IPL Season 4 - Group B Preview

   Kolkata Knight Riders:
   The Dark Knight! A complete white wash in the team and new look and feel (mostly Dilli-wallas) some key foreign purchases KKR will be hoping for some change in fortunes as well. After controversially dumping Dada for some multi-captaincy theory and then falling on their bum making him the man in charge to not bidding for him in the player auctions. WOW! quite a ride to be honest. This year they have a lot that is talented and have quite a reputation. Wonder if this season is make or break for the owners. Since, KKR is the only team from the previous 8 that is yet to make it to a semi-finals in the IPL. They made the biggest purchase during the auctions that of Gautam mommy loves Gambhir now named their captain, for 2.4m$. And the prize catch of Yusuf Killer Pathan for another 2.1m$ Phew!! Kallis being their third million dollar baby. Some very smart picks in the domestic players now makes the team a contender for the semis at least!
Captain: Gautam Gambhir
Players Retained: Nil
Key Players: Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan,
Dark Horse: Iqbal Abdulla,Ryan Ten Doeschate, Sourav Ganguly (well of course)
Group A: Deccan Chargers

   Royal Challengers Bangalore:
   Where KKR have many DD's domestic players, Dr. Mallya's men seemed to have robbed the Daredevils in broad daylight. They have Daniel Vettori their new captain, Dirk Nannes, Dilshan, AB De Villiers all from the Delhi Darevils Geeez! Well then again RCB lost all their merry men in Robin, Rahul, Pandey, Steyn none of whom they retained when they had a choice. Apart from the Dilli-walas there is Ex-RCB man Zaheer who makes a come back to his IPL team after swapping to the Mumbai Indians squad for Robin Uthapa. Immensely talented (and slightly over rated) Cheteshwar Pujara, trying to show his tools in T20 cricket and U-23 player of IPL season 3 Saurabh Tiwary and Once upon a time in Indian team Md. Kaif are in the squad as well. Which helps their batting but who are their bowling options?
Captain: Daniel Vettori
Players Retained: Virat Kohli
Key Players: Zaheer Khan, AB De Villiers, Dirk Nannes
Dark Horse: Saurabh Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara, Arun Karthik
Group A: Group A: Kings XI Punjab

   Rajasthan Royals:
  The winners of the inaugural IPL, Royals have not had a sweet time in the middle. After being almost kicked out like the KxiP they too have been fortunate to get the mercy plea from! the courts. Although, they did retain skip Warney and talisman Watto it doesn’t explain why they didn’t retain their mojo man Yusuf Pathan. As a result the bidders went bezerk and only KKR could afford him at over 2m$. The Royals look thinner than before only occasional Ross Taylor, the seasoned Rahul Dravid, useful Johan Botha, off target Tait a few names to reckon. Addition of in-form Jacob Oram must be good news for the Royals who replaced Collingwood due to injury. They have done some wild recruiting in the domestic circuit though. Getting some top catches like Rahane, and their usual suspects like Sid Trivedi. A couple from the last years Ranji season heros like Meneria, Chahar. Despite having 3 seasons of experience Royals have done well to remain underdogs.
Captain: Shane Warne
Players Retained: Shane Warne, Shane Watson
Key Players: Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Rahul Dravid
Dark Horse: Deepak Chahar, Jacob Oram, Ashok Meneria
Group A: Group A: Mumbai Indians

   Chennai Super Kings:
   MS Dhoni’s yellow army had a perfect 2010 season where they won the IPL and the CLT20. The onus is upon them to make their owners proud again. The owners too haven’t played much with the team balance. They tried hard to buy back as many players from their previous winning combination. In the process they seemed to have over priced some of their own players and bought them at a premium if not more. They did lose some of their talent like L Balaji, Muralitharan, Parthiv Patel and did not go for Jacob Oram or Mathew Hayden. Their new additions were pretty impressive but injuries seemed to have plagued them just before the tournament. Bravo, Hilfenhaus, Bailey, Bollinger the main accused. They have found solace in Southee and Tharanga who seemed to have put their best suit on during the WC. T20 is an altogether different ball game, a change in mind set. So, far no team has been able to defend their title successfully. Let’s see if the champs still have it in them.
Captain: MS Dhoni
Players Retained: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Murali Vijay
Key Players: R Ashwin, Mike Hussey, Suresh Raina
Dark Horse: Tim Southee, Suraj Randiv, Abhinav Mukund  
Group A: Pune Warriors India

