A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

Wonder if these guys ever talk about improving the Ranji Trophy?

The BCCI wants India to play as many international fixtures to possible because these matches net them a lot of money. Subsequently the heavy international calendar ensures that the tired Indian internationals rarely play in the domestic tournaments like the Ranji trophy, unless they have been dropped and are looking to prove a point. This reduces the star quotient of the domestic circuit and dilutes the quality of the cricketing fare and the intensity of the competition. A combination of these reasons ensures that the fans stay away and as a result the state associations and the BCCI make very little money from these games. As a result these bodies take very little active interest in these games. No effort is made to improve the state of these domestic tournaments.

The players who play in these tournaments have a million reasons to feel dispirited. They play in front of nonexistent crowds. They get paid poorly. And realistically speaking they don’t have a great opportunity to make a case for themselves, thanks to the poor quality of the pitches and the lack of quality competition. Runs scored and wickets taken are always taken with a pinch of salt. Players are rarely put in situations which test their mental fortitude and help them mature as cricketers. Most of the players who shine and get a chance to play at the next level are not well prepared to handle the rarefied air of international cricket. And not because they didn’t have the ability but because they have no experience or practise of having played on sporting pitches or against quality opposition or having been in tough situations. 99% of people reading this will not be able to name the top scorer and the top wicket- taker in last season’s Ranji trophy . If you can then may god bless you.

So is it wrong if players are ready to give an arm and a leg to play in the IPL?

The money is important but there are many other reasons why domestic players would be ready to forego the entire Ranji Trophy season to play a couple of IPL games

Prof Ratnakar Shetty and the BCCI are worried about the charms of the IPL but are they doing anything to make the Ranji Trophy exciting.

The Ranji format is flawed and fundamentally prone to produce defensive boring cricket. Borrowing a few ideas from Australia and South Africa will address that problem. But Mr Shetty and gang either find high scoring draws exciting or they schedule their discussions on domestic cricket during the IPL’s 10 minute strategic timeouts.

Seriously , is it absolutely impossible to market the Ranji Trophy in a cricket crazy country like ours?

Will it be difficult to draw crowds and attract sponsors if UP’s pace battery of RP Singh, Pravin Kumar and Sudeep Tyagi took on the might of Gambhir and Sehwag on a bouncy track with both sides playing to win. A few foreign players could be thrown in to add to the competitive intensity and the star power.

Will this lead to revenue generation from the Ranji Trophy and a better lot of players coming out of domestic cricket.

Yes

Is that in the best interests of the BCCI, the state associations, future India aspirants as well as Indian cricket in general

Yes

Does the BCCI control all the variables that are required to make this happen?

Yes, unless they are being blackmailed by someone from another cricketing nation who has a video of the entire board involved in a gay orgy in the middle of the Wankhede

One of the biggest challenges facing the ICC is the expansion of the game – how to make it popular in more countries.

There are a lot of new countries which play the game but it looks unlikely that the game will really take off there.

The reasons for this not happening are manifold

There is little or no financial security for a player from one of the emerging countries. This is a huge deterrent and creates a multitude of other challenges. It stops people from taking to the game in a big way – The players are largely restricted to expatriates from the major cricket playing nations. Few native residents take to the sport and as a result there is a small pool of players available and the country cannot improve as a cricketing nation.

There are other issues for the lot who take to the sport braving the financial uncertainties. They need to play against better opposition on a regular basis to improve their game. They require exposure to top quality coaching and cricketing stratagem. For lack of all these, even the most talented cricketers from a lesser nation cannot realise his full potential.

As the sport isn’t very popular, the country lacks for funds and can barely develop any kind of infrastructure or run coaching and scouting programs for young players.

Other than international cricket, opportunities to play cricket exist in the IPL and the domestic leagues of England, Australia and South Africa but they are extremely limited. When a clutch of established players can go undrafted in the IPL, what chance does an unheralded player from a developing cricketing nation have?

Other than the task of growing the game in the developing nations, the ICC also needs to arrest the slide that the game is facing in countries like Zimbabwe and the West Indies. These countries are also suffering from lack of sufficient funds

Many these problems could be addressed, atleast in large part, if there were a few more professional leagues on the lines of the IPL.

Before we explain how, we first need to confirm if cricket can accommodate more such leagues.

