That Mumbai Indians deserved to win the final is a known fact. However, in sport, much like in life, it is almost impossible to equate the two things; and in the end, what matters is results.
That said, it was very evident that Chennai played well enough, but had Mumbai Indians played in the manner that they had in the rest of the tournament, it would not have been easy for the Super Kings. So, where did the Mumbai Indians go wrong?
Toss?
Of course, that cannot be a factor, or can it? While saying that the toss played an important role in Mumbai’s loss, I am not trying to find excuses. It is a rather simple fact of life. In a tournament as long as this, expecting the pitches to remain as good as they had through the first part of the tournament is rather foolhardy. And with the pitches playing, any team batting second would find it difficult to chase; Mumbai or Chennai.
That is precisely what happened, as the Mumbai Indians collapsed to a defeat chasing a big enough total. Three out of the final four games, including the two semi-finals were won by the sides batting first and were one-sided at that.
Dropped catches:
I would have been tempted to add the lbw appeals that went against the Mumbai Indians as well, but to me, it looks like the umpires actually helped the Mumbai team by negating the two of them against Matthew Hayden. Because, till the time he was there, the Chennai Super Kings were actually struggling. And then, he got out!
Talking of the catches, Suresh Raina offered two, rather simple catches and was dropped on both the occasions. Now, Raina is still some way off being a top-notch finisher, but he has the quality nonetheless, to make you pay. And that is exactly what he did! Bye-bye match.
Where/Who was the captain?
That was a captain that at least half of the billion people watching the game had in their mind while the Mumbai Indians batted. The other half was clearly sleeping.
There were many instances of muddled thinking during the entire twenty overs of Mumbai’s innings, and even before that. For one, Abhishek Nayar had no business to bat as high as the number three position, which should have, ideally, gone to either Saurabh Tiwary or Ambati Rayadu, both of whom had done it before in the tournament, and quite well at that. Then again, if he did bat at that number, the acceleration, or at least the attempt at that, should have come much earlier than the tenth over.
The second case in point was that of Harbhajan Singh sent at number four. While I agree that this was a double-edged sword, with a good chance of coming off, what one must remember is that despite how Tiwary has batted in the tournament, he has needed 6-8 balls to get going; something that was crucial at that stage. He was the ideal number four, from where he could have stamped his authority in the later stage.
And then, even without questioning the reasons behind not sending in Kieron Pollard, it ws quite appalling to see JP Duminy bat at the number seven position in the batting. Over Pollard. Made absolutely no sense, given that not in the entire series has he ever given an impression that he can score runs at the 13 runs per over needed at that stage. To me, it was game, set, match to Chennai the moment Duminy walked out to bat.
What is an IPL without any controversy? The tournament had not even set foot when it was surrounded on all sides by controversies galore, with Lalit Modi being at the centre of most of them. Security concerns, issues with English board, boring strategic time-outs, cheer-leaders, alcohol, ousted Pakistani players and so on; everything seemed to have had things going against them.
Thankfully, after the start of the tournament, the off-the-field issues have stopped, but on the field, the players have continued to make news for all the wrong reasons. Here is a lowdown of all the things that have gone wrong in the tournament so far:
Yuvraj proposes, Ness disposes:
After been disposed off as the captain of the Kings XI Punjab side, Yuvraj Singh wanted to shift to the Mumbai Indians side according to a report in a newspaper. The owner of the side, Ness Wadia refused, but then was worried that the combination of the loss of captaincy and the lack of desire to play for Punjab would mean that he could underperform. Wadia is then said to have supposedly spoken to the BCCI about his fears, who had had a talk with the player.
The result? Yuvraj Singh struggles through most part of the first half of the tournament, whereas the Punjab side capitulate to one loss after another and after having played ten games, they are already out of the tournament.
Ordinary or extra-ordinary?
Gautam Gambhir is a rather angry man on most occasions, but this time around he seemed to have stirred the hornet’s nest by calling the Rajasthan side ordinary. He was been asked whether he thought he was worried about the Royals chasing down the target that was set by the Daredevils, and he replied that apart from Yusuf Pathan, he was barely worried about the ordinary side.
