Friday, April 2, 2010

Dropping Sanath Jayasuriya?

It is fascinating to see the Mumbai Indians and especially Sachin Tendulkar doing what they couldn't in the previous editions of the Indian Premier League. Mumbai Indians are found topping the chart in the current edition of the IPL after failing to get past the first stage on their previous two occasions. Moreover, Sachin Tendulkar is found taking the charge of his team's batting which was not the case in the previous two editions. Sachin Tendulkar stands in the second position only behind RCBs Jacques Kallis when it comes to the race for the orange cap this season. Added to this, he has had two man of the match awards as well.

But, one thing that has been noticed in this edition is dropping of the Sri Lankan veteran Sanath Jayasuriya after playing him for just 3 games against Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers. One has to think of a reason for dropping Jayasuriya when his performance in the three matches that he played was not that bad at all. Jayasuriya scored 23 runs in the 1st game against the Rajasthan Royals at a strike rate of 164 and 7 in the match against Delhi Daredevils before he was taken off by a stunner by a substitute fielder in Y Nagar.

In that game against Delhi, Jayasuriya took 2 wickets with the ball giving away just 17 runs and was the only bowler to have bowled his complete quota of 4 overs in that match. However, bad luck struck for Jayasuriya when he was a part of the Mumbai Indians' squad that lost their only encounter till date against the Royal Challengers. And, in that particular game Jayasuriya had his most miserable time with both the bat and the ball when he scored just 2 runs and bowled an equal number of overs giving away 16 runs before losing confidence in his captain's eyes.

Despite his absence, the Mumbai Indians are no doubt doing well. But, this time, another fact that is responsible for their success is that Sachin Tendulkar has adjusted himself to the T20 format of the game which has seen him score 4 half centuries out of the 7 games that he has played. And, Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the man of the match on three occasions. But, dropping someone like Jayasuriya is totally against the rule when he can be so entertaining with the bat no matter how seldom he does that. Jayasuriya has always been a crowd attractor even by non Mumbai Indians' supporters.

Jayasuriya's sixes have always been welcome no matter what the team's result at the end of the match has to say. As a matter of fact, Jayasuriya was the leading six hitter in the inaugural edition of the IPL a couple if years back. But statistics apart, it is the performance a player on that particular match that matters. And if the substitute for Jayasuriya - Shikar Dhawan is considered, Tendulkar once again is showing how bad a captain he can get. An all rounder being replaced by a under-rated batsman! Dhawan has had two half centuries so far and is not a bad choic. But in a tournament like IPL which is launched to entertain cricket lovers, having Jayasuriya would be welcomed by the fans rather than Dhawan.

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