Sir Ravindra Jadeja jokes

Blessed are the players who make their debut in the team blessed and possessed by Lord Sri Sir Ravinder Jadeja. 

Today Sir Jadeja did not bless Chris Gayle, so the guy was out cheaply. 

Sir Jadeja blessed Mike Hussey in the previous game vs Punjab and the guy scored unbeaten 86.

Sir Jadeja was pissed off with MS Dhoni in the first game, he did not get to bowl 4 overs complete. Chennai Super Kinks ended up losing the close game by 9 runs. 

Sir Jadeja needs to be pleased by  the Sri Lankan cricket board and by the shady Lankan politics to ensure that their cricketers are allowed to play for Chennai and against Chennai in Chennai.

Srimati Mahila Parajayawardhene and Sriyut Angelo Matthews should offer prayers to Sir Jadeja and seek his blessings to ensure that they are able to turn the losing streak of their respective franchisees to victory lap.

Sir Jadeja just got hit for a 6 by Mayank Agarwal, poor kid, his cricketing career just got finished. 

And in the end is there another Harbhajan Singh who would do a Sreesanth to Sir Jadeja ? That is the only way to get rid of the magic spell cast by Sir Jadeja on the entire cricketing world.   

Gayle storm and finally a Pune win

Chris Gayle has continued his form with the bat for the 3rd year in succession. After 2 failures in last games, he is back to the usual and today he demolished Shahrukh Khan's team with a superb knock of 85*.  This knock demoralized the Knight Riders totally and as a result the captain Gautam Gambhir had an ugly spat with his rival captain and India / Delhi mate Virat Kohli. 

The spat was very ugly and repeated watching of video suggests the 2 captains fought in the heat of moment and on the behest of the team owners. When they don the blues again, this spat will be long forgotten. For RCB, Kohli and Gayle are turning out to be superb combination. The opposition can think of beating this franchisee only if they manage to get both the players cheaply.

It will not be wrong to mention that RCB is the team of the tournament so far. They have won 3 out of 4 games and almost won the 4th one too, if not for the Super over defeat to SunRisers last Sunday. They hold the purple cap, orange cap. Virat Kohli is the topmost run getter followed by Chris Gayle. Ditto in bowling. R Vinay Kumar followed by RP Singh.

Kolkata Knight Riders are like the soda bottle which fizzes very soon once the lid is opened. They had a title last year but this year they are by no means playing like a team. Their bowling is decent, but in batting except for Gautam Gambhir, the other batsmen are misfiring. They need some boost in batting very soon before it is too late for them. Jacques Kallis has been successful for them in last 2 years, but I think playing Ryan Tendo or Brendon McCullum over Kallis will give them the necessary boost. 

RCB next play against Sir Jadeja's team and should be overwhelming favorites to win the game. Imagine the kind of bowling Jadeja would do to Kohli and Gayle, the 2 top run getters shall score tons in the next game.

And finally Pune won something against some team. Breaking a 11 game losing streak is a huge achievement for them. They should be congratulated for this.  Who knows when will the next win come and in which season.

Hail Rahul Dravid

While we are enthralled by aggressive batting from Chris Gayle and company, one can never get enough of legendary stuff from Rahul Dravid even at age of 40, good 1 year after retirement and picking up a cricket bat after 7 months. 

You will always heap praises on Gayle for the entertainment and return of money he provides through his batting , but it is the sight of some classic shots from Dravid even in this tournament make you feel blessed to have witnessed the stuff of legend.

The satisfaction one derives from the batting of Dravid, Tendulkar is just incomparable. Nothing exceeds that, nothing beats that.

Sir Ravinder Jadeja bashing

Sir Ravindra Jadeja is on a roll. After the fans, its CSK team mates also address Jadeja as Sir Jadeja and they are now trying to replace Rajni jokes with Jadeja jokes. Any number of jokes on Jadeja are not enough and seeing him in the national team makes me go berserk and I can then barely control on the expletives I wish to bestow on him. 

Today Sir Jadeja got to bowl full quota of overs and he also took a wicket of Manan Vohra.  That was a sh**t of a ball and Vohra could hit it only in the hands of fielder. Cricinfo acknowledged it.

"Jadeja to Vohra, OUT, that's a rubbish ball, so short, and Vohra went back and pulled in the air towards cow corner, where he had hit his previous boundary. But Dhoni had moved a fielder there, and Hussey settled under the ball and caught it a couple of yards inside the rope. He could have hit it anywhere and he picked out the fielder"

Thanks to MS Dhoni's captaincy who would ensure he would do everything to update wickets column under his team's most overrated and expensive player. And Jadeja got a wicket of a rubbish ball. That is how Jadeja gets wickets. 

Luck, rapport with influential people where it matters and less of performance. That is Sir Jadeja for you.  24 wickets in 4 tests vs Australia and dismissals of Clarke is something he will feast upon long. And since Clarke is best Test batsman in contemporary cricket, Jadeja's name shall always be mentioned in same breath. 

