Sanga cant lead sala

Dabba Chargers or Dhakkan Chokers -- as you might want to call the 2009 champions,  they are funnier lot. They played 5 bowlers today -- Steyn, Sharma, Christian, Ojha and Mishra. 4 of them genuine wicket takers. Mishra and Ojha amongst the top 2 wicket takers last edition. 

Unfortunately they continued to lose their own home ground and VVS Laxman might be smiling down in Kochi seeing the plight of  the home franchisee.

Positives:

Ishant Sharma didnt take a wicket, but he troubled batsmen quite a few times and he got bounce and carry on the pitch. Something that augurs well for the confidence of the bowler. ODI setup needs an express bowler and need to look no further than this lad if he gets his economy rate under control.

Negatives:

Ojha is yet to recover from the shock of world cup omission.

Sanga Nanga got off to a disastrous start to his 2nd franchisee captaincy stint. He lost the world cup final last Saturday and today he lost the IPL opener.  He got a duck as well. Aduck getting a duck. 

Rajasthan got off to a good winning start and the move to open with Dravid doesnt quite look good. 

The worst part is the same commentators who were good a week back and now are shouting the usual IPL associated cliches. How sad.

Dhakkan Fusers Preview : IPL 4

This time its for Dhakkan Fusers. Oops. Deccan Chargers.

The wooden spoon holders of 2008, winnes of 2009 and semi finalists of 2010. New captain, new team.

New captain is a loser. This blog hates him. He has just resigned from the national captaincy, had ended up wooden spoon holder of 2010.

Kumar Sanganangakara for ya.

Indian players:

Ojha, Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Arjun Yadav and brothers.  I dont know the others. Never heard of them.  Nah add Gony, Dhawan and Harmeet Singh too.

Foreign Players:

SangaNanga, Dale Steyn, Cameron White, Rusty Theron, KP, Lumb and JP Duminy.

Dont know how this team shall fare. The Indian players are an unknown lot, so not sure if they shall be form of a winning unit. Plus Sangkara's captaincy is sham, so expect nothing much from this team. Not sure how Hyderabadis and folks would respond to the forseeing defeats this team shall face in the tourney.

Tail Wagging

The tail enders are Indian baits. They have frustrated us over the years.  Malinga and Herath did in the Galle Test, Kamran Akamal and Spinach Razzaq did in Mohali along side Jason Gillespie in Chennai and Sydney.  For a sweet change of fortunes its been Indian tail that has been frustrating Sri Lankans, much to their own medicine in this series. And who are culprits? Mishraji here, Mithun, Ojha and Ishant in the other innings.

Thanks to the glaring partnerships yesterday India managed to sneak ahead by 11 runs and then the best “offspinner in the country” who is also “greatest flat track bully” which would be cherished by Robert / Gill / The abusive commenter (Achettup, you did this) spinned out Dilshan and Paragraph to ensure India have a realistic chance to win provided they get out boring duo of Mahelangakara asap.

A lot would depend on Mishraji who now has a supportive pitch and that would go a long way to decide on his future. If he is among wickets, he would be in contention else he would be eked out.  Ditto for IPL Ojha. He gotta remember that he is playing for India and not Deccan Chargers. Though sight of VVS Laxman could still remind him of Deccan Chargers……

India score a face saving victory

Main observations in today's win over Bangladesh in MircoMini Asia Dambulla cup:

1. New ball bowling is a worry for India. The way Zaheer and Praveen bowled was not the prettiest of the sight and certainly not the greatest of signs we are looking forward to win the 2011 world cup. Ok they are coming after a gap of 1 month almost, still they gave away a lot of boundaries to Tamim and Keyes.  Nehra was off color too though he picked up 2 wickets in his 100th ODI.
2. Ravinder Jadeja continues to edge a specialist spinner to play in the final XI.  Much said.
3. Sehwag was unusual hero with the ball instead of bat. I had tweeted him to get a 100, instead he got a  4-for, 2nd cheapest in the history.
4. Gambhir's return to form or lets say runs is a good sign.
5. Sehwag should fire in the big game vs Pakistan, which we should not lose in any situation.
6. Rohit Sharma is back to his original ways. 2 centuries now seem fluke. The lad just does not seem to learn from the past.  If he does not mend up his ways he should probably kiss goodbye to his India career chances and look forth to Deccan Chargers only.
7. Dhoni was back among the runs.
8. Sehwag would be on hattrick next game. He should come to bowl when Afridi comes to bat and he should be hattrick victim.
9. Great to see DK and MV not opening batting for India.

