A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

Both captains saved their most potent weapons for the end in today’s game. An exciting duel was on the cards but when Delhi’s most dependable bowler took on Rajasthan’s most dangerous batsmen, it turned out to be a no –contest; such was the brutality of Yusuf Pathan’s assault. Daniel Vettori is supposedly the best spinner in Twenty -20 cricket but on this day he was made to look like the worst one.

With due respect to the rest of the Royals, this was the second game that Pathan has almost single-handedly won for them. The first effort was also responsible for tarnishing the reputation of a champion spinner – Most captains would have bet their mortgage on Ajantha Mendis winning the super over when defending a target of 16 runs. All these guys would be living on the streets by now.

Yusuf’s manhandling of the best spinners in the business creates a tricky conundrum for opposition captains. In a tournament where spinners have dominated, most of them are bound to go into a game with atleast a couple of slow bowlers. But these spinners can quickly go from being a strong point to becoming a liability once Yusuf takes centre stage. The challenge is to unleash your spinners at ten of the opposition batsmen but protect them from the eleventh – a task far easier said than done.

Shane must be grateful that he is on the same side as Pathan – both as a skipper and a spin bowler.

Ads on the helmets

I have been thinking hard but is there any other sport, apart from racing sports and skiing, where the players head gear is used as advertising space. America’s most famous helmet sport, NFL football, doesn’t allow it and the same is true for cycling, ice hockey and baseball. If this is the first step for cricket towards aping racing sports and skiing in using the players’ apparel and gear as adverting space then we know how future cricketer uniforms and helmets will look like. Personally I am not enthused by that thought.

Dude of the Day – Yusuf Pathan by a country mile

Dud of the Day – Vettori’s batting saves the day for him. Award goes to Ravi Shastri for making the following remark when Daniel Vettori played three dot balls in a row in the 15th over, at a time when quick runs were required.

To paraphrase him

“Now this where Vettori’s experience stands out. He knows that he needs to stay till the end and is not taking any chances.”

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya are arguably two of the greatest and most destructive openers in the modern one –day game – the era in which innovations like fielding restrictions enhanced the firepower of opening batsmen. Had they played Twenty-20 cricket in their prime, they would have achieved the same distinction in this form of the game as well.

As cricket fans who conjecture about fantasy situations all the time, we have also often wondered what these two could have achieved together. Would they have formed one-day cricket’s dream opening pair, the way the likes of Jordan and Magic Johnson got together to from the Dream Team?

The two had come together for the Mumbai Indians last year but being well past their prime, we hadn’t found the answer to either question – how they would have played together and how they would have fared in Twenty-20 cricket.

On this day we got an answer to both as SachinTendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya circa 1996 World Cup played as well as any opening pair has ever played in Twenty-20 cricket. It was as if the cricketing gods gave this form of the game their official blessing by granting both Tendulkar and Jayasuriya one day’s worth of their youthful, attacking best to add a touch of magic to Twenty -20 cricket. Blessed are those who got to see it.

The risk of having a foreign player as captain

An IPL side almost always has an embarrassment of foreign riches – they can easily replace one quality foreign player with another one. On the other side, they have a limited number of Indian Internationals and cannot afford to bench them for lack of options. This creates an interesting predicament for teams with foreign captains. Teams are supposed to maximize the returns from their foreign brigade. But what do they do if the foreigner –captain is underperforming.

They have players in reserve to replace the captain but will they actually take that drastic measure, for fear of dampening team morale. So is it a good idea to have a foreign captain if that leaves your side susceptible to such a handicap.

The Pragyan Ojha ‘two overs only’ theory

Pragyan Ojha has arguably been the best bowler in the IPL so far and hence Adam Gilchrist’s tactic of bowling him for only two overs left all of us baffled. When asked about it, Gilly explained, “I probably made a mistake. Gave Ojha only two overs, had a theory in my mind but it didn’t work. I won’t reveal that theory about Ojha”.

