SLC needs to be cautious on IPL issue

The hue and cry created by SLC on the return of its players from IPL is unwanted and not needed. SL players have been in hot demand in this season and 2 of  their players are captains. One of them has led the new franchisee to 3 consecutive wins and the other has led to 3 defeats and 2 wins. 

Both are crucial to the SL campaign in the Old Blighty and their form would decide if the SL return from the tour as winners or as usual losing the Tests. They might still win the ODIs given the pathetic display by England in 2011 ODIs. 

The players have been asked to return to their country for a preparatory camp by May 5 and almost all of them have complied. At least those have who are / will play cricket for Lanka. Murali has slammed the board, but then he isnt supposed to represent SL anymore. 

The latest salvo has come in from Duleep Mendis and Nishantha Ranatunga over Lasith Malinga. He doesnt play Tests anymore and is a superb exponent in T20 and ODIs. But England tour begins with Tests and since Malinga wont be playing in the tests, him returning to Lanka and participating in a rehabilitation program is a bit ridiculous. By playing IPL at least he would be match fit if selected for the limited overs leg for the England tour. 

Everybody except West Indian players chose country over IPL and the players have promptly left for national duties when called for skipping IPL. So it doesnt make any sense for the players to actually say it in public forum that they prefer country over IPL of course if you are not Bravo or Pollard or Gayle.

SLC in a fighting stance with BCCI could be hurting itself in the long run. They are in debt and unless they play an India series, they tend to lose money than earn it. So it would be in their best interests if they take this situation in a bit more judicious and cautious way.

Delhi banished

Lasith Malinga did what he did best, bowled yorkers and demolished Daredevils batting lineup for just 95 and in the end Sachin Tendulkar saw Mumbai home.

Sehwag scored just 19 and that wasnt enough for DD to post a competitive total. He, Warner and Aaron Finch are the only men who were of some quality in the exodus'ed team. They lost AB, Dilshan, Vettori and Gambhir in the auction to see themselves as one of the weakest team in this IPL.

A heartening site was to see some swing for Irfan Pathan, though he didnt get the wickets. He did trouble the batsmen with the balls that came in. That has been his strength in his peak years.

Sehwag would need to do more than what he did today and perhaps he shall need to bat 20 overs to ensure DD post a competitive total in the other games.

Lanka dahan on Saturday in Mumbai

Its time to face the Lankans in the final of the world cup in our own country. Sri Lanka, the old warhorses who play all their games at home and then come to Mumbai to play the final and claim the trophy as if its  their own without any fight. Just cos Murali is retiring, they want to lift that trophy and touch it. Get off folks.

You are in India, the land where you lost last 2 series 1-5 and 1-3. And in the last ODI you played here against India, you were so shit scared of the rising ball, that your captain got the pitch in Kotla banned for a good year.  2 victories and 8 losses in last 10 completed games is a very proud record isnt it.  I remember Sangakara making a lot of noise when they travelled to Mumbai to play NZ. And now they are saying they know the pitch well, the conditions well just cos they played one game there and Malinga played 2 IPL seasons there.

What a logic.

Sachin Tendulkar grew up playing cricket in Wankhede all his life. Most of them who play for India have played in Wankhede before in either a IPL game or ODI or a Test match.  Zaheer Khan plays his domestic cricket in Wankhede (whenever).  So do they expect on back of just 1 league game in Mumbai and Malinga's 2 IPL seasons, they have a better idea of the pitch and ground?  Cmon get real.

They have a shaky middle order with guys like Masarweera, Mathews, Chamaras (whom their own fans mock as Sir Kapu or Lord Silva), those who have not yet been tested to full. A team which rides on the top 3 is never going to succeed if they lose the 3 in cheap. Game against Pakistan is a testimony.  Even the game against Kiwis is a testimony. Plus India has played SL too often, so they know the way Lankans play their game. Spin heavy attack isnt going to work against India in India. 

They are pressing Murali beyond a point to play the final cos they know without him they cant win a single game. Test matches are examples of that.

The key to beat SL is get rid of Dilshan, Tharanga and Sangananga and they are exposed, bared in the mid sun, unable to lift their game.  They have also called Randiv back and also Vaas back cos they feel Angelo I  m Not out Always Mathews and Muttiah Murali are unfit. Randiv, the same man who looked poor man's no - bowler might not play as they have not yet applied for replacements. They are making Murali bowl on half a leg, even if he is not fit. 

SL fans are obsessed with India and they want SL to win against India to shut the f** up the BCCI. The anger and disgust feelings of Indian victory in SF is visible on SLCricket.com. They badly wanted Stanis to win cos they feel they can beat them in India.

Unfortunately they still run into rampant India who would want to win one more game emphatically and crown themselves as world champions. Besides the revenge of 1996 SF is also on cards. I just want to see how would they react to the loss in the finals.  They blamed squash ball for Gilly's 2007 final 100 and they kept calling for rematch as they felt it was cheating. Cheaters calling the world cheaters cos this time they were on the receiving end.  Think about those 1000s of wickets their bowlers have got who had suspect actions or those who have bent arms beyond 15 degrees and yet got away. Think about those buffoon umpires all this years who've given numerous horrendous decisions on fields.

Sachin classy

It was Sachin Tendulkar all the way again on Brabourne Stadium in the game against KKR last night. His super 71 ensured MI went back on the top of the table. Today if RCB wins against  Dhoni less CSK, they should be back on top.

