Thursday, May 1, 2008

Random Royal Ramblings (RRR)

Unlike previously reported by me, the Australian ODI players are not leaving India just as yet. Which means that James Hopes, David Hussey, and Cameron White are staying put and will play in the Indian Premier League till the ODI leg of the Aussie tour to the Windies starts.

After questioning, recommending to, and pleading Rahul Dravid to include Misbah in the starting line up for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, he has finally spoken:

"It was difficult fielding all the foreigners," Dravid said. "We needed an allrounder because our bowling was not strong, so Kallis played. Ross Taylor will leave now and Misbah will definitely get his chance."

Misbah will definitely play against the Deccan Chargers on Saturday then. That should be interesting - Pakistan's most successful 20-20 batsman up against Pakistan's most successful 20-20 bowler, Shahid Afridi. More on that in another post.

Gautam Gambhir showed exactly why he has replaced some seniors in India's ODI team.

I like Shikhar Dhawan. I think he has international potential. I have thought that since I first saw him play for India A against Pakistan A and he along with Robin Uthappa knocked centuries and ripped apart Pakistan's bowling. Maybe the success in the IPL will take him to the next level.

I couldn't help feel sorry for Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis when they were putting together their 87 run partnership. Sure those runs came in about 10 overs at more than 8 an over but the expressions on their faces said it all - How they wished the match had another 3 days to go.

Dravid and Kallis showed that proper cricket shots can bring you runs in 20-20 cricket. But proper cricket shots can't help you chase 190 odd in 20 overs.

At least RCB showed that they were determined this time. And at least Dravid admitted he needs Misbah. (I can see Ottayan grimacing over my mention of Misbah over and over. Ottayan has a good piece on proper cricket and 20-20 right here. Worth a read.)

Kallis picked up 2 wickets and also scored faster than a run a ball half century. Does it make him a world class 20-20 player now?

Glenn McGrath, yet again, showed that the bowlers in the IPL need to stop cribbing and start bowling like the Master.

McGrath's team mate Yomahesh seems to have understood that.
What a great name, Vijay Kumar Yomahesh. Yomahesh! Lovely.

Speaking of lovely, did anyone see Katrina Kaif cheering for Bangalore last night? What a lovely she is. Finaly Priety has competition. Katrina's even appeared in a video for the Royal Challengers, which can be viewed here.

Shoaib Malik will have to stop relying on his "friendship" with Virender Sehwag if he wants to play for the Daredevils again. AB De Villiers is looking for a game and Malik with the bat looks worse than Ponting.

Vettori finally got a game and he showed exactly why he was one of the most successful bowlers at last years 20-20 world cup. Apparently he didn't play the last 2 matches because of food poisining. Pity he has to leave so soon.

ICC definitely need to create a window for the IPL in the FTP.

Speaking about the FTP, it might be re-christened soon and called the FLP - Future Leagues Program.

How ironic is it, that the two most expensive franchises are currently at the bottom of the points table?

I wonder what Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya are thinking.

And I wonder what they're thinking about their respective executives / advisors - Harsha Bhogle and Charu Sharma - maybe the 2 need to go back to commentating.

Oh and the title of this post is so because strangely everything in the IPL seems to be associated with Royalty or abbreviations with the same letters - Royal Challengers, Kings XI, Super Kings, DDD, KKR, RR, you get the gist.

Make your pitch on this post...



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13 Pitched:

  1. Anonymous said...
     

    What is or is not a "proper cricketing shot" also changes with time and in response to challenges. The leg glance was unknown before Ranji began using it. The type of "inside out" shots now fairly common would not have been considered "proper" sometime back. Neither would the type of "upper cut" that Tendulkar used in Australia.

    The 20-20 format certainly challenges batsmen - it is not all "slam bang." Batsmen who just throw their bats around are not going to be very successful. It takes a lot of skill to play properly in this format and what appears to be "wild slogs" are not necessarily that. Two references to show this: (i) an interview of Misbah-ul-haq on Cricinfo where he made this exact point, and (ii) the statement of Matthew Hayden after winning a man-of-match in which he praised Raina's knock and said that it needed a lot of skill to bat as he (Raina) did.