The only theory I can think of, is that Gilly probably reckoned that Ojha’s incoming deliveries would be perfect for the left-handed big hitters – Oram and Morkel – to have a go at. And hence he bowled his part-time offies – Venugopal Rao and Rohit Sharma. But then again, Ojha had already dismissed the biggest lefty hitter of them all – Mathew Hayden. The way Ojha is bowling right now, there can never be a bad time to bowl him. Chennai had been rocked by Ojha’s twin strikes and most captains would have gone in for the kill by bowling their best bowler, which in this case happened to be Ojha himself.

Strategic time-outs – persist and innovate further

For all the criticism it has received, the time-outs add an interesting dimension to the game and should be persisted with. In fact it should be improved upon further by giving each team a ten minute time-out at any point in the game, rather than the pre-decided ones at the ten over mark. It will give both sets of coaches a useful weapon to pull the game back, if it is running away from their side at any stage of the match. That is how it is in the NBA and any fan will tell you that it is an integral element of the game. A measure of the coach’s tactical acumen is how well he uses the time-outs at his disposal. It does break the rhythm but what is wrong in that. Treat it as an additional challenge and learn to handle it.

Time to uncork R Ashwin

Spinners have been the flavour of IPL 2009. R Ashwin played the opening game for the Super Kings but didn’t bowl as Dhoni preferred to let his pacers do all the bowling. Since then, Murali has been the only spinner in the Chennai line-up. Other teams had already figured out that when it came to spinners in this edition of the IPL, it was a case of the more the merrier. Dhoni finally grasped this mantra with his successful use of super part-timer Suresh Raina. Ashwin is a class act, who impressed in the one-day challenger trophy and is part of the list of 32 probables for the World Cup in England. Adding him to the pace heavy line-up should be the easiest thing that Chennai can do to return to winning ways.

Dude of the Day – Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Dud of the Day – Brendon McCullum

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

Last year the Daredevils were repeatedly let down by their middle-order and lower middle order. Except for the crunch game against Mumbai where Dinesh Karthik guided them home, they always seemed to come apart if the top three of Gambhir, Sehwag and Dhawan failed to fire. This was the biggest flaw that they needed to correct this year and it seems they have managed to do that, if their second and third games are anything to go by.

They lost their formidable opening pair for next to nothing in both games but instead of collapsing in a heap like last year, recovered from the shocks and then carried on to post the highest IPL score in one game and successfully chase down the target in the other. And the best part is that this new found solidity hasn’t come from any new additions but from two existing players who have grown by leaps and bounds in the past one year. The absence of the Pakistani T-20 captain, Shoaib Malik, has been a blessing in disguise, giving the Lankan T-20 captain a chance to bat at the top of the order. Dilshan has benefitted from a move up the order for his national side and seems to be doing the same with the Delhi side.

Delhi’s bowling has also improved. Last year they had a problem with their fourth and fifth bowlers, with both Yo Mahesh and Pradeep Sangwan proving to be their weak link in the second half of the league after a decent start. Now they have a much improved Sangwan and the extra option of Ashish Nehra. Another little used member of last year’s squad, Daniel Vettori, has been a huge improvement on the disappointing Mohd Asif.

Last year, the Daredevils were out of the gate fast but huffed and puffed their way into the semis as their deficiencies started to cripple them. They have started well again with three wins on the trot. But there is more depth in both the batting and the bowling and hence we are ruling out a repeat of last year’s struggles. Not only should they qualify for the semis more comfortably, they also have to be favoured to go one better than last year.

Yuvraj Singh and Captaincy

Last year, we kept raising the issue that Yuvraj wasn’t a capable captain and his shortcomings as a leader and a tactician would cost his side dear. Now there seems to be another argument why he should not be captain – Because it seems to be affecting his batting. One of the most destructive Twenty-20 players in world cricket has failed to do justice to his talent in the IPL. His approach to batting for the Kings seems to be very different from the way he goes about his business when playing for the National side. In Sangakkara and Jayawardene, the Mohali side has two extremely capable leaders. It’s well worth the gamble to unburden Yuvi of the captaincy and unleash him on the IPL bowlers.

