The Rebels are Back!

The return of international cricket has coincided with the return of the rebels with the 2nd season of the Indian Cricket League starting from Friday.

With 9 teams, 41 matches, and 4 venues - the ICL promises to be bigger and better than before.

Has anyone seen the new ICL ad on TV?

I couldn't find a video online. The ad shows a cricketer trying to impress the national selectors who seem to be busy chatting away and not paying attention to him. Frustrated with the selectors' behaviour the cricketer marches off, throws away his playing kit, and walks out in the ICL uniform.

Isn't that the story of the ICL players?

How openly this war between the ICL and the BCCI is being played out is not funny anymore.

Mushtaq Ahmed has even suggested an ICL vs IPL play-off with the best teams from both leagues participating in a tournament. He has even suggested the ICL champions to be a part of the 20-20 Champions League in December.

Brilliant idea I think.

The ICL kicks off on 10th October with the opening match being a repeat of last years final: Lahore Baadshahs vs Hyderabad Heroes.

There's a new team this season - the Dhaka Warriors - taking the team count to 9 and the match count to 41.

The matches will be played over 4 venues.

The tournament will run till 16th November with each team taking on the other once followed by the semi-finals and a best of 3 finals.

The ICL is back and its definitely bigger and better than before.

Show Me The Money

The India Premier League that took place earlier this year shook the face of the cricketing world. A new era of cricket had dawned upon us and everyone was intrigued at how this would unfold.

Teams were sold to private owners who became franchisees of the BCCI.

Players were sold in an open auction as the free market price rule was applied to cricketers for the first time ever.

Unprecendeted levels of money was spent on some cricketers.

Team owners generously spent money on team launches, advertisements, music videos, and bollywood ambassadors for the teams among a number of other things.

While all this money was being spent on teams and players, there was one question in everyone's mind - how will the team owners make money?

Gate money was one of the most common answers.

Share of sponsorship fee and TV rights was another.

Others suggested a number of other revenue streams such as selling team memorabilia and opening restaurants themed on the teams.

Those who thought that the likes of Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya, and Shahrukh Khan had money to throw away and didn't care about the profits or losses from a cricket team were soon to realise that these men were serious about making money from cricket.

These guys were dead serious about making money that the investment bankers had shown they could.

When the IPL's 1st season ended, no one really knew where the franchises stood.

Had they made money? Had they made huge losses? Will they sell some players to make up for the losses? Will they sell their teams? Will new partners be brought on? These along with numerous other questions were being asked.

The IPL was a success no doubt. For the BCCI and the players, it was a huge success.

But was it for the franchises? Was it for India Cements and Emerging Media? For Ambani and Mallya? for Preity and Shahrukh?

According to BCCI's recently held Annual General Meeting, it definitely was!

At the AGM, the BCCI announced that each franchise owner has recovered 80% of its first year cost through television and sponsorship revenues.

This doesn't mean that any of them are profitable yet but it is still more money than even they thought they would make in the 1st year.

Their 10-year returns have just gone higher than they expected.

Sure they're still a long way away from breaking even, but this wouldn't stop Priety Zinta or Vijay Mallya from smiling their way to the bank.

Exodus to ICL

Oh boy, this makes things really interesting:

Six leading Bangladesh players - Habibul Bashar, Aftab Ahmed, Shahriar Nafees, Farhad Reza, Dhiman Ghosh and Mosharraf Hossain - have informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board they intend to retire from international and domestic cricket. The news, announced by the BCB, follows a report in the Bangladesh daily Prothom Alo which said 14 players, including the six mentioned above, were set to join the Indian Cricket League. [LINK]

I really don't blame them. They see so many players making a lot of money and enjoying themselves while playing in the IPL. So why should they be left out? Next best thing: the ICL.

Until the ICC gets its act together and recognizes the ICL as a legitimate league, there are going to be more defections. These defections will hurt the ICC a lot since they have invested so much into Bangladesh as a model developing country. As for the Bangladesh supporters, I think they may enjoy seeing a more competitive Dhaka Warriors team rather than watching their national team get consistently outclassed.

The ICC really needs to figure things out. National commitment is in danger of being completely sidelined in favor of league cricket. If that's what the market demands, then that's what's going to happen. But the ICC's stupidity is a huge contributor to the decreasing interest in national cricket as well.

I have stated before that it's a good time to set up a competing official cricket board. And I hope it happens. ICL should actually start holding ODIs and Tests as well.

Competition is good; someone should challenge the ICC's stranglehold.

Time to Praise the Spinning M&Ms

Arjuna Ranatunga has blamed 20-20 cricket for India's huge defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the 1st test of the ongoing series.

Which 20-20 cricket he's talking about, he doesn't say.

Either its the IPL or its the T20 internationals.

If he's talking about the latter, then his claim makes no sense.

Firstly because the number of T20Is on each tour is restricted by the ICC so definitely there isn't any overdose.

And secondly, India's big 4 - Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, and Ganguly - do not play T20Is.

So its the IPL he's talking about I guess.

But then even that makes no sense.

Apart from Sehwag and Gambhir, who were the IPL's best opening pair, none of the other batsmen of the test XI played a major role in the 20-20 league.

Not only that but none of those players is even considered a 20-20 player.

Sachin Tendulkar sat out more than half the IPL due to injury and in the matches he played, he played one good knock of 50+ if my memory serves right. So he's definitely not suffering from a 20-20 hangover.

VVS Laxman also missed out more than half of the IPL matches due to injury. Even though he played several cameos in a few matches, Laxman was mostly found wanting in the 20-20 game. So no hangover there either.

Rahul Dravid played all the matches in the IPL and by the end of it seemed to have gotten the hang of the game. However, its no secret that Dravid didn't enjoy it and that he would rather be playing test cricket any day. Even though he adapted well to the IPL, that in no way could have affected his natural instinct of being a test player. No 20-20 hangover here either.

Saurav Ganguly had a fairly successful IPL with some good knocks and is probably more suited to the 20-20 game than the above 3. But then Ganguly has been a natural ODI and 20-20 player throughout his career who has always adapted to test cricket. During the last 2 years, his test performance has been brilliant and since his comeback he has been one of India's mainstays in the middle order. He's always adapted well so no 20-20 hangover here either.

Coming back to Sehwag and Gambhir. Following the IPL, the 2 openers translated their 20-20 form in ODIs, and there's no reason why they can't do it at the test level.

Sehwag has always played the way he did in the Colombo test, which according to Ranatunga is like 20-20 cricket. Well, in the past Sehwag' 20-20 approach got him 2 triples in test cricket and a number of 150+ scores. He can fail once in a while.

As for Gambhir, he looked better than most of India's batsmen in this test and yet he was the best Indian batsman of the IPL. Gambhir is making a comeback to the test side and with his talent he will definitely do better going forward.