Modi reprimanded Gambhir, but that did not mean that the dashing southpaw stopped making statements. He said that he stood by what he said and did not care much for people who had not held a bat in their hands – alluding to Shilpa Shetty in this case. Rajasthan went on to beat Deccan and Punjab in two successive games and look to be heading their way into the semi-finals.
While diplomacy was never Gambhir’s middle name, surprising to hear Gambhir call the Royals ordinary anyway, given that they have won the first edition of the IPL and look good to enter the semi-finals in the second!
Over-rate issues:
While it was good to observe that the IPL had taken upon itself to sweep the slow over-rate offenders with fines that were anything but tiny, the surprising bit was that not only the captain but all the rest of the players were fined a bomb as well.
So picture this. Kumar Sangakkara gets fined $20k for his first offence, $40k for his second and gets banned for his third one. He has already lost more than $100k in fines. But more importantly, each of his player has also lost around $50k, which is probably more than what some of the players even earn in the entire duration of the tournament! This means that by playing in the IPL, these players, with contracts worth $30,000 or $50,000 stand to gain nothing, all thanks to some slow thinking captains! Quite a joke I tell you!
The third edition of the IPL is almost heading to its mid-way stage and it is still a very open tournament. While Mumbai is firmly perched at the top and look favourites to make it to the semi-finals, while the Kings XI Punjab at the bottom of the pile may crash out of the tournament if they lose another couple, there is a good race amongst the rest for the semi-finals spot.
This piece talks about three of the best innings played in this IPL so far:
Yusuf Pathan, 100 (37 balls) versus Mumbai Indians:
Not often does a century in T20 cricket end in a lost cause. This is exactly what happened when Yusuf Pathan smacked a 37-ball century consisting of nine fours and eight huge sixes, as his side failed to provide him with the necessary support required to win the game.
Chasing a total of 213 for a win, the Royals were down in the dumps at 66/4 in the tenth over with almost an academic interest left in the margin of defeat. Instead, Pathan had other ideas and by the time he was unfortunately run-out, the Royals had the entire momentum going their way, as only 40 runs were needed for the win off three overs.
The rest of them failed, and the Mumbai Indians ended winners by only 4 runs. It also led Shane Warne to quip that it was the best innings he had seen in career lasting two decades!
Jacques Kallis, 89 (55 balls), versus Kings XI Punjab:
It was an innings of great poise and substance. The Kings XI Punjab had piled up 203 in their twenty overs and chasing it down was going to be difficult. Not so much as the Bangalore team opened their innings with Kallis, who was expected to do the anchor’s role. Instead, the pair of Manish Pandey and Kallis mesmerised the Punjab attack with a 74 run stand and then Kallis rotated the strike over with Robin Uthappa looking in sizzling touch.
Even by the time Uthappa was dismissed, the Bangalore side needed 61 runs off six overs, a total that the team got with consummate ease thanks to the great South African; Kallis. His 89 ahd eight fours and most surprisingly, five sixes, something not to be expected from a more sedate batsman like Kallis!
Sachin Tendulkar, 71 (48 balls), versus Kolkata Knight Riders:
That Tendulkar has been in the form of his life is not unheard of. However, for him to play in the manner that he has in this tournament so far has been a sheer treat to the eyes, in a format that not many reckon his cup of tea. Against the Knight Riders, the target was 156, and Tendulkar opened the innings. He was ably supported by the others around him, but most importantly, he kept picking up the boundaries throughout the duration of his innings.
But most specifically, he reserved a special treatment for Ishant Sharma, someone who was banished to the fence each time he erred ever so slightly in the spell. Sharma did pick up a couple of wickets, but could not get Tendulkar out and conceded 44 runs off his four overs.
And Mumbai won with seven wickets and nine balls to spare!
It was a heart-warming innings in a format of the game which is usually associated with brute power and thrashing!
This is the last in the series of the previews of the eight teams participating in this edition of the Indian Premier League. This piece previews the chances of Rajasthan Royals who had won the tournament in the first edition of the tournament, and Kings XI Punjab who were the semi-finalists in 2008.
Rajasthan Royals:
Strengths:
The Rajasthan Royals have a captain who is one of the best in the business, but then again, he will need to lead from the front. Apart from the captain Shane Warne, Yusuf Pathan’s bold and audacious hitting will make him a dangerous customer for the opposition and on grounds which support his brand of batting, things will become really difficult for the opposition.