Ok I stop.

Rohit

Rohit Sharma falls for a similar ugly hoist in the 3rd spot playoff. 2nd consecutive game he has played a similar shot to get out. 

He is going to be a part of WCT20 squad and if he plays the same way GOD forbid the fortunes of his team. 

PS : Somebody now at some random blog is going to post a post in response to this post and claim me to be anti Mumbai too. I cant be writing to soothe everybody's opinions and view points. Expression of views is a skewd thing which not many take it kindly.  Little bit of broad mindedness is all what is required. 

And as for Srikanth's decisions as head of selection committee, we have a lot to debate against him.  In recent memory the Test team for 1st test vs SA, the W20 squad last year and for this year. Dig out and you'd find such instances even more.  On what basis likes of Dinesh Karthik is persisted in the team and Uthappa is not even given a chance since 2008. Ponder over stats and you d find the essence of regionalism favor. Period.

Mumbai Indians

Mumbai rolled over again while defending the tagret of 180 to Deccan Dischargers...And the stars were Chotta Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu.....

In the bowling Zaheer and Bhajan starred and once again the captaincy of the man was awesome though he has shown shades of frustration never seen before on his face for 21 years. But thats how the lesser known players shell it out...Not known to the pressure and suddenly pulled into high profile Bollywood corporate Cricket circus would put them in a spot of bother.

Deccan are fast fading into shell and unless their big batting stars -- Gilly, Symmo and Gibbs do not fire they have feeble chance to reach semis to defend their title. Rohit Sharma is an useless guy and now he does not play even in IPL. Yet say it a DBV effect -- he finds a place in T20 squad .

Mumbai are there and with 14 points they are secure in the semis. I care for Mumbai just a bit cos the man is there. Remove him and the team is no different than Rajasthan Royals. If Shane Warne was a batsman then Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians would have been twins that carved different paths at the birth just like Amitabh Bachchan's classic Deewar in 1975.

Once the man is out the match loses interest and lest there is no Indian legend on the other side, the match is not watched. Its good that the local imperfect stars of Mumbai -- Shahane, Raje Gaje Baje, Takawale, Rahane and Nayar are chucked out.....Perhaps they would be best suited for Pune IPL team with Rohit Sharma as iconic player....Lol.

This lads were given more than necessary chances in first 2 editions and they were a liability. This season Rayudu and Chotta Dhoni have excelled in chances they;ve got. The Mumbai Indians is all about Sachin Tendulkar and the trio of Zaheer , Harbhajan and Malinga make a fair distant attraction at second place...

Punjab disgrace again!!

What was Bisla thinking when he scooped Kumble ?

Or When Sangakara gave up gloves to be as a fielder and ground a skier to kick it with his legs for a four, I m sure with this kind of pyrotechniques we would not see Sanga again in IPL next season ownwards.

7 defeats out of 8....What a captaincy by Sangakara.

RCB now jump back to the 2nd spot and almost seal the semi final place.

Its now between Deccan, Rajasthan and Kolkata to fight out for the possible 4th spot in the semis soon. And today's game is crucial for Deccan as they take on rampant Mumbai Indians.

Day 3 of IPL 3 : DC and KKR come good.

KKR are going through a dream run having won 2 consecutive games in the 3rd season of the IPL despite not having Shane Bond and Chris Gayle in the lineup.

And the star of their campaign is the tantrum thrower Angelo Matthews who is a surprise package of the IPL 3 so far. Kumar Sangakara must be secretly happy on his success so far.

In other game Deccan Chargers derailed Chennai Kings campaign.  Except Morkel and MS none of the Chennai batsmen cud run amok and that ensured a 31 run victory for DC.

Symonds after the slow start top scored with 50. And Chaminda Vaas showed why Kumar Sangakara is an ass. 5 wickets in 2 games, each of them in opening spell is reminding us of WC 2003.  Vaas we know of and what he has done in last 16 yrs.  Something SL selectors fail to understand. If Vaas continues his success in the remaining games will Sangakara and selectors turn their mind and include the lad in the World t20 ?

KKR makes a winning start

KKR makes a good start to their campaign by a facile win against the defending champions Deccan Chargers. The change of guard in the captaincy for Knight Riders has done the trick.  And of course Cheater Angelo Matthews did the magic for KKR first with the bat and then with the ball.

Despite losing Ganguly and Tiwary quickly Owais Shah and Cheatero ensured KKR reach 161 and give something for their bowlers to defend something. With Gayle  and Bond to return soon, KKR would only grow stronger and stronger in the campaign.

