DLF IPL - HOME TEAM

Early 2008 when talks about starting the Indian Premier League were raised. The one good reason(besides stealing the limelight from ICL) was that local talent will get a platform to play with greats of the game, international exposure and opportunity to get noticed. On those lines, the 3rd season has not been disappointing as most teams realised that besides having 4 quality intl players in the team, it is very important to have 7 talented local guys, who can steal victories for them. Some teams could not get the combination right like DD and KKR where some like RCB and MI had headache with whom to bench. But, these local guys have to be the toast of the third season of DLF IPL. Here are the xi players who well truly define the term "HOME TEAM".

• Naman Ojha
• Murali Vijay
• Tirumalasetti Suman
• Faiz Fazal
• Saurabh Tiwary
• Ambatti Rayudu
• Kedar Jadhav
• Ravichandran Ashwin
• Vinay Kumar
• Siddharth Trivedi
• Murali Kartik

No surprises for the choice of openers, both Ojha & Vijay performed 2 notches above expectations. Suman won games for DC and helped the defending champions restore pride. Fazal looked quite good in the Royals outfit. Played a very significant role in the top order. The Mumbai Indians duo of Tiwary & Rayudu probably played their best cricket together. Caused lot of problems in the opposition's game plan. Jadhav had one really good knock for the Daredevils but, there on the Double D's couldn't figure out whom to play. Ashwin opened the bowling and did some serious damage for the Chennai Super Kings. His ability to mix it up and be very unpredictable was sheer class. Dint look like a rookie was in action. Vinay Kumar bowled very well initially and later got the stick treatment. But, in parts was good. SidT also bowled within his limits but mixed it very well and reaped praise from his captain and team mates. Murali Kartik showed with his county experience and Indian conditions was very effective but, was not used all that well.

Many others impressed. Of course, there is not room for all. We pick just eleven but, here we must mention a few. Ashoke Dinda once again showed signs of a smart bowler. Old Horse, Romesh Powar was very good but lack of wickets and 2 spinners already in the list meant he was left out. Badrinath, faced lot of criticism but had few good knocks that saved CSK the blushes. Mithun Manhas, Sarabjeet Ladda, Iqbal Abdulla, M.S.Bisla, Hameet Singh showed that domestic strength is very vital for the IPL teams.

IPL 3.0 Fully Charged

DECCAN CHARGERS

When the Deccan Chargers ended rock bottom in the inaugural season of the IPL, it shocked quite a few how a team that had Gilchrist, Symonds & Afridi not succeed in this format. And to come from a season full of disappointments to be crowned champions in the very next premier league season is a serious achievement. They had a new skipper in Gilly new team management new team colors. As to say, they almost had a new beginning. And what a beginning that was to be. Beating the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 runs and becoming the 2nd under-dog team to win the champions title. The Champions League T20 was a disaster for them. Getting knocked out in the 1st round of the competition.

Citing the success Fidel Edwards had, the Chargers have roped in Kemar Roach to boost their pace attack. They have also been swift in getting the Aussie u-19 world cup winning captain and brother of Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh. Whether the rookie lives up to the hype is yet to be seen. Overall, a well balanced side. Defending champs need to press their authority from the very start.

SQUAD: Tirumalasetti Suman, Herschelle Gibbs, V. V. S. Laxman, Arjun Yadav, Azhar Bilakhia, Rohit Sharma, D.B.Ravi Teja, Monish Mishra, Anirudh Singh, Adam Gilchrist, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Marsh, Dwayne Smith, Yalaka Venugopal Rao, Andrew Symonds, Ashish Reddy, B.Sumanth, R. P. Singh, Harmeet Singh, Chaminda Vaas, Kemar Roach, Pragyan Ojha, Rahul Sharma.


STRENGTHS: Gilly's batting, Gilly's leadership, Gilly.... It's all abt him here.


WEAKNESS:The part time bowling of Venu and Suman worked, may not be the case this time. Gibbs form is hit & miss.

WATCH OUT FOR:Mitchell Marsh the new boy from down-under. Kemar Roach's deadly few. Roy will wanna prove he's still among the best in the world.