So why excactly is 20-20 cricket being blamed?

Ranatunga can probably answer that better because I certainly don't see it.

My message to Ranatunga as well as all my fellow Indian bloggers is that there really is no reason to be pointing fingers at the failure of the Indian batsmen in the Colombo test.

They were up against quality spin bowling to which they had no answers to. Even King Sanga thinks so!

Maybe its time that the focus is shifted from blaming 20-20 cricket and the failure of India's powerful batting line up to Praising the Magic of the Spinning M&Ms.

Its Asif !!!

I'm sure many would have guessed it when the news 1st broke that a pacer from the subcontinent had been tested positive during the random drugs tests that were conducted by WADA during the Indian Premier League.

It has been confirmed now.

2nd offence, life ban.

Or is it the 3rd?

It doesn't matter anymore.

He was caught with opium in his wallet at the Dubai airport on his way back from India after taking part in the IPL.

Opium is a drug that is on the list of prohibitive items of WADA.

We still don't know whether it was opium that he was tested positive for.

Whatever it was, it doesn't matter anymore.

The career of Pakistan's most promising fast bowler since Wasim & Waqar is over even before it took off.

I'm too disappointed to say anything more.

As a result the 30 probables that were to be announced today will also not be announced till tomorrow.

There's no saving Asif from this.

No way!

The Bloggers Influence!

We all know that it was Uncle J Rod's "David Hussey Petition" that led to Hussey's selection for the ODI leg of Australia's tour of the West Indies.

The fact that J Rod managed to convince Cricket Australia and Andrew Hilditch was an achievement and a half.

What we have witnessed today though is an achievement and 2 halves!

Ottayan, another one of the active members of the blogging faculty, has been able to convince no less than the president of a test playing country.

A few days ago, the ECB announced the dates of Sri Lanka's tour to England to fill-in for the Zimbabweans who were supposed to tour but are not welcome there anymore.

The dates of the tour clashed with the dates of Lalit Modi's 2nd season of the Indian Premier League, which were announced about 2 months ago.

This resulted in a number of reactions.

Some reported that the Sri Lankan players contracted to the IPL will boycott the tour to England.

Some suggested a 2nd string Sri Lankan side will tour England.

But there was one reaction that stood above all.

And that was Ottayan's, who suggested that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had back stabbed the BCCI by accepting to tour England on the dates that clashed with the IPL

Considering that it was the BCCI that bailed out the almost bankrupt SLC recently, Ottayan was probably right in saying that it was a stab in the back by SLC for sending its top cricketers to England instead of India next year.

Ottayan's reaction didn't go unnoticed.

In less than 24 hours, Mahinda Rajapakse, the President of Sri Lanka, has ordered Gamini Lokuge, the country's sports minister, to make sure that SLC either alters the dates of the tour to England or scrap the tour altogether.

Well done Ott. You sure have some influence.

Australia vs West Indies from an IPL Perspective

Students of the Allen Standord University for Cricket Bloggers were given an assignment last night, which was to report on the 1st ODI between Australia and the West Indies from an IPL perspective.

This is what the best graded assignment looked like:

Kolkata Knight Riders team mates Ricky Ponting and Chris Gayle walked out to the middle for the toss. Gayle won the toss and sent Australia in, a decision that soon backfired.

Just before the start of play Shahrukh Khan, owner of the Knight Riders, was seen discussing with his captain, Saurav Ganguly, about how he felt captaining 2 international captains in the IPL.

Shaun Marsh, the Kings XI opener and leading run scorer of the IPL, made his much awaited debut in Australian colors.

He opened the innings with Shane Watson, who was the IPL player of the tournament and one of the backbones of the Rajasthan Royals' successful IPL campaign.

In the absence of Matthew Hayden, who is missing the Windies tour due to an injury sustained during his stint with the Chennai Super Kings, Marsh and Watson provided Australia with a cracking start posting a run a ball 75 run opening partnership.

Watson fell in the 13th over, after scoring 31 of 27 balls, as he was trapped in front to an incoming delivery by Dwayne Bravo, the Mumbai Indians allrounder who flew in at the start of this series in Mukesh Ambani's private jet.

Marsh though continued from where he left of in the IPL scoring a 97 ball 81 on debut that had Kings XI owner Preity Zinta jumping for joy in front of her 60" Plasma screen in her Mumbai residence.

Marsh later confirmed that he had recieved hugs and kisses via SMS from Ms. Zinta and when we spoke to her she mentioned that when she saw Marsh's majestic straight drive in the 1st over and exquisite cover drive in the 3rd, she knew she was in for something special.

Marsh was unlucky to miss out on a debut 100, which would have been a first for an Australian ODI debutant, as he was caught by the Knight Riders' Gayle off Darren Sammy, who hasn't yet attracted an IPL franchise.

Ricky Ponting, who had joined Marsh at the fall of Watson's wicket, continued from where he had left the Knight Riders - with single figure scores and wretched form as he dragged Taylor on to his stumps.

His deputy, Micheal Clarke, who had given the IPL a miss so that he could spend quality family time, also failed with the bat, as Sammy had him caught behind the wicket.

At 140-4 after 30 overs with the top 4 back in the pavilion, Micheal Hussey of the Chennai Super Kings, and Brad Haddin, who has replaced the Deccan Chargers' Adam Gilchrist as Australia's #1 wicket keeper, cashed in with a 5th wicket partnership of 91 at over run a ball.

Haddin holed out to long off in the 45th over after a well made 50 off 52, while Hussey soon followed in similar fashion off Gayle for 44.

SRK was later seen pleased with Gayle's bowling and pondered how different the Knight Riders IPL campaign would have been had Gayle not been injured.

The last few overs of Australia's innings saw Preity Zinta with a lot of mixed emotions.

Initially she was joyed to see Sarwan bowl a googly cum flipper that got the wicket of Cameron White, who had had a miserable time with the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

In the same over Preity's joy for Sarwan changed to a mixed bag as Brett Lee smashed his Kings XI team mate for 6.

The joy and mixed joy soon turned into a frown as Kings XI opener James Hopes failed to accelerate at the end and fell to Mumbai Indians' Dwayne Bravo dragging the ball on to his stumps.

Australia's innings ended on 273-8 setting the West Indies an imposing target.

The West Indies' innings began in disastrous fashion with Marshall, Gayle, and Sarwan back in the pavilion within the first 10 overs.

Kings XI pacer Brett Lee bowled a hostile opening spell that rewarded him with the wickets of Marshall, caught behind by Haddin, and his Kings XI team mate Sarwan, caught at 2nd slip by the Super Kings' Micheal Hussey.

Preity Zinta was seen in a confused state yet again.

