CricketWag

What is about twenty20 cricket that drives bowlers into their defensive shells straight away? We have looked through the rules a dozen times and have so far not seen any law that prevents them from having attacking fields – a stackful of slips, a short leg and the like – or delivering more than the token bouncer. And yet, from the moment a team starts batting in a twenty20 match, it seems as if the bowlers go on the defensive. The attempt from the very outset seems to be to bowl a dot ball or at the most, concede a single! This when a captain of the calibre of Imran Khan had famously stated that the best way to control the run rate was to take wickets. Honestly, a side that takes six wickets in effect has bowled a maiden and considering that the new batsman will take about a couple of deliveries to settle will have ensure close to another dozen dot balls. All of which add up to something like three maiden overs! Seems to make mathematical sense, doesn’t it?

And yet, just how many times have we seen four slips and a gully for a new ball bowler or a forward short leg and a silly mid on for a spinner? Seldom, if ever! Twenty20 is all about attacking cricket, we agree. But why is it only the batsmen who are doing the attacking. Have the bowlers of the world developed lily livers or what!

A week or so ago, we had not seen the likes of Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee and David Hussey in the IPL. However, they have now sprouted up and are making a considerable impact on the tournament too. Heck, as cricket fans, we just love it. What we do not like, however, is the confusion that all this sows in the tournament. It has been bad enough trying to keep track of the teams that are being called different things by different publications – The Times of India insists that something called Team Hyderabad exists while other publications refer to the same side as Deccan Chargers – and now we are having to keep pace with rapidly changing squads. Ah heck, we are just happy to see Symonds belt a six or Lee send down a screaming bouncer. Who cares about their teams? Mind you, a bit more permanence about the line ups would help.

What do you call a person who joins his national team on the eve of a Test Match with minimal preparation, just because he wanted to play an extra Twenty20 match for a club that stuffs his wallet with Dollars? What do you call a person who says he will resign the captaincy of his country on the eve of an important Test Match and then claims that he was misquoted? What do you call a person who says he would not be too sad if Test cricket died away as it would enable him to focus on the shorter (read, more profitable) versions of the game? What do you call a person who insists that Twenty20 is a huge success and games have been sold out in spite of dipping viewership and stands?

We call him Chris Gayle. Heaven help the West Indies. He is their captain.

The IPL might have dealt Test cricket its first major blow. West Indies captain Chris Gayle has strongly hinted that he might give up playing Test cricket and instead concentrate on a career in Twenty20. Talking to reporters on the eve of the second Test against England, Gayle evidently said: “Twenty20 has come onboard and it’s made a huge impact on the world, it’s brilliant, games have been sold out and it has taken the place by storm. I look at Test cricket differently, I don’t see it as long term for me, just for me, I’m just speaking about myself.” This comes on the heels of his statement in an interview to The Guardian that he would not be sad if Test cricket died out. 

Now we have heard everything. Mind you, we do think the Windies skipper needs to take those dark glasses off. We could not spot a single “sold out” game in the IPL this year!

In what is one of the most stinging attacks delivered on the IPL, veteran cricket writer Trevor Chesterfield has lashed out at the manner in which the tournament is being handled by its own administrators. Writing in his column at cricketnext, Chesterfield pulled no punches and referred to the high profile Lalit Modi as  a” mismanaged Thespian disaster involved in an act that is sheer theatrical torture and makes him appear a bigger idiot than did George Bush on a good day.” Chesterfield was referring to the public relations side of the tournament, which he feels is an unmitigated disaster, especially after a press release that quoted Modi as having seen the report of the three umpires about Rajasthan Royals’ bowler Kamran Khan and video material of the game at “the Centurion in Pretoria.”

Chesterfield really blows his top at this, writing: “What sort of obtuse gibberish is this from what is a bunch of sycophantic morons running the IPL PR system? Just where on the map of South Africa is the Centurion in Pretoria? Is it a hotel, a shopping mall or a suburb of Tshwane? What this explains is just how dysfunctional the whole system has become, with the chief mutant ninja and his motley moronic pals giving misleading geographic details.”