WAH'S XI:

• Gilly©
• VVS/Gibbs
• Rohit
• Symonds
• Venu
• Suman
• Azhar
• Harmeet/Harris
• Ojha
• RP Singh
• Roach

WAH SAY: Ideally will want to try Mitchell Marsh opening with Gilly. If that fails there is always VVS solid as ever lost in the world of just 20 overs a side. Gibbs form should get him a ticket into the playing xi. The defending champs have to lift their game as all other sides have boosted their camps with some ICL recruits. The domestic strength still a worry. Looking good nevertheless.

30 Probables announced for the T20 WC

Squad: M.S. Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, S. Sreesanth, Sudeep Tyagi, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Piyush Chawla, Abhimanyu Mithun, Manish Pandey, R.P. Singh, Munaf Patel, Murali Vijay, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Virat Kohli and R. Ashwin

The Jokers at B.C.C.I. are at it again.. News comes in with the 30-man probables list announced for the T20 World Cup in West Indies. I'm not aware what the cut-off dates are to announce the 30 probables but, as always the selectors have left us unsatisfied. Good to see Pandey and Mithun get their neck in. Nayar too has made it, very positive indeed. Saha and Naman Ojha spell disaster in every scale of measurement. Clearly someone was caught napping. The other Ojha is back and Mishra-ji dint have to pay for it. In fact, Piyush "Fuze" Chawla, R Ashwin, add Jadeja to that list.. how many spinners do we need? Durby is the 1st choice in any case!!

P.K., Sree, Munaf, Nehra birds of the same feather... and Ishant is not far behind. Pradeep Sangwan might have been unlucky. But, where is Irfan? Pujara still not finding space in the selector's radar surprises me. Goswami is a talent over-looked as well. Rahane missed the bus. Perhaps the IPL 3.0 will raise more eyebrows in this 30 member squad. Hopefully, the final squad is not a mockery.

W.W.W.S. -While Wah were Sloshed...

• Pak lost to Aus again.


• Ind bowl out Bangers for 233.


• Saf announced their test and ODI squad for Indian tour.


• SL resume the romance with Ind.


• Pak u-19 reach u-19 WC finals.


• GG does a Viv, in search of the Don.

The second ODI between Australia and Pakistan played at Sydney, resulted in the Aussies thrashing the Stanis by a mere 140 runs margin. Opting to bowl first, Stani’s fast bowlers were not effective enough. Aussie openers, Twatto & Marshy put up a hundred run stand and set the drums rolling. The spinners though brought them back in the game. White once again played well, his fifty helped Australia post 267. Not a mighty but, a competitive total keeping both the teams interested in the match. The second innings however, faired very poorly for the Stanis. Bollinger started strongly claiming 2 early wickets, Pak – 2/7. Clint McKay continued the Aussie onslaught reducing Pak to 7/71. Peter Sizzle was sizzling as well.. Not long before Pak were all out for 127 falling short by a mere 140 runs. Aus now 2-0 up in the 5 match ODI series.

The other Pakistani team though was just proving to be unbeatable. The u-19 boys beat the Windies and moved into the finals of the u-19 world cup. Sri Lanka face Australia in the other semis match.

Saffers announced their test and ODI squad for the Indian tour starting in February. Botha gets into the test squad. Gibbs in the ODI squad. Peterson in both. Albie Morkel still missing. I hope Prince is not going to Open the batting with Smith again. It’s clearly not his game. I’d prefer to see Amla-Smith opening, followed by Kallis, AB Devil, Prince then Doominy. Let’s see wats in store for us ahead.

Sri Lankans though don’t seem to be interested in sitting idle. They got the time, they got the deal. Yet another Ind-SL tournament now featuring Kiwis. The Ind-SL romance just can’t be kept under wraps for the moment.

Gautam Gambhir who hit his 5th consecutive ton in tests against the Bangers at Cheetah-gong, was very much in line to achieve sir Don’s record of 6 consecutive test tons in the 2nd test at Dhaka before he got out on 68. Awwww… u just can stop feeling for the man. Gauti however did manage to equal sir Viv Richards record of 11 consecutive 50+ scores in as many tests. Wow!! I dint see that coming..

India earlier bowled out the Bangers for 233 in the 1st inn at Dhaka. Ishant claimed 4 wkts, Zaks took 3. Mysteriously, Mishra-ji was dropped in this test. Pragyan Ojha and Bhajji made their return. Also, Murali Vijay replaced the injured VVS Laxman. MSD resumed duty behind wickets. Mahmudullah once again played well for his 96.