FakeIPLPlayer

This guy is a coward and should not be encouraged or cheered for. If he has so many issues with the Knight Riders, then why doesn’t he just leave them, rather than prolonging his so called miserable stay with the team.
Also what can be said of any employee who tries to destabilize his organization from inside, whilst at the same time continuing to get paid by them? How would we react if there was a player in the national team who was doing something similar? I hope this guy gets caught soon and then they ban him from all forms of cricket so that he has all the time in the world to blog about his miserable existence

Dude of the Day – Irfan Pathan starred with both bat and ball and is an easy choice. Also for winning the battle of the ‘Pathans’ which Yusuf was favoured to win.

Dud of the Day – I was counting on Uthappa to fail so his performance was not a surprise. The award goes to Graeme Smith instead. The Royals expected a lot from him in his home conditions and his continued failure at the top of the order has put a lot of pressure on the inexperienced middle-order.

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

The Deccan Chargers made a statement today. Fine, their first two wins were against relatively mediocre opposition – two sides which finished 7th and 6th last time and don’t look like challenging for the semis again. But with a solid win against one of the favourites, they have thrust themselves well and truly into the reckoning.

What in the world is going on here? How has this side managed to make such massive strides while hardly making any major additions in the offseason?

Let’s try looking for some answers.

It seems this side has 6 Supermen playing for it – 3 batsmen and 3 bowlers who are not only amongst the hottest form players in the current IPL but are also more than making up for the lack of contributions from the rest of the side.

First a look at the Batsmen

Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and Rohit Sharma are currently in the top ten of all the key batting statistics – most runs, best averages and best strike rate ( among batsmen who have scored at least 50 runs so far).
Also together they have scored 324 runs at a strike rate of 147.3 and an average of 46.3, while the rest of the side has managed 107 at an average of 8.9 and a strike rate of 110. They have faced 70% of the balls that have been bowled at the Chargers.

As we can see, the three best batsmen in the Deccan side are all in superlative form, at the same time. And they are doing such a large bulk of the batting that their less capable team – mates have not been required to do much.

Now for the bowlers.

Pragyan Ojha and RP Singh are almost in the top 5 in both the key bowling metrics – economy rate and strike rate, while Fidel Edwards is in the top ten in the economy rate. Again, Deccan’s top three bowlers seem to bowling at an exceptionally high level, and all the same time.

Compare their performance with the rest of the side. They have taken 17 wickets at a strike rate of 11.8 and bowled their overs at a combined economy rate of 5.65. The rest of the side has been giving away 8.58 runs per over and taking wickets at 34.3 runs per wicket.

As is very clear, the Chargers are currently enjoying an ideal scenario that is extremely rare and one which teams can only dream of – that the six best players in your side are all in excellent form at the same time. It’s the perfect maximization of resources.

In our IPL preview of the Chargers, we had said that the Chargers didn’t have enough players to make a decent Eleven. Who needs eleven players when three guys do all the batting and do it really well and then the first three bowlers bowl brilliantly to take care of most of the bowling responsibilities?

But how long can this last?

The chances that this combined hot streak continues are slim but not unlikely. The Royals had something similar going for them last year with the quintuple of Warne, Watson, smith, Pathan and Tanvir being outstanding from beginning to end.

So can the Chargers be the Royals of 2009?

To do that, they must first pray that the top six can keep it going, even if the numbers dip a wee bit. Additionally, they will need more from the rest of the squad.