For DC, the batsmen except captain Gilchrist disappointed especially the so called talented Rohit Sharma who fell to a ridiculous shot. Now if he cant even play T20, then what would he play ? T10 ?

All in all a pulsating cricket if we chuck out the Bollywood and other dust particles out of the IPL.

Pakistan hurts itself after snubbed in IPL

Shahid Afridi feels IPL has hurt his country and his team by ignoring him and other players. Actually he is hurt and he is trying to paint it green by saying huge words like hurting his country and all.

Who would risk a Pakistani player this point of time who lack team spirits, basic skills and are prone to brain freezes. That was evident in the last 8 tests they have played.

Besides their government is not too enthusiastic to send them across the border to play. Actually the relations between the Indian and Pakistan countries is not too good after 11/26, so Pakistani cricketers are looked upon with suspicion and are not very welcome here.

Besides there is no guarantee that the Pak players would be available for entire tournament. Shilpa Shetty, the irritable and yawning owner (co) of RR sums it up.

Besides IPL has its own commerce. So nobody would bet on a losing side. The snub seems fair to this blogger and this blogger feels that lest Pakistani players work on their attitude and team spirits, they would be continued to be ignored.

And Afridi is not doing any good by issuing temparamental statements like this.  Not to forget his verbal spat with VVS and then a MB with Gautam Gambhir. The tempers might get flared in the stadiums should Afridi and his men do another kind of such behavior.

Thanks to Ajmal Kasab, the geopolitics and the scenario of cricket between the 2 countries have changed.

Semi-finalists and Rameez's commentary

Delhi and Chennai are almost there. Kolkata and Mumbai are nowhere. Rajasthan are on brink. Punjab are inconsistent much contrary to their fighting nature. Deccans are new South Africans in South Africa -- chokers. Bangalore are dark horses despite Kumble and Dravid are fair players and are no horses.

Saurav Ganguly has seen it all, done it all. Can he do it today ?

A shievering Shiva is down there for us.

A stammering Rameez is sucking us.

MS Dhoni, Mr Kewl. Yeah yeah the same man who beat somebody 4-1 and 3-2 in last 2 ODI series :)

Sorry for off the topic. Rameez 's verbal potshots. Sounding almost similar to Mbangwa. Huge time, big time, big time, huge time. Mbangwa style.

So the semis are eye wide open. Delhi vs CSK is tempting proposition for final. Batting might of CSK and misfiring Viru and Gauti. Question is who are going to be other 2 ?

1) Rajasthan are 13. If they win against KKR they go 15. Still no guarantee.

2) Deccan Chargers are 14 with positive NRR. 1 game left to play RBC on last day of league games. One win and they are 16. If they lose, they are on brink as well.

3) KXIP have a game against CSK, their final game after today. I fancy CSK. KXIP should win a game to be in race. If they lose they go out.

4) RCB, they have 2 games left. Must win both to get through. DD and DC. Can fancy beating DC. DD are beatable too. I believe they could make it. If RCB win both games they go in. DC depend then on Royals result against KKR, which they should win.

So my pick:

DD
CSK
RR
RCB

Rameez, you are now stinking. Ganguly, subcontinent player finds tough to go in SA, eyes blinking, trying to concentrate on job. He s got lot of nervous energy Siva.

My ass Kameez, did you even know Ganguly's record in SA ? 2003 success in world cup, 2006 Test series, 2001 tri series. Go check the record mate.

McCullum seems in good nick in chasing 189. Ganguly stuggling and Rameez stinking. Rameez Kameez go away.

Roy's dismissal.

There could be difference of opinions over dismissal of Roy in the game against KXIP. Here is what happened what I saw :

1) Yuvraj bowls. Roy charges and misses.

2) Sangakara fails to collect the ball and whips the bails off. One bail falls, second stays intact. Till this point Roy is not out and yet to make up to the crease.

3) Sanga collects the ball in 2nd attempt, dives and breaks the stumps. 2nd bail falls. Roy falls short of crease. Sanga and team appeal. Third umpire called in.

4) Umpire ruled him out.

No discrepancy here. 1st attempt the ball fell off the gloves, Roy out of the crease. Not out. 2nd attempt, the 2nd bail falls and Roy is given out.

Fair decision and fair play. Thank God no Mumbai involved else lot of moral dosage and cricket rules would have been dished out on dollar blog.

Plane Bias!!