The other wicket to fall was that of the Knight Riders' Gayle who was trapped in front by Nathan Bracken, whose injury made him miss the Bangalore Royal Challengers failure in the IPL.

The West Indies innings couldn't get going as they folded for 189 in under 40 overs with Bracken picking up 4-31 in 6 overs.

Mumbai Indians' Bravo top scored with 33, while some resistance was shown by Ramdin (31) and Sammy (33) before they were bowled by IPL player of the tournament Watson and Bracken respectively.

Brett Lee's 2-37 saw him get some congratulatory SMSes from Preity Zinta, while Sarwan was sent a comisseration SMS. Hopes was told to do better in the next game, and Marsh received more hugs via SMS as he got the man of the match award.

The Kings XI from Punjab dominated the 1st ODI between Australia and the West Indies, while the Kolkata Knight Riders, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, and Mumbai Indians all had some representation.

Australia leads the 5-match series 1-0, with the next match on Friday at St. George's.

(Note: all comments regarding Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta are a figment of the author's imagination)

The Future Australian ODI Team?

Micheal Clarke captained Australia to a 211 run mauling in a practice match against the University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor's XI.

There was no Hayden and Gilchrist at the top. Instead it was the IPL stars - Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson.

Brothers Micheal Hussey and David Hussey were part of the middle order. There was no Ricky Ponting.

Allrounders Cameron White and James Hopes, followed by wicket keeper Luke Ronchi made up the late order.

The pace attack was made up of Bracken, Johnson, and Clark.

With Symonds playing instead of either White or Hopes, and Lee instead of Clark, this could very well be the Aussie ODI side that we get accustomed to seeing over the next few years.

Yes I do believe that Ricky Ponting will be replaced as ODI captain sooner rather than later and that Hayden will hang up his boots sooner rather than later.

Ronchi / Haddin is a 50-50 though.

Australia's future then?

Pakistan vs India, Kitply Cup, Match #2 - Updates

This is not a LIVE blog as I'm not sure how often I'll be updating it, but I will try and do so every hour at least.

The Toss

India has won the toss and is batting first.

Dhoni says pitch will spin later and keep low.

Malik says he would have batted as well.

Rains are expected later in the day according to the forecast. Lets hope we get a 50 over game here.

The Teams

Pakistan have gone in with a 4-man pace attack, though it is not the one I wanted and spoke of yesterday - Iftikhar Anjum comes into the side in place of Fawad Alam.

I wonder why the continue to bench Sohail Khan.

The rest of the team is unchanged from the match against Bangladesh.

India has gone in with a very strong XI with the top 6 reading: Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Raina.

And they are to be followed by Dhoni and Pathan.

Add to that Chawla, Kumar, and Sharma and that is one solid team.

The IPL has definitely influenced the Indian XI here as Robin Uthappa, a regular in the ODI side, finds himself on the bench, while Yusuf Pathan is granted an ODI debut and Raina is also given a game.

Both Yusuf and Raina had succesful IPL campaigns as compared to an indifferent one for Uthappa.

Play

Delhi Daredevils' openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are taking strike and the Kolkata Knight Riders' Umar Gul has the new ball in his hand.

Its a shame that the Daredevils' Mohammad Asif is still stuck in Dubai with drugs, otherwise it would have been a good battle seeing him bowl to his IPL captain and team mate.

Over Number 1

Drama has already unfolded in the first 6 deliveries. A Gambhir 4, Younis dropping a catch, 4 byes, Gul jagging the ball of the pitch, Sehwag playing and missing, Gambhir jumping around, its all happening out there.

And that was only over number 1.

Team Thoughts

Apart from the Mumbai Indians, all the IPL teams have representation in today's ODI.

A total of 19 players involved in this ODI took part on the recently concluded Indian Premier League.

The IPL champions, Rajasthan Royals, have the largest representation with 4 players on the field today - Y. Pathan, Tanvir, Akmal, and Younis.

3 members each from the Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, and the Kolkata Knight Riders are out there, along with 2 each from the Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings, and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Each one of the 8 Pakistanis who took part in the IPL has an IPL team mate on the opposing Indian team. However, the 3 Kings XI players and the 2 Super Kings players on the Indian side didn't play alongside any Pakistani.

Does that give India an advantage?

Over Numbers 1-8: India off to a flier!

Sehwag and Gambhir have taken it to the Pakistan bowlers and are off to a flier with the 50 coming up half way into the 7th over.

Umar Gul was bowling well with the ball seaming off the wicket but his figures won't tell you that as Sehwag seems to be in punishing mood. He has countered Gul extremely well.

The Daredevils' opening pair is continuing here from where they left off in the IPL.

Gambhir is on 26 with 4 boundaries and Sehwag on 18 with 3.

Sohail Tanvir has looked good and has managed to keep Sehwag quiet. He needs to pick up a wicket soon though otherwise India will get to an unreachable total.

Wahab Riaz came on instead of Gul to bowl the 7th over and was doing a great job in keeping Gambhir quiet who came down the wicket and missed before he slashed him for 4 over point of the final delivery of the over.

Tanvir bowled another good over not giving any boundaries, which seems like a rarity thus far.

Score: 59-0 in 8 overs.

Over Numbers 9 - 11: Drop the Dropper!

Younis Khan has dropped Gambhir twice now. And that too in the same position. Gambhir's on 33 currently and looks like he's on his way to a big one thanks to Younis Khan.

Younis you dropper, you need to be dropped. He never scores in ODIs but atleast he used to take catches in the slips. Now even that is slipping away.

Go away Younis Khan. Stick to test cricket.

There were 3 boundaries in these 3 overs, all by Sehwag.

Rao Iftikhar came on to bowl instead of Wahab, which was strange cause the young boy was doing alright. Maybe Wahab will come on instead of Tanvir, changing ends.

No wicket yet, India 82-0 after 11.

Comment on Email

This came into my inbox from a friend:

Younis khan ki banda b%£d maarey bh3$%!0d ke bachey ki…Da11a.. kuni… maa y@£$.. B$%"ri ne 2 catch chor diye gambhir ke…Kuttey ka bacha hai yaar yeh ….

Apologies for the censoring, families and children visit this blog. Translation is a big difficult thus apologies to our non-Pakistani and non-Indian readers.

Over Numbers 12-17: India March On.

Sehwag reached his 50 with a guided 4 down to thirdman. He seems to be in ominous form, though he was also dropped in the 13th over. By Akmal this time.

Fielding today has been very bad by Pakistan, and this after Lawson said that he was looking to beat Indian by a huge margin.

Catching has been abysmal and there have been several misfields.

No surpise then that India's 100 came up in the 14th over and they're currently scoring at 7.5 an over with Sehwag and Gambhir both scoring at over run a ball.