In terms of availability of players there shouldn’t be a problem. There are enough international players without IPL affiliations to support atleast a couple of more leagues. Then there are the first class players from other cricket playing nations. And finally there are the players from the lesser cricketing nations – atleast a few of them will find a place if there were more leagues.

Finding sponsors is not a problem. And as far as markets are concerned, India itself can accommodate more than one league. The last IPL showed that even a country like South Africa can support a league like this. All in all there shouldn’t be a problem in having more than one league.

There could be questions about whether the new leagues would be as popular as the IPL. After all spectator interest is driven by marquee names and currently the IPL seems to have all of them. This issue will automatically get addressed by market economics and player preferences as it happens in the case of football. If there was a league based in Australasia, then a lot of players from the southern hemisphere could gravitate there. Team owners from different leagues could outbid each other for the big names.

A Champions League amongst teams from different leagues will also make more sense.

Scheduling shouldn’t be a problem. The ICC is anyways trying to set aside a window for the IPL. The other leagues could be held around the same time as it happens in football or even basketball.

Now to understand how it will help the ICC in promoting the game in the newer cricketing nations and rescuing it in the West Indies.

More leagues will mean more requirements for players. Today’s IPL teams have a choice of plenty when it comes to foreign players and are hard pressed to find good Indian ones. The good teams are slowly realizing the merits of scouting and player development. The proliferation of leagues will take this to the next level. Today an IPL team based in Rajasthan goes and scouts for talent in the states of Gujarat and M.P. Tomorrow they could be headed to Barbados and Western Australia and even Harare. There will opportunities for talented players from the lesser nations as well. Countries like Trinidad and Tobago and Wales are nothing in international football. We would have never heard of the likes of Dwight Yorke and Ryan Giggs if there was no premiership. We wouldn’t have heard of Hakeem Olajuwon if there was no NBA.

American baseball teams run full-fledged programs in the Central and South American nations. These programs help in identify and training future stars. Lots of European clubs do the same in Africa and South America. This way the clubs help build the infrastructure and run the youth programs – things which the poorly funded national association cannot do most of the time.

The Pittsburgh Pirates recently found two Indians with the physical tools to become top class pitchers. They took them to America and offered them professional contracts. They are currently playing in the minor leagues and are being top class training. If one of them could make it to the top then the Pirates would do more for the game of baseball in India then the Baseball Federation of Indian could have ever done. A team like the Delhi Daredevils could do the same thing in cricket for a less endowed cricketing nation.

The professional leagues will offer financial security to a talented player from a lesser nation. A player with potential will have all the motivation to actively pursue the game. Playing with the best in the business will help them realize their full potential. These players will learn a lot from playing in the leagues and that will help them when they play for their national sides. Other players from their countries will also benefit from the experience of these players. Some of them could learn enough from the experience to eventually become scouts and coaches – they will help in finding and grooming more talent. These guys could serve as great role models inspiring to induct a whole new generation into the sport.

Most of these benefits could apply to a country like the West Indies as well. The drying talent pool could be reinvigorated if more cricketers could make a good living playing abroad. Jamaica made it to the World Cup of Football, thanks to the bunch of players who play in the lesser leagues in England. Would these players have had the same appetite for the game if they had to do a day job to support their families and playing for the national team was the best they could do.

Would this reduce the importance of international cricket?

No, because International cricket would still serve as the best platform to display your talent to the clubs. Players with international experience will always be more sought and better paid. The ICC could do a few things to ensure that the sanctity and popularity of international cricket remains intact – Like defining some quotas for international players. They will also need to handle the scheduling of the international and league calendar in a manner that players don’t get burnt out and there is minimal conflict of interest.

In twenty -20, the ICC has discovered a format that they can market to the world. Creating more professional leagues will go a long way in making the game truly global.

The batsman in the trophy has the wrong grip - compare his with Dravid's

If you look at the batsman in the IPL trophy, he looks like a right handed player playing a glorious cover drive. He is looking at the ball racing to the boundary on the off side. The semi-circle in front of him shows that arc in which the bat has swung. Now check out the grip of the batsman. The left hand is at the bottom of the handle and closer to the blade. That is how a left hander grips the bat, not a right hander. For a righty, the right hand is at the bottom of the handle. Check out Rahul Dravid’s grip as he is playing the cover drive.

Anyone who has played any level of cricket in life should be able to spot the error.

