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!

IPL Season 4 Opener

  Its that time of the year again.. you know, "DLF maximums", "Karbonn Kamaal Catch", "Citi moment of Success" yada yada all that crap sans Modi cam err.. Lalit K Modi. Well, what's new then? Primarily the tournament is bigger with 10 teams now in the fray and the format is as complex as the Benedict–Webb–Rubin equation, if not more. You know.. split into two groups then play home and away games with teams in their group and a random draw to pick the team to play twice from the opposite group and play the rest of the teams once.. Then the Playoffs for the finals. Phew!! If you're still reading this, either that made complete sense to you or you are waiting for the Benedict–Webb–Rubin reference to appear in this post somewhere. In the case of the latter please stop reading now! Thank you, for those now searching for some IPL hungama can continue reading.

   Two new franchises Sahara Group owned Pune Warriors India and Rendezvous Sports World Kochi Cricket Pvt Ltd. owned Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Yes, the tradition of picking crappy team names is still very much evident. Somethings that keep the IPL very Indian indeed. Along with new teams the existing 8 teams were busy at the auctions buying players since the existing 3 year deal for all teams went *poof*. All franchisee owners were allowed to retain a maximum of 4 players (2 foreigners max). The first player retained will cost a team $1.8 million against the salary cap of $9 million, regardless of the amount the player is actually paid. The second player will cost $1.3 million, the third $900,000 and the fourth $500,000. Using all four retention options will mean that a franchise will have only $4.5m to spend on 26 other players. IPL season 3 champions CSK and runner-up MI were the only two teams to retain 4 players each. Where as, season 2 champs DC, KKR, KxiP did not retain even a single player. DD, RCB retained 1 player each and RR the inaugural season winners retained 2 players.

Players Retained:

• CSK - MS Dhoni (Ind), Suresh Raina (Ind), Murali Vijay (Ind), Albie Morkel (RSA)
• MI - SR Tendulkar (ind), Harbhajan Singh (Ind), Lasith Malinga (SL), Kieron Pollard (WI)
• RR - Shane Warne (Aus), Shane Watson (Aus)
• DD - Virender Sehwag (Ind)
• RCB - Virat Kohli (Ind)

 In the players auctioning things seemingly went very ugly. Some key highlights of the auctions can be seen HERE. The 10 teams have been split into two groups A and B.

Group A	Group B
Deccan Chargers	Kolkata Knight Riders
Delhi Daredevils	Kochi Tuskers Kerala
Kings XI Punjab	Royal Challengers Bangalore
Mumbai Indians	Rajasthan Royals
Pune Warriors India	Chennai Super Kings

   Coming up next will be the "Team Previews" before the "maha yudh" starts. So dont forget to catch all the action-reactions right here!

DLF IPL - Wahs at War II

So the first of the knock-out games and a mouth watering one that promises to keep the water boiling till the very end. This is WAR! and we like to keep it that way between the bat and ball.

MI-Mumbai Indians were the favourites to win the IPL 3.0 even before it started and they haven't disappointed so far. Yes, a few hiccups here and there , but looks like its all sorted out. Questions were raised after the MI-CSK match when the wickets fell like 9 pins as soon as GOD(read SRT)retired. From then on,its been a collective effort from the batting side.Ambati-Did the Selectors notice my batting-Rayudu , Saurabh-a la MSD-Tiwary have been in good form right through the tournament. Keiron-10 ball wonder-Pollard has shown what he is capable of with the bat and ball. Duminy has found his long lost form. He is the new "Man with the golden arm", breaks important partnership. Proven and tested. Mclaren has been consistent with the ball. Coming to their bowling, its easily one of the best attacks. Zaks and Mclaren share the new ball and they hardly get hit.More importantly they uproot 1 or 2 wickets . Bhajji has been tremendous with the ball(even with the bat a couple of times). Lasith-Slinga-Malinga is easily their trump bowler with his pace, swing, variations. He is difficult to get through. I am sure he is a part of everybody's fantasy team :) Pollard is good for a 5th bowler. Satish, Duminy can be handy too. Their fielding has been fantabulous. They are a truly 3-d team. Jaya and Bravo have been the disappointments and are likely to sit out. Dhawan may open with SRT. The toss doesn't really for this team as they have an excellent bowling to defend the target and they have an explosive batting order which can chase down any target. Thier main strategy is remove KP and Uthappa ASAP, they are ones who change gears and up the ante. Jumbo has been in terrific form too, so its better they play away Jumbo without losing wickets. Its a knock out match for both the teams. MI would want all their 3 departments to fire and fire BIG TIME. If it does happen, there's no stopping the MI.

RCB- Dr. Mallya's merry men not in a very merry mood after the last few games giving them a scare of being knocked out before the knock-out stages. But Aal izz well in the RCB camp except they now face the table toppers Mumbai Indians enroute to the grand finale. RCB might be considered the under-dogs especially after the home ground conditions being stolen from them and gifted to their semi-finals opponents. Nevertheless, RCB being the under-dogs has to be a good sign(As that's what the IPL is all abt). Team strategy should ideally be - Win toss, elect to bowl first and get Sachin early. With Sachin in the hut, half the job is done. But, don't let the likes of Tiwary, Rayudu settle getting a couple of wickets exposes the chink in Mumbai's Armour i.e. their middle order. Restrict the Mumbai Indians and then beat them all over the park with a batting order to boast. C'mon Kallis, Dravid, KP, Rosco, Robin, Kohli.. hahaha. Mumbai may have a bowling attack on the sheets as well but, expect some buffet bowling and you shall be granted. Bowling needs to be extra-tight not sure if Pankaj Singh will get another game, expect PK to be back and Jumbo, Vinay, should support Kallis & Steyn very well. The pitch will not assist pace a lot but, when you can bowl @150+ you really don't need the pitch to help you. RCB should look to get ROFL Merwe in if you ask me. That will change a lot in the match. So, Kallis, KP, Merwe & Steyn can be the 4 maximum overseas players allowed. And if everything else goes by the plan RCB would have pulled an upset victory over the Mumbai Indians.

