The Safrikaan Encounters
Did you see Shaun Pollock have Kallis all tied up when the Mumbai Indians took on the Royal Challengers?Did you watch Graeme Smith move away when Makhaya Ntini ran in to bowl his first delivery when the Rajhastan Royals took on Chennai Super Kings? Did you see Ntini lose his run up when he ran in again to bowl to Smith?
Did you see Ntini bowl a maiden to Smith where he beat him all ends up and had him hopping around
Did you watch Smith hit Ntini for 2 consecutive boundaries once he found his feet?
Did you see Herchelle Gibbs first see off Ntini and then smash him for a 6 and a 4 when the Deccan Chargers took on the Chennai Super Kings last night?
The South Africans up against each other has probably been the best enounters of country vs country battles in the Indian Premier League so far.
The Pakistanis have come close in proving that they are their own worst enemies with Sohail Tanvir snaring Salman Butt in the space of 3 deliveries and Afridi taking 1 to remove Misbah. But in terms of battles the Safrikaans have been 1 up.
A Safrikaan hasn't yet got the wicket of another but the bowlers have had the batsmen tied up, and then the batsmen have come back to take the upper hand.
Another Safrikaan battle is on the cards today - its Shaun Pollock taking on Graeme Smith as the Mumbai Indians go up against the Rajhastan Royals.Its the Safrikaan captain taking on the man he replaced.
Pollock will bowl the first over and Smith will face the first over. Who will have the upper hand? Will a Safrikaan do what the Pakistanis have done?
The Royals have looked like the best side in the compeition, while the Indians have just started to taste success and recently beat the Daredevils, the strongest side of the competition.
There will be no Sachin vs Warne, but the encounter promises to be a cracker.
Two teams, weak on paper, but playing exciting cricket under two inspirational captains are bound to produce good cricket. I can't believe I just called Pollock an inspirational captain but the way he led his team against the Delhi Daredevils was like a Pollock never seen before.
It all goes down today at 230pm GMT.
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I doubt Kings Richards would not have looked as much menacing had he been made to face the Garner-Roberts-Holding-Marshall. Similarly, Sunny Gavaskar would have been sitting on piles of runs had he got the chance to bat against the Indian pacers of his era. IPL gives enough food for thought.
Hey Q, I want your opinion on this.
http://cricketnext.com/news/nothing-wrong-with-misbah-playing-for-mallya-pcb/31414-13.html
Isn't this the same Misbah who, if I recollect correctly from your post about Pakistan crickets' bad boys, was pulled over with two other players while drunk? First of all it isn't clear from the article if Misbah himself objected to it or not. But I would still like to know what you think of it.
Som I agree - its an interesting xcercise wondering how player of the past would have fared against each other.
Imran Khan bowling to Miandad. Kapil to Gavaskar. Mcdermott to Border and so on.
Sree J - u r absolutely right. Misbah was involved in that drunk driving incident.
I've been following this issue that u point out for the last week. The problem here is not that Misbah or the PCB reject the idea of a Pakistani player sporting a liquor brand's logo.
The problem is the with the fundamentalist society of Pakistan, which sadly even today exists. The PCB here gave a statement only because they received some complaints from individuals saying that how can Misbah be promoting alcohol.
It has happened before that individuals have filed cases against cricketers and the board when they have felt that the cricketers have hurt their religious feelings, e.g. Wasim Akram wearing an ear-ring, Wasim Akram in a McDowells ad, Shoaib Malik and Shoaib Akhtar attending a fashion show on religious holiday, etc etc.
Believe it or not but a lot of Pakistani society is like this.
So the reason for the PCB coming out openly is to avoid a situation like this.
Misbah has no issues - he'll be happily endorsing and drinking the Royal Challenge ;-)
Thanks for that Q... That explains a lot.. I guess it's the same in India when certain idiotic individuals file frivolous cases against players for "disrespecting the flag" only 'cause they have an Indian flag on their helmet and stuff it into their kit bag.
The Royals have looked like the best side in the compeition, while the Indians have just started to taste success and recently beat the Daredevils, the strongest side of the competition. buy lawn suits online , lawn suits online shopping ,