SINGH is KING at KINGsmead

Ravi Singh Bopara showed that even in this age of T20 - fatafat cricket; slow and steady could still win the race. He showed that it’s not just veterans who can play the old fashioned innings in chasing big targets in T20. Nudging around, playing at run a ball and accelerated towards end, it was a good combination attack with defense. The credit of chasing 170 with 3 down in with an over to spare should go to Bopara.

There is some connection with RCB and good starts rather lack of it; they don’t seem to go hand in hand. Kallis and Ryder were off to a decent start even after the early loss of Uthappa for a golden duck. Both played some high quality risk less fabulous cricketing shots. Some classic cover drives and some powerful pulls. When things looked pretty good RCB were pegged back by Abdulla’s double strike. KP is going to give Mallya uncle a heart attack if continues this way; every flop of his is going to hurt Mallya by 100k USD.

Yet again Dravid had to come to save the wrecked ship at 48/3. Just because they call him the wall, it doesn’t mean that Dravid has to rebuild the innings every time. Taylor along with Kallis did stitch the innings together towards the end. 4 wickets from Abdulla and 3 for Pathan curtailed the innings to respectable 168. Efforts of Puyush gets unnoticed in these kinds of games, he is the bowler to be watched out.

168 is a decent target to chase especially with a short boundary on one side, plus one can’t forget Yuvraj and Durban connection, Yup the full Monte 6 6s of Broad. Kings were off to a good start 50/0 of 6 overs. A brilliant runout brought Sangakara in. Runs kept flowing from Bopara’s bat regularly slowly and steadily, he wasn’t unfazed by asking run rate which always kept creeping. Dravid didn’t help the RCBs by dropping a sitter, which was crucial at that stage, finally Sangakara yielded to Kumble who was by far most the best bowler. 5 overs to go 60 to get with 8 wickets in hand match evenly balanced. When Yuvraj starts playing his shots bowling or pitch doesn’t matter. With Styen not playing RCB didn’t any a good bowler, forget about death bowling.

I guess it wouldn’t have matted the way Bopara n UV smacked around. After reaching his 50 Bopara revealed the wild side of calm face, it began to rain sixes in Durban. KP could nothing but watch the Kings XI sail over with an over to spare. Win meant that the SINGHs were off the mark.

Bopara showed that SINGH is still the KING

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Alcohol Yeilds to Print Media

Sunshine at Capetown was good enough to recharge the Deccan Chargers, owe it to the change of colors or change of venue, they look a team determined to prove a point. After a day of rain hitting the pitch at Durban, it was Gilly belting the ball to all parts of the Sahara Park, Newlands. Anything pitched short was cut past point & the fuller ones were bludgeoned over the bowlers head. He showed that he is still one of the better strikers of the cricket ball. They say the best way to bowl at Gilly is to give him a single & put him of strike, RCB failed in doing so & had to pay the price. With Kumble bowling & Uthappa behind the stumps one witnessed some of the kannada words like KAL MURI (Leg-break), SUTTU TANE (he is going to swing), BARATTE (going to come), HAKI (put), ONDE (only one).

It took a brilliant catch from Kohli to finally dismiss Gilly, by then most of the damage was done. Rohit began to rub salt on RCBs wounds; his hunger for runs in this format of the game is increasing day by day. The way he belted Kumble for 3 towering sixes showed that he has come a long way, he definitely can give Raina a run for his money in the ODI squad. With some late fireworks Chargers reached tournaments highest score. PK needs to learn to bowl in batsman friendly conditions, otherwise he would end up being an English bowler grumbling all the time.

The first ball Edwards bowled was an in swinging yorker rattling Ryder’s ofstump; in contrast RCB bowled just one in the entire innings. RP just relishes conditions in South Africa. Kallis's bowling has been like a mandir ka ghanti; Jyo bhi aata hai baja ke jyata hai. KP is proving that he indeed is the Dum Slog Millionaire, as the English crowed once claimed & he has made no plans of erasing that. “Rahul Dravid walks out to save the follow-on.” was a nice comment on cricinfo, which explained pace at which RCBs were going. As said earlier Dravid is the only one who looks in good nick, he showed that T20 can also be played with conventional shots. He rightly earned the orange cap for leading the run score in the competition. With some charismatic shots from Kohli RCB ended 24 shots of the target. Well the only positives from this game would be posting 160 in 20 overs, which I guess is their highest score.

In this contest United Beverages Yielded to Deccan Chronicle.

