. The members of that panel are Jayaram Chouta and R Balasubramanian. Then the apex court appointed Mudgal committee to probe IPL spot-fixing and betting allegations. He came with a report which had this gist. 

1. Allegations against Meiyappan of Chennai Super Kings for betting stands proved. The point     here being Gurunath is indeed a part of CSK. 

2.Allegations against Rajasthan Royals owner Raj Kundra needs further investigation. 


3. The conflict of interest of Srinivasan may ruin the game and affect the credibility of investigation. 

Based on the findings of Mudgal report and the franchise agreement, CSK and RR can be terminated and should be. Apart from the emotions, fanfare etc, if you are a part of an organisation you have to abide the rules. When you dont, you deserve to be kicked out of any organisation. So, dear fans, your emotions doesn't matter. What matters is the credibility of the league and the sport. For that sake, lets hope Supreme court takes a strong precedent. 

And there was another perception today that CSK got away with it. No. This is a temporary verdict. The case is going on and court is yet to dissect various aspects of Mudgal report. Court allowed CSK and RR to play in IPL because it is yet to acknowledge- that Gurunath is a part of CSK- is what I think. 

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Nawab 2.0

He is the prince. He has arrived. He is your next king. He is Virat Kohli.

Seeing him bat with discipline and responsibility, Allan Donald is reminded of Sachin Tendulkar. The devastating style of batting along with overflowing passion reminded Sir Vivian Richards, arguably the most dangerous batsman ever, of himself.  With the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar, Ian Chappell believes Virat Kohli is the batsman that every bowler fears to bowl at.

There is not one country he has played and not scored a century in. There is not one dull moment on crease with him hogging the strike. Between the trademark, effortless drives through the covers, back foot punches and mid-wicket pulls, there is not one shot he cannot play. Be it inside out over wide long off or be it a flick to mid-on or be it a nudge to fine leg, he has almost every shot in his book. Strong off the front and back foot, he has an exquisite batting style and an orthodox technique. Add cheetah’s legs between the wickets and a picture perfect front foot defense to that. What you get is a near perfect batsman and arguably the best in this era. 

A cursory glance at his numbers will reveal his clout. A piece on Virat Kohli without his prowess on chasing is incomplete. His determination is second to none and that has made him the master of chases. Batting second, in the 75 innings, Kohli averages 63.43 at a strike rate of 92.03 with twelve centuries. However when the equation is successful run chases, the numbers gets even bigger. He, with his bat, has lead India to victory 64% of times he has batted in the second innings at an average of 84.40 and a strike rate of 95.98 while doing so.

The intimidating style of his batting however can be understood what happens to the team when he has a rare failure. India has lost 45 ODI games with Virat Kohli's name in the team sheet. Breaking down,

1) India lost sixteen times when he has got out for a score less than or equal to ten.

2) When he has managed to score something between  11-20, 21-30 and 31-40, India lost 7, 3 and 4 games respectively.

So, to conclude, his failure to score at least 41 runs equates to 66%(30 out of 45) of total losses.

So what happened when he managed to score more than 40 in the remaining 34%(15 out of 45) of games we lost? He went on to make at least a fifty and outscored his teammates in twelve out of fifteen games giving his best. (Thirteen fifties and two centuries)

This is what Virat Kohli is. When he sets his eyes on a target, he is unstoppable. When he smashed Malinga and co. in Hobart, Sourav Ganguly said that he could hardly believe what he was watching. George Bailey wondered if there is a way to get him out when he went on to score the fastest century by an Indian. 

Having established himself as the leader of Indian ODI batting line up there were always a few murmurs on his ability to bat in tests prior to the tour of South Africa. No one answers critics as he does. This time his answer was a 119 and 96 against the world’s best bowling attack in their backyard. He didn’t stop. Napier and Wellington were the latest to witness -what Adelaide, Colombo, Hambantota, Dhaka, Johannesburg, Hobart, Harare, Cardiff, Port of Spain and various Indian cities did- this guy from Delhi mastering the art the batting.

Virat Kolhi is the top scorer in ODIs since his debut. Sangakkara who played 8 more ODI games since then is 61 runs behind. The next best Indian batsmen, Dhoni is 999 runs behind. In tests where he is supposedly not ‘that good’, he has the most runs scored for India since his debut.

In a nation that grew up idolizing batting in Sunil Manohar Gavaskar & Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Virat Kohli is all set to become the next superstar, if he isn't already.

There must be something that sets him apart from millions, no?

He is talented. But as they say, having the talent is one, using to the fullest is another. He is one of the rare ones who does. He is determined. He is a hard worker. He has a good knowledge of the game. He learns from his mistakes. More importantly he adapt himself.

Dravid recently said how Virat sought advises from himself and Sachin Tendulkar way before the series in South Africa. Martin Crowe who is happy to be called as ‘Virat Kohli fan’ is proud of his former pupil who has learned to play straighter and better than what he used to in 2008.

The unfathomable commitment, that attitude of leading the team from the front, the determination to give anything and everything to the team makes him what he is - a Champion.



[ Images from Google, Cricinfo, NDTV]

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