The side can expect a more significant contribution from their fourth foreign player. While Styris disappointed, Dwayne Smith has made a fine start and Andrew Symonds has been regaining his form and hunger for the game in the Middle -east. But they still need the rest of the Indian guys to raise their game. They can’t be the chink in the armour that the opposition can take advantage of. The middle order failed to push for a massive score in their games against Bangalore and Mumbai. And the likes of Harmeet Singh almost gave the game away today.

Final Verdict

The Royals didn’t have any such weaknesses last year and that fatal flaw will keep the Chargers from doing what the Rajasthan side did last year.

Dude of the Day – Pragyan Ojha. This guy has almost been unplayable in the IPL 2009. I am sure he is giving the likes of Harbhajan more than a few sleepless nights and the national selectors more than a few selection headaches.

Dud of the Day – The rain. The best day to watch an IPL game is on a Saturday night when you don’t have to worry about going to bed late. Thanks to the rain, we wasted one such opportunity.

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

For all his wonderful talent, Yuvraj Singh hasn’t done enough in the IPL. The supporters of KXP are still waiting for their home grown ‘Punjabi Munda’ to start firing big time. On this day however, they didn’t care. They had another Punjabi Munda, all the way from Essex, England, to lead them to victory.

Ravinder Singh Bopara is already proving to be a great signing for the Mohali side. His team has been ravaged by a spate of injuries and his good health and good form seems to be one of the bright spots for them. His Punjabi roots was one of the key reasons the Kings signed him and I am sure his batting is winning them a lot of fans in England, Punjab, Canada and South Africa.

There is a concept of ‘naturalized players’ in the European football leagues, where a foreign player with some roots in the home country is treated as a local player after a few seasons. Players from Brazil and Argentina have long taken advantage of this rule, to become naturalized footballing citizens of Portugal and Italy respectively. The IPL keeps borrowing from the international leagues and Ravi Bopara could well become the first beneficiary if the league ever decides to adopt the naturalization rule.

The same can’t be said of Mashrafe Mortaza, the Bangladeshi speedster who was handed an expensive contract by the Kolkata outfit for similar reasons but is yet to get a game.

Bangalore’s expensive flops

RCB’s batting is struggling and two of the key culprits are KP – the captain and the most expensive player in the IPL and Robin Uthappa – probably the captain in waiting and someone who came in exchange for Zaheer Khan. They bat at the top of the order and have been responsible for the poor starts which have destabilized the Royal Challengers in every game they have played so far. The likes of Rahul Dravid have been dropped down the order and forced to do a salvage job time and time again. Is it time to drop both of them? There are a couple of South Africans waiting in the wings to replace KP – Van der Merwe and Mark Boucher, while the likes of B Akhil could come in for Uthappa.

KP and his bowling changes

Vinay Kumar bowled the 6th over for Bangalore, gave away just 4 runs with the fielding restrictions still on, had a dropped catch and never bowled again even as his skipper tried seven different bowlers. Most captains in the world would have given him atleast another over.

Did Abdulla and Bopara get a hug?

The two were responsible for finally bringing a smile on Priety Zinta’s face. Did she reward them with a hug? If yes, then I am especially interested in seeing pics of her hugging the bulky South African; like a little girl trying to hug her massive teddy bear.

Dude of the Day – Yusuf Abdulla just edges Bopara. KXP has a weak bowling attack and it was thanks to the portly pacer’s regular breakthroughs that they managed to restrict RCB to a modest total.

Dud of the Day – Too close to call between KP and Uthappa. We decided to give it to Pietersen because he wasted twice as many balls as Uthappa in scoring the same no of runs. –zero.

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

This year's final is bound to have a mouth watering match-up

The Draw for the Champions League Semis; Chelsea- Barcelona and Man United – Arsenal, while mouth-watering in itself, sets up the possibility of a very interesting finals match-up. Each of the four possibilities is extremely fascinating; both in terms of the action on and off the field, the history between the two sides and the other associated story lines.

The football fans are really spoilt for choice here.

So let’s look at each of the 4 potential show downs and identify the reasons why we would want to see a final featuring these two sides.