But Rajasthan’s biggest strength is that they do not possess too many super-stars like some of the other names. Their basic strategy is to make the most of their limited players, and that is precisely how they had won the first edition of the tournament. In the second IPL, they had picked up a side more suitable for the Indian conditions but with the tournament moved to South Africa, they had ha their difficulties. Now, they should relish the Indian conditions and they will be followed with quite a lot of interest in the tournament.
Weaknesses:
Their middle-order looks a tad weak. Over-reliance on Yusuf Pathan could be an issue and if Graeme Smith or Swapnil Asnodkar are unable to recapture their form of the past, things could get really difficult for the Rajasthan side.
Players to watch out for:
Pathan without doubt. But apart from Pathan, it will be interesting to see whether two of the older guys, Warne himself and Damien Martyn, are able to make their age a non-issue and deliver for the side. warne’s shoulder needs to hold up, but in his own words, the more he bowls, the better it gets and hence he could be the bowler to look out for.
Kings XI Punjab:
Strengths:
The captain has changed from Yuvraj Singh to Kumar Sangakkara, and one gets the feeling that unlike Brendon McCullum , Sangakkara will be able to unite the team much better than what Yuvi managed in the second edition. That should also take the load off Yuvraj Singh’s shoulders and allow the Punjab team to enjoy his stroke-play.
Weaknesses:
The absence of Brett Lee will hurt, as would the presence of a half-fit Irfan Pathan. Unfortunately for the Punjab side, their bowling could be an issue as neither is it strong nor does it consist of players who can bottle ends up even in this format of the game. With not too many wickets to show for, and with the runs leaking at both ends, things could get very difficult for even someone like a Yusuf Abdullah, who is not used to bowling in Indian conditions.
Players to watch out for:
Yuvraj Singh, if fit, would be raring to go. He hasn’t had a great last one year, and with injuries having taken over, he is struggling to make it count. So will Kumar Sangakkara and S Sreesanth, all of whom have much to prove in their own little ways.
Last week, we spoke about Deccan Chargers and Kolkata night Riders. Continuing with the preview to the start of the IPL, this piece talks about the chances of two more teams, Chennai Super Kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers.
Chennai Super Kings:
Strengths:
The captaincy of MS Dhoni has to be their biggest plus. Not often does one have a captain, who can lead by example so finely like how Dhoni has done while captaining for India or the Chennai Super Kings. His batting has evolved with each passing day and his wicket-keeping is safe as houses, which makes it easier for him to command respect from most of his peers and subordinates. He could be the one singular factor who could turn things around for the side.
Weaknesses:
Loss of key players would be their biggest weakness. Jacob Oram may miss out for the entire season, whereas Andrew Flintoff will definitely not feature in the IPL this year. Makhaya Ntini is so out of form that he is out of the Test team for now, while Muthiah Muralitharan was savaged by the Indian batsmen in the Test series this year. It definitely is a ragged team and will need a lot of assistance from the Indian players
Players to watch out for:
Murali Vijay would be my pick for the opening slot. He is a class act as has been evident from the manner he plays and the amount of runs he gets, and could be a good man to have partnering Mathew Hayden at the top.
Bangalore Royal Challengers:
Strengths:
The manner in which they gelled in the previous season after the loss of Kevin Pietersen can be attributed to the two big factors; Anil Kumble, their captain and Ray Jennings, their coach. The pair will make up for the Challengers’ biggest strength after an abysmal performance in the first season of the IPL and they will hope to continue with the same vigour. Pietersen will return back to the side and despite being out of form will be the one man to watch out for. So will the presence of Roelof van der Merwe and Manish Pandey in the line-up.
Weaknesses:
Thankfully, the ‘Test team’ that the Royal Challengers were christened as in the first edition of the tournament is no longer the case, but the players of the calibre of Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis will need to play much quicker than they have earlier. While they had reinvented themselves in the second edition of the tournament, the one thing one needs to look at is that the previous tournament was played in South Africa. The pitches in South Africa were not as conducive for stroke play as the ones here in India and hence, both, Kallis and Dravid were vital cogs with their impeccable techniques. With the IPL back in India, there is no doubting that the requirement for the big hitters will be increase and if the two cannot deliver, there is a good chance that they will remain out of the team.