   Kochi Tuskers Kerala:
   The newbie in Group B will have a tough task in their debut season against the seasoned pros like CSK and RCB. They had some over the roof bidding technique throughout the auctioning. The pattern was tougher to crack than the Da Vinci Code. They did end up with a strong domestic bowlers list and some key hitters from the foreign buys. Murali's fitness will be alarming but they will be hoping he's fit for some part of the tournament. The only team which can accomodate VVS with a Brendon McCullum then add Muralitharan with a Steve Smith a little bit of Romesh Powar and top it off with Ravindra Jadeja... and well of course the home grown Sreesanth. WOW!! Whether the odd mixture gels well, will be keenly studied.
Captain: Mahela Jayawardene
Players Retained: Not Applicable
Key Players: Muralitharan, Brendon McCullum, RP Singh
Dark Horse: John Hastings, Kedar Jadhav, Vinay Kumar
Group A: Delhi Daredevils

   It seems the Group B is well stacked with 2 former champions. Unlike Pune Warriors, Kochi Tuskers have their hands full and don’t look all that deadly to handle. Since it isn’t about topping Group A and Group B separately the ten teams will realize they cannot afford slip ups. The top 4 will only make the cut and there are no consolation prizes. That’s that then, wishing you all a fun-tastic and fooper IPL. The entertainment just got a little dirty!
p.s. - Who are your key players to watch out for in the IPL4. Share with us in the comments section. Cheers!

ICC World T20 - Semi Finals Preview

Alas, the semi-finals are here. Australia, England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka the final four surviving teams. Here on, the loser doesn't get another shot at the title. No more depending on results from other games. Every man for himself, rather every team must now win. The line-up suggests Sri Lanka take on England in the first of the two semi-finals and "defending champs", Pakistan face off against Australia in the other encounter.


 England Vs Sri Lanka


    Poms have looked very strong and only bad weather has resulted their only loss in this tournament. Form of KP, finishers in Morgan & Wright, seamers, spinners they have had it all. If there was a run the Poms ever dreamed of it would not be better than this. Facing Lnaka will be a sigh of relief for them. They need to crack the top-order early and apply pressure on the inexperienced and naive Sri Lankan line-up. Malinga-Mendis will have to be negotiated. Should play Mendis positively and as late as possible. With the Ashes still a while from now, we could have a T20 treat if the two teams Aus and Eng make it through. England clearly have the upper-hand in this encounter.

   Lankans have fought hard and made it to the semi-finals once again. The semis being played in St. Lucia will give them some high. But, they are still struggling with Jayasurya's form with the bat. Batting still depends on Sangakkara, Dilshan and Jayawardene. They have dont well till now(not all at once) and would like to carry on for two more games. Malinga was been used by S'kkara in one over spells against India. Not sure if that is effective enough. Sure he got the breakthrus but, as a batsmen if Malinga goes off after bowling 6 balls I'm more than relieved. King Kumar might have to think on those terms. Mendis most likely to play against the Poms, as they haven't seen much of him. As always the islanders should give a tough fight to any opposition and on their day triumph.