Chelsea – Man United – These two sides gave us 120 minutes of attacking football in last year’s final – a rarity in ECL finals and therefore, this match-up would be the first choice for those who are bored of the safety first defensive approaches which are the staple of such occasions. This would also pit two of the greatest managers of the last 20 years, Guus Hiddink and Alex Ferguson, and that would be a real battle of wits. And finally, there is the revenge and redemption angle as well, a chance for John Terry to exorcise his worst nightmare. Man United’s successes over Chelsea in the last two Premier league races, in the last ECL final and in their last encounter has resulted in the sacking of Mourinho, Avram Grant and Phil Scolari respectively. Another triumph could bust all the euphoria over Hiddink and herald the arrival of yet another new manager at Stamford Bridge.

The battle Royale

Man United –Barcelona – This final would determine a lot of things. The battle between two of the most dominant and attack-minded teams in Europe would settle the debate, about who are the real Kings of the continent. As the leaders of their respective leagues, this clash will also be billed as the showdown between the Primera Liga and the Premier League. The two best players in world football, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would come together for a long –awaited duel which will give one set of supporters the bragging rights as the fans of the best player in football. In addition, hostilities will be resumed between United and their old foe, Thierry Henry.

This final could prove one man right

Barcelona – Arsenal – As the rematch of another final, the 2006 one, this match will also re-kindle passions of revenge and deliverance. A much greater twist will be added by the presence of Thierry Henry. Losing the 2006 final forced Henry to leave Arsenal in pursuit of trophies. A win would justify his decision, although it will be ironic to see one of the greatest Gunners ever, denying the club, their long awaited place in the annals of the European greats. A loss would make the Frenchman a massive loser – the only person to end up on the losing side in both Barcelona – Arsenal finals. An Arsenal win will be doubly sweet for Arsene Wenger as the triumph will vindicate his decision to let Henry leave rather than compromise on his youth policy. It will shut up his critics once and for all.

Arsenal – Chelsea – Thanks to their lack of European pedigree, these two clubs are the second class citizens of the Premiership Big 4. After this final, there will be only one set of supporters suffering from an inferiority complex. It will also be a contest of two contrasting philosophies – the most frugal big name club in Europe with an unwavering belief in the power of youth and the biggest spenders in the history of the game with a penchant to throw obscene money at established superstars. Liverpool and United have foiled Abramovich’s European ambitions in the past and Arsenal could become the third English club to do so, also becoming the third Premiership side to win the title, the Russian craves the most, since the time he heralded the Russian revolution at Chelsea. It could well be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Personally, I want to see United play Barcelona. You tell us which final match-up you want to watch.

The Chargers and the Knight Riders were the last two teams to play and, therefore, with the benefit of having watched 3 games and observed the strategy of 6 teams, were expected to be very well prepared for their game.

As it turns out, the Kolkata side weren’t paying enough attention. So, while they noted that teams batting first won both games which lasted the full duration, they failed to pick up other hints.

They didn’t realize that the sides which batted first built their innings around one solid guy who played watchfully. None of their batsmen, except for Brad Hodge who came in after most of the damage was already done, attempted to do the same. They would have done better with a more solid batsman at the top. They also seemed oblivious of the most important thing that has changed from the last IPL – the increased potency of the bowlers. This side had Mashrafe Mortaza and Ajantha Mendis in their ranks, yet chose to fill their entire foreign quota with batsmen.

So many flaws in strategy can be expected from an average coach. But what is shocking is that they emanated from the genius brain of John Buchanan, the greatest thinker in the game of cricket. Looks like he couldn’t spare enough time from conceiving radical new ideas like ‘multiple captains’ to attend to such mundane matters as game planning and team selection.

However, his cerebrally less endowed countrymen – Adam Gilchrist and Darren Lehmann seemed to have done their homework well. For once, they made the Chargers really look all charged up.

