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.
As Indian cricket grapples with the existence of pitches that could lull some of the biggest insomniacs to sleep, the Indian Premier League has had a couple of worries of their own. The IPL had sent in a proposal to raise the number of teams in the tournament to ten, from the year 2011, but this had most of the franchises rejecting the offer.
The rationale behind the refutation was that the profits would then get reduced, but the messrs Lalit Modi and his marketing team seemed to have gotten their way. The chief of the IPL managed to convince most of the team owners that the introduction of two more sides would have contrasting changes to the sides’ fortunes to what they envisaged; more teams would end up getting the profits up. In all probabilities, this is not too far from the truth because given the kind of brand that the IPL has created for itself, it is only natural that the selling price of the additional two teams would be much more than the price that Mukesh Ambani had had to pay for his Mumbai Indians.
Also given the knack that Modi has for negotiations and re-negotiations, one is not too sure, but there is a reasonable possibility that the deal with the broadcasters could also be tweaked – read, the broadcaster would be cajoled into paying more – and hence the central kitty of funds would automatically increase for the sides. Apparently, the only side which has had a problem with this is the Chennai Super Kings, which is owned by N.Srinivasan, who, incidentally, is also the secretary of the BCCI. In many quarters, Srinivasan and Modi have said to have locked horns over many issues, including the most recent one related to the termination of the contract of IMG – the management company which manages the IPL.
While the things are hazy about which direction the issue would turn to in the coming weeks, one can be sure that it is not the last that one has heard of from the pair from BCCI.
Less than one year back, the Pakistani government had banned their cricketers from participating in the IPL – or any other sporting event in India – due to the delicate situation between the two countries. For now, not only has the Pakistani government given the players permission to feature in the tournament, but also has had the PCB waiting anxiously for the invites. PCB COO Wasim Bari has said that while the players were ready to play in the next edition of the IPL, they have yet to receive any formal invitation from the IPL failing which, the visa process will be a non-starter.
Unsurprisingly, the Pakistani players will be in hot demand for the next season’s IPL as winners of the ICC World T20 side. Even in this year, Pakistan has won nine of the 11 games that they have featured in, making them the most successful side in the format. Add that to the manner in which the likes of Shahid Afridi has matured as an all-round cricketer, and the remaining likes of Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer and Shoaib Malik are suited to the youngest format of the game, it does seem that the franchises will be gunning to get some of them in their sides.
Talking of T20 news from around the world, 12 teams are battling it out in the Asian T20 Cup. China, Afghanistan, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Singapore, Qatar, Hong Kong, Nepal, Saudi Arab, Malaysia and Bahrain will compete in this tournament, which will end on the 30th of November. The top three sides from this tournament will join India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and China in the Asian Games.
To end this piece, here is another trivia. The oldest cricketer ever to debut in a T20I is Sunil Dhaniram from Canada, the only one over the age of 39 to do so. The oldest from a test playing nation to debut in the T20I format is Floyd Reifer while representing West Indies against Bangladesh at 37 years and ten days.
Bosman smashed English bowlers in both games
A week ago, I had predicted that the T20I series between England and South Africa would be rather close and should end in a 1-1 score-line here. As it turned out, the prediction wasn’t too far off the mark as the sides traded games and in the end the series was tied.
The two matches were played at Johannesburg and Centurion respectively, the same venues that the Champions Trophy had used. In that tournament, the pitch at Centurion had turned out to be a run-fest, whereas that at Wanderers in Johannesburg was the one on which the bowlers had a gala-time. As it turned out in the series, both the pitches were so full of runs that it almost seemed like the bowlers were there to fill in the number only.
In the first match, South Africa elected to field on the premise that it is rather difficult to set targets in a T20 game on a flat-as-a-pancake pitch. Their decision almost worked as Joe Denly was dismissed off the very first ball, but first Jonathon Trott – playing in the country of his birth – and then Paul Collingwood and Eoin Morgan smacked the hosts around to get to 202/6 in the twenty overs. Morgan was at his merciless best and got to an unbeaten 45-ball 85.
South Africa replied equally strongly with Graeme Smith and his new opening partner, Loots Bosman, adding 97 in less than nine overs. One wicket brought two, but the South Africans looked good to get to their total, when it started to drizzle. At the end of 12 overs, the South Africans were a couple of runs ahead of the target, but a superb over from Anderson brought them a run behind the par score when the heavens opened for good. The match ended there, with the Proteas going down by one run!