    I would put your point regarding Dravid and Kallis differently: that they have not been able to modify their games to adjust to the T20 format, at least so far. Nothing wrong there, not everyone is able to play equally fluently in all formats. Unless you are someone like the incomparable McGrath, of course.

  2. Q said...
     

    I agree with your comments about what is or is not a proper cricketing shot.

    You're also right in saying that Kallis and Dravid have not been able to adjust their games to suit 20-20.

    What i liked last night was their determination. But the poor guys just couldn't do it.

    My sarcasm though has a history. And that stems from the fact that a 20-20 team with dravid as captain paid $900,000 for Kallis.

    Now thats 2 million dollars for 2 players not suited for the 20-20 game. Where were Bangalore's brains then?

    So the blunder happened and then they kept their only 20-20 batsman on the sidelines.

    They surely need help.

  3. Jrod said...
     

    Where did you hear about the aussie one day players staying on, i can't find any news on that.

  4. Q said...
     

    Ponting has left but David Hussey will playing today for KKR. Symonds has left and wont be playing for the Chargers tonight but in the same match Hopes is available for the Kings.

    This is on the cricinfo match previews.

    Plus a lot of the commenters here have been saying that D. Hussey is not going anywhere as yet.

    It makes sense then since the ODI players will only travel to WI after the test series.

  5. Jrod said...
     

    But it was only days ago all players were required at the camp, wonder what changed.

  6. Q said...
     

    Thats right Uncle J, I read about that too and thats why I mentioned all of them leaving for the 10 day camp.

    I guess some of them got on the phone and requested a stay order.

  7. Viswanathan said...
     

    Q,

    I would like to be hugged by Katarina.Much more wholesome than Preity.

    I agree with you that the RC blundered during the bidding.They would have been better served without Kallis and Dravid.

    At the same time the DC looked invincible after the bidding. They look to be no hoper's at present.

    Having said that the IPL has entered the next phase. This will separate the men from the boys.

  8. Anonymous said...
     

    Yes, certainly Bangalore's decision to not play Misbah looks bizarre. The problem, from their viewpoint, I suppose is that they can play only four foreigners per game and so Misbah can only be accomodated by dropping another foreigner. And while Misbah only bats, Kallis bowls too. I am not saying this is what is going on, but it's a thought.

    The question of how to spend money wisely to "buy" players is much more tricky. Teams in other professional sports like Football have learned this and still we have scenarios where the richest football clubs are not necessarily the most successful. In American baseball, you have the notorious example of the Chicago Cubs which has never won anything substantial. In retrospect, Rajasthan looks to have down very well, but remember this difference is basically due to one genius, Shane Warne. While in hindsight, that looks a terrific decision, I am not so sure that many teams would have considered that a wise decision beforehand. As I said, this is tricky...I guess if the IPL sticks round long enough, we will be able to observe team selection decisions better.

  9. Jrod said...
     

    if Zinta is less wholesome she is the one for me.

  10. Q said...
     

    Anon - your thought is exactly what Dravid said about leaving Misbah out. Its in the post.

    And I know it might be too early to judge whether money was spent wisely or not as its barely been 2 weeks but still... everyone knew that Kallis was dropped from SA's T20 squad. Everyone knows how hes criticized for playing slow and selfishly..and yet Bangalore spend a near million on him.

  11. Q said...
     

    Zinta over the cheerleaders and Katrina over Zinta...

  12. Anonymous said...
     

    Sorry Q, but I can't help it... "I told you so!" :D

    (I am of course referring to Hussey not leaving KKR until the ODI's)

  13. Q said...
     

    Sree J I know you did but I also corrected myself in this post. If you read the first para, I mention the Aussie ODI players staying on :-)

    Thanks for the heads up Sree J.

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