Naman Ojha gets stronger

The case for Naman Ojha just got stronger today over Dinesh Karthik for him to be in the team for ODIs or T20s.

MI loses out

Take out Sachin out of MI and the team is a cropper. Yesterday he retired at 45 and the rest of them could not lift their games to continue the winning run.   Chennai are now 4^th in the list and that sparks an interesting battle for the 4^th team between itself, Kolkata and perhaps Rajasthan Royals. Royals are today at 10 and would go past 12 as they would thump KXIP tonite.

Peculiar example of Keiron Pollard once again proves that the expensive signings do not always result in best performance on the field. Just one sparkling innings and the price zooms up to millions. That does not work.  All expensive signings this year have not fired – Kemar Roach, Shane Bond,  Pollard are prime examples.

So whats the key ? Consistency and experience. That’s what has always counted in the game of cricket and would always do in whatsoever format it is.  Even if you nix corporate and Bollywood jamboorie in it.

IPL claims one more injury

With Robin Singh clearly defying not to rest any Indian player bound to World T20, the IPL has claimed one more injury to Zaheer Khan, one of the main reasons for super success of MI this season.

Today's game is in Chennai where people are supposed to cheer for CSK, but its also Tendulkar who is playing. So he would be cheered and MSD would be an onlooker, so would be Vijay and Dabrinath.

Sachin renders club and city affiliations null and void.

Finisher finished off!!!

He wants to be a finisher and is not regretting giving up wicket keeping for India spot, yet he makes scores which would do a tail ender proud and a finisher embarrased. 

He wants to be a Bevan or a Hussey or Yuvraj or Dhoni on the back of few here and there T20 innings in a domsetic tournament, he is not even consistent there.

He has led his state to a defeat in Ranji and his franchisee to 2 defeats back to back when he led in absence of India opener.

He has opened, he was kept and he has done everything. 

And he has flopped in everything.

Dinesh Karthik!!!!

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...

A strong case for Naman Ojha

Naman Ojha is a guy from an ordinary town of MP. MP in 90s was a strong Ranji team under Sandip Patil and then Chandu Pandit. In 2000s the team lost its strength and now lies in the plate league. So weak that even Himachal beats it in the Ranji league.

One season Hrishikesh Kanetkar, the Dhaaka bounary guy captained MP and it was thought that it would lead to some change of fortunes for the team, alas that was wrong. Narendra Hirwani, the guy who took 16 Windies wkts in only Test Shastri captained for India in 1987-88 is the most famous Test cricketer of the state in modern era.

Not to forget that the city of Indore gave India its first Test skipper in CK Nayadu in 1932 tour of England and since then till the Independence the Holkars had a strong team that often posed challenge to Mumbai team (then Bombay).....

So Ojha has shone in this IPL and has played 2 blistering innings. He is a wicketkeeper and can be a very good backup to MSD....Only if he is strongly represented by Hirwani and Srikanth, the Tamilian croon who pushes a TN player in national side out of nowhere listenes.

He is far better than Dinesh Karthik, a lot is being written on him on this blog.  However this blog is not optimistic that Ojha would get a decent chance at the top just like the other players from MP have got. Khurasiya, Hirwani and Rajesh Chauhan are the only players in last 20 years to play for India from MP....Agreed the talent was not there, but then the likes of R Sharma and Dinesh Karthik have been given longer run than they deserved. Then why not Ojha ?

Chennai lives upto its belter reputation

Chepauk was famous for run gluts all this years or for bad weather during the Test matches...Last time the city known for best knowledgeable crowd in the country witnessed a close finish or a result was in 2004 when the Test against Australia was drawn as the last day was washed out.

Since then some brain freezes from BCCI ensured that tests were held at a time when south west monsoon was at its peak.

That was all put to rest today.

The 2008 Test against SA saw an Indian scored 319 -- highest on Indian soil. And since then CHennai became famous for flat tracks than spinning beauty it held in yester years.

467 runs were scored today in a IPL game b/w RR and CSK. A local Chennai boy scored a hundred and that was first notable performance from Srikanth's croons. Vijay now poses a tough challenge to the quota system from TN....Karthik -- the automatic selection for any injury in Tests / ODIs. / T20s now would really need to buckle up and perform.