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Veterans Day Out

In the era where so much emphasis is on young blood, veterans Tendulkar n Dravid showed that "its not age but mileage that matters" even in today's arena. Clinical Sachin showed that why he is called the master blaster. Rahul picked up from where he had left from last year, he was the only person scoring runs and scoring fast for the RCBs. Kumble & Warne showed that spinner are like wine, get better with age. If Warne showed that age has never come in the way of his drift, dip & spin; Kumble show that accuracy still is his middle name.

The day-1 of IPL 2.0 saw surprises, both losing team were finalist of the first edition. This indicates that equations have changed. The tournament is played in a different country, hence different testing conditions. Because the bowl does a bit raw players who were successful in India may find it difficult to get adjusted to new conditions. Lack of technique & temperament might cause ones downfall.

Twenty2O is tricky format; 20 overs might looks too small to begin with; if you go bang bang n lose 2-3 wickets quickly then it just look herculean task to achieve the desired target. It might even trigger a chain reaction for fall of wickets. So one does need a player to anchor the innings at a good pace. This is where likes of sachin,rahul kallis,hayden would come into play. So the ideal old fashioned strategy would work here, keep wickets in hand and throw at the kitchen sink towards the end.

Just a back my theory up we have already had 2 collapses in RR & KKR with in the first weekend. So Veterans keep those gutsy innings coming; slow and steady will win the race in this IPL 2.0.

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Aug 24th The day to remember

Aug 24th 1972, was day when first ODI Century was scored by D L Amiss exactly 35 years later Sachin missed his ton. It’s a day Sachin (rather his fans) would like to forget, Dravid and INDIA will remember,its the 2nd ODI INDIA Vs ENG, Bristol. Highlights of the day: INDIA amassed 329 and as expected won it, but by 9 runs thanks to Munaf, just gave 20 instead of 30. Sachin missed his century by 1 run (courtesy poor umpiring) and Dravid scored 92 (63 balls), Chawla beautifully bowled (KP and Collingwood). Well we have had last over histories (Chetan Sharma (Gold Medal sixer), Sri Sri Sri Agarkar (Silver Medal four), Nehra(missed Gold) and Munaf (missed both).

Harsha Bhogle once in his commentary had mentioned about "Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory"; it’s so true with this INDIAN team. These games are like one of those street fights where a "star player" intentionally takes the beating for a period of time and pretends to be down and under until the betting ratio increases and finally when instructions come in he over powers the opponent. I don't see any difference the way INDIA plays when they defend huge scores. May be just to increase the TRP rating (who knows) or keep the crowd on their toes, after all its entertainment business. I followed first 10 overs of ENG chase where Sri Sri Sri Agarkar was doing his job as per script giving runs (run daata).

Couple of hrs later 30 ball 60 runs required and 7 wickets down situation and Sri Sri Sri comes to bowl, ideal situation for him to display his talent. On a given day he can play for either team, such is his talent, he tried his best. Last over 30 runs required and munaf just gave 20. Probably Dravid knows his bowlers’ well that explains his 63 ball 92 knock.

It’s tough to believe it’s the same Dravid who scored 12 (96 ball) in the 3rd Test.

I sometimes believe that Dravid has schizophrenia, or split personality as it’s commonly called. More “filmy” its Vikram's Anniyan(tamil) or Aparachitidu (telgu) or Devgan's Deewangee. Thats my perspective (which only brings humor), in CRICKET world its called class or playing according to the condition. But the 12 (96) innings was a PITA (Pain In The Ass) innings. I was like adding salt (rather chili powder) on ENG's newly wounds. My friend Mandar mentioned that police rather than using 3rd degree on prisoners (to confess or extract some information) they should repeatedly show the Dravid's PITA innings.

But I liked Dravid's focus (series win imp 1-0 or 2-0 doesn't really matter) simple and effective strategy. More time the INDIANS play, less time the ENG will get to play, which would lead to a draw and thats what INDIA needed to seal the series. "Na bache ga time Na Phisle ga match" is apt I guess. Because he knows the INDIAN team like back of hand {rather back of his left shoulder, donno why he keeps looking there}. Because INDIAN batsman think that 2nd innings is not their's. [check out their 1st , 2nd innings average if you don't believe me], How many times INDIA have chased 150 and lost 5 or 6 wickets[check out the 2nd test match], or even some times failed to chase bigger scores[ Madras test match cachin 136 and saqlain 5 wickets]. That justifies Dravid's decision of not offering follow on and his PITA innings.

Well a good captain is one who knows the talent in his team and never underestimates them.

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