Shahid Afridi needs to come on soon and provide that breakthrough.

Score: 126-0 in 17 overs.

Over Numbers 18-22: Finally the Breakthrough

A rare 2 overs went by without a boundary. But in the next one Sehwag sent one over long on for 6!

Afridi came on but didn't get the breakthough in his 1st over, but Wahab did in the next - Akmal held on to one and Gambhir went for 62 of as many balls - 56 more than he should have got.

Yuvraj has joined Sehwag in the middle.

India meanwhile have raced to 160 in only 22 overs and Sehwag looks good for century. He's batting on 80 right now.

Recently on Well Pitched I did a post on when we may see the first double hundred in ODI cricket. Some commenters mentioned Sehwag as the someone who potentially could be the first to get there.

If he continues to bat the way he has today, he very well may be the first one there.

India look good to get to 400!

Score: 160-1 in 22 overs.

Over Numbers 23-24: Double Hundred

Here is the post: http://www.wellpitched.com/2008/06/double-hundreds-in-odi.html

It was Straight Point who mentioned Veeru and Naked Cricket did so too.

Sehwag hasn't scored a 100 in ODIs since March 2007 last year when he hit one against Bermuda in the World Cup. Strangely this is also Sehwag's 1st 50 in ODIs for over a year. His last one was 52 against an Africa XI in June 2007 - that was an official ODI.

And as I write that he's gone. Akmal holds on again and Wahab Riaz has his 2nd wicket. It was a very good ball that jagged back off the pitch and had Sehwag in trouble who was trying to guide it down to 3rd man.

Sehwag scored 89 of only 79 balls with 13 fours and a six.

That brings the debutant Yusuf Pathan to the crease. You can expect even more fireworks here.

Score: 177-2 in 24 overs.

Over Numbers 25-27.

The players are taking the 2nd drinks break in just the 27th over. India have surely turned the heat on out there.

Wahab Riaz is getting his first taste of real international cricket after turning out impressive performances against the minnows. He's picked up Sehwag and Gambhir but he's gone for 55 of only 7 overs.

Afridi has also been toyed with and he doesn't look like half the bowler he did the other night. But the Indians are the best players of spin and they even made Shane Watne look ordinary.

Yuvraj has just blasted his 1st 6 and Yusuf is getting his eye in. 400 is definitely on the cards.

Score: 196-2 in 27 overs

Over Numbers 28-30: The IPL Face Off

Finally IPL team mates came face to face for the first time in the game in the 28th over when Malik handed the ball to Sohail Tanvir with his Rajasthan team mate Yusuf Pathan at the crease.

Pathan pushed one into the covers for a single, defended one, and met the other 2 on his legs for huge LBW shouts which the umpire wasn't interested in.

Afridi got the debutant's wicket in the next over as Pathan holed out to long off.

Rohit Sharma, who played along side Afridi for the chargers, then saw off 3 deliveries from his team mate.

India has reached 200 in only 30 overs for the loss of 3 wickets. Many believe that a team should get double of what they are at the end of 30, so anything short of 400 would be disappointing.

Score: 200-3 in 30 overs.

Overs Number 31-38: Pakistan Crawl Back

The first instance of a player getting the wicket of an IPL team mate occurred in the 37th over when Afridi cleaned up Rohit Sharma. Sharma chopped the wrong one on to his stumps and walked back after scoring 9 of as many as 27 deliveries. That was test material. Nothing like his IPL hey days.

Pakistan have fought back well in the last 8 overs restricting India to only 37 runs in that period.

Rohit Sharma just couldn't get going and though Yuvraj smashed a 6 and a 4, for most of the period he was stranded on the non striker's end watching Sharma prod and drod.

Dhoni came to the crease at the fall of Sharma's wicket and he's now there with Yuvraj Singh.

400 looks out of reach now, but India still look good for 330+, which will be extremely difficult for Pakistan's fragile batting line up.

Score: 237-4 in 38 overs.

Over Number 39-42.5: Pakistan & Rains stop India

Pakistan continued the good work pegging Indian back further by picking up Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh in these 5 overs.

Dhoni was unlucky given out to Tanvir's full toss which was clearly going down the leg side. Pakistan got a lucky break there.

Yuvraj's stumps were disturbed by Umar Gul by a ball that came into Yuvraj at the last moment.

With the rains coming down India are currently halted at 270-6 in 42.5 overs, which is atleast 50 less than what they should have been with the way they were going earlier.

Overs Number 44-50

Pakistanis bowled way too many full tosses.

All of them went for either a 6 or a 4, while 1 of them even resulted in the bowler being pulled out of the attack.

The 300 came up in the 46th over, and Raina was looking extremely good as he carryied forward his impressive IPL display.

Tanvir bowled 3 meaningless deliveries when Wahab was hauled up by the umpires. Did you notice Malik point to his shoulder when Younis asked why he doesn't bowl?

Its ok if you're unfit to bowl but its definitely not ok if your team mates don't know about it.

I think this is it for me and my patience with Shoaib Malik the captain.

Umar Gul picked up Pathan and Raina in the penultimate over to finish with figures of 3-61 off 10 overs.

India ended on an exact 330-8 in 50 overs as Younis Khan bowled the best over of the innings giving away only 2 runs and a bye.

I've never seen Younis bowl medium pace before. I wonder why he doesn't do it more often. On a wicket where all bowlers went for 5-6 runs an over, Younis conceded only 2 and that too in the final over of the innings.

Maybe Ganguly type medium pace bowling can save Younis Khan's ODI career.

Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan with figures of 2-52 in 10.

Rao Iftikhar went wicketless in 10 overs conceding 63. Sohail Khan should have played instead.

Tanvir disappointed with a solitary non-wicket in 9.4 overs that went for 57.

Wahab Riaz was on the receiving end of some stick giving away a record 86 runs in 9.2 overs. Those are the most expensive figures by a Pakistani against an Indian break Ata Ur Rehmans 85 in 10 overs back in 1996.

Sehwag and Gambhir took the game away from Pakistan in the 1st half of the innings before Pakistan fought back in the latter half. India ended well though to reach a significant 330.

It seems to be way out of reach for Pakistan but this is cricket and stranger things have happened.

Bad fielding, indisciplined bowling, and dropped catches cost Pakistan. They have only themselves to blame - there is no excuse for giving away 39 extras, absolutely no excuse particularly when 29 of those are from wides and no balls.

India did well but it was really Pakistan doing really badly.

Up to the batting now and good-bye from me though.

I will do a post match round up tomorrow.

Too Much, Too Soon?

The Twenty20 Champions League has been given the green light. Surely a step in the right direction, but my fear is that ICC and cricket boards are falling into the trap of over-exploiting the success of T20 and IPL way too soon.