Australia Vs Pakistan


   Ozzies clearly ahead of the rest as far as form is concerned. Coming into the semis crushing every opponent by huge margins, Aussies would like to continue the juggernaut. Already faced Pakistan once in the competition, the Aussies were cruising at 10 r.p.o. until the last over where Aamir bowled the WWWW0W  over. Nevertheless, Aus had a huge total and pushed aside any hope from the Pakis of an upset victory. The Aussie bowling attack probably the most feared at the moment. Dirty Dirk + Sloon + Itchy Mitch + Twatto and spin from SPD Smith, Pup and DJ. Batting looks top notch as well, even White Bear and Mr. Cricket have bailed out the team when Twatto, Warner, Pup, DJ miss the bullet. Champion stuff!

   But, Aus will not take the defending champs lightly. No team will take Pakistan on basis of current form. They are one unpredictable side and lift their game when one least expects them to. Boom Boom Afridi the capt. in charge, leads the team on his own terms and conditions. He will take any steps that are required to win a game (read "even take a bite"). Batting however hasn't been their strength of late. Looks brittle, but with the Akmal bros., Butt, Misbah, Boom Boom, Hafeez, Razzaq  there is some depth. Bowling has been the key, Ajmal Aamir leading the attack, Hafeez, Boom Boom and Razzaq/anyone who can roll his arm. But like Deccan Chargers did in IPL3 the defending champs mite just bite the dust in the semis. Or will they?

ICC World T20 - Super 8 Group F preview

The story in Group F of the super 8 its more likely the same. Lets have a quick look at the teams.

Australia - *Ozzy desperate for T20 success*
Ex-world champions in every format of the game. Wait a minute.. not T20! But, they did beat the defending champs quite convincingly. Got the best pace attack and use SPD Smith and Puppy Clarke as frontline spinners!
Since 2 of their 3 super 8 games are in Barbados their weak spin dept may not affect them. Look good to cruise into the semis despite the loss against Zimbabwe in the practise match and sudden slump against Bangladesh in the previous match. Hunger to win in this format is bringing the best out of them.

Wah say, "Better late than never" No.1 finish

Sri Lanka - *Lanka living in the Past*
Very well balanced side but, seems to lack the ability to give the final blow when the opposition is weak. After Sangakkara the batting looks like crockery, looks good but the cracks cant be hidden.
Lankan attack sans Moorali will make life tougher, Slinga Malinga will have too much riding on him. Dilshan, Jayawardene, Sangakkara have their task cut out. Jayasurya needs to bat higher probably no.4.

Wah say, "Surprised?" No.4 finish

India - *Incredible India*
Will have to play out of their skins to restore lost pride after the humiliation that defending champs of '07 could not go past the super 8 stage in '09. MSD will look to senior players to play with responsibility. But when Yuvi, Bhajji are among them its Dooms-day!
Nevertheless, Indian contingent looks balanced. Should be able to give a fight. The road ahead is difficult and the journey still a long one. The opening pair is still in search of some calmness, the fielding needs to lift the game. Yusuf should be tried higher in the batting order probably ahead or Yuvi at no.4.
Praveen Kumar is injured and Umesh Yadav of the Delhi Daredevils is his replacement.

Wah say, "Thou shall fight on the beaches, Thou shall fight on the cricket grounds, Thou shall fight ... Thou shall never surrender." No.2 finish

West Indies - *Curry-Bean flavour*
The home team will have the advantage of knowing the conditions but, it comes down to performance and Windies look iffy at best. Good range of allrounders available for the captain in Sammy, Bravo, Pollard and himself.
Sarwan needs to click soon. Big-Benn will be crucial and how Gayle uses him. Rampaul is better suited in the dressing room and nowhere near the field.

Wah say, "If u play the perfect host.." No.3 finish

DLF IPL 3.0 DareDevils tame the Zintans

It's finally happening, not just the 3rd edition of the IPL and Lalit Modi shimmering in the Indian heat. But, the first ever IBIB... ummm .. Inter-Blogatic IPL Battle.

