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 - 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.

DLF IPL - DC CSK mixed fortunes

We know DC are the defending champs but look at the mess they've got themselves into. First, they don't play at Hyderabad which is the official home ground for the DCs. They end up playing their home games at Cuttack, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur and their horror run of losing home games continues. Their last home game against the Raj Royals, who have stressed on building that fortress for opposing teams when playing at home. RR have the best home games record. Mumbai Indians this season have set the same tune. So, how crucial is it playing at home and more importantly winning!

DC bowled well, played with a plan and executed it. They really needed the win to equal CSK, RR, KKR on points and fight to the semis. 159 still seemed a lil disappointing as they managed to avoid some serious beating from the hands of their old pal Yusuf-cant-play-short-stuff-Pathan who has won 4 M.O.M's in 5 games they have played. Shane-can-whack-Watson's knock helped RR post a target of 160 for the DCs. And from there DC batsmen switched their brains off. They managed to go from 137/5 to 157 all out. This with Rohit-I'm-going-to-WI-Sharma hitting 73 from 44 and not able to hit 3 runs from the last 2 deliveries and DC were all out. Only CSK could have managed to lose it from there (Remember chasing 139 against KxiP). So, their fate now looks stuck above the KxiP but, they still can make it due to weird calculations.

So, we see how did DC actually perform ala the Sooper Kings. This is what we can understand from the team's fortunes up to now:

• Gilly = MSD : Capt and WK - both have come and gone, hit a few but, missed mostly. (MSD was injured in between)
• Gibbs = Haydos : Both have swished the bat like Harry Porters wand, the spells seemed to backfire very often.
• Rohit = Raina : Both have played some good knocks, looked curious for more but then disappointed.
• VVS = Badri : Two batsmen who seemed to be in wrong place at the wrong time playing the wrong game.
• Symonds = Morkel : All-rounders for their teams, never really performed to potential or previous performances.
• Vaas = Murali : Both had good beginning to IPL this season, Vaas eventually ran outta gas, Murali on the way?
• Ojha = Jakati : The two left-armers have picked wickets but have gone for plenty.
• Rahul = Ashwin : back-up spinners hardly looked vicious in batsmen's paradise.
• RP = Gony/Tyagi : Jaskaran = Balaji : Harmeet = Joginder They have been in a league on their own. No matter who is picked the result doesn't change.

CSK have recovered with Vijay clicking at the top. Murali has been resonable and with MSD back they look better placed than DC who need to win all from here and hope the others don't. Interestingly, CSK-DC have to play each other in the remaining games to come. CSK have 8 pts from 9 games and DC have 6 pts from 9 games. Just 5 matches each, its a fight to the death for each one of them. RR and RCB will their main threats, considering KKR like to goof it up when someone takes them seriously.

IPL 3.0 Royal Spirit

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Introducing this team is like showing light to the sun(LOL), from being the under-dog champions to now being over-rated chimps they have done it all in just 2 seasons of IPL. The big news last year was Shilpa Shetty and her beau who had bought stakes in the champion side. From there on everything seemed to go down-hill literally! Warne the chief-in-charge could not re-create the magic the Royals put up in the debut season. Partly due to missing key players like Watson and Tanvir who were very effective in the inaugural season. Even Graeme Smith dint look in touch even at home conditions. So, they ended up missing the cut to the semis but, entertained us with a few fiercely fought games. Thus, keeping us interested in the Royals.

This year they have done Warne some favour and made him feel at home by bringing in some of his mates from down under and his county side Hampshire. Michael Lumb currently making news is also one to look out for. Damien Martyn was probably the steal for them in the auctions it has to be seen whether he stands to that. Otherwise losing Kaif and Jadeja has made their domestic rooster even more brittle. Apart from that Royals planning to expand their franchise even outside India is a bold and great move.

SQUAD: Shane Warne, Johan Botha, Damien Martyn, Michael Lumb,Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Shrikant Wagh, Abhishek Raut, Sumit Narwal, Faiz Fazal, Syed Ahmed Quadri, Amit Paunikar, Kamran Khan, Amit Singh, Graeme Smith, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Morne Morkel, Shaun Tait, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Sidharth Trivedi, Swapnil Asnodkar, Mahesh Rawat, Naman Ojha, Amit Paunikar.

STRENGTHS: Warne's captaincy, his ability to make heroes out of unknowns.

WEAKNESS: Domestic players aren't top-class or even half of that. Sticking to just 4 foreign players will be tough.

WATCH OUT FOR: Michael Lumb as said earlier, Shaun SLOON Tait who's been in impressive form for Australia in T20s.

WAH's xi:

• Smith
• Naman Ojha
• Abhishek Jhunjhunwala
• Damien Martyn/Michael Lumb
• Dimitri Mascarenhas/Shane Watson
• Yusuf Pathan
• Shane Warne©
• Abhishek Raut
• Kamran Khan
• Sidharth Trivedi
• Munaf Patel

WAH Say: The team looks mighty weak, if they need Tait/Morkel they would have to either drop a foreign player who can bat. The pinch of losing Jadeja, Kaif is gonna feel like a sledge hammer slammed on to your face! Sure to end at the bottom of the league table. Expect very few wins this time. Ex-champions will have to remain "ex".

IPL 3.0 Coming Soon!

Yes, Lalit Modi and his minions are back "bigger" and "louder" than ever! Somehow, I can't wait. With just about 8 days you can almost sense it's here already, with everybody on TWITTER constantly ranting the same training, practice match crap. So, we decided to see who's been up to what in the last one year and what has really undergone in the team building process. Who stands where and who is running the lead.. already. Your favourite, my favourite, everyone's favourite. Once again it boils down to the 8 teams and their performance on the field so, no matter how much we want in the end only one team can be crowned "champions"! Let the battle begin..

DLF IPL 3.0 - Shane Warne, Royals & Vastu Shastra

Warney has a simple funda to win the IPL, every time they play in India they win.. Did he just relate to Vastu shastra??? Wow.. Only issue is that that has happened just once and we need more proof for that. Royals are glad they'r back in India and they are ready to win what's theirs.

Yours Royally

Rajasthan Royals once again became the first IPL franchise to embark upon new territories with their business plans. The Royals are set to unveil a groundbreaking global alliance with Hampshire and other Twenty20 teams from around the world. Together forming a global franchise entitled Royals 2020. Seems, just the right way forward as per the financial aspects are concerned. Apart from Hampshire, Cape Cobras from South Africa and Trinidad & Tobago from the West Indies have been in talks for the same. Victoria Bushrangers are yet to give their nod after being approached by the Royals. All teams that come under the “Royals” umbrella will have to incorporate ‘Royals’ into the name of their T20 sides. So, Hampshire Hawks become Hampshire Royals or any other with Royals being a part of their side’s name. The Royals have also proposed a “Royals Festival” a T20 cricket festival featuring all the royals’ teams in England later this year.

Surprisingly, B.C.C.I. have not erupted into the scene and done the usual hara-kiri. But, all’s not well with the ECB objecting to the Royals Festival as it will collide in dates with their T20 domestic competition and divert attention (really?).

Other English county teams are in pursuit of possible mergers with IPL franchises. Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders are thought to be keen on partnerships in England. This only takes the sport to interestingly new highs.

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!*