CSK wins IPL 2010

What’s up with captains inexplicably promoting Harbhajan Singh as a pinch hitter? Dhoni did it in the ODI against Sri Lanka in December 2009 (If folks don’t remember, that’s the match where the Indians scored their highest ODI total of 414/7). Today, the Mumbai Indians did it against CSK. Sure, Harbhajan has swung wildly and has connected a few over the years, but there is no excuse for promoting him ahead of Rayudu, Tiwary, Duminy and Pollard.

It was a rather disappointing end to Sachin’s excellent run in the tournament. But, having scored over 600 runs in the tournament with a strike rate of over 130 with just three DLF maximums, I think he has proved that proper, consistent, skillful batting does have a place in Twenty20 cricket.

India out of T20 World Cup

The West Indians had exposed the Indian top order’s technical inability to cope with fast, accurate short-pitched bowling the other day and the Englishmen exploited it to perfection today bouncing India out of the Twenty20 World Cup.

England came in with the obvious strategy to bounce the Indians and Dhoni’s own response was to promote Jadeja playing his first match of the tournament ahead of the in-form Yuvraj as a pinch-hitter – apparently to ease the pressure off the other star batsmen (Yuvraj, Dhoni and Yusuf). If that was the intention, he should have at least been sent at three ahead of Raina, who was absolutely at sea facing bouncers in the previous match. In the end the pinch-hitter could neither hit out nor get out! When he did eventually get out after scoring 25 off 35 balls in the 14th over, leaving 67 runs to be scored off the last six overs, it was a little too much even for the icy cool Pathan (33 off 17 balls).

Earlier in the day Harbhajan and Jadeja did well to restrict England to 153, particularly after Pietersen (46 off 27 balls) was threatening to lead them to an above par score. But, the Indians conceded too many extras and weren’t sharp in the field. Also, it was baffling to see RP Singh who was most economical bowler on either side not finish his full quota of overs.

Well, this is a reminder that you still need to master the basic cricketing skills to be a successful T20 player. Rohit and Raina – both exceptional talents – need to work out their technical flaws if they are hoping to make it to the next generation Test team. Dhoni, probably needed this break. He has a very talented team at his disposal, he just needs to keep things simple. Hopefully, he will come back - along with some clarity in thinking – rejuvenated.

Dhoni’s batting

Dhoni’s batting on Friday against West Indies has drawn a lot of criticism. Minimizing risk doesn’t mean you shouldn’t rotate strike! Watching him struggling to get singles was tough.

He seems to be struggling to find the right batting position for himself. He seems to be randomly coming in at either 3 or 5. As I said earlier, instead of a fixed position, his batting strategy along with Gambhir should be to take less risk than the others, holding one end up at least until the 15th over allowing the other batsmen to be aggressive at the other end. This means, Dhoni’s batting position is not fixed. He walks in when Gambhir gets out. If Gambhir bats through an innings he doesn’t get to bat (unless the other specialist batsmen are all back in the hut).

Strategically, yesterday’s batting order was perfect (Dhoni came in at the fall of Gambhir’s wicket), but the execution wasn’t.

India’s Batting order

Yuvraj’s late blitz yesterday helped India reach an above par score of 180. But, that didn’t seem possible when both Dhoni and Gambhir were struggling to force the pace in the middle overs.

Dhoni thinks of his role as providing a solid anchor (cut out risky shots, keep the strike rotating, run hard, play safe without getting bogged down, put the bad balls away) at one end, allowing the other stroke players to be naturally aggressive at the other end. I completely agree with this strategy and his role. I also think Gambhir could, should and often does perform a similar role at the top of the order. So, instead of slotting himself at the fixed position three, Dhoni should slot himself as replacing Gambhir.

In fact, instead of a fixed batting order, each batsmen’s position should depend on the wicket to fall. My batting order would begin with Gambhir and Sehwag as openers. Dhoni will be slotted to follow Gambhir. Raina would follow Sehwag (or Dhoni if both Gambhir and Dhoni fall before Sehwag). Yuvraj would follow Raina (or Dhoni if Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhoni are all back in the dugout). Yusuf follows Yuvraj/Raina/Dhoni with Irfan and the tail following Yusuf.