Players to watch out for:
Manish Pandey is the one man who will not only benefit his team with a good tournament, but also his own self. One can be rest assured that a strong performance from him will win him a place in the following ICC World T20; something that will be a huge motive to perform to the best of his abilities.
Deccan Chargers:
Strengths:
The defending champions, Deccan Chargers are being led by Adam Gilchrist, one of the coolest men around in the game. He leads from the front, bats in a manner that can take games away from their opposition like it happened in the semi-final of the previous IPL against Delhi and also keeps wickets. As also, they possess a coterie of really hard-hitting batsmen who can turn games on their heads, and their experience in turning around a virtually hopeless first IPL into a tournament-winning second one will work as their biggest strength in the tournament. Thirdly, the Chargers also have, amidst them, some of the better current fast bowlers around the world in Ryan Harris, Kemar Roach and RP Singh, with Dwayne Smith always there to bowl his dibbly-dobblies in the middle of the innings
Weaknesses:
The Indian bench strength could be one of the issues that the Chargers may face. VVS Laxman is the biggest Indian name around, and he is a doubtful starter in this format, as the best batsman apart from him is Rohit Sharma. None of the other Indians inspire too much confidence and in a format which requires a minimum of seven Indian players in the playing eleven, this could be bit of an issue.
Players to watch out for:
Harris has had an excellent set of ODIs, with five wicket hauls in successive games, while Dwayne Smith’s shenanigans in Australia during the KFC Big Bash T20 will make the pair very dangerous.
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Strengths:
In Sourav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, Brad Hodge and Brendon McCullum, the Knight Riders possesses a power-packed top-order. Of course, not all may play, but then, they do not need to. Also, the presence of an all-rounder in Angelo Mathews will be a big plus, as is the quick bowling of Charl Langeveldt, who is a great bowler at the death. Playing against the Knight Riders in a full-seeming Eden gardens will never be an easy task for the opposition.
Weaknesses:
Time and again, Sourav Ganguly has proved that he is a man to reckon with even at a reasonably older age. However, to be able to lead a side consisting of so many foreign players, apart from well-established Indian ones will be an issue that Ganguly will need to overcome. It will be a challenge for Ganguly, who has usually excelled as a captain when he has actually gone on to hand-pick the players. The lack of a genuine all-rounder Shah rukh Khan’s overbearing presence around the team could be an issue as well.
Players to watch out for:
One would be most interested in following Ganguly’s captaincy. He would know well that another abysmal tournament would end his reign at the top. Ajantha Mendis was one of the most difficult bowlers to face when he had started out but he has already lost his place in the side. He will be the one man to watch out for.
As one counts down to the third season of the Indian Premier League, we preview the chances of the eight sides in a four-part series. In this part, we bring you the chances of Mumbai Indian and Deccan Chargers.
MUMBAI INDIANS:
Strengths:
The Mumbai Indians have never qualified for the semi-finals of the IPL before and will be looking to get there for the first time. Their biggest strength would be the hard-hitting batting of three of their top-order batsmen in Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya and the newly recruited, Kieron Pollard. If two, or even one of them get going and go the distance, the Mumbai Indians will be in very safe hands, and on Indian pitches, life would be much easier for these guys who like to hit through the line of the ball.
Weaknesses:
Their inability to finish off games is their biggest liability. In both the editions of the tournament so far, the Mumbai side has lost some really close games, and they will need to overcome that by showing a killer instinct that they are hitherto lacking. Tendulkar was never a great captain even while leading the Indian side, and under his captaincy, the Mumbai team hasn’t done too well either, thanks, mainly due to the hunger to close out the games. This needs to change or else it may see a change at the top as well.
Players to watch out for:
Pollard. He is hugely built, and can slam the ball a fair distance. He can bowl 3-4 overs as well, with his brand of medium pace helping captains in the middle overs, while he is one of the better fielders in the side.
DELHI DAREDEVILS:
Strengths:
When a team has such a balanced line-up like Delhi Daredevils, it is not a big surprise that the bookmakers have put them as favourites to win the tournament. The opening four batsmen, are by far, the most explosive in the format of the game and there is a reasonable chance that only three out of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dave Warner will make it to the playing eleven. Warner’s form in the KFC Big Bash and the few T20Is that he played for Australia will mean that it could be a tough decision to leave him out of the side. The bowling lies in the hands of Dirk Nannes, and the other Indians in Pradeep Sangwan and Ashish Nehra, all of whom are good, left-handed pace bowlers and with Daniel Vettori and Amit Mishra in the spin department, it looks like they will be a team to watch out for.