I hate to say it on this space about any other fellow blogger, but then there has to be some sanity. Plane bias and cynicism should not work and never works. You got to owe it when it deserves. Give the credit when it deserves. A simple act of stupidity by a batsman ignorant of the rules of cricket and being run out by keeper is a natural process. Whats wrong in it? People saw the dismissal on TV and nobody complained except this one.

Everybody was of the view and the premise that the ball wasnt dead. The keeper was just appealing for a caught behind, batsman unaware of where the ball is ran for a run and was promptly run out / stumped. Ball wasnt dead. RR's hopes were dead albeit.

Batsman leaving his wicket under a misapprehension

An umpire shall intervene if satisfied that a batsman, not having been given out, has left his wicket under a misapprehension that he is out. The umpire intervening shall call and signal Dead ball to prevent any further action by the fielding side and shall recall the batsman."

Ball had just reached Gilly's hand and Carlesdine began running. Immediately Gilchrist stumps him or runs him out. Where is the element of doubt? Some biases never go. Hell what? Well and they say I am biased and lack analysis. Enough of it. You wish to come here, then do drop in. No forcing. Two individuals have different thinking, different thought patterns and analysis. If you dont agree with the other individual and then conclude he lacks the analysis is worst way to shy away from any discussion or arguments.

Rameez Raja 's Ranjeet moment of the day

Today Rameez Raja is playing the role of Ranjeet Fernando. You dont believe me or you think I am biased again? Then here is the proof :

When the 2nd wicket for DC fell, Roy came in and Rameez Raja welcomed him with the statement on air while commenting. " Andrew Symonds played a MATCH WINNING innings of 60 against KXIP on saturday".

Really? Lost the plot? I thought DC lost it to KXIP when Bret Lee won the game by hitting winning runs and getting Preity di pappiya and jhappiya. It happens mate. When you spend lot of time with Ranjit in the commentary box, you are due to pick some wrong habits. Never mind as long as this is just a slip of tounge. Would ja correct the statement mate?

My predictions

Deccan chargers in the 1st game.....

Chennai Super Kings in 2nd game..

Roy is back. And so is Appam. Would be a keen contest. I m sure Roy would hit Appam to even more sixes than what Haydos did

Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Dischargers LIVE!!

Whatta start to the Mumbai Indians. Opening partnerships have been the key for DC in their first 4 games. No strong opening partnership, they lose. So today is one of those days? May be, i wont complaint. I want Sachin Tendulkar to lift the IPL. No Zaheer today. He is out injured. Bad signs for India's crown defence. Poor fielding. Suman hits a four to bowler whom I suspect is Dhawal Kulkarni. Kallu Siva is out in the dug out. He is crap. Dhawal Kulkarni, a fast bowler. LORTFL. 130 max is his speed. He would be bludgoned by attacking batsmen. Interesting to see how he takes on Adam, the baap of all wktkeeper batsmen.

Meanwhile Fidel Edwards is rocking England after his super show in IPL for DC. England tottering at 4/182 at Tea, day 1. Bhajji is on. To Gilly. Back to Lord's Test, KP got his golden duck, may be first in his career. Prior, the jelly bean king and Bopara, the latest Preity's huggie baby are resisting Edwards show. Lage raho. Preity would send in more pappiya and jhappiya from SA for Bopara.

By the way back to IPL, Suman hits Bhajji for a six. Faster ball. One more. 30/1 in 5th over. I dont care how Mumbai local lads perform or even Surya or Bravo or Nayar perform. One more six. Round the wicket and off goes Suman. Kid is having fun at the expense of a bowler who has got 330 Test wkts and 8 IPL wkts, and hit one idiot a tight slap. Bravo is in. Well this game is at Centurion. The same venue where Tendulkar murdered Pakistan in the WC'03 game that shut Pakistan out of the world cup forever. That six to Younis, that six to Shoaib Akhtar, boy orgasmic pleasure. Can Ten hit few more tonight ?

Back to the game, Bravo almost got SUman. and now he gets him. Huge wicket. 2/37 in 6. Fashion guy Rohit Sharma comes in. He is a Mumbai man. A suburb man. Borivali(W) resident. He is touted to be next Tendulkar. hahahaha. Bravo has got good start. Sach is shuffling his bowlers well.

DC 2/37 in 6. Bhajji back to Gilly. Interesting to see how Sharma plays Bhajji. I would fancy Bhajji get Sharma. Shiba is saying Gibbs and Suman have not taken out their pads. Cos they are disappointed on score so far. But Dhakkan Shiva, how come Gibbs and Suman would increase the scorecard? They are dismissed. So they wont be coming out to bat again. No batsman on crease is injured, so no runners. Huge six by Gilly and then a lbw appeal. Doosra. Not illegal one. 2/46 in 7.