We do not think he is going to get a Merry Christmas card from Lalit Modi. Honestly, we do not think it makes any difference to him.

Amid all the hype and hoopla (mostly self-generated) about the IPL, one issue that seems to have been swept under the carpet is the fact that the tournament is seeing a number of bowlers with suspect actions. Kamran Khan, who everyone was touting as India’s next pace sensation, has already been reported and now it is the turn of Amit Sing, another Rajasthan Royals player. One would have thought that in this age of technology, bowlers with suspect actions would be easier to spot. Alas, the commentators seem to be more keen on telling us what a wonderful tournament this is, rather than raising legitimate doubts about bowling actions. Mark our words – there are at least two other bowlers out there who occasionally look as if they are throwing rather than bowling.

Even as the media goes to town about Indian Sports Minister MS Gill expressing concerns that a mobile game revolving around the IPL is fuelling betting and gambling, a lot of people seem to have forgotten that the IPL had very publicly refused to use ICC’s anti-corruption and security experts in South Africa for the tournament, preferring to rely on its internal staff. Now, if that does not leave the door open for match fixers, we have no idea what does. There have already been whispers and murmurings about weird team selections and decisions, but maybe we are reading too much into cricket’s glorious uncertainties.

He may not be doing too much on the pitch, but speedster Sreesanth is not short of quotes. He has now reacted angrily to rumours that he and actress Daisy Bopanna are more than just good friends. Speaking to the Times of India’s Delhi supplement, he said that the rumours were bull excreta (well, he used a four letter word for excreta) and that he was not going to take “any more nonsense from all these single girls who want to latch on to my name.” He then decided to throw in a cheesy touch and added that his only interest right now is cricket, which is his only girlfriend! We do wish this couple a lot of luck.

If you look at The Times of India, India’s most widely read English newspaper, you will be struck by the fact that the newspaper is not mentioning the names of half of the IPL teams. While the newspaper has no problems in referring to the team from Mumbai as Mumbai Indians and the Kolkota side as Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings are referred to as “Team Chennai,” Rajasthan Royals as “Team Jaipur,” Delhi Daredevils as “Team Delhi” and Deccan Chargers as “Team Hyderabad.” And this seems to be a full-fledged editorial policy – the names of the teams are treated in this way even in celebrity columns! We do not have the foggiest idea about why this is happening – all other major newspapers are using the full IPL names of the teams. Any explanations, anyone?

Even as news filters in that team owners and sponsors are not too happy with the IPL having moved out of India and Lalit Modi has been assuring people that the next edition of the IPL will be held in the country after which it is named (imagine, the English Premier League being played in Germany!), Sri Lankan veteran Sanath Jayasuriya has stated in his column in The Times of India that he would like to play IPL matches in venues like Lord’s, Colombo and Dubai! To be fair to the Lankan blaster, he has also pointed out that playing the tournament out of India every year could be a “logistical nightmare.” Now, is the man looking for free trips abroad? You never know!

Incidentally, if you were among those who were thinking that age has not affected Jayasuriya, check out what he says about the crowds at the IPL: “Not all matches have been sellouts, but the crowds have been large and the atmosphere brilliant.” Now, either our eyesight has gone weak or the Lankan legend’s have or maybe he is watching the IPL on TV, where the empty stands are being carefully filtered out!

Well, the man has ‘fessed. Shah Rukh Khan, the high-flying owner of the low-flying (so far, at least) Kolkata Knight Riders has said that his presence was making things worse for the team. Speaking to Delhi Times (Times of India’s Delhi city supplement), the Bollywood superstar said, ” The boys are depressed, they can’t do more, and my being around makes it only worse for them. My presence in the dressing room makes them break down.” He went on to say that his team’s losses were getting highlighted because of the fact that he owned the squad (modesty, ah!) and he hoped that now that he was back in India, the team would be able to “go out and play normally.”

