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!

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.

First-Aid

Due to some unpredictable circumstances the forthcoming test championship battle between the top two test playing nations South Africa and India (read in order) now seems more like a battle of chimps. Yes, first the saffers monkey around sack the coach and then the entire selection committee. Mean while self appreciating team India go to Bangladesh for a two test series, the toughest there could ever be and result in injuries. It started with captain MS Dhoni, Bhajji, and then spread like wild fire to Sreesanth, VVS, Dravid, Yuvraj and some bits of Sachin to add. Although MSD and Bhajji have recovered since and Sachin looks okay it raises the basic question whether the two teams are ready to play for the top position. The Proteas don’t seem to be bothered with Mickey and the rest of the Disney gang changing but, India need some serious replacements if they are to retain the no.1 spot in the ICC (mindless morons inc.) test ratings. So, who are capable to replace the likes of Dravid, VVS and Yuvi in such short notice let us see.

Mock’s pick:
Well, with Dravid out with the jaw fracture, I just can’t see a better replacement than S Badrinath. He has got what it takes to be a 1 down batsman. Skill, technique, good hand eye coordination etc. He has been the backbone for Tamilnadu in the Ranji Trophy for years now.
Vijay is sure to hang on to his place since Laxman isn’t playing against the Chokers... Oops Saffers. Though Vijay did not score much in this test, his technique did stand out. Confident and elegant.
An aggressor replacing another aggressor, a lefty replacing another lefty. Yes, it’s none other than the one who sends the ball screaming to the cow corner, Suresh Raina. Though he hasn’t played an Intl test yet, he has proved himself time and again in the county circuit. He has come of age and has proved he’s matured enough to play at the test level. Can be a handy part time bowler too and about his fielding…you know it .

Quite a coincidence that all the 3 replacement players are from Chennai Super Kings… HAIL CSK!

Steam’s angle:
There’s no point in pondering about who will when it’s the matter of who can. There is no question in the ability of Murali Vijay so, regardless whether Gauti plays at the crucial no.3 or opens with Sehwag, Vijay can play either ways. Considering Sachin is fully fit he bats at no.4, otherwise a whole new slot opens another debate. No.5 spot presently belongs to VVS playing his twilight years of cricket. Now that he is injured he should be replaced by Badrinath who has been in and out of the side for quite some time. But going on current form and the Pied Pipers tune I am tempted to opt the not so forgotten and lucky monkey of 2010 Md. Kaif. Kaif has the experience and the caliber to play the long game. His high bid in the IPL auctions and recent burst in the zonals have only helped him appear once again in the selector’s radar. Whether or not he is chosen is another case. (Remember he dint attract a single bid in the 1st round of auctions. But, what happened last lasts longer.) So, good for the chap. MSD will have to now bat at no.6 in place of Yuvi and someone can take his place batting with the lower order tail. Raina would be one contender but, recent form again points towards Virat Kohli. The boy is now a man so why not test him. Raina is in good form himself but, honestly Kohli looks more solid (tried and tested down under) and Raina’s history with the short pitched stuff will only bring smiles to Saffers. So, Badri and Raina could make the squad but not the playing eleven.

One’s who closely missed out: Pujara – he’s still got time till there are permanent openings. One opportunity and you don’t want to end up ruining your chances forever. Manish Pandey – good season of domestic cricket, still have time. Probably play some ‘A’ tours abroad. Rahane – all izz well! But not tested against international attacks. Rohit Sharma – no.