I am surprised that such a glaring mistake was made in crafting such a high-profile trophy. I am even more surprised that none of the people involved in the managing committee of the IPL noticed it. Or if they did, they probably decided to ignore it.

The commentators also seem to be turning a blind eye towards it. They talk about a batsman’s feet, hand and head position all the time and surely know the difference between a right-handed and a left- handed grip. They wax lyrical about the piece of fine art that is the IPL trophy every time it’s shown on TV but never seem to notice the abnormality of the batsman’s grip.

The error is not such a big deal. Such imperfections quite often end up enhancing the uniqueness and the value of rare objects. Therefore there should be no harm in acknowledging it.

But sadly, everyone is so busy in trying to prove that everything in the IPL is picture perfect, that they fail to notice or acknowledge this distinctive imperfection.

Sometime in the 1980’s; when I’m not sure I could even spell ‘Franchise’ let alone understand what it meant, I first heard of the Harlem Globetrotters. I was totally fascinated by the name. They couldn’t have been more aptly named- they were ‘globetrotting’ as they went all over the world playing exhibition games. Later, the emergence of Michael Jordan as a global superstar forced ‘The Sport Star’ and some Indian newspapers to occasionally mention the NBA (National Basketball Association), adding more such names to my slowly expanding brain. Over the years, I have undergone an online education in the entire ‘franchisee’ concept and learnt of many other equally fascinating team names.

A little analyses of the popular team names (and also the unpopular ones) gives some wonderful insights into the dos and do not’s of the naming process. Fundamentally, there are four key things to take care of

• The name of the team should be unique and memorable enough – so that the team can easily be identified by it. There should be no need to provide the name of the city or the league in which they play. So when you mention the Lakers, you don’t have to add that they are the team from LA which plays in the NBA. You should be like that guy in class who can be identified by his surname only and doesn’t have to give out his full name.
• The name of the team should mean something for the franchise. It could pay homage to something important from the city or honour someone attached with the franchise. Or simply capture the spirit or character of the team. The Dallas Cowboys are from Texas – home of the cowboy. The Georgia Bulldogs truly reflect the ‘bulldog‘spirit of their football team – unflinching in any kind of distress situation.
• The name of the team should never be just a glorified adjective. Like victor or champion or studs etc etc. And the additional superlative or comparative is also a strict no-no.
• Lastly, never copy a team name, even if it’s a team from another league or even if you have slightly modified the name.

Having become an amateur ‘sports team namologist’ of some kind, the coming of professional leagues in India, therefore, was a godsend for me. So far we’ve had a seven team PHL (Professional Hockey League), a six team ICL (Indian Cricket League) and an eight team IPL (Indian Professional League), where 4 teams are yet to be named at the time of writing. So here’s my two bit of ‘namology gyan’ on what’s transpired so far.

First the PHL

Sher-E-Jalandhar – an absolute smasher. The old Urdu-style name makes it even more memorable

Chennai Veerans – unique, with homage paid to the historical Tamil fighters.

Maratha Warriors – similar to the Chennai style and quite apt

Orissa Steelers – The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the heart of America’s steel industry and Orissa has the same status in India

Bangalore Hi-Fliers – the first bad one in the PHL. Falls in the glorified adjective category.

Hyderabad Sultans – a ‘historical’ mistake. Hyderabad had Nizams and not Sultans.

Chandigarh Dynamos – this one is well thought of. Simultaneously reminds us of the Punjabi farmer (the one who drives a tractor) and the truck driver – the hard-working image of a prosperous state.

Overall Verdict – Very good job and I hope the people in-charge show similar wisdom on the more important matters to make the PHL an even bigger success.

Now the ICL

Chandigarh Lions – this one’s fine not great. The people of Punjab are lion-hearted in whatever they do. But doesn’t have the same impact as the word ‘Sher’

Kolkata Tigers – Being the home of the Royal Bengal tiger, the name is suitable but not unique enough as there are tigers in every second state of India. Considering the penchant for lions and tigers, the there should have been a separate auction for the two names.

Hyderabad Heroes – What are they paying homage to? The movie ‘heroes’ of the thriving Telugu
Film industry. Serious paucity of thought from Hyderabad.

Mumbai Champs – The irony is striking. The team calls itself the champs and finishes rock-bottom. So much for egg on your face.