First, late September / early October is not really an ideal time in England. It's hard enough to ensure no rain delays in the summer months. The worst thing for the T20 bubble is a bunch of poorly attended, washed-out, and 7 or 8-over games to decide a champion.

Second, there are going to be several conflicts. You have players who have played IPL, as well as another domestic league. So, what to do about the conflicts? Modi says that IPL will get priority, but this is bound to create issues. And this will be an even greater problem going forward, as more domestic T20 championships spring up.

Third, the "traitorous" ICL players come into play. Several of them have played for non-IPL domestic teams. Modi also has a simple solution for this - any team fielding an ICL player will be barred. Again, something that won't go down too well with some non-IPL teams.

Finally, I could be wrong here, but I don't see much loyalty to the teams. I think those who attend will attend just for some great cricket, or to support specific players, and not to support a specific team. Nothing wrong with that at all, as these are just the beginnings of this new environment, so we are all getting used to it. But wouldn't it be better if the current top 4 national teams met for a T20 or ODI tournament, with a huge cash prize?

It would be better for the ICC and cricket boards to take a pause for now. T20 has gone great so far, so why not revel in the success, and make gradual plans. Don't push the limits though, $5 million prize offer notwithstanding.

I really hope the champions league is a success. Perhaps the player conflicts can be resolved more-or-less amicably, and the weather holds up. But if it isn't, maybe it's the best advertisement for the ODI Champions Trophy in Pakistan that will immediately follow it. Provided, of course, that external factors don't ruin the hosting of the Champions Trophy.

Will the IPL actually save the ODI format?

The first post-IPL ODI is all set to get underway today when Pakistan takes on Bangladesh in Dhaka in the first of 4 matches in the KItPLy Cup.

Pakistan will take on India on Tuesday, followed by India vs Bangladesh on Thursday.

The top 2 teams will contest the final on Saturday.

The Kitply Cup is not much more than a warm up for the Asia Cup, which will be played in Pakistan later this month where these 3 teams will be joined by Sri Lanka, UAE, and Hong Kong.

Despite criticizing ODIs and calling for 20-20 cricket to replace the format in the future, I strangely find myself looking forward to the upcoming 50 over games this month.

Probably 45 days of 20-20 cricket followed by 2 weeks of test cricket has resulted in this rediscovering of love for the ODI game.

Maybe the 3 formats can actually co-exist.

It will be interesting to watch the likes of Gambhir, Sehwag, the Pathan brothers, Sohail Tanvir, Afridi, and Misbah after their IPL stints.

The match ups between players representing the same IPL franchises will also be intriguing.

• Afridi, Rohit Sharma and RP Singh played for the Chargers, as did Ojha.
• Misbah and Praveen Kumar played for RCB.
• Umar Gul and Ishant Sharma shared the new ball for the Riders. Butt played for them as well.
• Sohail Tanvir, Yusuf Pathan, Younis Khan, and Kamran Akmal were part of the Royal's successful IPL campaign.
• Virender Sehwag captained Pakistani skipper Malik in the Daredevils side which also included Gambhir.

Over the next month these guys will fight it out in 2 different tournaments, however this time representing their countries and playing against each other.

Jayasuriya, Muralitharan, Maharoof, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Vaas, Dilshan - the Lankans who took part in the IPL will be added to the mix in 2 weeks time, and that will dish out more interesting battles.

• Yuvraj relied on Jayawardene and Sangakkara for marshalling the Kings XI. Irfan Pathan was there too as was Chawla and Sreesanth.
• Sehwag initially preferred Malik over Dilshan for the Daredevils and later dropped Malik for Dilshan.
• Vaas and RP Singh opened the bowling in a few matches for the Chargers.
• Murali was one of Dhoni's key bowling option for the Super Kings. In fact Dhoni used the Lankan spinner to dismiss both Jayawardene and Sangakkara during the IPL.
• Maharoof was the go-to man on more than one occasion for Sehwag's Daredevils.

Thats it isn't it. That's why I'm looking forward to the ODIs.

Just like it was exciting to see cricketers from different countries play together for the Daredevils, Chargers, Royals, and the Riders, it will now be interesting to watch them go against each other.

Does this then mean that the IPL has given a boost to the ODI game? Or am I the only one keenly awaiting these contests?

The following month will certainly prove or disprove my point, however I do feel that knowingly or unknowingly, the IPL has in fact provided that extra bit of interest in international matches.

Just the way it does in football when Manchester United's Ronaldo and Rooney fight it out during the Euro Cup or the World Cup. Pity that we won't be seeing that in Euro 2008 with England merely there as spectators!

Will the IPL actually save the ODI format or will it bury it the way majority of the cricket fraternity feels?

Lets hope the Dhaka rains stay away this week and we get some cricket.

The IPL Axe - Does it Exist?

When India announced its squad for the tri series in Bangladesh, it included Yusuf Pathan and Pragyan Ojha.

Although the selectors mentioned that their strong domestic performance had resulted in their call up, everyone knew that their IPL performance had a lot to do with their promotion to the international side.

That was the first piece of evidence that proved that performances in the IPL would have an impact on international selections.

Shane Watson was the next beneficiary of the IPL as the Australian selectors announced him as Matthew Hayden's replacement for the ODIs in the West Indies.

Today, Manpreet Gony became the latest international recruit on the back of a strong IPL performance.

With Sreesanth missing the tri series in Bangladesh due to injury, the Indian selectors named the Chennai Super Kings' Gony as his replacement.

Gony had an outstanding IPL finishing among the top 5 wicket takers. He led the Super Kings' attack impressively and was one of the many domestic cricketers that shone during the IPL.

For Gony it has been a fast and dreamy rise. He made his first class debut in December, played his first List A match 3 months ago, and now finds himself among India's best 15 ODI players.

Gony's performance in the Deodhar Trophy led to his selection for the Super Kings. His performance for the Super Kings led to his selection for India.

The question that then begs to be asked here is would Gony have been selected had the IPL not taken place? Was his performance in the Deodhar Trophy enough to warrant selection?

Its debateable, but I would say that Gony would not be in India's ODI squad had it not been for the IPL.

The same applies for Pathan, Ojha, and Watson.

So then, does a strong performance in the IPL guarantee international selection?

So far the trend suggests yes.

The Pakistani chief selector said that IPL performances will not be taken into account when they pick the Pakistan squad for the tri series in Bangladesh.

Well, majority of the Pakistani players flopped in the IPL. Thus had those performances been taken into account Misbah, Afridi, Malik et all would have been dropped.

So then, does a failure in the IPL lead to an axe from the national squad?

Probably not.

That's peculiar isn't it?

The cricketers are in a win-win situation here - while good performances in the IPL will be rewarded with international call ups, failures will not necessarily result in an axe.