As for the first game, Delhi’s selection of bowlers was incomprehensible.

First they selected Dirk Nannes ahead of not just Glenn McGrath, but also Farvez Maharoof. Both these bowlers were outstanding last year and Nannes failed to do anything to justify his inclusion.

What was even more shocking was not selecting both Amit Mishra and Ashish Nehra, and playing the troika of Sangwan, Avishkar Salvi and Yo Mahesh. After a fine start last season, Mahesh and Sangwan had frequently proven to be the weak link in Delhi’s attack. While McGrath’s exclusion shocked everyone no one seemed to have noticed the absence of the others.

Sweet revenge for Delhi

KXP had benefitted from the Duckworth-Lewis rule in a rain –curtailed game against DD last year. Therefore, the win must have been doubly sweet for Delhi.

First Impressions

Delhi needs to get their bowling attack right. Luckily for them, they have the reserves to do that. We were interested in seeing their middle order but thanks to a six over chase, we will have to wait for the next game. Two of their big guns, Vettori and Viru have already hit top form.

The biggest positive for Mohali was the batting of the openers, especially Karan Goel, who disappointed last year. The lower order looks extremely brittle. We need to see more of Yusuf Abdulla and the other bowlers before we can pass judgement on them.

As for Hyderabad, RP Singh and Fidel Edwards look like the ideal stock and shock bowling pair. However, their bowling has little depth and will be tested against better batting sides in better conditions. The biggest positive is the team spirit. And suddenly the value of Laxman as a batsman has soared.

Kolkata need to get back to the drawing board fast. Dada could have handled the spinners much better than the way he handled Edwards. A specialist opener like Akash Chopra can be utilized better. And the bowling attack also needs to change.

Arun Lal 2.0

We are used to Arun Lal’s Mayo College- bred eloquence in English. Now he is showing off his excellent command over Hindi. The great thing is that it’s not the Ravi Chaturvedi brand of Hindi. Rather it’s the kind of Hindi that cricket is discussed in across the country, minus the slangs. Arun Lal’s bilingual expertise could open up interesting career opportunities for him.

Grief for the film stars

The teams of SRK, Priety Zinta and Shilpa Shetty all lost their opening games. We were hoping to catch a glimpse or a sound byte from Arjun Rampal who distinguished himself last year as the president of the combined fan club of all the teams owned by bollywood stars. He was everywhere last year, commiserating or celebrating with his filmy brethren.

What about those old jerseys

Delhi and Deccan have changed their colours this year. So what of the fans who bought the jerseys last year? Especially, the Hyderabad fans who must have eschewed all their fashion sense to dress up in the garish gold. There should be an exchange scheme or something when teams do this.

Dude of the Day – Fidel Edwards for bowling the most economic spell ever in the IPL. His fiery bowling fetched him no wickets but softened up the likes of Ganguly for R P to feast upon. His spell would have been impressive in any form of the game.

Dud of the Day – This will have to go to Mr John Buchanan. His critics as well as some of his former players argue that he owes his success as a coach to the brilliant sides he managed and not to his tactical acumen. On this day they were comprehensively proved right.

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

The IPL was expected to be different in South Africa, but no one would have expected so many things to change.

The crowd and the atmosphere in the stadium was a pale shadow of the frenzy of the 2008 edition but that was on expected lines. What really took us by surprise, and pleasantly so, was the return to sanity for bowlers of all kinds. The run-rate on day one was a measly 6.68 and atleast half a dozen bowlers had outstanding outings as compared to just three batsmen. The pitches in South Africa are not averse to big hitting but they ask more from a batsmen – it isn’t as easy as the sub-continental wickets to just stand and plunder. Additionally, they embellish the bowler’s arsenal, creating a more even and more honest contest between bat and ball.

This created the ideal situation for Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble to make their mark on the game. Suddenly the ‘Icons’ from last time have really started to look like one. I am sure VVS Laxman can’t wait to get to the middle.