Incidentally, he also clarified that he had not left South Africa in a huff over his team’s defeats and that he had always intended to stay for just 15 days. Yeah, sure!

We always had a sneaky suspicion that most of the celebrities involved in the IPL did not know too much about the game itself, but even we were taken aback when one of the news channels showed footage of Preity Zintage playing beach cricket with players from Kings XI Punjab. The lady may know how to act but she does not how to hold a bat (Yuvraj did his best to show her, mind you) and can only chuck as a bowler (shocking, if one considers that round arm bowling was in fact invented by girls who could not bowl underarm becauce of their large Victorian dresses). Yes, she did run and jump around and scream “catch, catch,” but we really think it was more for the benefit of the cameras than for anything else. Of course, it is not necessary that team owners should know how to play the game, but gosh, if what we saw on TV is any evidence, Ms Zinta has never held a bat in her life!  Which only goes on to prove that the IPL is indeed more about entertainment than about cricket.

West Indies coach John Dyson is clearly unhappy with the fact that the captain of the West Indies team, Chris Gayle, has joined the national squad late on its tour of England. Gayle joined the Windies squad yesterday, two days before the first Test commences – not exactly model captain behaviour. Two other players, Dwayne Bravo and Fidel Edwards have also joined the squad late, due to IPL commitments.

Although diplomatic as ever, Dyson made it clear that he was not too happy with this state of affairs. Speaking to Cricinfo, he said, “We all knew the IPL was on and we knew the players would be arriving when they have. Ideally you would have your full squad here, but you have to work with how it is. Medical guys say you need time to recover from flights, coaches say you need practice and then you get players saying they can handle not doing that. I suppose time will tell.”

A classic case of players putting money ahead of country?

The IPL is very much Lalit Modi’s brainchild and like any parent, he is fiercely possessive of it. Still, there are times when one wishes he would go easy on the adjectives. For instance, yesterday while being interviewed by Mandira Bedi, Modi grandly announced that the IPL was not like the EPL (the English Premier League, arguably the world’s most followed football league) in which just a few teams (Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, according to him) had a chance of winning, but was much more competitive and open. He was referring to the fact that prior to the matches yesterday, most of the teams were camped within one point of each other.  He then ang a paen of praise to the team owners for selecting such wonderfully competitive teams and for the nth time, told us that South Africa was such a lovely place!

Of course, he  did not point out that the EPL has twenty, rather than eight teams, or that after playing half a dozen matches, even  EPL teams are often very close together – the difference emerges only after about a dozen matches.

You might agree with him, but we are laughing our heads off here.

We keep hearing about how important the IPL is for Indian cricket and for nurturing Indian talent. Yards of column space have been devoted to how the tournament enables young Indian cricketers to rub shoulders with the best of the world.

Well, if it is that important, why has the Indian cricket team for the 2020 World Cup been announced midway through the tournament?

It is clear that the Indian selectors attach no importance to performances in the IPL – a shocking approach, considering the fact that India has no proper domestic 2020 tournament in place. The haste to announce the squad is also difficult to understand, considering the fact that there are several matches left in the IPL, which could expose several of the selected players to injury. The early announcement of the Indian team will also have had an adverse impact on the motivation of the players who did not make it to the squad – not something you want to do to aspiring talent.

Surely it would have made better sense to announce the squad after the league phase of the tournament. But then, the Indian selection committee has not been known for its wisdom, has it?

Forget the IPL, the World Cup and just about everything – cricket might be on the verge of finally going global, thanks to none other than The Man in the White House. The news that Barack Obama is currently immersed in Joseph O’Neill’s cricket-soaked Netherland (as revealed in an interview with the New York Times) should be giving all ICC members reason to cheer and be merry. This is perhaps the first documented evidence of a US President reading about cricket. All right, it is not exactly a strictly “cricket cricket” book but heck, who knows, it might just hook the US President, who has, after all, been showing some interest in cricket. Remember the photograph of him daintily swinging a willow in the company of a certain Brian Lara?