Weaknesses:
Not too many perceptible ones. But the lack of an all-rounder is probably one of them. Also, they have a new captain in Gautam Gambhir and that will mean that there will be a lot of pressure on him to perform – Delhi have been semi-finalists in the previous two editions of the tournament after all.
Players to watch out for:
The aforementioned four batsmen aside, the Daredevils will depend on their little known Indian players in Sarabjit Ladda, Kedar Jadhav and Joginder Singh.
One would almost have thought that the Indians had invaded their neighbours. In the end, it was only a bunch of Pakistani cricketers not selected for the third edition of the IPL by the franchises that caused so much furore in the Pakistani parliament that there have been talks of boycotting anything and everything remotely Indian.
The potential embargo could involve cricket matches – which already do not exist – hockey games, which occur once in like a gazillion years, and even Bollywood films. Or at least that is what most voices that matter in Pakistan are suggesting. Phrases ranging from insult to the Pakistani cricket team to insult to the country as a whole have been doing the rounds, as some players have termed it as a ‘conspiracy against Pakistan as a whole which was being hatched for the last three or four months.’
Really now, while being hurt and disappointed at not been selected for one or other franchise for the IPL and not making that quick buck is only justified, the rest of the jamboree that seems to have followed is nothing short of over-reaction.
The critics from Pakistan have pointed fingers at everything plausible. The Indian Government, the IPL functioning committee and the franchises have all been blamed, and for someone observing it as a neutral, one cannot understand what the shenanigans are all about.
It is a private tournament, which like any other multi-national company in the world is not governed by what the government says. At best, it can consult the government and any decision that it has to take has to be its own prerogative, not the government’s. This was evident in the previous year’s IPL when the tournament had been shifted to South Africa despite the government asking them to postpone the whole tournament.
That leaves the IPL and the franchises, and one cannot see how a collective decision to exclude the Pakistanis would have benefited either one of them. In fact, the IPL committee would understand that the presence of Pakistani cricketers and the ensuing following of the game in that country would make for better revenues for the league. And one cannot see any real motive behind conspiring to deliberately do this after strategising for a definite period of times.
The hard and cold fact is that the performances of the teams depend on players who would be there through the entire duration of the tournament; players for whom the franchises did not have to worry too much about after having a lot on their plate already. So, if the visas of such players did not arrive on time because of the cold vibes existing between the two governments, then, it sure could have been an issue for the team unity; apart from adding to the unnecessary things to ponder about for the owners.
While it is easy to say that politics and sport should not be mixed, it is much more difficult to implement it. Gone are the days when cricketers or sportsmen could live in that cocoon of safety despite the existing threat to the world security; and in the prevailing scenario, it is only evident that the Pakistani cricketers touring India – or vice versa – would elicit an unnecessary security threat to those concerned.
The Indian Premier League is a good two months away, but there is already a little buzz around the player transfers and the forthcoming auctions. However, the biggest piece of news coming from the IPL camp is that out of the list of 97 players that had put in their names in the ‘probables’ hat for the auctions, the league has gotten one Chris Cairns out of the list.
And the reason? “For his alleged allegation as we have zero tolerance for this kind of stuff,” as put by succinctly by Lalit Modi. The more interesting bit here is that allegations against the Kiwi all-rounder had come during the unsanctioned, and a rival to the IPL, Indian Cricket League.
Make no mistake, the BCCI must be lauded for not using a line like, “ICL is an unauthorised league and hence, we do not take match-fixing in that league as authentic enough.” After all, fixing a match, is a cricketing crime by itself and whether or not the tournament is authorised should not be a deciding factor here.
However, I have another problem with this decision. And that has to do with the fact that as far as the reports, there was an allegation of match-fixing, which was neither proved, nor proclaimed in the media. The official reason for his ouster from the league then, had been that he had hidden an injury, and continued playing in the league. So, isn’t this a case of using the yardstick of being guilty till proved innocent?
