KKR: Kolkata Knight Riders

KKR = Gayle + Ganguly + bunch of dodos:
By now based on the current form it is easy to guess the semifinalists of this tournament. Yes Of course I could be wrong but in all probability I could be right. The Mumbai Indians, the Deccan chargers and the Delhi Daredevils are pretty much sure to be present in the Semifinals. The fourth position is up for grabs for the remaining teams. But, of all the other teams the only team that looks worthy of a semifinal position is the Chennai Superkings. Yes they are lower in the rankings but they sure know how to win and will definitely be there in the top 4.

When the tournament started I was cheering for the Kolkata Knight Riders. They seemed to have a pretty good team with Gayle playing and the remaining players that showed lot of hope in last years tournament. They seemed to have set the balance right. But to my surprise none of the good local players of last year were present. Saha who was a very good batsman and scored some handy runs last year is nowhere to be seen. Now we see players like Sanjay Bangar and Akash Chopra. How in gods name can these players be picked for a T20 game. They will not be able to secure a place in the T20 team of 5 year olds. This is what happens when a NewZealander and an Australian are present in the selection committe of a Bengal team. First they managed to strip Ganguly of his captaincy; they might very well wish to remove him from the team. Next they make McCullum the captain of the team. That would be the dumbest move ever. Compare the batting stats of him and Ganguly.

 McCullum:
Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv 5w  Ct St
153  2987 166   28.44   1     15    -     -       -           -   165 13

Ganguly:
Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv 5w  Ct St
 311 11363 183   41.02  22  72 100  5/16   38.49   2   100  0

They are not even remotely comparable. Anyways how can one justify removing the best captain of team India with a player who is a replacement captain for his own team. The only time that McCullum ever showed his talent was the one match against Royal Challengers in the previous edition of IPL T20 and never after that. This achievement has made him God in the eyes of Shahrukh Khan and himself.

After watching the match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders I felt a deep sense of betrayal, a feeling of agony and distrust. The team that showed so much promise with its stars did not stand up to its promise. The most well marketed team of the DLF IPL T20 looked more like a team that wants to make money rather than win matches. The KKR team looks more like a marketing gimmick rather than a team that takes its cricket seriously. So for now I have decided not to watch any of its remaining matches in IPL. They have to prove themselves worthy of my time. They have to atleast come close to the promise that they made with its fans.

IPL T20 - II

The long awaited moment is here. IPL 2, with all its colors and drama is ready once again to take the world of cricket by storm. It has got the glitter, the stars, the controversies and most importantly the fascination of all the people across India. The IPL tournament gives another chance for all of us to see our favourite players (both retired and playing) in action fighting it out in the middle. T20 has always been a trilling experience, with matches that change course in a matter of 1/2 overs, the big sixes, the great catches and being draw to the wire almost all the time. This year it is all set to be bigger, better and more electrifying.

Whats new(s)?

Last year the costliest player was Dhoni. Now this crown is held by two new big guns Kevin Peiterson and Andrew Flintoff. Both of them great hitters, just what the game needs.

One recent trend noticed was that most Indian captains are being replaced by foreign players. Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman are the once that have been replaced. The obvious reason cited for Dravid and Laxman would be the lack of skill. But, Ganguly had no such problems. He just has a knack of getting into trouble with Australian coaches. 

Obviously the new venue South Africa.

Move to South Africa.
The IPL Management has taken a bold step in organizing the tournament outside India. It was something none of the Indian cricket fans had anticipated. With security of cricket players being a top priority, this move has not been highly criticized. It has been a forced move. Since elections are being held in India and the window of time where most cricketing teams are free is less, this move sure helped the cause of cricket. But it is not all good. The first question that comes to mind is that how can delhi and chennai fight it out in a alien place. The very essence of having home matches in IPL is lost. Yes there will be considerable people in the stands in South Africa but it will not be the same. A Chennai match should be played in front of the chennai crowd not in front of a generic indian crowd and lot of foreigners. Also it has been bad for the organizers and the franchises themselves. With lesser crowd the amount of money also goes down. Yes, the no of people watching it on television will not change, but even the crowds amount for some money.

Whats in store?
You already know what to expect, don't you? Bigger sixes, higher scores, newer strategies and hopefully a new winner.