Delhi Jets – What are they depicting? Fighter jets, jets of water, Jet Airways. I have no clue.

Chennai Superstars – Are they trying to out-do the ‘heroes’ of Hyderabad? Our film industry is bigger than yours and our actors are bigger stars.

Overall Verdict – The names are as bad as the ground on which the ICL was played. This league needs a lot of help.

Finally the IPL

Bangalore Royal Challengers – Dr Mallaya wanted an association with one of his liquor brands. But tell me in god’s name, what is a Royal Challenger? Sounds a little too long as well.

Chennai Super Kings – If this team wins the IPL, we can make a case for the inclusion of the word ‘Super Kings’ in the Oxford dictionary. That’s because I don’t think such a word exists.

Delhi Daredevils – Has a nice ring to it but can’t see the connection. Just for their information, there‘s a team called the Washington Senators in the US.

Rajasthan Royals – This one is perfect. Think of simple things folks. Don’t you know your city well enough?

As for the remaining four, here’s a simple suggestion for the franchisee owners.

Naming a new team is a great marketing and PR opportunity. You can make a little money as well. Organize a simple competition to give the people of the city a chance to name their local team. There is enough wisdom and local knowledge in every city to come up with a great name. Additionally, involving the populace will make the franchise popular among the masses and people will start identifying with the team.

Here are the names I could come up with. I am sure you guys can do better.

Kolkata – The Kolkata Liberators. In honour of Bengal’s most well-loved son, Subhash Chandra Bose.

Hyderabad – The Hyderabad Nizams. The erstwhile rulers of Hyderabad.

Mohali – The Mohali Nihangs. A Nihang is a Sikh religious warrior.

Mumbai – The Mumbai Bulls. Celebrating the ‘Bull Run’ in the financial capital of India.

This article was written last year before the IPL teams from  Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mohali and Mumbai had been named. It was originally published in iSport.in

In random order.

Disclaimer: please do not take offense. This is strictly in jest

Why the Knight Riders want to keep losing?

Because SRK gives expensive watches to those who lose (remember KBC)

Why the Knight Riders don’t want to win?

So that SRK doesn’t come back

Cricket based reality show that will never be made…

Kya Aap Knight Riders Se Accha Khelte Hain

What SRK never told Buchanan when the Australian was preaching his new theories on cricket?

Seedhi Baat Baaki Sab Bakwaas. Like he tells the fat guy all the time in the Sprite ad

Why is John Buchanan missing Ricky Ponting?

Because he could have had one more captain in the side

What does Buchanan do when SRK calls him to discuss the team’s performance?

Hello, Hello, Hello…like the Tata Indicom Ad

What a dropped catch in the IPL will soon be branded as?

Another ITC Cigarettes moment of stress – coz somewhere a disgusted SRK is lighting another one

Why Brendon McCullum was made captain of the Knight Riders?

Because as a tradition the worst fielder in the side is made captain of the Knight Riders

When do you know that things are wrong with the Universe?

When Ajit Agarkar stops trying to become India’s answer to Malcolm Marshall and bowls intelligently and within his limits for two consecutive games.

Why are the Knight Riders missing so many catches?

Because they have Two many fielders (McCullum and Saha) who can’t catch without their gloves on

Why Nokia has been asked to stop their ‘Sab Jeetenge’ meaning ‘everyone will win’ ad?

Because the ad is too ironic – everyone is winning other than the team featured in the ad (the Knight Riders)

What could happen if 6,00,000 Dollar man Mashrafe Mortaza doesn’t play a single game?

That money would qualify as a charitable donation to an under-developed nation (Bangladesh) and SRK would be entitled to tax benefits

Why is co-owner and cement Baron Jay Mehta heaving a sigh of relief?

For not coming up with ‘our team is as strong and reliable as our cement’ ads.

Best Batsman – Will go to the batsman with the best combination of total runs, batting average, strike rate and number of key innings.

Current Favourites – Mathew Hayden, Tillekratne Dilshan, Suresh Raina, Sachin Tendulkar and Adam Gilchrist

Best Bowler – Will go to the bowler with the best combination of total wickets, bowling economy, strike rate and number of key bowling performances.

Current Favourites – Lasith Malinga, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Abdulla and Anil Kumble

Best Player – At the end of the tournament if the owners had a chance to build their team from scratch again, then which player would most of them want to pick first.

