Wednesday, May 14, 2008

It has been a Roller Coaster...

Since the day Shahrukh Khan acquired the Kolkata franchise in the Indian Premier League, Well Pitched and more specifically yours truly has backed the Kolkata Knight Riders.

It has been a Roller Coaster ride supporting the Kolkata Knight Riders though.

At first I was excited about SRK and Ganguly bidding succesfully for Shoaib Akhtar.

I was even more excited at the other internationals SRK had managed to rope in during the bidding. We rated KKR very highly on our Bid-O-Meter.

The excitement reached an all new level when SRK launched his team name, uniform, logo, mascot, among other things. Knight Rider was back!

When they started their campaign in emphatic fashion, we were bowled over by their first few wins.

However, 5 days into the tournament, and I had my first feelings of mixed loyalties. Was I going to stand behind KKR or had the Daredevils impressed me enough to back them? The main reason was no Shoaib Akhtar.

A few days later, I found myself shifting support between KKR, DDD, and DC. It was still unclear whether there was that 1 team that I would back throughout or would it be several of them.

Then I talked about how it hurt to see KKR lose once they were on their 4 match losing spree. I even compared them to Pakistan.

And then came the news that Shoaib Akhtar will finally be joining KKR. We were excited, I couldn't wait despite the fact that I thought that the PCB was a bunch of idiots.

I welcomed Shoaib to the IPL. I hoped he brought about a change in KKR's fortunes. I hoped he would take them to the semis and to the title. And I wished Shoaib and KKR the best.

My lone support for KKR was back.

I expected a Shoaib Akhtar return to the field and I backed KKR in the potential cracker of a match against the Daredevils, the team I had thought of supporting alongside the Riders.

Shoaib Akhtar returned and boy did he return.

It was exciting, it was entertaining, it was the cracker of a match I had expected.

The atmosphere was electric, the Eden was on song, Shoaib Akhtar was on fire, and KKR came out on top in probably the best match the IPL has dished out thus far.

No team had yet defended a total below 150 apart from KKR in the previous match. Last night they defended 134!

And that too against a team that opened with the 2 leading run scorers of the IPL - Sehwag and Gambhir.

They have now won 3 on the trot and stand 4th on the points table.

The Daredevils and Mumbai Indians are breating perilously close to them but if Shoaib can remain disciplined and injury free and KKR can continue to play with the same passion, there's no stopping them.

Today, there is no doubt in my mind that KKR has my undivided support to go get the IPL Title.

GO KKR!

(Pictures courtesy photos.cricket.com, the exclusive supplier of photos to the IPL)

Make your pitch on this post...



Labels: , , , , , , ,


18 Pitched:

  1. Anonymous said...
     

    actually the best way to enjoy this tournament is to not support any team! The script in the fortunes of each and every team is downright weird.

  2. Q said...
     

    I agree with that Scopri but its also good to have one team to back to bring out the passionate supporter inside you.

    The disappointment or joy though would never be the same as that of your national team winning or losing.

  3. John said...
     

    Q, you've done wonders for a cricket fan with no access to live coverage. Thank you so much.

  4. Q said...
     

    Pleasure John.

    Where are you where theres no live coverage?

    Hop on over to the Well Pitched Facebook page - link on right side bar. Plenty of IPL videos there.

  5. Anonymous said...
     

    I also agree with Scorpicity the best way to enjoy this tournament is to to not Support any team as one good performance can beat an All Star team, the format is too short, one or two players can take away the game from the other team.

    When the tournament began, I was mostly supporting DC and KKR and I had a fear of Punjab XI, I completely discounted Rajasthan infact I criticized their selection the most besides Banglore on my blog.I think the teams and players are still learning and pretty soon we will see T20 will also have strategies and plans and teams will get selected accordingly.

    KKR unless they solve their batting issue can't win it all.
    The X factor in this tournament is the good captains, Ganguly,Warne and Dhoni have been excellent captains and we might see their teams in the final four.

    Delhi has a very good team but Sehwag as a captain is too relaxed.

  6. Q said...
     

    Wasim - u can support a team but still enjoy the good cricket of other teams :-)

    I've been loving it so far.

    I agree that teams are still learning but we're seeing the strategies already - balaji, maharoof, gul bowling at the depth. Some teams keeping wickets in hand, others firing from the word go...

    There were some strategies on display in the T20 WC last year as well.

    Captaincy I don't agree.

    Warne surely has done amazingly well with an average team.

    KKR have thus far won due to individual brilliance rather than captaincy - their 5 victories have come cause of McCullum, Hussey. Ganguly, Ganguly, and Akhtar.

    Delhi have won because of a very strong top order and McGraths miserly bowling.

    Punjab have a very bad captain - Yuvraj has been really bad. But Sanga, Pathan, Sreesanth, Marsh have led them to good wins.

    Chennai initially won cos of Hayden and Hussey. When they left Chennai lost 3 in a row. Then they won 2 close games cos of Dhoni.

  7. Q said...
     

    Wasim, please give me the URL for your blog.

  8. Anonymous said...
     

    Q

    Its www.cricketfiles.com, I think I gave it to you once before,its not impressive at all,I am not a good writer, so please don't be disappointed.

    But I love and deeply admire what you are doing at Wellpitched. You have gathered a fraternity of cricket bloggers and you will not find more sensible comments on any other blog.

  9. Anonymous said...
     

    Q:

    I agree with you,but its natural to get biased for the team you start supporting and the disappointments also come natural with every defeat,
    but I am enjoying it,and to tell you the truth also shifting loyalties,its difficult to stay loyal to one team.
    Every team has one or two players you admire and follow and that's the beauty of IPL.I will pick my favorite team from the final four.lol

    You are right about the strategies but what I meant to say they are still evolving and have not perfected yet,on Captaincy I still believe that it has been an X factor Dhoni, Ganguly and Warne have won some close games which in reality they should have lost.
    And DC and DD have lost many games because of poor decision making and poor handling of the players.

  10. John said...
     

    Q, am in Vilnius. I have the option of watching it live on the net, but am feeling a little miserly at the moment.

  11. Gaurav Sethi said...
     

    For KKR, the IPL was won in Eden vs 3D on 13th May. Can it get any better?

  12. Q said...
     

    Your right NC, it can't get better than that. They sure celebrated as if they had won.

    John, I hope you're having a good time but ur missing the IPL! It sure is something :-)

  13. Q said...
     

    Wasim, Thanks for your comments and appreciation.

    U did give me ur URL before but I had forgotten to add it. Will do it now. Like your page.

  14. Q said...
     

    Thats true Wasim, CSK, KKR, and RR have won a few close games - ur probably right, the captains have been able to pick the players up who are performing out of their skin.

  15. Soulberry said...
     

    It's been great to be aligning oneself towards a team. Not that it detracts from enjoyment of the game but it is a bit like cinnamon in a hot cup of black tea...try kahwa straight from the samovar...tingles your tongue into insensitivity and scalds it as well.

    Alignment goes well with this form of the game.

  16. Q said...
     

    Sure alignment gives more meaning SB, but I do feel that one can enjoy the IPL without the alignment.

  17. Anonymous said...
     

    Q...I can't wait for the day Mithun Chakarborthy buys a side called West Bengal Disco Dancers, complete with a retro white kit complete with dancing shoes and headbands, and then bids for some degenerate has-been. Soon you'll be supporting them too.

  18. Q said...
     

    Hmmm.. nah i don't think i'd be supporting a team like that Anon.

Post a Comment