DLF IPL - How KKR are still in it

48 games and the semi-finalists still not decided. What is happening here? Someone surely knew watching 56 league stage games is going to be boring as shit. But, what we have here is completely bizzare. Even Lalit Modi could not have written a better script. Only Mumbai Indians have booked their seat for the knock-outs. The rest are just are mastering the art of hara-kiri. Believe it or not, despite yday's massive loss KKR can still make it to the top 4. This is how 6 teams can end up at exact 14 points after the league stage is complete.

49th match - Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers Bangalore
50th match - Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils
51st match - Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab
52nd match - Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians
53rd match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals
54th match - Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings
55th match - Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers
56th match - Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians
* teams in BOLD win

which means the points table looks like this:

• MI - 18 pts
• CSK - 14 pts
• RCB - 14 pts
• DD - 14 pts
• RR - 14 pts
• KKR - 14 pts
• KxiP- 10 pts

**Red- already in semis
**Blue - already knocked out

So, what KKR needs now is 2 big wins. Just go out there, and kill the opposition. They have nothing to lose except lose what they are already losing. NRR will play a major part again in this years IPL. Some team is surely to end up in tears and ex-performances will flash in front of their eyes.

Also have been hearing KxiP still have a chance.. I'm sorry I don't see how that is possible. Given they win both their games they still end up at 12 points only and surely other teams will end up higher. But, they can surely try and get rid of the 8th place finish.

So, who's it gonna be? No one knows yet.. Looks like a very close race. DD look in trouble, RR look good, DC are unpredictable. Will CSK, RCB hold on in the last leg? Aaaaah... Who ever is writing this script is doing a fine job.

IPL 3.0 Royally Challenged Bangalore

Royals Challengers Bengalooru ,owned by none other than Dr.Mallya was a much hyped team during the first edition of IPL and they went down begging.There were talks that their team was more of a 'Test' team rather than 20-20. None of them really clicked in that edition which really irked Mallya.There were some problems in their management and the coaches were replaced . Dravid stepped down from captaincy and the Jumbo took up the challenge.The only good thing about them in the first edition was their cheer group. They were the underdogs in the second edition but they proved they weren't. They were the runners-up in the second edition. They surely made Mallya one the happiest men 0n the planet. This time also they are looking really good.I am sure the team managers are gonna have a hell of a time finalizing the playing XI. They have bought Eoin Morgan , whos the shining star for the Poms at the moment. With aggressive batting and excellent fielding , he is surely to be watched out for in this edition.

SQUAD:

Anil Kumble (Captain),Kevin Pietersen,Rahul Dravid,Jesse Ryder,Virat Kohli,Ross Taylor,Cameron White,Jacques Kallis,Manish Pandey,Robin Uthappa,Wasim Jaffer,Eoin Morgan,Mark Boucher (WK),Roelof van der Merwe,Dillon Du Preez,Dale Steyn,Ashok Menaria,Sunil Joshi,K P Appanna,J ArunKumar,Devraj Patil (WK),B Akhil,Bharat Chipli,Tinu Yohanan,Saurav Bendekar,Gaurav Dhiman,Jitendra Patil,Udit Patel,Rohit Sabharwal (WK),Ishank Jaggi,Rajesh Bishnoi,Raju,Bhatkal,Gautam.C.M,Kedar Jadhav,Mithun.A,Karan Sharma,Aravind S,Bhuvanesh Kumar
Praveen Kumar,Vinay Kumar,Pankaj Singh,Suteesh R,Srivats Goswami (WK)

STRENGTHS:

They have definete match winners in their side who can win the game single handedly.Their local players are doing good too. So its gonna be interesting watching them play.Kumble being their captain is surely their strength.

WEAKNESS:

They had some communication problems in the first edition and they did not coordinate together . It looked like it was all sorted out last time . So, I don't see any weakness anymore.

WATCH OUT FOR : Robin Uthappa's last chance to prove himself to the Indian selectors. Manish Pandey would try to create some magic too. Ross Taylor, though entering only during the later half, would be a great boost . *Eoin Morgan* Period! Dale Steyn who ripped apart the Indian batting in the test series is sure to have a go at the oppositions this time . Cameron White is having the time of his life.

WAH's XI:

• Robin Uthappa*
• Manish Pandey
• Rahul Dravid
• Jaques Kallis
• Virat Kohli
• Eoin Morgan
• Van De Merwe
• Goswami*
  
• Praveen Kumar
• Anil Kumble©
• Dale Steyn

WAH'S SAY : This team looks really really strong. Very difficult to pick a definite xi, excellent bench strength. Goswami may don the gloves or Robin and Rosco/White could play. Not to forget KP! *wow* If they have a little bit of luck factor going their way , its gonna rain beer @ Bengalooru : Cheers!

DLF IPL 3.0 - Jumbo jet lands

We find out how "Jumbo" feels to be back in India. Like we dont have anything better to do... but, still the "Losers" last year hv a lot to express.. so, hear him out. He missed more than meets the eye.

DLF IPL 3.0

I'm too lazy (read sloshed), so taking an off this weekend, unless something urges me to blog. Till then enjoy the action that awaits us!!! Yea, the "DLF IPL". Nothing less than *Wah!*