Saturday, May 23, 2009

Its a Final that no one Imagined, Its Deccan vs Bangalore

Who would have thought that the final of IPL 2009 would be contested between the Deccan Chargers and the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Did you?

Yeah, I thought so.

Call it irony, call it coincidence, call it a little bit of fixing, call it what you may; its surely caught a lot of people off guard.

Just a week ago, no one would have thought of this, but here it is.

The Final of the IPL 2009: Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

What is the History: Bangalore won both their matches against Deccan in 2008, while in this year's IPL it stands at 1-1.

What is the Present: Bangalore are on a 5 match winning streak that includes victories against all the teams that made it into the semi finals. Out of the 9 matches that Anil Kumble has captained, Bangalore have lost only 2.

Deccan are the dark horses here having had an up and down group stage winning 7 matches and losing just as many.

Some Thoughts: Adam Gilchrist holds the key for the Deccan Chargers. If he fires tomorrow, which he is likely to do since its a big game, then he could take the match away from Bangalore very quickly.

On paper, Deccan is the team with the better batting line up and bowling attack, but Bangalore have surprised a lot of better teams, including Chennai and Delhi.

It has the potential to be a cracker this battle of the bottom 2, or top 2, which ever way you look at it.

What is the Future: In my semi final preview, I was spot on in calling both Deccan and Bangalore. Hence I'm going to stick to the team that I want to hold that trophy - The Deccan Chargers.

Some facts that may or may not interest you:

- RP Singh has pretty much sealed the purple cap, unless he doesn't pick any wickets and Anil Kumble takes atleast a 5-for.

- Matthew Hayden has been leagues ahead of a lot of batsmen in the IPL, but his former opening partner Adam Gilchrist is not that far behind. Another 78 runs in the final tomorrow, and Gilly walks away with the Orange cap.

- A purple cap holding left arm pacer from the subcontinent took his team to the finals last year. Another one has done it this year.

- If Deccan wins tomorrow, everyone will say that an Australian captain won the IPL in both years; if Bangalore wins, they'll say a leg spinner captain did.

- If Deccan wins tomorrow, both the IPL seasons will be about the teams with the lowest odds to win the tournament, actually winning it! - Irony, fairy tales or fixing?

Make your pitch on this post...



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9 Pitched:

  1. Gaurav Sethi said...
     

    Wata trip. you sure are letn it rip.

    that was not an acute angle it was a Q angle

  2. Q said...
     

    A Q angle? Haha..never heard that before.

    It has been quite a trip..

  3. Anonymous said...
     

    No fixing. No fixing. Dont believe new Rashid Latif in Javed Miandad. Enjoy the cricket. Oldies. Grand oldies. Big oldies. Huge oldies.

    Kumble, Gilchrist, Symmo, Dravid the oldies

    RP, Sharma, Ojha, Pandey, Kohli the youngsters.

    watch it cos u might never again get to see AK vs AG again on the top level cricket.

    for me those battles are imperious and reminders of 2008 and 2003-04 battles between India and Australia, albeit for 4 overs only.

  4. Anonymous said...
     

    Sorry, Mbangwa soul in me this days.

  5. adverbin said...
     

    Any one of DC's top 4 bats can win the match singlehandedly while RPSingh is bowling excellently.
    BRC does not have anyone comparable. I can only remember two Taylor knocks and one Pandey knock as stand out individual performances with the bat over the entire season! With the ball only one (by Kumble - about 15 matches ago).
    It has been smaller contributions from a larger number of players which has brought BRC to the finals. On second thought, this might just be the tipping point favouring BRC! (well hope springs eternal and my appetite has been whetted by BRC's performance in the secong half of the season).

  6. Q said...
     

    Sam: it has the potential to be a huge battle! Lets wait and watch...

  7. Q said...
     

    Adverbin: that effort from Kumble came 58 matches ago, the 5-5 in the very first match of this IPL..

    You're right, RCB have not had that many sterling performances from their players.. while DC has.. 2 of the leading wikt takers and the 2nd highest run scorer is from DC..

    But on the flip side, RCB have lately played more like a unit, which has helped them...

    Should be gruelling contest tonight.

  8. adverbin said...
     

    Q, 58 matches in IPL 2 but 15 for Kumble and BRC.

  9. Q said...
     

    Oh! Sorry Adverbin, missed u there :-)

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