Rohan Raje the joker is on. Another dibbly bodly wobly bowler. Doesnt Mumbai have any genuine pacer? Is it short of bowling resources? Are this tweakers like Rohan Raje or Dhawal Kulkarni the future of Mumbai cricket? Ass. Six. 100 kmph, Sharma hits Raje to a six. Why the hell is Raje playing? BTW Rameez Raja is back commenting. Welcome to the INDIAN premier league sir. Raje dives after the ball passes him. 2/56 in 8 overs. Gilly is in for big score. He is playing anchor. Would be fun to see him go aafter bowling in later overs. Dharmsena is the umpire. ROTFL. Great fielding by Harbhajan pappe.

Deccan are losing the plot. 2/59 in 9. Rameez gets age of Surya wrong. 37 in place of 39. Appeal for runout, not headed. Freaking hell. Raje gets Gilly. Ah man. Shameful to see Raje getting Gilly. Ahh SRK ad. Go off dude.

3/63 at TACTICAL AD TIMEOUT. Chances of rain in 2nd innings. 4/118 in 17th over. 150 should be the target. Pity that Sharma didnt hit Kulkarni out of the attack. Jaya bowling still good at his age. Deccan have no specialist spinner as Ojha is injured (3rd one of Team India). Lankan slinga is back. And whatta catch.......Dwayne Bravooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Orgasmiccccccccccccc.....Sharma gone. Chuck gets a wicket. Not Murali, but Slinga Malinga. You beauty!!!! 6/145. Not bad given the start Deccans got. Tendulkar needs to fire and i m waiting with holded breath!!! Go Sachin go!!!

Mumbai Indians are back to batting. Rameez Raja is commenting as if its a debut game for Tendulkar in the world cricket. Boy in this age too, he runs like a heir or hare. Off goes Jayasurya. 4 off 5th ball. 6/0 in 1. 140 to win in 19 overs. Tendulkar to face RP now. Jayasuriya gone. Damn!!!!!! RP strikes. Good catch by Harris. Pinal Shah comes in and Sachin is gone. RP bowls him. Biggest wicket of his goddamn career. Off goes the live post. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn............

Kinks win and go on the top

What a way to come back to the form. Score a 50, make inspiring bowling changes and then take your team on the top. From 6 to 1. He is one man who is not used to being ordinary or lying at the bottom. He did it for India, then he did it for CSK and then again for CSK in IPL-09.

He is Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Soopher Kinks won their 3rd game in row and it suggests how close this IPL is. 5 teams on 9 or 8 points, 2 on 7. Forget KKR, they are embarrasment to the game of cricket. Today one victory to the Royals Rajasthan and they go top too. Ditto for Sadde Delhi de Patthe :)

Deccan Chargers are now back to their normal ways of losing after a high of back to back 4 wins. To ensure they are a challenge they would need to get back to the winning ways before its too late. CSK and BRC have smelled blood. Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne are too good to be kept down. So they would be coming back in next 2 days.....

IPL never got so much exciting.

Pragyan taught a lesson or 2.

The sexy orgasmic six by Tendulkar to Pragyan Ojha would bring the high flying spinner down to the ground and now he would come to know what it is to bowl the legend and a real batsman rather than getting cheap wikats of lesser players. Go boy get the ball.

Bangalore vs Deccan Live..

Gilchrist has won the toss and elected to bat. Tis Gilly and Gibbsie opening the batting. Laxman at 3. Its Praveen Kumar opening the bowling. Overhyped, overhyped. Steyn should be the one doing that. I hope PK doesnt open the batting too. Gilly on fire. 3 on 3. Rant on pehelwan from Meerut. I guess if it was a kushti akhada, Pehelwan Kumar would have dared Gilly to have a go at him..Boy he has a gun too.

Super shot from Gilly he is on fire. May be Australia would recall him in Dubai against new minnows Pakistan. And again. 2 in this over. 3 in first. KP surely needs to think something more. Mark Nicholas and Ravi Shastri, 2 of the best 3 on fire as well. Laxman vs Kumble would be a great contest to watch. Six, but say it six Markie. Not DLF maximum. Gibbs takes over. Orgasmic start. Kallis on. 4 skippers in the BRC team. 2 Indians and 2 Saffers. Kallis and Uthappa think that they have got Gibbs, but umpire unmoved. 0/33 in 3.3. Poor keeping by Uthappa. Boy PK was sweeped for a 6 by Gibbs. Shows how paceful Kumar is. And he is gone. 1st wkt.