Yes, we are the latest to join the rest of the bunch . We maybe last but its God given.. cos we now support the one n only Dilli Daredevils. Oh, the joy and fulfillment bla bla bla.. as u can see i'm running short on the buzzer. Just 15 mins to go for their nxt game and I need the points secured. So, this is wat hapnd in the opening game for Delhi. Zintans bat 1st. Screw up to make a good total (it was less even on a green track). Dirk Nannes breathes fire! 4 overs 2 wkts for 12 runs! Whoz da man now !!?? Mahroof & Nannes dont allow the Kings from Punjab to build partnerships. Bopara get 56(48) Punjab end at 142. Dilshan, Viru, AB, dont seem to be interested in a low scoring match which means capt. G does the rest himself!

DD were at 45/3 and then 79/4 but,Mithun Manhas played along with his capt. not sure whether he got recognised. DK got a start too. Capt. G fined 20,000 $ for slow over-rate. 1st win and 2 points in the bag. Gr8 start to DLF IPL 3.0 Period!

IPL 3.0 DEVILS PARADISE

DELHI DAREDEVILS

The only team in the league whose name and game is pure EVIL! Batting order that excites the ladies and a barrage of left arm bowlers that make any ordinary man facing wet his pants. Its quite disturbing that this mean side has not won the IPL yet. Missing out on both times in the knock-out phase. Perhaps, bcoz every member in the team seem to be on a suicide mission and is looking to hit every ball for a DLF maximum!! This has resulted in upset victories for the opponents and despite topping the table in season by a mile. One Gilly performance ended the journey for the Daredevils in the semis.

The Virender Sehwag left-arm fast bowler fetish just seems to have gone too far, they purchased yet another Lefty - Wayne (not Rooney) Parnell! Oh yea, Sehwag might not be the one leading the team but, he surely has got the men he would rather not face at the crease. Nannes will have stiff competition from Parnell, while Warner's form will be sweet poison for the Delhi team whose batting order already boasts of Sehwag, Gauti, AB DeVil, Dilshan, Karthik. Choosing the 4 foreign players may become a new concern for the team which has already kept the likes of Glenn Mc Grath, Paul Collingwood & Owais Shah on bench. They have also got in Moises Henriques from KKR in trade. No worries, no regrets as far as the squad is concerned. Champion stuff!


SQUAD:Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, AB de Villiers, Avishkar Salvi, David Warner, Dirk Nannes, Gautm Gambhir, Joginder Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Mithun Manhas, Moises Henriques, Farveez Maharoof, Pradeep Sangwan, Rajat Bhatia, Sarabjeet Ladda, Sarandeep Singh, Dilshan, Umesh Yadav, Virender Sehwag, Yo Mahesh, Wayne Parnell, Yogesh Nagar.

STRENGTH: Explosive Batting order. Captaincy of Gauti.

WEAKNESS: Success or failure is just decided by the man on the boundary. HIT or MISS strategy!

WATCH OUT FOR: Warner, Dilshan, Parnell, Nannes... we shall just stop there.

WAH'S XI:

• Sehwag
• Warner
• Dilshan
• Gauti©
• DeVil
• Karthik
• Bahtia/Manhas
• Parnell/Nannes
• Mishra
• Sangwan
• Nehra

WAH SAY:Anything less than winning the championship will be tagged as failure. That pressure is sure to be on the players. Most likely to see Nannes & Parnell fight it out for one spot. Would have played both if Warner consistency is a question. Gauti playing lower will steady the team if needed. Overall, Excited from the looks of it. Dare to beat the Devils anyone?

p.s: Just a reminder of the famous bench-warmers the side has produced. A small tribute to those guys!

World T20 champs, Unbeaten side of the summer & Chockers

Announcing a list of 30 probables may not be fair on most teams. Where India, Pakistan, Australia, England will be sad only 30 probables are allowed. West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Bangladesh will have to run a nation-wide talent hunt to choose 30 cricketers.