Pathan was promoted to # 3 to propel the chase and he lasted 2 balls. A boundary off first and out next.  Such is the consistency of this lad and when he gotta take wkts he gotta utter "F" word time and again.  For Royals Naman Ojha played a super innings of 94*, the lad now has scored more runs in this IPL than any other wkt keeper. Yet the irony is he wont be counted on the fringes of the wicketkeeper reserve for India cos he does not play for CSK where he could be on radar of Srikanth, neither he is having a name ending in "am" or something that would resemble a Tamil name so that Srikanth would push him in the side....And he plays from MP which is a plate league team, though it has its best known Test player -- Hiru bhai Chennai wale as selector, but god knows if his case would be pushed forward. Not to forget he hails from my own home town.

It was Douggie Bollinger who made the difference between a RR win and CSK win. 2 for 15 off 4 12 hrs after he landed from NZ series is commendable effort. And he got MoM for his effort......Srikanth would be fuming that his croon did not get a MoM awardam.....

By the way Vijay played a good innings despite the fact he was pushed hard by Srikanth.....

CSK are in the fray now and with Sachin gone in the Mumbai game Deccan would be now on 8 points too...Tomorrow KKR would win against Woodanga's team and go on 10.  Bangalore would edge out  Delhi to go on 12....

Improper balance of money and performance in IPL

Poor fielding, insipid captaincy, alleged rude behavior from Australian coach, Lankan camp in dressing room and lastly rift between 3 of the bigger players of the franchisee has led to yet another Bollywood team bite the dust in IPL.

Last season it was SRK's KKR and this time its Zinta babes KXIP who's left no tide unturned to make a mockery of themselves. 

Till there are coward owners like Ness Wadia who reportedly ran to BCCI's arms when Yuvraj contemplated moving to grandfather led team, the team cannot be expected to make tough decisions.

Whats the use of retaining a player who is not interested in playing from a franchisee ? Just money ? If so then no player would have contemplated moving to other team. 

This corporate and Bollywood bigots hardly know a thing or 2 about the game, all they know is money and returns. If they had knowledge of the game then the likes of Uthappa, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Praveen Kumar could not have been that pricey that they are.  Add RP Singh to that list for this season as well.

Anil Kumble is not even an iconic player for RCB and their iconic player has little to do this tournament, yet the man is more successful than all of this so called young new bright stars of Indian cricket.  The likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly are top scorers of IPL from country edging past the likes of MS, Yuvraj, Raina and Sharma who plays(ed) well only in IPL.

So whats their price tag all about ?  Performance or hype?  Sangakara is worth 675000 $, he has not even made 675 runs in 3 seasons included. Ditto for Mahela Loserawardhene. This lads are very good speakers, show a lot of sophasticated vocab when they speak, but when it comes to execute they show a forlorn face. 

The owners of the franchisees would need to evaluate the player potential before bidding for them in wild amounts. Kemar Roach, Andrew Flintoff, Mortaza, KP, Keiron Pollard and Shane Bond's performances have shown that they are not worth the price tag they have got. Murtaza was signed for 650000 $ but he has not even turned up to play a single game for KKR......

Seeing the mad money IPL generates there would be more such cases of splashing money on players who play one bright knock of 10 innings and then encash on that for the rest of the careers. Now if today Rohit Sharma does not get selected for a Test or ODi team for India would he care ? 3 seasons of IPL would have given him good enuf money to move from Borivali to Colaba or Nariman Point and own a posh flat over there.....

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.

Ganguly of yore

The 3 sixes to roudy Ojha in last game by Saurav brought back his memories of duration between 1997 - 2003 when he got 22 ODI centuries and treated every left arm spinner with disdain.....

The young bowlers now would know what makes the Fab 5 the legends they are...And its not the money or endorsements they did but the sheer magic and class they have yet thats proving them too hard to be castled even now......

Perhaps watching the likes of Ganguly, Gilchrist, Warne in their shortened magic is the biggest USP of IPL and thats where it scores over every other disgusting commercial and Bollywood theaterical aspect of the tamasha....