Current Favourites – Yusuf Pathan, Mathew Hayden, Tillekratne Dilshan, Suresh Raina and Adam Gilchrist

Best Indian Player – ‘Best Player’ from the Indian lot

Current Favourites – Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Sachin Tendulkar and RP Singh

Best Foreign Player – ‘Best Player’ from the International lot

Current Favourites – Mathew Hayden, Tillekratne Dilshan, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Lasith Malinga

Best Indian Domestic Player- ‘Best Player’ from the lot who have never played international cricket

Current Favourites – Abhishek Nayar, Abhishek Raut, Sudeep Tyagi, T Suman and Mithun Manhas

Most Improved Player from the last IPL – Will go to the player who has made the biggest jump from last year’s edition. Qualification criteria – atleast 7 games played in the 2008 IPL and atleast 7 this time as well.

Current Favourites – AB De Villiers, Dinesh Karthik, Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis

Best Reserve Player – Will go to the best squad player  – ‘Best Player’ from among the lot who will end up playing less than 7 games. Players who were not even in the squad for atleast 7 games will not qualify.

Current Favourites – David Warner and Dillon Du Preez. The likes of Glenn McGrath and Makhaya Ntini could feature in this category.

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

At the end of the day’s action, a mere two points separate the top team from the seventh placed side. And if that doesn’t convince you that the contest for the semi-final places in the 2009 IPL is going to go down to the wire, check out the League table at the same stage during the inaugural season. The top 4 sides had already distanced themselves from the rest of the pack, by a margin so huge, that even Mumbai’s stunning winning streak couldn’t get them into the semis.

As compared to that, even the most battle hardened gambler would refrain from picking out the 4 semi-finalists based on the current points table.

Just when the likes of Delhi, Hyderabad and Mohali were looking to put some distance on the chasing pack; Rajasthan, Chennai and Bangalore have bounced right back into the fray. While Chennai were too good a side to be denied for long, Bangalore and Rajasthan have shuffled things around to find the winning touch.

The other heartening thing about the league this year has been the closeness of the games. Thanks to the conditions, which have evened things out between the sides and also to the teams being better equipped than last time in terms of squad composition, few matches have turned out to be one-sided. Most games have been keenly contested well into the last five overs of the match.

That brings us back to what Bangalore and Rajasthan have done. They have saved their best players for the last critical stretch – the final 5 overs. By best, we don’t mean just by ability but also by the capacity to handle pressure. And if matches continue to be so closely fought out, the race for the semis will come down to a contest of how well teams do in the final stages of their matches. Teams who have finishers – the guys who can close out games; both in the batting and bowling department will have a better chance to prevail.

Teams will have their fair share of easy wins, but there isn’t a single side which can notch up enough lop sided victories to stroll into the last four. They will have to win the humdingers as well. And that will come from being able to give your best at the end. That is why Shane Warne is a genius captain and his use of Yusuf Pathan as a finisher is a master stroke. Apart from the strength in his shoulders to clear boundaries at will, Yusuf also has ice in his veins to power his side ahead in the home stretch.

Delhi’s top- heavy order crumbled after being well in control till the 15th over. You can’t blame the likes of Manhas, Sangwan and Bhatia for never having faced anything quite like Murali in their lives. The presence of a Farvez Maharoof would have given them a fighting chance at the end.

Having already picked my top 4 before the tournament began; I am not going to change it mid-way. I am just hoping that these teams are better prepared (read have enough finishers) to win an adequate number of these 5 over deciders.

Does Dhoni need to bother about Karthik’s form?

Dinesh Karthik has made a huge improvement over 2008 with two superb innings in the limited opportunities that he has got. On the other hand, MS Dhoni’s form has nose-dived to dismal levels. If things continue in the same vein, would the national selectors’ atleast give Karthik’s case some consideration? After all there can be no better selection trials for the national side than the IPL – a player playing against world-class opponents in high stakes games and there are enough games to identify whether he is a flash in the pan or a consistent performer. Or is MS Dhoni already guaranteed a place, irrespective of whatever happens in the IPL, on the basis of his leadership skills alone, a la Mike Brearley.