The idea is for Gambhir/Dhoni to hold one end up with the other stroke makers taking up the risk of scoring aggressively at the other end. This means, if Gambhir bats through the innings, Dhoni will not get to bat (unless all the other batsmen – Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj and Yusuf are all back in the dugout). Based on current team composition and form, I think this is a good batting strategy.

Team India at the T20 World Cup

Four specialist batsmen (Gambhir, Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj), three of whom are part-time bowlers; two specialist pace bowlers (Zaheer, Ishant); two specialist spinners (Harbhajan, Ojha); one all-rounder who bowls spin (Yusuf); one all-rounder who bowls medium-pace (Ifran); one wicket-keeper batsman (Dhoni), who is the captain. I love India’s team composition for this world cup!

Twenty20 vs. Test Cricket

Chris Gayle’s comments regarding Test cricket has re-ignited the discussion regarding Twenty20 vs. Test cricket.

I like to compare them to the other form of entertainment that I enjoy – movies. While Test cricket can be compared to Drama Films (plot-driven, engaging story lines, well-developed characters), T20 is more like a Summer Blockbuster (big budget, special effects, outrageous action). While the genre of movies one likes is a matter of personal choice, the genre itself doesn’t guarantee entertainment. There are as many boring dramas as brilliant blockbusters. So, while I personally prefer an interesting drama, I am not necessarily against blockbusters. I absolutely love the choice offered by the variety of genres.

Similarly, I love Test cricket. To me, an intense over of Dravid’s defense against Warne’s guile on a fourth day pitch has  more drama than Pathan’s heaves for sixes DLF maximums. Then again, my initial apprehensions about T20 are slowly withering away. It does seem to be as much about skill as (though maybe not necessarily traditional cricketing skills) luck. Otherwise, how do you explain the consistent success of some quality Test players in T20? Now, after a couple of seasons of IPL, I do enjoy the twists, thrills and exciting finishes (however artificial they might be) of an occasional T20 game. I am thrilled by the choice of another genre in cricket.

As with movies, there will be passionate debates over which genre is better and which is not. And, while the debate rages on, the genres would still co-exist – similar to Hollywood dramas holding their own against flashy blockbusters.

Or, at least that’s what I hope for.

Déjà vu – again!

Sachin and captaincy doesn’t seem to go together, does it? It didn’t work in the 90s and it isn’t working now.  The move to drop himself to number four to prop up the middle order and the move to send the in-form Duminy to open the innings both failed. He correctly identified the problem – openers were not providing consistent starts and that in turn was putting pressure on the young middle order who haven’t been able to cope. I am not willing to believe that he made the decision to ring in the changes to the batting order to solve the problem, especially after I read this. As the Mumbai Indians are getting ready to face off Bangalore in a must win match for the franchise, the problems with batting still exist and the right way to solve it is for Sachin to do what he does best – score  runs, lots of them, at the top of the order.

Déjà vu

The Mumbai Indians in IPL2 remind me of the BCCI Indians of the 90s when the rise and fall of the team depended on the performance of one man – Sachin Tendulkar! Hope the team picks itself up, as the only thing I am following with interest in this edition of the IPL is Tendulkar’s batting.

IPL - Players review

With the Rajasthan Royals capping their impressive run in the IPL Twenty20 cricket tournament with a thrilling last ball victory against the Chennai Super Kings in the finals on Sunday, it is time to look back and analyze the performance of the players involved.

Icons and Superstars
Among the icons and superstars of Indian Cricket (Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Kumble, Harbhajan, Zaheer) only Dhoni and Sehwag had any real impact in the tournament. Dhoni impressively led his team to the finals while also scoring over 400 runs with an average of over 40. Sehwag's 400 runs and his consistent opening partnership with Gambhir went a long way in taking Delhi to the semis.

As for the other batsmen, Laxman and Tendulkar missed most of the matches to injury; Yuvraj could not live up to his big hitting expectations; though Dravid topped his team's batting statistics, he could not really motivate or inspire his team mates; Ganguly played a couple of incredible knocks, but they were just too little and too late.

Among the bowlers, none left a mark, except Harbhajan's slap on Sreesanth's cheeks!