This also changes the outlook of the squads. With bowlers becoming more potent, sides with depth in bowling are looking better than ever. The greater challenges for batsmen would have also raised the spirits of the so called solid players – the likes of Chanderpaul in RCB and Collingwood in DD appear quite invaluable.

The other refreshing change was the capitulation of the two finalists from last time. Two well-rounded sides with brilliant leaders were humbled. It would have put to rest the fears that the gulf in quality between the high flying and low lying sides from 2008 would be widened further in 2009, leading to a slew of one-sided games. While it will be too early to throw the form guide out of the window, one can definitely look forward to a more closely fought out league this time round.

First impressions

Mumbai were one of the favourites and look very good with their impressive array of bowlers. The solidity at the top of the order will also come in handy.

Chennai’s batsmen looked very rusty and the side failed to even mount a charge towards the end. The think-tank needs to get the selection right. However, they are a loaded side and have the resources to ring in the changes.

Bangalore benefitted from two of their ‘test’ players and could play a few more. Their bowling looks better than expected with Praveen returning to his best. Playing Uthappa as keeper looks a smart gamble, opening up Boucher’s place for the likes of Ross Taylor, Kallis or Nathan Bracken.

Rajasthan were guilty of some poor shot making and could do with a little more solidity at the top. Unfortunately for them, the foreign quota is already well utilized, and one of the Indian guys (Mohd Kaif) who could have provided stability has already been sent home.

Two leggies and a googly

Leg-spinners hate to get out to another leggie. They pride themselves on being able to read the opposite numbers variations better than the best of batsmen. But, while Shane Warne has never quite managed to master the googly, Anil Kumble has. And the Indian used the perfect weapon in his armoury to inflict the worst humiliation on Warne (failing to read the googly and getting stumped) and win the leg-spinners’ bragging rights.

What makes you pine for Krish Srikkanth, Rameez Raja and Ranjit Fernando

Lalchand Rajput.

Suddenly Arun Lal is made to look like Richie Benaud. Where have all the former players gone? Rajput’s appointment as an expert is either a secret conspiracy by Lal to make himself look good or its possible he won a BCCI sponsored reality show for former cricketers.

Dude of the Day – This goes to the only player who reminded us of the big hitting of the last IPL – Abhishek Nayar of the Mumbai Indians. Can’t think of anyone else who has hit Freddie for 3 sixes in an over.

Dud of the Day – No cricketer stands out. Instead we will hand it to the guys who took an eternity trying to get the black dog off the ground.

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

Ready to make a move up the ranks

Team Composition

The stars of Mumbai’s foreign contingent are Sanath Jayasuriya and JP Duminy. The Sri Lankan veteran returns after an outstanding 2008 season, while the young South African is a star in the making. Other than these two, there aren’t any big guns amongst Mumbai’s foreign players. Dwayne Bravo is a more than useful all-rounder and there are a couple of decent speedsters in Dilhara Fernando and Kyle Mills. Mohd Ashraful and Graham Napier are capable of big hitting but are also highly inconsistent. Mumbai haven’t quite got the same firepower in their foreign brigade as most of the other teams. The lack of capable replacements would hurt if the first unit doesn’t click.

While their foreigners are a little lightweight, the Indians in the Indians’ side definitely pack a punch. First there is Sachin Tendulkar, still capable of winning matches on his own, and then there are two of the best bowlers in world cricket – Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. There is also Dhawal Kulkarni, who broke through in the last IPL and followed that with a superb domestic season leading to a national call-up. Shikhar Dhawan and Abhishek Nayar are their best domestic players and both played stellar roles in the 2008 edition of the league. Mumbai is the richest cricket nursery in the country and they are well capable of unearthing a few hidden talents as well. The likes of Saurabh Tiwary, Ajinkya Rahane and Jaydev Shah provide some bench strength as well.