The Commentators Competition

Last year, Arun Lal had won the contest between commentators; for singing the highest praise of Lalit Modi as a cricket visionary. This year, the contest is to wax eloquent about the super success of the IPL in South Africa. Contestants need to harp about the electric atmosphere, the jam packed crowds and anything else that shows that the locals can’t have enough of the IPL. The early leader seems to be Ravi Shastri but there is still a long way and lots of full-house crowds to go.

Dude of the Day – Jointly goes to Shadab Jakati and Abhishek Raut for making a difference at the end

Dud of the Day – The trio of Morkel, Oram and Dhoni for making a mess of a tailor made opportunity for them

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

In the last IPL, the Australians were by far the most impressive of the foreign brigade. With most of them missing the early part of the 2009 IPL, there was a chance for players from other countries to make a bigger impression. Their cause was also helped by the absence of the Pakistani players. Let’s look at players from each country and see lot has made the most of this opportunity

South Africa

As the new hosts, players from South Africa were much sought after; also because most of them have all –round abilities. Herschelle Gibbs, AB De Villiers, Albie Morkel, Mark Boucher and Yusuf Abdulla have impressed so far while the likes of Dale Steyn, Graeme Smith, JP Duminy, Tyron Henderson and Jacques Kallis haven’t been so great.

Australia

Three oldies – Gilchrist, Hayden and Warne and a future Dutchman (Dirk Nannes) have kept the Australian flag flying high. The others players, most of whom aren’t Australian internationals – Rob Quiney, Brad Hodge and Moises Henriques have been disappointing.

Sri Lanka

Jayasuriya, Malinga, Dilshan, Murali and Sangakkara have all been outstanding while Mendis was good in one of the two games he played. The only player who hasn’t come to the party is Mahela Jayawardene.

West Indies

All the four West Indians in the 2009 IPL – Fidel Edwards, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle have been good signings for their sides.

England

While both the high-profile signings, Pietersen and Flintoff, have turned out to be damp squibs, the likes of Ravi Bopara and Dimitiri Mascarenhas have been good value for money.

New Zealand

The list of disappointments is long – Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor and Scott Styris. Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram have been the saving grace.

Verdict so far

Things will change once the Australian big guns return. But as things stand today, it’s the Sri Lankans who are turning out to be the biggest match-winners from amongst the foreign contingent in the IPL.

Reversal of fortunes for the Chennai Super Kings

Last year the side had a perfect 4 out of 4 record in close games, till they lost the one in the final. A close game being one, where the winning side either won by less than 10 runs or chased down the target in the last over. This year the side has lost both such games.

Either they have run out of luck or have simply forgotten how to hold their nerve at the death

Whatever it is, it could well decide whether the Chennai side makes the semis or not

Change in Dhoni’s approach

Dhoni didn’t give a single over to Shadab Jakati who played the game as a specialist bowler. This comes after Game 1 where specialist spinner R Ashwin didn’t get a bowl. Last year, Dhoni showed amazing trust in his bowlers, playing most games with just 5 bowlers. This year, he is doing the exact opposite, packing more bowlers than are required.

Positives in defeat for the Chargers

The Hyderabad side got good contributions from Azhar Bilakhiya, Shoaib Ahmad and T Suman. This is a huge positive for a side which got next to nothing from its domestic players last year. They seem to have scouted well and the winning spirit seems to be rubbing off on everyone. Don’t think the bookies are cheering for them.

Delhi are learning the tricks of professional leagues fast

Last year, the super duo of Glenn McGrath and Mohd Asif opened the Daredevils’ bowling. This year they are going with the unsung pair of Dirk Nannes and Ashish Nehra and yet look the better for it. The Aussie-Dutchman was a bargain basement pick while Nehra came in exchange for Shikhar Dhawan. The Delhi side is surely learning the best practises when it comes to improving your side without spending crazy money. Is Mr. Vijay Mallya watching?

Dude of the Day – Suresh Raina. As if scoring 98 off 55 wasn’t enough in a match where the next best effort was 37 off 33, he picked up a wicket and took two catches as well. Dilshan gets an honourable mention for slowly establishing himself as the second coming of Michael Bevan.

Dud of the Day – The guy operating the scoreboard for denying Raina his century. Also the officials and commentators in the stadium for letting that happen. I don’t know if the officials realized the error as Raina was raising his bat to acknowledge the cheers but the commentators sure did and yet no one did anything about it.

Read all the IPL Daily Doses so far

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