Yes, yes, we know that commentators are human and prone to making errors. But sometimes they say stuff that is hard to chew, let alone digest. Indian cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar had us really scratching our heads when he described Delhi Daredevil’s Aussie player David Warner as a “big guy.” Now, Warner is all of five foot seven – which in cricketing terms is closer to being short than tall or big, in any case.

A case of being short-sighted?

Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri are not just two of the finest cricketers to have emerged from India. They are also two of the most high-profile commentators in cricket and are very much part of the Sony Max team that is covering the IPL. But an article in The Indian Express today made us sit up and take notice about their role in the tournament. In a superb article titled “No questions asked, no answers given,” Kunal Pradhan has written:

“The IPL commentary team is a who’s who of cricket’s brightest brains. Two of them are Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri, Indian cricket’s biggest opinion-makers over the last two decades; men whose word is gospel for fans across the country. They’re also members of the IPL’s all-powerful governing council. And thanks to their wholesale approval of the tournament’s corporate speak, every six is already a DLF Maximum, and every wicket a Citi Moment of Success.”

Call us naive and innocent, but we are shocked! Why cricketers of the stature of Gavaskar and Shastri have to stoop so low (you should hear them singing praises of the tournament and hailing it as a success well before its conclusion) is beyond understanding – do they worship the dollar so much?  As far as we know, both players made more than a fair deal of money from the game and their commentating assignments, so their kow towing to a corporate line at the cost of misleading their listeners and followers is disappointing to say the least. The very fact that they agreed to commentate in a tournament that they were organising undermines their credibility. Small wonder that their commentary at times sounds more like an IPL campaign speech than a narrative of the proceedings on the ground. 

Call us naive if you will, but we are henceforth going to take every word this IPL-loving duo says with a load (forget a pinch) of salt from here onwards.

It is now pretty well known that notwithstanding Lalit Modi’s claims of 90 per cent of tickets for the IPL having been sold, most of the matches are being played in front of less-than-full stadia in South Africa. Of course, this state of affairs has not pleased the IPL bosses who have reportedly (according to some sources inside the IPL camp) issued “guidelines” to cameramen to do the following:

1. Swing to cheerleaders every time a boundary is scored or a wicket falls.
2. Absolutely avoid any footage of empty stands
3. Inform sections of the crowd that the camera will be on them and encourage them to wave and shout when it is.
4. To focus on fans dressed in IPL team jerseys whenever possible.

The cameramen seem to be following these instructions to the letter, making one wonder if this is cricket or a choreographed tamasha!

Amitabh Bachchan has deigned to comment about the IPL on his blog. He begins by taking a page out of the “State the Obvious” Ravi Shastri Method of Commentary by stating: “he IPL was interesting. Some predictable results , others not so. It is warming up in So Africa for the semi final positionings and the coming days shall see heart stopping action and play.” Yeah, sure! We would never have known, would we?

More significantly, AB seems a tad miffed by the fact that Indian skipper MS Dhoni has not responded to the congratulatory SMS he sent to him for being awarded the Padma Sri. He evidently has even gone and expressed his disappointment in this regard to John Abraham (”I complain to John about Mahi not responding to the message of greeting I had sent him on his decoration of the Padma Shri”) and Harbhajan Singh (”I had wished Harbhajan too on his Padma Shri and we had spoken to each other about my message to Mahi. He had ,even, graciously passed on my greetings to him. But still no response.”)

Finally, the Big Man of Indian Cinema concludes philosophically: “Must have been busy. John has given me his mobile now and said he shall have a word with him on this. No sweat. So long as Dhoni keeps whacking the hell out of the opposition, I am fine.”

Gosh, we knew Dhoni was important but this takes the cake – he has got the shahenshah of bollywood waiting for his call and even complaining about not getting any (calls, we mean, of course, naughties!).