Double Hundreds in ODIs

Since the popularity growth of 20-20 cricket, speculation on when a batsmen will get an ODI double hundred and who the first one might be has been doing the rounds.

I have been part of a number of such discussions, even moreso during the IPL.

Adam Gilchrist used to be a unanimous choice as the first one to do it, but he had moved on to greater things.

Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi are other names that have been thrown around. The former is in his final few years, while the latter can't last 34 deliveries.

Today saw the 8th List A double hundred when England batsman Ravi Bopara hammered an unbeaten 201 for Essex against Leicestershire in the quarterfinal of the Friends Provident Trophy.

Bopara's unbeaten knock came off only 138 deliveries with the help of 10 sixes and 18 fours.

He became the 7th batsmen in the history of List A cricket to get to 200.

Only 3 of those 7 batsmen have played international cricket - Alvin Kallicharan and Alistair Brown being the other 2.

Ali Brown has achieved the feat twice and he's played a handful of ODIs for England.

Bopara was one of the several England cricketers who claimed to have declined an offer to play in the IPL. The reason given was to concentrate on cementing positions in the England side.

Bopara has done himself no harm - he will probably be named in the ODI squad to take on the Kiwis later this month, and this innings will also go some way in fetching him a higher price for next year's IPL.

Well done Ravi Bopara.

I'm not sure how good the Leicester bowling attack was, but a 201* in a 50 over game is an amazing feat.

Who will do it first in ODIs?

That we still don't know.

Role Play

I recently read that on arriving in Jaipur, Shane Warne wrote a paper before the Indian Premier League began. The paper was titled "What's My Role" and included job descriptions for each of the squad members of the Rajasthan Royals.

Yusuf Pathan's role was described as:

"1. Be aggressive, dominate the start of the innings. Play with freedom, take 'em [bowlers] on. 2. [Bowl] Stump-to-stump off-spin. 3. Field in the ring early on and in the deep later."

Furthermore, the paper also gave titles to each of the squad members. Yusuf Pathan's title was "The Statement Maker".

On announcing Pakistan's 16 member squad for the Tri-Series to be held in Bangladesh, Nasim Ashraf requested Geoff Lawson and Talat Ali to write a similar "What's My Role" paper for the Pakistan squad.

Due to Lawson not being able to get a flight from Australia to Pakistan and Talat Ali still stuck in India held up in post-IPL match referee meetings, they held a brainstorming session over the phone.

Well Pitched has managed to get their hands on the Role Paper prepared for the Pakistan Squad.

This is what is looks like.

Shoaib Malik
Title: Kaptaan
Role: 1. Don't bat in the top three, bat lower down, don't go in during pressure situations, bat how you like. 2. Bowl only when you fail with the bat 3. Field from where players can hear you, speak louder, don't let Afridi dominate you on the field.

Misbah Ul Haq
Title: Inzi Part II
Role: 1. Don't find a new way to get out, hit longer sixes than Afridi. 2. Don't bowl. 3. Field where Malik tells you to field. 4. Don't aspire to become captain.

Salman Butt
Title: Opening Solution
Role: 1. Bat 50 overs, guide whoever opens with you. 2. Bowl if other team is easily winning. 3. Field close to Malik, keep him calm. 4. Think like you are the captain.

Shahid Afridi
Title: Boom Boom
Role: 1. Bat in every position, hit ball out of the ground, don't defend, hit ball in the air. 2. Bowl leg spin, off spin, googly, flipper, bouncer, become our Ajanta Mendis. 3. Field in covers, cheer team on, don't dominate Malik. 4. Don't think like you are captain.

Mohammad Yousuf
Title: Prayer
Role: 1. Bat like a dream, hit those cover drives, don't run too hard, take 5 steps after every shot. 2. Don't bowl. 3. Field where you can be hidden, keep praying for wickets.

Younis Khan
Title: Dummy
Role: 1. Bat like Malik tells you. 2. Bowl like Malik tells you. 3. Field where Malik tells you.

Kamran Akmal
Title: Screecher
Role: 1. When opening slash at every ball, when batting lower down slash at every ball. 2. Keep wickets, don't worry about dropped chances, don't give byes, appeal hard, annoy batsmen. 3. Let out "come on boys" every 2nd over.

Mohammad Asif
Title: Drug Lord
Role: 1. Don't worry about batting. 2. Bowl with bionic arm, try swinging ball, if no swing you will get hit, don't worry smoke a joint. 3. Don't smoke dope on the field.

Umar Gul
Title: Gully Cricketer
Role: 1. Don't worry about batting. 2. Bowl yorkers, fast swinging yorkers, blink hard during run up. 3. Field well, keep blinking, don't do drugs.

Nasir Jamshed
Title: Boom Junior
Role: 1. Bat like Afridi, smash every ball, don't worry about Khurram or Khalid. 2. Don't bowl unless Malik asks. 3. Field in slip in beginning, then wherever you have to.

Sohail Tanvir
Title: Windmill Roller Coaster
Role: 1. Bat like you do in domestic cricket. 2. Bowl like you did in IPL. 3. Field like you. 4. Don't get caught with drugs. 4. Think your playing for Shane Warne.

Rao Iftikhar
Title: Anjuman
Role: 1. Don't worry about batting. 2. Bowl outswingers only, no need for wickets, don't give runs so your economy keeps you in the team. 3. Field near boundary, throw like Walsh. 4. This is your last chance. 5. Don't change your name.

Fawad Alam
Title: Super Sub
Role: 1. You will play in a dead rubber. 2. Bat to prove you are a batsman. 3. Bowl to prove you are a bowler. 4. Field in covers and then sweeper, run fast. 5. Eat Vitamins. 6. You will come on as substitute during senior players' cigarette breaks.

Wahab Riaz
Title: Lahori Dugga
Role: 1. Bat fast. 2. Bowl fast. 3. Field fast.

Bazid Khan
Title: Majid's son
Role: 1. Don't bat like your dad, try and take Younis' position. 2. Do you bowl? 3. Field in the deep.

Naumanullah
Title: Domestic Performer
Role: 1. Don't worry about playing, we are giving you your dues, you will be dropped soon. 2. Bowl in the nets. 3. You may or may not get to field.

End Summary to all players:

Discuss your roles with Shoaib Malik. Don't worry if the captain changes your roles. An urdu translation will be provided when we are in Bangladesh.

See you in Bangladesh.

Coach & Manager.

The Traders' Dilemma

Shane Watson was the man of the series in the 1st season of the Indian Premier League. Emerging Media paid $125,000 for his services.

Shaun Marsh won the Orange Cap for being the leading run scorer. Priety Zinta and her partners paid $30,000 for his services.