Watch out for the Sehwag-Gambhir pair of Delhi Daredevils, McCullum of Kolkata Knight Riders, Kevin Peiterson and Andrew Flintoff.

Don't miss the action!

Cricket Moments: Sledging an example of what it is

Cricket Moments: Sledging an example of what it is
This is a must watch. You know what is sledging and generally try to guess what players are saying by reading their lips. But in this video you can actually hear a sledging incident between kumar sangakkara and pollock.

Hope one day they will let people sledge as much as possible. Just to make the game interesting.

Cricket Moments: Disgraceful moment in the history of cricket

Cricket Moments: Disgraceful moment in the history of cricket

This is something that needs to get a mention in the history of cricket. THE UNDERARM BALL. The moment in history that brought shame to the game and its players. Watch the video to know more details. I picked it up from youtube: thanks to billy8988

Cricket Moments: Kitply Cup

Cricket Moments: Kitply Cup

So how many people really did watch the match between India and Pakistan????? I just kept track of the score and the talks around the tournament.

So Lawson says “We would like to score a 150-run win over India,” . Yes just looking at the record of the pakistan team that can be a valid statement, but he forgot to access the rivals against whom they were playing. It is not bangaladesh or any other cricketing "third world nation". It was india. And I think the boys reminded them well enough. They were just 10 runs short of defeating the pakistan team by 150 runs ... hahaha. It wont bother me if you dont get the joke.

So the final is fixed India and Pakistan , we hope for a good match . People expect a lot of entertainment from it and compare it with the IPL tournament.

Here are few highlights:

Cricket Moments: IPL is over!!! what to do now??

Cricket Moments: IPL is over!!! what to do now??

The perfect underdogs story has been scripted with the end of the IPL tournament. No one could have guessed this outcome at the start of the tournament. It was Rajasthan Royals all the way!!!!!! Congratulations to them.

So what are you doing now???? watching salman khan's "DUS KA DUM" is the last thing I would do. I guess now everyone is finding a new way to spend there time in the evening. I am already hoping that the next IPL tournament start as soon as possible, but sadly I have to wait for another year.

Cricket Moments: IPL T20 Still Open..

Cricket Moments: IPL T20 Still Open..

Delhi has managed to stay in the run for the SemiFinalist berth with the help of their win against the mumbai indians. Had Mumbai indians won this match they would have sealed their own position and also the chennai super kings position in the semifinals. With Delhi completing all 14 matches it can do nothing but hope that the mumbai indians or the chennai superkings lose atleast one of their matches.Mumbai Indians have to win both the remaining 2 matches (that is a tough spot to be in) against rajasthan royals and royal challengers to definitely reserve a position in the final four. The other case comes into picture where they win only one of there matches chennai loses its other match and Mumbai indians go into the semifianls based on there run rate.
Chennai has a similar condition, but since their run rate is less, they have no choice but to win the next match against Deccan chargers. Even if one of the two teams lose a single match,, then delhi will be definitely through.

Cricket Moments: Who will qualify for the semifinals.

Cricket Moments: Who will qualify for the semifinals

So which teams would you bet on for qualifying for the SemiFinals in the IPL tournament. Rajasthan Royals, then Punjab , then aaa aaa ??? and ????. Yes with mumbai indians winning this match against Chennai superstars there are 4 teams eyeing for the last two positions in the semifinalists list. The four teams are delhi, chennai, kolkata and mumbai.
Chennai are in a better position that the remaining but u cannot say anything for sure. They have started losing matches after Hayden and Hussey left them. Dhoni is the only peson on which the whole team rests on