Before this Test series he made 2 triple centuries in domestic cricket, which fast tracked his place in the Test team.  But every one forgets to mark where he made those centuries. On one of the flattest wicket in the country in Rajkot, those runs does not matter. His batting was rubbish in the tests. But all of that did not matter. He was 2nd highest wicket taker in the Australia test series. 

In IPL 2012 as most expensive buy of the year, he made 191 runs in 19 games with an average of 16 and a strike rate of 127 and took 12 wickets in 19 games, 5 of those coming in a single game vs Deccan Chargers.  That means 7 wickets in other 18 games. 

Certainly not worth 2 million dollars. But in the end does not matter. He got to be in Srinivasan, BCCI chief's good books and from there on his place in all formats of game in Indian team is guaranteed. Performances, attitude and all. That does not matter. 

By the way Chennai Super Kings  got to winning ways after losing the first one. And today it was Michael Hussey and M Vijay's chance to shine brighter and brighter. Together they did and won by 10 wickets. 

Thalaiva Krishna Kumar Dinesh Karthik

Update : He just got out for 86.

Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik alias Dinesh Karthik alias Boss DK has now come of an age. It took him 9 years after his Test debut to fulfill the promise he shown earlier. 

He has been the best batsman of the Mumbai Indian franchisee this season when the greatest players of modern age cricket have failed consistently. Our Boss DK has truly stamped his authority over the game. 

Not long ago he was reeled mercilessly by the fans and bloggers all around much similar to what Sir Ravindra Jadeja is being done in past couple of years. Unlike Jadeja, our lad has gone ahead quietly and developed to a full blown aggressive batsman. 

If MS Dhoni injures or rests, the selectors must look to this man as potential replacement.  

He is now truly the BOSS.  Mumbai Indians have come alive in IPL-6 thanks to this man from Namma Chennai (not Uncle Srini's Chennai).

Thalaiva Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik. 

Kolkata Night Riders suffer their first defeat

In a master class of a captaincy from the old legend of the game Rahul Dravid, the defending IPL champions and Shahrukh Khan's franchisee Knight Riders lost their first game in the IPL season 6. In a virgin Jaipur pitch, Dravid offered no leeway to the Bollywood dancer's team who never recovered from the initial blows RR bowlers offered to them. 

The middle order of the Knight Riders -- Kallis, Bhatia, Morgan,  Yusuf Pathan feasts on spinners and taking a cue from this fact, Dravid offered no leeway to them. Despite chasing only 145 the Riders were bundled out for 126 and lost the game by 19 runs. 

Earlier the Riders restricted RR to a decent 144 in 20 overs with no batsmen crossing 50.  Rahane and Hodge scored decent 46 and  36 respectively. In the end 144 proved too much for the defending champions just like 149 proved too much for Sir Jadeja's team on Saturday.

Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad are on the top of the table. Led by legendary # 3s of their respective countries (Sanga is no legend outside SL, but within SL he is), this 2 franchisees have one of the lowest "star value" and hence they gel more as a team. The results are for every one to see.  They might lose a game or 2 by big margin, but they would for sure put up a big fight and often scare big teams. And that's where this 2 teams might win more fans outside their traditional fan base. 

One such example of player with limited talent but tremendous temperament is Hanuma Vihari. Although there is very little evidence on his talent, but he has shown enough of temperament and attitude on positive side. He almost got SH to the victory yesterday with a fighting 44 off 46 balls.  Even though later in the Super over, the SH won, but it was Hanuma Vihari who got them to this stage. Except for Sanga and Cameron White, the batting prowess of SH is pretty limited and with players like Vihari in the team, the results in the remainder of tournament will be more favorable than not. 

That leaves a lot of lesson for the players with "tremendous potential" but little temperament like Rohit Sharma.  2 games in the season and he is yet to find his mojo.  Vinay Kumar, captain of Karnataka Ranji side was unlikely hero of 2 games in row -- MI and SH by bowling a good last over. But he lost his balance when it mattered the most -- Super Over. 

If we take a look at the results so far in this IPL, the franchisees who are more of team than mere collection of Indian and foreign players have excelled.  Again RR and SH lead on this count.

Unfortunately on one side when it is a delight to see Dravid led RR to win the games, on the same hand it is a crunchy feeling to see Shilpa Shetty jump on every wicket RR takes or every four or 6 their batsmen hit. The Bollywood intrusion in cricket is the worst part of IPL, that I continue to hate.

Chennai vs Mumbai

Sir Shri Ravinder Jadeja failed to wave his magical wand in this game and as a result the Chennai Super Kinks franchisee lost its first game. Dubbed as always the pre-tournament favorites begun well by tapping Tendulkar for a golden duck in what could be his last game in Chepauk. And they had MI in mat by the 13th over stage at 6/83. 

Pollard then showed why he is a dangerous T20 player of the world. 51 off 38 balls saw the MI post a respectable 148 for 6 with a good contribution from their former captain Harbhajan Singh. The pacers of the CSK did the job for them unlike the spinners. Ashvin bowled cheap but could get only 1 wicket. 

Sir Jadeja did not turn up for more than 2 wickets. Mysterious. But it is Dhoni and it is very difficult to guess his moves. 0-12 in 2 overs. That's the only contribution he made. 