Sohail Tanvir won the Purple Cap for being the leading wicket taker. Emerging Media paid $100,000 for his services.

The combined investment in these 3 stars - $255,000 - is a half of what Anil Kumble was paid, a third of what Jacques Kallis was paid, and less than a fourth of what each one of the icons earned.

Watson, Marsh, and Tanvir will be the most sought after players when the trading floor opens next year.

While no one would want the likes of Jacques Kallis.

Franchises will bid big amounts for the 3 top performers.

While RCB will look to sell Kallis for as low as possible.

So what will Emerging Media and Priety Zinta do when they are faced with attractive offers for trading their star players?

And what will RCB do when no one is willing to buy Kallis?

If EM and Priety decide to keep Watson, Marsh, and Tanvir and not trade them (which should be the case given their performances) then will they give the 3 a pay hike?

They don't have to since all 3 are bound by 3-year contracts, but their performances demand a pay hike. Especially if other franchises are willing to dish out huge amounts for them.

What about a non performer like Kallis? RCB wouldn't want him, but then no one else would either. He will probably be benched but due to the 3-year contract he will have to be paid $900,000 whether RCB play him or not.

Major Dilemma that is.

What will the IPL franchise traders do? What will the franchise owners do?

Its still 9 months or so till the IPL trading floor opens, but what will go down already looks intriguing.

The Future of the IPL

The 1st edition of the Indian Premier League is over and talk of the 2nd tournament is already doing the rounds.

There will be a number of changes that will be discussed during the next 10 months leading to the next edition of the IPL.

More international players will be drafted in, players, English players will come in or atleast Pieterson definitely would, there maybe 5 foreigners in the playing XI, some captains may change, and a number of players will be traded.

Exciting stuff that but has anyone thought about the leading global brands that may want to be a part of the PL bandwagon?

DLF and Citibank were prominent in their advertising during the 1st edition.

New and innovative ways were found for advertising as well with every six being termed as a "DLF maximum 6" by the commentators, while every good piece of fielding or a wicket or a catch was coined as a "citi moment of success".

What if brand leaders such as Nokia, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and others want to be a part of the IPL.

Have you thought of what we would be put through?

That was a McDonald's Maiden bowled by McGrath.

Marsh drives that for another Coca-Cola boundary.

And Sohail Tanvir has another wicket with one of his trademark American Express Yorkers.

What a wonderful Durex Push through the covers. That has to be a Citi moment of success!

Steyn has disturbed the furniture. Surely a BPL bowled.

Balaji has another Microsoft Hatrick here! A Louis Vuitton LBW, a BPL Bowled, and a Cisco caught behind!

Hayden has Pepsi Pulled that for a Coca-Cola boundary. This would be a nightmare for the sponsors.

Sehwag has just smashed a Ford Front Foot Driven Four. I'd like to see the commentators say that 6 times in an over!

Sreesanth goes up again in a KFC Zinger Appeal. The umpire wasn't interested in the Louis Vuitton LBW.

That was a beautiful Samsung Stumping by Gilchrist.

We have another Range Rover Run Out effected by Dilshan.

The Yahoo Man of the Match for tonight is Shane Watson.

Jayawardene and Sangakkara have put on 50 for this Intel Partnership.

Mohammad Yousuf has played a sweetly timed Google Cover Drive.

Symonds gets his 2nd Calvin Klein Century of the IPL!

And that ladies and gents is the future of the DLF, BPL, Nokia, Coco-Cola, Microsoft, Apple, Pepsi, Banana IPL.

The IPL ELEVEN

I wanted to do a "Return on Investment" type analysis on the IPL players on completion of the league but Cricinfo has already done that. They have played the Numbers Game and listed their Most Valuable Players based on their prices. They have done the same for the least valuable players.

No point in repeating the excercise.

Instead I decided to build an IPL XI with the best performers of the league.

Building a team is alway a tough excercise. The 8 franchises went through it about 3 months ago - some worked, some didn't.

So how do I pick a Best XI from the top performers?

Do I just look at the stats and pick the top 6 batsmen, the top wicket keeper, and top 4 bowlers?

Or do I look for the best player for each position?

Rajasthan Royals proved that the latter option is the best method.

If I went ahead and picked the top 6 batsmen, I'll end up with 5 openers - so definitely not the ideal selection.

Plus I have to ensure that I include only 4 non-Indians in the XI.

And I also need 1 U19 player in the side.

This is going to be tougher than I thought. But I've decided to go the Royals' way of selecting the best players for each position.

The 4 non-Indians

This was the easiest way to start I thought. Picking the top 4 foreign performers, fitting them into their positions, and then building the team around them.

This ended up being a no brainer with the leading batsman, leading bowler, and leading allrounder easily walking into any IPL XI.

Shaun Marsh comes in as an opener, Sohail Tanvir as the opening bowler, and Shane Watson, the man of the tournament, at number 4.

The 4th choice was also an easy one.

How can one ignore Shane Warne. He captained the Royals to the championship, he was the 2nd highest wicket taker, he was the best captain on the show, and he even won 2 matches with the bat.

Shane Warne comes in as the captain of the team. There could be no one else really.

Now I need to pick an opening partner for Marsh, a middle order to bat around Watson, a couple of allrounders, a wicket keeper, and 2 bowling options. All Indian.

The Openers
Gautam Gambhir wore the orange cap for majority of the time and lost it to Marsh only near the closing stages of the IPL. The next best Indian opener was Gambhir's partner Sehwag, but Gambhir showed far more consistency. He is the ideal choice to partner Marsh at the top.

Can't argue against having the top 2 run scorers at the top of the order now.

The Openers: Marsh & Gambhir.

The Middle Order

Shane Watson has fitted into the number 4 slot so I need to select a number 3 and a number 5 to bat around him.

I thought about Sehwag at 3 but then I remembered I had to pick the best one for the position.

Suresh Raina has done well for the Super Kings, while Rohit Sharma's reputation was strongly enhanced following his performance for the Chargers. Shikhar Dawan was another top performer at the number 3 slot.

I go for Raina for his level headed batting in the final stages of the tournament - the boy showed he can bat under pressure.

Not many did better than Yusuf Pathan at number 5. The Man of the Final was a unanimous choice for this slot. (Well as unanimous as it can be with only me doing the selection).

The Middle Order (numbers 3, 4, and 5): Raina, Watson & Y. Pathan.

The Allrounders
Numbers 6 and 7 are tricky ones.

Do I pick a wicketkeeper and a bowling allrounder, or do I pick 2 allrounders? Do I strengthen the batting with a batting allrounder or do I pick a pure batsman considering Watson provides the pure allrounder option?

I decided that I need a wicketkeeper here along with an allounder. Not a bowling allrounder though.