Former Stars
None of the former stars (Kaif, Agarkar, A Nehra, L Balaji, Parthiv Patel) performed well enough to get noticed, though it is heartening to note that both Balaji and Nehra have both recovered from injury.

Twenty20 Champs
Some of the new generation Twenty20 cricketers - Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Venugopal Rao, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla - performed consistently well and enhanced their reputation as the future stars.

The rest - Munaf Patel, P Kumar, VRV Singh, Joginder Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Wasim Jaffer - seemed to have lost their mojo. Ishant Sharma in particular was disappointing considering the high price that Kolkata paid to get him and Dinesh Karthik missed an opportunity to get back in to the selectors radar.

Foreign Recruits
Most of the big names in international cricket - Shaun Marsh, Shane Watson, Jayasuriya, Sohail Tanvir, Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Sangakkara, McGrath, Maharoof, Ntini, Albie Morkel, Adam Gilchrist, Mike Hussey, Hayden, McCullum - were spectacular. Especially Marsh and Watson, who emerged as the two best performers in the IPL.

Pollock, Muralitharan, David Hussey, JR Hopes, Stephen Fleming, Jayawardene, Bravo and Umar Gul did not exactly set the stage on fire, but had a few good performances.

Mark Boucher, Kallis, Salman Butt, Gibbs, Symonds, Kamran Akmal, Ponting, Cameron White, Akhtar, Vaas, Asif, Chanderpaul, Shoaib Malik, Afridi, Fernando and Steyn were abject disappointments.

Emerging Talent
This was an ideal opportunity for some of the local boys to showcase their talent and a few - Manpreet Gony, S Dhawan, SA Asnodkar, Goswami - managed to shine through, but none better than Yusuf Pathan who had a wonderful tournament capped by a man of the match performance in the final.

Overall, the Foreign Recruits ensured the high quality of cricket throughout the tournament and played a huge part in making the IPL a success. The biggest disappointment has to be the performance or rather the non-performance of the Icons and Superstars of Indian Cricket.

It's Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals

The IPL Twenty20 cricket tournament is winding to a close with an exciting final on the cards between the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals tomorrow.

Both teams won their semi-final games in contrasting but emphatic style. While the Royals batted the Delhi Daredevils out of the competition through outstanding strokeplay, the Super Kings knocked out the highly rated Kings XI Punjab through accurate seam bowling.

Their ride to the final has also been in contrasting style. Chennai - a pre-tournament favorite and lead by the league's highest paid player - started with a bang, struggled in the middle and managed to pull off some crucial wins in the end. Rajasthan - the cheapest team in the league and the pre-tournament underdog - started badly, but cruised through the tournament otherwise.

Despite their differences, both teams are lead by immensely talented, inspiring leaders in Dhoni and Warne. I do not know if the two best teams in the league are facing off tomorrow, but certainly they are lead by the two best captains.

So, who are the favorites to win tomorrow? Unpredictability has been the hallmark of Twenty20 cricket, with luck and nerves playing important roles as well as pure cricketing skills. Tomorrow's Champion could very well be the team that handles pressure better. Analysis aside, I am just hoping for a fitting finale and a thrilling contest!

IPL - entertaining but not engaging

It's been a month since the opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and despite any initial apprehensions some might have had, it's been a huge success.

From huge sixes to quick wickets; outrageous stroke-play to brilliant hat-tricks; improbable wins to inexplicable losses; one-sided contests to last-ball thrillers; SRK dancing to Mallya whining; players getting slapped to CEOs getting sacked; inspiring leaders to clueless captains; failing favorites to winning underdogs; Australians getting cheered to Indians getting booed; spectacular fireworks to skimpy cheerleaders; awesome centuries to painful ducks; delightful cameos to devastating spells; athletic catches to dropped chances; insightful commentators to well, Ranjit Fernando; highs to lows and everything in between, it really has been an entertaining month of Twenty20 cricket!

But, despite all the entertainment, there is a sense of detachment for fans like me - expats who are far away from the action with no real affinity towards any particular team and inconvenienced by time. It's like watching a typical Bollywood blockbuster - entertaining for sure, but not engaging. After waking up early to catch the first couple of matches live, I now watch mostly the highlights and sometimes the replays.

IPL is fun, but it hasn't quite managed to evoke enough passion to lose sleep over - except when Tendulkar is batting!