149 was a gettable score always. Vijay and Hussey were the openers. Hussey will be available for full IPL after having retired from the international cricket. And Vijay was nominated to the Champions Trophy 30 probables replacing Virender Sehwag. How did he celebrate ? Going too wide for a leg side hive and seeing his stumps shattered. 

The MI skipper continued to rotate his bowlers and soon the star studded batting of Chennai found itself back in the pavilion and when Sir joined MS Dhoni in the middle, I thought Sir with his Cricketing Puppa (Father) MS will see CSK home and in turn earn some more promotions from N Srini. 

But the true colors and limitations of Sir Jadeja showed up. And after hitting a four and a 6, he returned back to the pavillion. 

MSD continued to wage a lonely battle, something which he has so many times done for his franchisee and India , but in absence of any valued support from the other end, MI crossed the victory line by 9 runs. A good win but lot of questions on whether Ponting and Tendulkar opening combination will work or Rohit Sharma will ever fulfil his promise and will Harbhajan ever return to the wickets ?

But the game will be remembered for one more tight finish this season and the failure of Sir Jadeja after a miraculous unexpected success against Australia.

Pune vs Punjab

Pune can't play sala. 

And take Yuvraj out, any club team of desis in USA is better than the PWI team in IPL. And that was visible  in today's first game. 

99 for 9 in 20 overs and the Punjab side romped home with 8 overs remaining. 

Enough said. PWI should probably think about withdrawing mid stage from the tournament. Even a tennis ball side playing league cricket in USA will beat PWI convincingly.

Weekend games round up

Friday and Saturday saw 3 games being played in the 6th edition of IPL.  2 of those games were pretty close and were perfect advertisement for the game except that one of those games saw the bollywood crap jumping on every wicket falling. 

Pune vs Hyderabad

Pune were favorites in this battle of the wooden spoon holders of previous season. Hyderabad were making their debut under new owners and new name (crux of the team was same as Dhakkan Defusers).  And Pune had a new head coach, their best player was back in the team. But the fortunes did not change.  Although they made  a good start in limiting the Sunrisers to modest 126, their batting flopped. 

Yuvraj excelled with bowl but failed with the ball. The nemesis with the ball were Dale Steyn, the best Test bowler in the world and India discard  -- the last leggie to play for India in Tests -- Amit Mishra. Pune could muster only 104 runs and lost game by 22 runs. 

No batsmen in the game crossed 50.  Pune might need to rethink their strategy sooner to avoid the disappointing results of past 2 seasons.  Hyderabad might have made a good start but they dont have established players in batting except Sangakara and to an extent Cameron White.  How much confidence Tom Moody and Waqar Younis are able to pump in this franchisee, that remains to be seen. 

Delhi Vs Rajasthan

This was a game Delhi should have won easily after David Warner showed why he is one of the most exciting batsmen around in all formats. But his run out followed by a brain freeze from Mahela Jayawardhene to send Irfan Pathan later, cost Delhi a game by 5 runs.  They should have won the game easily given the way they paced their chase. 

Kevin Cooper and Brad Hodge kept their nerve in the end and Rajasthan saw themselves home in a  tight game. Last year they had lost the game by 1 run to the same opponents in the same venue but this year they turned the tables.  

Umesh Yadav made a welcome return after the injury (2nd game though). And it was good to see him in wickets straight away. 4-24 ensured Rajasthan did not post a big score. They got to 165 thanks to their captain Dravid's solid 65 run knock. 

Dravid said he had taken a 6-7 month break from cricket in the year of his retirement, but had returned to training and fitness in last 2 months. That effort paid off today. He is indeed a legend with an unique work ethic. Something that made him the legend that he is.

Sehwag was out for 2nd game in running and today he also found himself out of the contention of the Champions Trophy.

Mahela Jayawardhene continues to lose games in his captaincy. Not sure where his character has lost.

More on the 3rd game in next post.

RCB win the dramatic game full of Karthiks and Muralis

Drama. More Drama. RCB won in the end by 2 runs. MI choked, like they always have. Somebody in the MI dressing room who suggests the batting order for Kieron Pollard should be spanked on his ass. Rayudu ahead of Pollard ? Must be kidding.  Damn Pollard is a member of a World Cup winning team and he coming at 6 was just ridiculous. In the end that turned out to be the decisive factor between a 6 wicket win and a 2 run loss. 

Boss DK pulled things last moment, but they never should have landed up in that mess. Having people like Kumble and Ponting in the dressing room has not changed the messy thinking of Mumbai Indians. And I am not blaming Tendulkar for it. 

Whoever that person is who decides the batting order is such an ass. 

Meanwhile it must have been an epic to see  2 modern greatest batsmen walking out together and opening the account for the MI.

Tendulkar was run out and Ponting out cheap. 

But it was Ponting stumped Arun Karthik bowled Murali Karthik that got the attention.

3 players with last names as Karthik and 2 people with first name as Murali. South Indian names!!!

In the end it was once again a Gayle magic that saw RCB home for the first time vs MI in their home ground.