The top Indian wicketkeeper in terms of runs was MS Dhoni. In terms of dismissals though he was well behind Takawale, Saha, Rawat, and Karthik.

But who picks wicketkeepers purely for there keeping skills these days?

I go for Dhoni. He brings what the cricket experts like to call the X-Factor to the team.

The allrounders spot is a difficult one. There aren't many Indian allrounders who did well. There aren't many Indian allrounders, period.

I couldn't think of even 1 name so I decided to select my favorite U19 player from the tournament - Ravindra Jadeja.

The boy is a livewire in the field, he played a couple of match winning knocks, and is an able left arm spinner, even though he wasn't used as much by Warne. He was one of the stars of India's succesful U19 World Cup, and will be a more than handy man to have at number 7.

The Keeper and Allrounder (Numbers 6 and 7): MS Dhoni & Jadeja.

The Bowlers
Shane Warne and Sohail Tanvir are already there, so I need to fit in 2 more bowlers.

The top 2 Indian bowlers were the Kings XI duo of Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla.

With Pathan and Jadeja providing 2 spinning options along with Warne, I decide to ignore Chawla and instead pick Sreesanth and the next best Indian pacer.

Manpreet Gony finished with 17 wickets, 2nd only to Sreesanth. But Yo Mahesh, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, and Sid Trivedi aren't far behind.

Considering its 20-20 cricket, the economy rate is also an important factor in determining your bowling attack. Thus out of the lot, Irfan Pathan was the best option for me.

The Bowlers (Numbers 8, 9, 10, and 11): I. Pathan, Warne, Tanvir, Sreesanth

Sanath Jayasuriya, Graeme Smith, Piyush Chawla, and Albie Morkel complete the 15 man squad of The IPL ELEVEN:

1. Shaun Marsh

2. Gautam Gambhir

3. Suresh Raina

4. Shane Watson

5. Yusuf Pathan

6. MS Dhoni (Vice Captain and Wicketkeeper)

7. Ravindra Jadeja

8. Irfan Pathan

9. Shane Warne (Captain)

10. Sohail Tanvir

11. Sreesanth

Now all that's missing is a name for my IPL ELEVEN. Any suggestions?

What Worked for the Royals

A number of factors resulted in the crowning of the Rajasthan Royals as the Champions of the Indian Premier League 2008.

1. The Franchise owners - Emerging Media. They were the only owners who had prior experience of managing a team in a 20-20 cricket competition.


2. The Auction. Each player was picked with a role in mind unlike other franchises that went for big names.


3. The Captain. The only non-Indian captain in the league and one who had experience of captaining first class sides (Hampshire) and turning them into a succesful unit.


4. The Coach. The captain was appointed as the sole leader of the pack.


5. The Team. Each player was assigned roles by Shane Warne and they all delivered.


6. Allround Skills. Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan showed how valuable allround skills can be in 20-20 cricket.


7. Pep Talks. There probably isn't a better master at that than Shane Warne who made every player believe that they are the best in what they do.

These are all the factors that have been talked about over the last month as the ones that have contributed towards the success of the Royals.

Was it all this or was it just luck?

They were the least favoured team by the bookies and by the cricket experts when the competition began.

They were the underdogs who turned into favorites as the competition went on.

Yet they defied all the odds and won the inaugral Indian Premier League competition.

For me there was one and only one reason.

Shane Warne!

It is that man who made it possible.

Rock on Rajasthan Royals - hope to see you next year!

Well Done Miriam!

It wasn't Warne who took the Rajasthan Royals through.

It wasn't Sohail Tanvir either.

It wasn't Shane Watson, nor was it Yusuf Pathan.

It was Miriam of Cricket with Balls who saw it through ball-by-ball, covering every single run, boundary, and six, and at the end ensuring that the Royals get that final run of the final delivery of the Indian Premier League.

What a final!

What an effort Miriam - Well Done!

The team that deserved to win the tournament won.

I am abit overwhelmed by the match and Miriam's coverage of the final (Chennai Super King's innings, Rajasthan Royals innings), so a more in depth post will come by tomorrow.

For now I leave you with 2 thoughts:

1) Sohail Tanvir did what he couldn't in the 20-20 World Cup Final.

2) Did MS Dhoni miss Joginder Sharma?

The Aussie Knight Rider! What's Next?

Ricky Ponting recently got to 10,000 runs in test cricket becoming the 7th man to do so.

A lot of media coverage was given to the milestone, as it should be.

Bloggers were also involved in discussions about whether Ponting knew he was approaching the mark or not.

Besides that, one thing came to my notice.

It was on the Kolkata Knight Riders' official website.

The headline read: "Ponting joins 10K Club - Aussie Knight Rider becomes seventh batsman to do so"

Aussie Knight Rider?!

Alright so Ponting's IPL franchise likes to refer to him as their player, but how long before the other media channels start referring to international cricketers with respect to their IPL teams?

Take for example Shaun Marsh. He would most probably make his international debut against the Windies in the upcoming ODIs.

Imagine the headlines:

"Kings XI's opener Shaun Marsh to make international debut."

Or

"Priety Zinta delighted at Marsh's international debut."

Will anyone even talk about the domestic season he had for Western Australia?

I doubt it.

Thats the impact the IPL could have. Or it has to some extent already.

There's a tri series coming up in Bangladesh with Pakistan and India competing in it.

Imagine the commentators':

• The 2 captains Shoaib Malik and MS Dhoni are out there for the toss. Both are coming off contrasting IPL campaigns - Malik sat out on the bench, while MS Dhoni led his team to the finals.
  
• Mohammad Asif is taking the new ball for Pakistan. His Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag is on strike.
  
• The other opener is debutant Yusuf Pathan breaking into the side after a very successful stint with the Rajasthan Royals. His Royals team mate Sohail Tanvir will most probably bowl the 2nd over.
  
• Ojha has bowled impressively today. He had a good run for the Deccan Chargers and has done well here apart from that 1 over to his IPL team mate Shahid Afridi.
  
• Rohit Sharma, who played alongside Ojha and Afridi in the IPL, has a word of advice for the spinner here.

And this is just the start.

It could get worse. Imagine this:

"Chennai Super Kings coach Kepler Wessels wants Matthew Hayden to see South African specialist for his heel injury"

Hayden after all is under a 3-year contract to CSK. They could demand these things. Can't they?

How about these:

"Kolkata Knight Riders' management upset with BCCI for over looking Saurav Ganguly for the Asia Cup"

"Greg Shipperd tells Dhoni to open with Sehwag and Gambhir"

Far fetched?

Could be if you think now, but the IPL will end tonight and in a weeks time majority of the players will resume duty on the international circuit.

Will the media headlines and commentator jibes involve IPL references? Will the IPL coaches talk about how their players should be used?

It could be a telling impact.