for the batting and there bowling is just above average. They would require a lot of superstar power to stay where they are right now.
Delhi is in the same condition as chennai except they are now ranking 5th in the tounament. They depend heavily on gambhir and sehwag. Bowling wise - Mcgrath can bowl only 4 overs who will do the remaining while keeping it tight and at the same time taking wickets. There loss to Kolkata has been a major dent and they need to pick themselves up and play as a team. I think that gambhir should take more responsibility and stay on the wicket to lead the team to victories.
Kolkata has the best bowling side in the whole tournament. The major problem it faces is the top order failing consistently. The only shimmer of hope that we saw was ganguly and hussey in the match against Royal challengers, but we cannot trust his consistency. They are fielding and bowling well, all they need to do is stay at the wicket and put some runs on the board.
Mumbai WOW. Yes thats the word you will use after seeing todays match against Chennai. Jayasurya was at his F***ing best. He almost was hitting every ball out of the park and that too with so much ease . He made batting on this wicket look so easy(all other batmen were finding it difficult to even middle the ball). I would give sachin some credit for jayasurya's century. As uttappa said the comeback of sachin has brought in a lot of confidence in the side. I think sachin playing on the other side was one of the factors because of which Jayasurya was playing as he did. So now mumbai has a above average batting side an average bowling side. So we hope to see a lot of action in the coming few days between these teams to qualify for the semifinals.

Cricket Moments:Ganguly Silences critics in IPL

This is a "Praise ganguly Post" .... read on if you are a ganguly fan.

The match with Deccan chargers (11th May) should silence all the critics of GANGULY who say that he is not a good player for this format of the game. He has been the person every fan of his admires. He has hit some beautiful shots through the offside and lot of sixes straight on. He even hit some sixes on the legside. It was awesome. He has proved that it is not about blind hitting but some clever cricket that can help in scoring runs. He along with hussey score about 100 runs in the last overs ... this turned the game completely towards kolkata's side ... no questions asked!!! He truly deserved a century in this match but fell 9 runs short of it.

Except for some heroics from venugopal rao it was all about completing the formalities in the bowling department which has been performing brilliantly through out the tournament.

He made some important changes for this match .... improved the batting line up for the match by getting salman butt in the team ... though he did not help in the end it did not matter(thanks to ganguly). He got rid of agarkar(he gets hit to the boundary a lot). He used his bowlers cleverly ... even he himself set an example to the other bowlers. His fielding has also improved :D :D :D :D

Now all we are waiting for is rajasthan royal to defeat delhi daredevils and then Kolkata Knight Riders are in the top 4 teams of the tournament(only runrate can be an issue).

I have a few points that are bad about the KolkataKR's but am not going to mention it in this post(maybe in the next post about Kolkata Knight Riders)

Any more doubts!!!!!!
BTW how many cricketers in this tournament have won 2 Man of the Match awards??? Sehwag Gambhir etc etc around 4 and ganguly is one of them.

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The other Match today is between Delhi daredevils and rajesthan royals ....
Shane warne is a great man .... the rajasthan team has managed to restrict the delhi daredevils to a mere 156 even after a brilliant start from gambhir and sehwag. When the openers fell the rajesthan royals were quick to apply brakes on the runrate and did a good job till the end ... except for maharoof hitting shane warne over the fence a few times in 1 over. 156 is an easily gettable target and I sure hope that they will get it easily.

IPL status ... Halfway through the tournament

We are now half way through in the IPL tounament. These are the status and general comments on various teams

1. The underdogs lead the chart ... Rajasthan Royals are the true underdogs who have counquered the IPL.. with shane warne leading and people like yousuf pathan and kaif performing good they are set to qualify for the semifinals.

2. Sehwag has finally found something that he is "consistently" good at.. and along with gautham gambhir is leading delhi daredevils to victory.

3. Mumbai Indians started winning only after getting a foreign captain in Pollock ... people are still waiting for sachin to play atleat one match( suse just one match that is all i ask even if you dont play well just play any damn match)

4. bhajji gets himself in trouble again ... and not everyone is against him because the person on the other side is sreesanth.

5. This is not an event .. this is a request please get the good local players that joined ICL into IPL ... the quality will surely increase by leaps and bounds.

6. royal challengers manage to snatch defeat each and everytime ... they are the best mannered team and have definitely secured the last position in the tounament.

7. Deccan is following the lead of royal challengers ... but are not as good as them ... so they just manage the second last position in the ranking.

8 Kolkata KRs have a hopeless batting lineup .... which got even worse after Mccullum left ... They are planning to win there matches with there bowling and fielding only. They dont believe in putting up a good total anymore.

9 I have no comments about mohali ... just a suggestion keep sreesanth on a tight leash.

10. Why does Dhoni have so much love for joginder sharma???? why dude ?? he is not the find of the century ... please let him go.