Leadership and think-tank

Sachin Tendulkar has loads of experience but is definitely not a great captain. And the same is true of his de-facto deputy, Sanath Jayasuriya. Mumbai’s failure to win the close games cost them a semi-final berth last time and they cannot afford to do the same again.

Best Playing Eleven

Tendulkar, Jayasuriya, Shikhar Dhawan/Rahane, JP Duminy, Graham Napier/ Ashraful, Abhishek Nayar/Saurabh Tiwary, Bravo/Kyle Mills/Dilhara Fernando, Takawale/Pinal Shah, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Dhawal Kulkarni/Rohan Raje

Balance of the team

Mumbai’s weakness is their batting as they have only a handful of quality batsmen in the entire squad. On the flip-side almost everyone in the side can turn their arm over and that gives their captain a never –ending list of bowling options. Not having a high calibre wicket –keeper batsman also disturbs the balance of their side.

Ideal Game Plan

In Zaheer, Harbhajan and Bravo, Mumbai have three excellent death bowlers. It is a safer bet to put your money on their bowlers to win you games at the end.

Final Verdict

Should move up a rung to make the semis this year. Once there anything can happen.

Other IPL Previews

Delhi Daredevils

Deccan Chargers

Chennai Super Kings

Royal Challengers Bangalore

The challenges of building a winning IPL side

With a strong side they can dare anyone

Team Composition

Delhi has two of the finest Twenty-20 bowlers in world cricket in McGrath and Vettori. They also have 4 international all-rounders, out of whom Maharoof made a great impression in the last IPL. The others – Collingwood, Dilshan and McDonald are quite handy and give the Delhi side a gaggle of options. And then there are two swashbuckling batsmen. In home conditions, AB de Villiers will be as good as any other batsmen in the competition. On the other hand, David Warner has made an outstanding start to his international Twenty-20 career. Arguably, the Daredevils have the best foreign lot in the tournament. They have top quality bowlers and batsmen, a wide array of all-rounders and even a top wicket-keeper batsman. That is quite a feat considering that except for Vettori, all the others were picked up for bargain rates.

The stars of the Indian contingent are Sehwag and Gambhir, who on current form are probably the best opening pair in almost all forms of cricket. They also have a quartet of fringe Indian internationals in Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, Manoj Tiwary and Dinesh Karthik. The first two had fine IPL seasons last year while the last two have had splendid domestic seasons with Tiwary singlehandedly leading Bengal to the national one-day final. The domestic representation is also decent with the notable names being Rajat Bhatia, Yo Mahesh, Pradeep Sangwan and Mithun Manhas. The only cause for concern is the lack of any good Indian all-rounder. But overall, the Delhi side has good bench strength and the team should benefit from a healthy competition for places.

Leadership and think-tank

Virender Sehwag has not proven to be a good captain. His risky care free approach is fine for his batting but can be detrimental for the side when applied to captaincy. Leadership is definitely not Delhi’s strongest card.

Best Playing Eleven

Sehwag, Gambhir, AB de Villiers/Warner, Tiwary, Owais Shah/Paul Collingwood/Dilshan, Dinesh Karthik/Rajat Bhatia/Manhas, Farvez Maharoof/Vettori/McDonald, Amit Mishra, Sangwan/ Yo Mahesh, Nehra, McGrath

Balance of the team

Delhi’s brittle middle order and weak cast of support bowlers was their undoing last year. The 2009 side seems to have improved on the bowling but the lower-middle order still looks shaky. They would have been much stronger if they had a good batting all-rounder from amongst the Indians. But they still have one of the strongest squads in the competition.

Ideal Game Plan

Last year they won almost every time their bowlers restricted the opposition to a manageable total. With a better bowling attack they should try more of the same this year.

Final Verdict

Could go all the way. Will surely be in the top 4 in the league stage.

Other IPL Previews

Deccan Chargers

Chennai Super Kings

Royal Challengers Bangalore

The challenges of building a winning IPL side