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.
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.
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
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