Of course, he has now got MSD’s phone number now (aha!) so now we know who will be calling when his phone rings in South Africa. Incidentally, you can read the entire thrilling entry here.

The IPL was moved to South Africa this year because of the elections being held in India. At that time, the supporters of the IPL cried foul at Indian politicians, accusing them of being scared that the IPL would keep crowds away from their political rallies. Of course, they also added that the IPL would be a huge success in South Africa.

Well, the IPL is on the verge of turning two weeks old, and we have had a few sessions of voting in the Indian elections that seem to be inspired by Test cricket in terms of duration. And heck, neither side is winning. The TRP ratings for the initial IPL matches have been downand empty stands have belied Lalit Modi’s claims of 90 per cent of ticket sales (of course, we cannot rule out the fact that people purchased tickets and then simply did not turn up – perfectly normal behaviour in the mad, mad world of sport) whereas the voter turnout for the elections has not been too hot either.

Makes you wonder what all the fuss was about in the first place!

Right, we have got this rumour from someone who claims to be in the know that Nokia is all ready to purchase Shah Rukh Khan’s stake in the Kolkata Knight Riders. There’s, however, a catch. There always is. Nokia wants an assurance that future editions of the IPL will be hosted either in India or in Europe. Evidently it has even asked for an assurance in this regard from Lalit Modi. Mind you, the folks at Nokia might change their minds about purchasing the Knight Riders after their latest defeat – the team is nestling at the bottom of the IPL after going down to the Mumbai Indians by ten runs.

We thought that love meant sticking with your beloved through thick and thin, but clearly definitions vary. He may talk about the love he has invested in the team, but rumours persist that Shah Rukh Khan is trying to sell off his stake in the Kolkota Knight Riders. The Bollywood superstar is believed to be talking to Nokia in this regard, although we hear that the handset behemoth is itself mighty miffed at the way in which the tournament was shifted to South Africa, not one of its target markets. 

SRK, for his part, insists that he has no intention of selling the team but the fact that he seems rather miffed by its (non)performance has just fuelled the buzz that he is actually looking for a way out.  After all the IPL madness, the silver screen must be looking like a better business propoisition for him.

Kings XI Punjab edged out Mumbai Indians by three runs in arguably one of the best matches in IPL history. Not too many people had been giving the Kings XI a chance after it had been restricted to a mere 119-8 in its twenty overs, against a disciplined Mumbai attack, spearheaded by the brilliant Maling (4-0-12-2) and the steady Zaheer Khan (4-0-19-1). In fact, the Punjab team even got as far as it did, thanks to an unbeaten 45 off 44 balls by Kumara Sangakarra.

The whole match however turned on its head when Tendulkar and Jayasuriya were able to managed just one run between them. When Dhawan went cheaply too, the Indians were struggling at 12-3 in 4.1 overs and victory seemed distant. A brilliant 59 by Duminy got them right back in the act, but the slow run rate always had them trailing. It all boiled down to 12 off the final over by Abdullah. Duminy was still at the crease but it proved to be too much even for him. The spectators loved every bit of the match but one has a feeling Mumbai Indians will be kicking themselves for not getting home in a canter, notwithstanding the outstanding performance of the Punjab team in the field.

Kolkata Knight Riders found themselves on the losing side yet again, when they went down by fivc wickets to Royal Challengers Bangalore, in a match that both teams determined to lose. If that sounds like too harsh a judgement, then consider the facts. Batting first, the Knight Riders lost McCullum first ball to (of all people) Kevin Pietersen, who had decided to open the bowling! On a track that seemed on a slower side and against a spin attack brilliantly headed by Kumble (4-0-16-2), they never really got back into the swing of things in spite of handy forties from Gayle and van Wyk. 139-6 seemed hardly competitive enough, especially when Kallis and newcomer Goswami had guided the Challengers to 69 without loss in 11 overs. 