And if at all Cairns – or anyone else – had actually been involved in match-fixing during the Indian Cricket League, it is a mighty surprise that it has not yet come out in the public. Nothing more than rumours have so far! Let’s hope there is more coming our way from this story so that there is a clarity regarding what actually happened for the stakeholders of the game.
Apart from the Cairns saga, the IPL transfer window opened to a very lukewarm response. Till date, not too many transactions have taken place; Owais Shah (originally from Delhi) has been exchanged with Moises Henriques (from Kolkata) whereas Manoj Tiwari, also from Delhi earlier was taken up by Kolkata. While the Tiwari buy-out makes sense given that he is originally from Bengal and will help in building up the brand for the Knight Riders, what is surprising from Kolkata’s point of view is the Henriques was allowed to go for another foreign player.
For one, Henriques is the captain of the New South Wales Blues T20 side in their KFC Big Bash back home, which was very evident in the manner he performed with both, the bat and the ball during the Champions League T20. His all-round skills would have been of utmost utility in the tournament, and one would have almost seen a clamour for buying him out at the auctions. One almost feels that the management has missed out on a trick or two here.
Secondly, one could have understood if the exchange would have taken place in order to free up a slot for the foreign player. In this case, it is a foreign player that has been chosen for Henriques, which means that the Knight Riders will be left with no freed space for anyone extra from the auctions either.
Finally makes peace between N. Srinivasan and Lalit Modi
There are two cricketing rivalries which have stood the tests of time, an Australia-England one that plays for the Ashes, and an India-Pakistan one that plays for everything and cricket! However, if ICC’s latest World T20 qualifiers are anything to go by, then, there could be another big one that could be added to the aforementioned list; something that could go on to assume colossal proportions in the years to come!
USA will be taking on Afghanistan in the Middle East in February, as a part of the qualifiers for the ICC World T20 that will be played in the month of April next year. The tournament is an eight-nation tournament, with the top two from them going on to be the part of the main event in the West Indies in 2010 in April.
The ICC World T20 is a 12-nation tournament, and the top ten countries – all the test playing nations – have already gained automatic qualifications. Apart from these ten, the top six countries in the world, and two special invitees from the ICC are featuring in this qualifier. These include Afghanistan, Scotland, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, UAE, USA and Canada. While the remaining six are direct qualifiers for these qualifiers, USA and UAE have been doled out special invites. USA and Afghanistan have a political history going on for the last decade or so, and this match could spark off a new cricketing rivalry in the future.
Group A consists of Ireland and Scotland apart from these two, whereas Group B has Kenya, Netherlands, Canada and UAE. The top two from each group will then join a Super Fours group where each team will play the others once – except the team qualified from their own group – and the top two will not only qualify for the finals but also for the ICC World T20 – the T20 equivalent of the World Cup.
Back in India with the Indian Premier League, the BCCI has finally ended all speculations about the future of Lalit Modi as the chief of the tournament. He has been assigned the job since 2012, after it had been claimed in the media that he had lost his job. It was a long-standing feud between Modi and the secretary of the cricket board, N. Srinivasan that had led to these speculations, but the President of the Board, Shashank Manohar has laid all this to rest.
While the ego battle – or whatever else can be used to describe it – is definitely something for the Board members to rectify internally and move ahead, I wonder whether there is any ‘Succession Plan’ in place in the eventuality that Modi does end his reign as the leader of the pack. Because, while handling the BCCI is one thing, it is quite a different and a more challenging issue to handle a tournament of the magnitude of IPL without someone with the desired expertise.
In the meantime, Modi has also announced that the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League which will be played in 2011, will have two extra teams. There will, thus, be ten sides, and 94 games in all, making it a really grand event. However, what will not be so grand will be the fact that every side will thus play a minimum of 18 games, and hence travel as much through the couple of months through the length and the breadth of the country. Fatigue and tiredness will be a concern for all the players, as will be injury issues and fitness woes. Whether the rule that the Indian players can play a maximum of 12 games will make too much of a difference will remain to be seen, but the increase in the matches will definitely have its effect on viewership as well, as the viewer-fatigue is as big an issue as its players’ counterpart.
So, will there be a rule regarding the maximum number of games a fan can watch as well? Now that would be an interesting call, won’t it?!