So finally the best bowlers in the tournament:
Shane warne, Pollock, mcgrath, ishant sharma.
best batsmen:(maybe good batsmen)
Gambhir, rohit sharma, Marsh(mohali), saha(kolkata).
best side: dont know??? any guesses from u?
best captain:
shane warne

STANDINGS

Teams Played Won Lost Points Net Run Rate
RR 8 6 2 12 +0.605
KXI 7 5 2 10 +0.442
CSK 8 5 3 10 -0.001
DDD 7 4 3 8 +0.654
KKR 7 3 4 6 +0.461
MI 7 3 4 6 -0.455
DC 8 2 6 4 -0.240
RC 8 2 6 4 -1.309

IPL .. whom are you supporting

So whom are you supporting in the current IPL tounament???? How difficult is it for you to accept the change of cheering INDIA and now cheering a state????

I think it is very easy ... we are better at cheering our states ... I dont say we do a bad job cheering INDIA but we can do a better job cheering our states. How many indians really respect the people of other states ... how many people say they are indians and not bong or mallu or tamilians or punjabis????

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So if u are from karnataka u r cheering the Royal Challengers. If u are from Chandigard u are cheering Kings XI ... and similarly for the remaining teams.
I am assuming that half the population has found a team that it supports. What happens to the other half??? where do the biharis belong in this IPL?? is it chennai because dhoni is in chennai or is it kolkata because it is the neighbouring state?? where do keralites belong to??? and all the remaining states that do not have a state team???

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Below is the team I am cheering for .. even though I have been outside bengal for most part of my life!!!!!

IPL t20 tounament ... Ranfom comments on IPL

Let me put a thought in your mind .... HOW MANY OF YOU FIND 50-50 OVER MATCHES BORING NOW ??? Lets be truthful even a purist would agree that 2020 is more entertaining than any form of cricket .... and IPL has just cashed in on that .... But everyone should also agree on the fact that it is no longer cricket .... it is not always that the best side wins ... now even a single individual can win matches... a bowler no longer wants to take wickets ... he will not try to setup the batsman by bowling inswingers and get him out with the splendid away going delivery ... all he would do is hope he doent get hit to the boundary .... No batsman would be pleased after playing a textbook shot (it is harder to score with textbook shots). The one good thing that t20 has done is improve the fielding of the sides.

The best thing about IPL is that it is not being criticized by anyone who is actively involved in cricket nowadays .... because everyone is making money from it.. the players the umpires, the advertisers, the stadiums, everyone even the no good hosts.
Even the people are not complaining beacuse they love it .... Even I love it and am watching every match :).

Cricket Moments: Indian Oil Cup

Cricket Moments: Indian Oil Cup is one place where India looks good ... let me be a bit negative(because that is what I am good at) ..
Let me make a statement "Pakistan makes India look good" not just good enough but as the best ... india should keep playing teams like pakistan to improve its ratings and get more ad money for the players ... the team that played so bad against the world champions looked nothing less than champions yesterday ....

All the hype around Shoaib Akhtar and him being brought back into the team was of no use ... tendulkar gives his wicket to anyone ... Shoaib wasn't needed for his wicket.

Now the SILVER LININGS ... Murali Karthik was awesome .. his bowling was simply superb .. perfect flight .. and finally the perfectly spinning ball that the batsmen either misses or plays akwardly. Irfan Pathan with his slower speed has been consistent .... the Yuvi Mahi duo have made an example of themselves ... captains and vice captains need not be non playing members of the team ... they can actually contribute to a victory!!!!!!!!!!!

Cricket Moments: Be Happy with a T20 win

Cricket Moments: Be Happy with a T20 win ... that is all we have to do ... This series raises a lot of questions ... Can we win only 20-20 matches? our batsmen play 20 overs in style but not 50 overs (god help them in a test match)? Are the big trio so jinxed that even if they play well it does no good ??

No one is going to answer these questions correctly .... the good thing is we have something to cheer about at the end ... and not the sad memory of a 4-2 loss with the world champions.
One question that i finally have is did we deserve the win ....even though ponting says his team doesnt take 20-20 seriously .... i would say yes, we played splendid cricket to win the T20 match ... but why cant we translate the same talent and aggression into a 50-50 win ????