They made a fine comeback in the second game as Bazooka Bosman - as he is known - continued his supreme touch to seal Heschelle Gibbs’ ouster – for the time being. His 94 came off only 45 balls, and by the time he was out, the South Africans had scored 170 in only 13 overs! They ended with 241 to their name – lest one forgets, this was in 20 overs only – and then restricted the English side to 157/8 in their twenty overs to easily win the game. Trott scored his first half century in T20Is.
The good news for England was the return of Kevin Pietersen after being out of the game for more than six months due to an Achilles Heel injury.
In the meantime, the IPL committee met in Bangkok to discuss the details of the next season of the IPL. What has emerged is that the players will not be able to sign contracts with the IPL and not feature in the tournament on the grounds of playing for domestic cricket back home. In fact, apart from injuries or international commitments – and extreme scenarios – the players will have to honour their commitment to the league through its entire duration. The rationale behind this has been the move is said to be the advancing of the league to February-March instead of April-May. Many of the domestic competitions are still on, especially in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
There was also an announcement that seven out of the eight franchises have agreed to the inclusion of the extra teams in the fourth season of the IPL. Apparently, Chennai Super Kings has opposed the move so far.
And to end the piece, another piece of trivia for you. South Africa’s 241/6 in the twenty overs was the second highest total in a T20I, behind Sri Lanka’s 260/6 in 20 overs against Kenya in the first edition of the ICC World T20. The highest total ever chased successfully in a T20I is 208 by South Africa against West Indies – again, in the ICC World T20 in 2007.
BCCI set to pay $5m to Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals
The BCCI has set a compensation for the two IPL teams who missed out on the Champions League last year because of its cancellation. Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals, who had made it to the finals of the first ever IPL and in the process qualified for the Champions League of 2008 have been allocated $5 million each by the BCCI as compensation for the cancellation of the tournament due to terrorists attacks.
The rules stipulate that there will not be any compensation that the Champions League will provide to any team because of cancellation. However, if the respective cricket board from a country deems it fit, they can dole out money as compensation to their own team. In this case, the BCCI has invoked this clause in making the payout.
However, not all members within the BCCI are happy with this, as they say that this could create a bad precedent. There is also a question of the amount of compensation which the teams have been paid, which is much more than what they would have earned even if they would have played in the tournament! However, there is another school of thought that says that the BCCI is justified in helping out its stake holders and hence, the payout makes sense.
5th Match: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings
When: IPL 2009 20th April 2009
Toss: Chennai Super Kings - elected to bat
Winner: Chennai Super Kings by 92 runs
Man of the Match: M Muralitharan (Chennai Super Kings)
Well done Super Kings!
Dhoni won the toss and his big name players ruthlessly attacked the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Matthew Hayden smashed a half century (run out by Dravid, 65 off 35, s/r 185.71), Muttiah Muralitharan bowled devastating spin (3 for 11) and an all round game by Andrew Flintoff (bat:not out 22 off 13, 169.23 bowl: 1 for 11) helped the Chennai Super Kings cream them by 92 runs.
Team-mates congratulate Muttiah Muralitharan on getting Robin Uthappa, Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings, IPL, 5th game, Port Elizabeth, April 20, 2009
© Getty Images . This image may not be reproduced without specific consent from Getty Images and Cricinfo.
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MS Dhoni
Captain
Age 27 years
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium
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10-May-08: Medium-paced seam bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji took IPL's first hatrick for the 18-run victory by Chennai Super Kings against the Kings’ Punjab XI in Chennai.
1st Wicket: Irfan Pathan caught for 40 off just 18 balls (with three sixes)
2nd Wicket: Chawla caught
3rd Wicket: VRV Singh caught behind
The Tour de France has its Yellow jersey, and not wanting to miss a trick, the IPL has the Orange cap.
It will be worn by the batsman who is the highest cumulative run-scorer for the season to date.
The official press release said: "[The cap] is traditional in style and will stand out from any other headgear in the tournament," which is saying something considering the gold helmets that the Kolkata Knight Riders have been wearing.
But wait, thats not all.
At the end of the event the person holding the cap will be crowned or capped "Winner of the Orange Cap 2008". Don't let it be said the IPL doesn't come up with catchy titles.
The stats to date have Mathew Hayden from the Chennai Super Kings wearing the Orange cap with 189 runs and Brendon McCullum from the Kollata Knights Raiders a close second with 188
Hutch