But it seemed the Royal Challengers had a deathwish of their own. The following overs saw things deteriorate so badly that the last over began with them needing 10 runs to win. Mark Boucher got them off Chris Gayle, but one suspects that the Challengers’ celebrations would be muted. We cannot see either of these teams going far with this kind of performance.

Two contrasting innings took the winds out of the sails of the Delhi Daredevils as Rajasthan Royals romped home to a five wicket victory with nine balls to spare. Although their target of  144 was a modest one, batting has been the Achilles Heel of the team from Rajasthan and there were many (a few Cricketwaggers too) who fancied the Daredevil’s chances. And the Royals seemed to be hellbent on proving their critics as some very ordinary batting saw them collapse to 64-5 by the 11th over. It seemed all over, bar the shouting.

But Yusuf Pathan and Graeme Smith ensured that the shouting was never heard. The South African skipper mistimed a number of strokes but grit his teeth and stayed in while Yusuf blazed away in a manner that left the Daredevils stunned. The pair knocked off the 83 runs their team needed to win in 45 deliveries, Pathan finishing with an amazing 62 off 30 deliveries (with 6 sixes) while Smith’s contribution was a measured 44 off 46. 

Earlier in the day, the Royals bowled and fielded brilliantly to restrict the Daredevils to 143-7. The Delhi team was never really able to shake off the early loss of Gambhir and Sehwag (both to Mascarenhas) and although a fifty from de Villiers and some handy late hitting from Vettori, got them to a semblance of  respectability, their final total was challenging rather than intimidating.

A poor performance by Delhi’s top order, followed by good death bowling has given Rajasthan Royals a real chance of clawing back into the tournament. AB (yet again) and Vettori, supplemented by some ordinary fielding helped Delhi reach a respectable total on a slowish turning wicket.

The Royals have buckled under pressure chasing scores in this edition of IPL. Barring the match against Knight Riders, they haven’t shown much committment with the bat either. Even the last outing was more about reaching a respectable total than chasing victory.

If Smith at top of the order is able to score a few, followed by a little flurry by Pathan and others, I see a very formidable chance for Royals. I hope to see a little more application by youngsters in the team. On the other hand Delhi will be favoured by slowish nature of pitch.

Delhi is still favourite, but hope Royals make a match out of it.

I am not necessarily a fan of slambang cricket but when Mr. Sachin Tendulkar gives us a masterclass in it, who’s complaining! The little master’s innings of 68 at the top of the order against the Kolkata Knightriders was pure joy to watch simply because it had a little bit of everything. We saw some beautiful textbook shots that sent the hapless Knights scurrying around the park in vain, some magnificent improvised clobbering including one that went sailing out of the ground and some crafty little nimble flicks. This terrific craftsmanship combined with Jayasuriya’s equally inspired innings of 52 took the Mumbai Indians to 100 in only the 9th over, setting up one of the biggest wins of the tournament so far (MI won by 92 runs) and sending Kolkata’s superstar owner running for cover (SRK was nowhere to be seen).

Perhaps Sachin and Sanath had been inspired by the massacre inflicted  on the Chennai SuperKings earlier in the day by Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs. Chasing down 166 runs, the two legends went into overdrive from ball 1, amassing 60 of those runs by the end of the fourth over. The Chennai boys looked like a tsunami had hit them as Gilly tonked them around the park at will scoring 44 runs off just 19 balls. Gibbs played the perfect foil to his explosive partner, carrying his bat through the innings and ending unbeaten on 69.

It was a day to remember for the IPL2, showing us one of the most unique and exciting aspects of this league –  that we get to see legendary players from different countries come together as one unit and show us something extraordinary.

Kolkota Knight Riders suffered an embarrassing 92 run defeat in their match against the Mumbai Indians. Set a stiff target of 188, the Kolkota side resisted for a while before crumbling  pitifully to 95-9, with one player unable to bat. It was a shambolic display but one which has tended to be the trademark of this high-profile that is high on stars and controversy but distinctly low on performance. [Read the rest of this entry...]