Pakistan have shown exactly why the format is tailor made for them. Runners-up in the first edition and champions in the second. They have talent in heaps as the match gets over in 40 at the most 42 overs!
This meaning they dont get bored to death fielding and start biting balls or get run-over by human trucks or want to have a dope in between overs. This is how their 30 list looks like : Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt, Shahzaib Hassan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Naveed Yasin, Hasan Raza, Kamran Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Hammad Azam, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Sami, Saeed Ajmal, Raza Hasan, Abdul Rehman, Kamran Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Zulqarnain Haider.
No Shoaib Akhtar! No Tanvir. Too many new names, I cant comment anything. Strong team nevertheless.

The once mighty Aussies now running a 3-legged race with Ind and Saf for the top spot have had a phenomenal year. Barring the Ashes and the world T20 they won everything infact every game! Unbeaten until the last T20 against the Kiwis they seem to have now finally settled into a T20 combination.
The Pace attack looks the quickest set in a long time and hitters are no less. Aggression seems to be the key once again in the Aussie camp and dont be surprised if they manage to conquer the world T20 in their 3rd attempt.
Michael Clarke (capt), George Bailey, Travis Birt, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Bracken, Daniel Christian, Ben Cutting, Xavier Doherty, Brad Haddin (wk), Ryan Harris, John Hastings, Nathan Hauritz, Moises Henriques, Brad Hodge, James Hopes, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew McDonald, Shaun Marsh, Clint McKay, Dirk Nannes, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith, Shaun Tait, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White.
Graham Manou lost out its sad, Hodge is still considered is a big news in itself. Looks like a very strong and high profile list of contenders. Must be very difficult to get down to the final squad.

The Chockers oops.. Saffers have long proven to be the ultimate no.2 team in the world. They work hard, play well, win and when it comes to earning rewards they choke. That's what they do for a living basically.
Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Abdulla, Hashim Amla, Loots Bosman, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Colin Ingram, Justin Kemp, Rory Kleinveldt, Charl Langeveldt, Ethy Mbhalati, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe, Johannes van der Wath, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Morne van Wyk.

Quick Update: Aus Pak T20 match

It was a nail-biting finish to what should have been an easy affair. Aussies elected to bat after winning the toss. They lost Twatto early, guess his muscles were still stiff. “Lloyd” Warner and Capt. Pup gave a solid start and they were 50/1 after 6 overs. Then wickets tumbled with White doing his massacre in style. DJ Hussey(40*) was the mainstay of the batting and steered them to a miserable score of 127. Pakistan bowling and fielding was top-notch and showed why they simply love this format of the game and why they are the T20 World Champions at the moment. Right from the wicket of Watson, the fielders were charged up. Wickets of White , Pup and Nannes can prove it. Bowling, after 6 overs was right on the money. Shoaib“I’m the Capt. Haha”Malik, Umer“I luv T20”Gul and Saeed“Side 2 Side”Ajmal tightened the screws.

Then came Pakistan batting. The openers were erratic and were out cheaply. It was nice to see Shaun"Sloon"Tait back in the side. His opening spell was just breathtaking. The line, length, pace everything was excellent. He was well supported by Dirty Dirk Nannes from the other end who was also pacy. Then came in Kamran"Butterfingers"Akmal and counter-attacked really well. Kamran stuck onto Johnson in his first over and then he came back nicely. It was a swashbuckling innings of 64 from just 34 deliveries. He almost led Pakistan to victory. He was dropped on 64 and unfortunately he was out the next ball. Wickets started tumbling from then on. The Australian bowling was just fantastic... Watson was useful too. The young lad, Steven Peter Devereux Smith was pretty impressive with his leggies. MOM was Sloon Tait for his 3/13 from 4 breathtaking overs.

Turning Point: Many may say that the turning point was the wicket of Kamran Akmal, but according to me, the 17th over bowled by Mitch Johnson, was the turning point. Rana Naved ate all the balls and got out the next over.

So, it’s been a " DEFINETELY FORGETTABLE TOUR " for the visitors. They must feel like eating cricket balls right now (If you know what I mean..) White washed !!

• 3-0 in Tests


• 5-0 in ODIs


• 1-0 in T20