KKR now seems to have lost the momentum and were defeated 3^rd time in as many matches. Perhaps their failures have to do with their captain’s inability to scale up to the rigors of the format. Sourav does not seem to be loving the format and his form is a cause of worry for KKR. However he has come back infinite times and he would do so too this time.  It was not just Ganguly who struggled to score runs, but also Chris Gayle playing his first game. He just could not find boundaries. 100 in 15 overs is very much ODIsqueue batting.

Zaheer Khan was the pick of the bowlers alongside Malinga and add Bhajji to the lot, the MI attack seems formidable.

Sachin later ripped apart Ishant Sharma and showed him a very poor reflection of his indifferent limited overs format form.   There were few eye gazes between Zaheer and Sourav. The mentor and the student. And another student of Ganguly, Harbhajan finally scalped him and was joyed.

MI looks to be a different team and provided they select right XI they should be strong contenders to reach the semis.

My predictions for 4 semi finalists given current form :

Mumbai Indians

RCB

Deccan Chargers

Chennai Kings

Kings XI would finish last. And Sangakara would then be sacked as a captain. 

MI win a tense game despite Yusuf ton

Alright, the Sachin vs Warne dual never happened as Sachin fell to a poor LBW decision before Warne came on to bowl. Perhaps that played in Warne's mind too as he was off color too with 22 runs being taken off 3 overs.

MI survived a Yusuf onslaught by 4 runs thanks to the experience of Malinga and moreover Zaheer Khan. Tendulkar took a positive risk in keeping his 2 most experienced pros for the final 2 overs. And he would have felt the absence of Harbhajan strong and hard due to the injury he sustained while batting..

Yusuf Pathan was awesome in the 100 he made, 2nd by an Indian in IPL, but thats deceiving. If that would translate to big runs in the games that would matter in World T20 later and then ODIs if selected remains to be seen. But thats to be worried later, for now bows to him for making the hitting look so comfortable. And his hitting was cultured one, way better than Afridi's wild slogs when he has brain freezes and hits same shots in same direction before falling.

Batting for MI is worry. After Tendulkar and Surya there is nobody to carry the baton consistently. Yesterday they were saved the defeat by former ICL recruits, but they would need to rethink the policy to play just 3 internationals when they can play 4.

Sanga and Mahela's characterstic fixation on 'character'

Mahela and Sanga's Obsession for character stumps me. I mean there should be a cap on the usage of character in every match interview -- pre or post or presentation or cricinfo articles. Every single media interview and you would find this lads using word 'character'.

It gives me an impression that SL team is richest in character and other teams are studs or sluts :D. Almost with no character.

And if you compare this lads' performance with others then this 2 greats on flat pitches lack character which is shown by ageless Sanath Jaisurya or Dilly Dolly Dilshan or for that matter Kadamby. In my view Mendis, Mahela and Sanga are characterless and useless characters in richly characterstic SL team which has the most interesting caricature in the world cricket -- Malinga who also shows a huge character in growing his hair in weird styles, yet he performs. He shows character in giving 81 runs or even 3 or 4 wkts.....

Not the types who puke character and score 1 and get out on a teesra of a chautha grade bowler or get hit wicker :).

I need somebody with huge guts and highest character to show character and put a tape on Sanga / Mahela's characterstic mouth when they utter character.

Bhaiya Sanga aur Mahila ki maane to baaki sab teams charitraheen hai aur Lanka ki team sushil saumya saubhagyawati team hai.

Lol.

What would ya watch ?

What would you watch ?

The ashes between England and Australia ?

or the battle between T20 finalists Pakistan and Sri Lanka who played out a boring test series last time they met (ignore Lahore attacks and Tests).

How would Pakistan switch to Tests mode after T20 triumph and hoopla ?

Its an irony that Pakistan hold dominance over Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka hold dominance over Pakistan in Pakistan in Tests. Amazing. It would also be keen to watch how Malinga scales up to the Tests after IPL and WT20.

The rankings wont change. The top 3 Test teams wont change. But will SL and Pak change their mode of playing Tests (long boring batting draws)?

Life without Aussies

Ozzies are out. They were Gayle'fied on Saturday and today they were Malinga'ed and Mendis'ed. And then Kumar'ed. In short dumped out of the World T20. Critics having a field day, fans a bit disappointed and more disgusted. The Australia we knew or i should say I knew was nowhere on the display.

They just didnt show their true colors. One eye on Ashes and half a eye on world t20. This approach didnt work. And this caps off a horrendous time they have had in limited version of the game in 2009. In a way India's way eased out to the title defense.

The big names flopped, the returning stars ran out of the steam. Ponting seemed to be in a Test mode while captaining a T20.

In short, the Aussies have been drained out of the T20 world series and it would be SL who would be in India's group. Mendis vs Indians. Wow. Delightful propositions.

Aussies now get to the Test mode and they would want to now win the Ashes by the same margin as they won in 2006-07, so that we could see Ponting retire and Sachin's supremacy in Test cricket sealed forever.

Sreesanth's friend in Emerald Isle

Jumping jack just got in to Lasith Malinga....Where is he ? Dancing in some reality show to fitness or working on nets to come back ?

Sri lanka 's Sreesanth

SL worthy of Spirit of Cricket Award ? Noooo

How can Sri Lanka be awarded the ICC Spirits of the Year award when they have two illegal chucker bowler in their ranks in :

1) Muralitharan

2) Lasith Malinga

Aint they killing the spirits of the game ? Isnt the Chuck earning cheap wkts against the likes of BD and Zim ? 200 odd wkts in 23 Tests against this 2 minnows. Is that boosting spirits of cricket ? ICC adjudicators (minus Siddath Vettimuny) got to answer that. IMHO SL kill the spirits of cricket in worst way like no other team in the world does.