Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Royal Challengers South Africa Need Misbah

Joginder Sharma continues to bowl the last over for Dhoni.

Dravid continues to leave Misbah out of the XI.

The Super Kings continue to remain the only unbeaten team, and the Royal Challengers continue to lose.

Maybe some things ARE predictable in the Indian Premier League.

I'm afraid the Royal Challengers Bangalore will not win till they include Misbah in their batting line up. Apart from Ross Taylor the other batsmen are players who need time to settle down and there is no way that the likes of Dravid, Jaffer, Kallis, Chanderpaul & Co. can chase or post 170+ totals in 20 overs.

I can't undersand how anyone can leave a player like Misbah out of a 20-20 team.

Here is a man who single handedly led Pakistan to the finals of the 20-20 world cup. His innings against Australia and India in the group stages were single minded efforts to lead Pakistan to victory or near victory. The way he batted in the final of the World Cup when all seemed lost and he had nothing but the tail for support just shows the kind of mind Misbah possess for the 20-20 game.

He is by far the most experienced batsman in this form of cricket having played in Pakistan for years. He led Faisalabad to the title in the first ever 20-20 competition held in Pakistan in 2004. The same year he led Faisalabad to victory in the 6-team 20-20 competition in England. In 2005 he led Faisalabad to the final of the domestic 20-20 competition only to lose to Sialkot.

Even before domestic 20-20 cricket began in Pakistan or England, Misbah and other Pakistani cricketers used to play this form of cricket for their clubs in annual night tournaments (20-20 in Pakistan has been played for over 2 decades now).

I don't have Misbah's record from those club games but in domestic 20-20 cricket in Pakistan, he has played 23 matches and scored 683 runs at an average of 56.91 and a strike rate of 134.2. His 20 innings have produced 1 century and 5 fifties.

His international 20-20 record is even better. 10 matches, 10 innings, 338 runs, average of 67.6, strike rate of 135.20, 3 fifties.

How do you leave a man like this out of your team?

Maybe RCB are looking to justify the near million they dished out for Jacques Kallis, but I highly doubt that the figure of $900,000 will ever be justified.

Plus if RCB keep looking like South Africa with Boucher keeping, Kallis at 1st slip, and Steyn attacking, they're not going to win anything.

Rahul, Vijay Mallya - you need Misbah.

Make your pitch on this post...



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17 Pitched:

  1. straight point said...
     

    Q to cut it short...

    any team which leaves player like misbah against dravids, chanrapals, kallis and finally jaffers...is cursed to loose...

    from being royally challenged they are becoming mentally challenged...

  2. Anonymous said...
     

    SP and Q,

    They were mentally challenged the day they picked all those test players in the auction.

    In Misbah and Taylor, however, they have 2 great bargains for next year.

    Dravid and Kallis might have retired by then too :)

  3. Q said...
     

    I agree cent percent. Someone needs to knock in Dravid's mind..

    I really dont understand the logic behind their thinking..

  4. Anonymous said...
     

    We, the chennai super kings fans surely owe this victory to the great cricketing mind of Dravid.. If he has included Misbah-ul-Haq as any other player would have done, we could not have plucked a victory from the jaws of defeat.. [To be truthful, it was BRC who lost from such a comprehensive position, rather than we won].. Thank you Dravid..

    - Robin

  5. Pontings_baldspot said...
     

    Kallis and Boucher are a must in the team.. one can bowl and other is the wk.. and also Kallis took in almost 90K. He better be on the field.. he needs streyn to get some wickets early on.. Im guessing Taylor got a lookin as he s not going to be here for long. twas his last game I think.. Misbah might be in for him and he could play right through the month of May

  6. Anonymous said...
     

    Totally agree, Misbah being left out for 2 games in a row was ridiculous. I'm sure he is going to play the rest of the games and win a few games for BRC.

    Q, can you direct me to the scorecards for the 20-20 competition that was held in England which Faisalabad won? I've been trying to find them for a while but have had no luck on cricinfo. Thanks.

  7. Anonymous said...
     

    Taylor only played because he was about to leave???

    Despite only playing in 3 out of 4 games, he scored more than twice as many runs as anyone else in this side. And his Strike Rate (181) was more than 50% higher than the next best.

  8. Anonymous said...
     

    Bangalore looks like Papa's Army and indeed they need Misbah. He's a master innovator and people may remember him for that ill-fated scoop but he is T20's Michael Bevan. Anyway, when you have Charu Sharma as your CEO, commonsense is bound to go AWOL. Mallya's money was indeed spent like water.

  9. Q said...
     

    Sree J, Im sorry it wasn't 2004 but 2005 when that tournament was held. It was called the International 20-20 Club Championship. Its interesting cause I think thats where the roots of 20-20 leagues took place. I'll do a post on it shortly - meanwhile you can find all scorecards here:

    http://gulf.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005/OTHERS/INT-2020/

  10. Q said...
     

    PB - I agree Boucher and Steyn are sure starters for every game. Kallis though is not. He didn't deserve the 900K nor does he deserve to be in a 20-20 side.

    But ur right, since the 900K has to be justified he shall play.

    I disagree about Taylor - I think he's good enough to walk into any international team for any form of the game. He's done well. Him and Misbah together would have been a killer punch.

  11. Q said...
     

    What exactly are Charu Sharma's credentials Som?

  12. Anonymous said...
     

    Q,
    Thanks for the link. It was quite a surprise to find that for the first 3 games they just had bowl-outs! Waiting for your post on it..

  13. Q said...
     

    Yeah Sree J i remember watching the bowl outs - the were all indoors. It rained heavily during the tournament, and it was only a 2-3 days tournament.

    The post is up. However, its very different from what I had initially planned to write. Oh well.

  14. Som said...
     

    Q, Charu Sharma is a weird case, one of those guys who have been at the right place at the right time. He was a national-level diver, who allegedly played first class cricket in Kolkata before deciding to host quiz shows on TV. He dabbed in commentary as well before he was joined by Queen of Foofaraw Mandira Bedi and the rest, as they say, is his story. Now he is the CEO of Bangalore Royal Challengers (and now you know why the team is languishing in the point table).

  15. Q said...
     

    Yeah I know the history of Charu - seen him commentating and do those quiz shows and all. I was just woindering what credentials he has to be a CEO.

    Bangalore needs to turn their fortunes today. They need to make a bold move and drop Kallis.

  16. Anonymous said...
     

    Sp I was dumbfounded when the RC left out misbah in the chennai game. But I am absolutely at a loss why they left him out again against Delhi. Its one thing to justify a player on 900k but doesn't Dravid and Vijay want there team to make the top four. It is ludicrous to Pick guys who cant make there national team T20 Sqaud like kallis and pay them that much. Especially when you have proven T20 playes in your line up like misbah and cameron white.

  17. Q said...
     

    We were all dumbfounded desilva.

    Dravid, Mallya, and Charu Sharma need a kick up their back side.

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