Pehelwan ko gussa aa gaya. Sala Bewda Pehelwan ko jhadu marta hai. Le tu out. LOL..Lacchu pehelwan in. Praveen Pehelwan to Lacchu pehelwan. Now the PP would know what batting means and artistery means. Gibbs looked not out. Laxman plays one down to Kumble at gully. How ironic. In Tests Laxman used to watch Kumble from 2/3rd slip standing in gully. And today he is playing one to his ex-captain. Kallis back in attack. DD 1/49 in 5 overs.

GIlly on fire. 1 six and 1 four. Vintage Gilly. Kumble in. Laxman faces. Almost foxed. Vintage Indians on the opposite side. Jesse boy in and gets Laxman out 1st ball. Laxman was never a hitter of the ball in air. And now bikini man ROhit Sharma would be in. Mostly would have got lotsa kisses and hugs from cheerleaders. So an extra motivaation to score runs and hit sixes, pass on flying kisses to the babes around...He is a mumbaikar playing for hyderabad. Saying anything against him is saying it against Mumbai. Anil bowling well. Uthappa propping him up. Almost had Gilly. Vintage Kumble. Get in the bikini man too.

KP has a golden arm....2 wkts now. Just that he shud bat good too.KP now has 2wickets and a catch. Bikini man was out. 52 runs made. Consideration for t20 world cup done. Dhoni and coach happpy. Cheerleaders happy. Dude got stuff worth 2-3 days to live with. 185 to win for Royal Challengers. I dont think they can do it.

Whoa whatta start for Bengaluru? 3rd in row a duck. ROTFL. Jesse Ryder must be feeling huge to go back home. He had lot of success against India in Test and ODI series, but IPl has been nightmare. 2 games and 2 ducks.

Kallis is next skipper for BRC. He is gone too. Hopelessness continues. KP is in. I doubt Dravid on his own would be able to do anything. But he is doing. Oye Pappe. Kise ghoor riya he ? Crease pe jo khada he wo sabka baap hai. Haha. Harmeet singh giving a stare to Dravid after being taken for runs. Now RD hits back in style to the men who kicked him off the captaincy. He has been the sole run getter for BRC this year and last year. The so called valuable pickings and most payed cricketers from foreign land have turned dud. Its all around Rahul Dravid. Pieterson falling for 11, Kallis the next skipper for 15 n the young gun Uthappa for 12. Dravid is making runs at strike rate of 195 runs per 100 balls. Its insane to term Rahul guilty of low fortunes for BRC team. Mallaya owns answers. He owes a public apology to Rahul. And all those bloggers and assholes who have termed Rahul as a test player. Do they forget that he possess record of fastest 50 by an Indian in ODIs. And amongst famed Indian batsmen in iPL he owns one of the highest strike rates. Less than Veeru but higher than MS, Sharma lalla and others. And with him gone, the hopes of a victory are gone.

Praveen Kumar is run out after making no efforts to reach to the crease. And he did have to say a lot to Kohli. Pehelwan ko fir gussa aaya. Thank God utha ke patak nahi diya. Kohli coming of age here, he is keeping BRC alive. Future prospects look bright for Kohli. Way better than Rohit Sharma. No slogs, no slangs, pure cricketing shots. Jeeyo Kohli bhiya Jeeyo.

Deccan chargers beat KKR convincingly

Deccan chargers got off to a walloping start in their first game. Thanks to the renewed spirits under Gilly. Though he didnt fire with the bat, he still showed his leadership skills. For most part he had been deputy to Ponting for Australia and had he been the skipper, Aussies would have better record than now.

RP Singh was a reveleation. He just loves this format. He should be in for the World T20. Ganguly, Laxman failed. Knight Riders have no strength in their ranks. Whatever they had SRK and Buch robbed them in the pre match runup. Imagine likes of Chopra batting in T20. He never played in any 50 over game. Ridiculous.

And Rohit Sharma played another "cameo". He comes good when he plays in IPL. He doesnt when he plays for country. May be IPL has more motivation for him as there are lots of Shettys, Zintas and others, while international cricket doesnt.

So after the end of 1st round, the teams that had won their first games last season, have lost their 1st games this season except Delhi Daredevils. This season Deccan would be one of the favorites for semi-final spot.