If one could go through the post "beware orange cap holders", cricket avatar had predicted a loss in the semifinals of the Indian Premier League this year in case Sachin Tendulkar retains the orange cap awarded for scoring the maximum number of runs in an IPL tournament. This was done taking into consideration the previous two editions of the IPL wherein the teams which had players wearing the orange cap had to come out of the tournament in the semis itself. One can recall the way the Kings XI Punjab in 2008 and the Chennai Superkings in 2009 breathed last in the semis of the trophy.
This despite having players like Mathew Hayden in 2009 and Shaun Marsh in 2008 who wore the orange cap in that particular editions of the IPL. And then, coming to the purple cap episode that is awarded to the player with the highest wickets in the tournament, coincidentally, in both the editions of the IPL teams having a player wearing the purple ended up victorious. It was the Rajasthan Royals in 2008 and the Deccan Chargers in 2009 who not only won the tournament but also had players wearing the purple cap namely Sohail Tanvir and R P Singh respectively.
However, this prediction not only went wrong this time but also got reversed, after the Mumbai Indians reached the finals of the tournament despite having an orange cap holder in Sachin Tendulkar and, added to that the Deccan Chargers lost the semis to the Chennai Superkings though having Pragyan Ojha who was the purple cap holder in this year's IPL. This has not made me feel sad for my prediction getting wrong but on the other hand has delighted me for the prediction getting reversed exactly. If one goes by the new theory, it should be the Mumbai Indians who should walk away with the trophy.
And this is more likely to happen for reasons needless to be said. However, if the other side of the coin is considered, there was every chance of a team containing a player wearing the orange cap making it t the finals of this year's IPL. Even if the Royal Challengers Bangalore had made it to the finals, Jacques Kallis had every chance to make the orange cap his, with the difference in the runs scored by the two differing by a small margin. Moreover, Sachin Tendulkar had got out scoring just 9 runs in the semi finals, which bought the difference to just 28. However, in case the Deccan Chargers had won yesterday, there would have been a contest between the teams who had an orange cap holder and a purple cap holder in them.
Showing posts with label R P Singh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label R P Singh. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Beware orange cap holders!
All the fans of Mumbai Indians and Sachin Tendulkar in particular would have been happy when the Mumbai captain gained the orange cap from Jacques Kallis who held the same from the last 10 matches. But, if the other side of the story is to be believed, all fans of the Mumbai team would pray that Sachin Tendulkar lose the orange cap which is better than the Mumbai Indians getting knocked out from the Indian Premier League in the semi finals itself when all eyes are now on Mumbai Indians thinking them to do it big this time after they finished in the 7th position last time.
There is also a bitter side of the orange cap which has so far been successful in restricting their teams only until the semi finals of the IPL. In the inaugural edition of the tournament way back in 2008, the orange cap was worn by Shaun Marsh who belonged to the Kings XI Punjab after the Aussie amassed a mammoth 616 runs by the end of the tournament and that too in just 11 games that he played. And, much to anyone's surprise, the team to which Shaun Marsh belonged to couldn't go past the semi finals in 2008 after losing to the CSKs.
Similarly, in the very next edition played at South Africa in 2009, the orange cap holder happened to be another Australian in Mathew Hayden after he amassed 572 runs playing just one game more than what Shaun Marsh was found playing in the earlier edition in 2008. Once again, the team to which Mathew Hayden belonged to, namely the Chennai Superkings were knocked out by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi finals of the tournament after they lost the match by 6 wickets. This has so far been the fate of the team which has a player wearing the orange cap.
This time, the orange cap was snatched by Sachin Tendulkar from Jacques Kallis after the match between Mumbai Indians and the Rajasthan Royals. Moreover, the Mumbai Indians have also confirmed their semi finals berth after their victory over the same. Likewise, purple cap holders have been lucky for their team with both editions having gone to the teams having a purple cap holder in them. In 2008, it was Sohail Tanvir who wore the purple cap and was also on the Rajasthan Royals who lifted the trophy. And, the situation was no different in 2009 as well when R P Singh - the purple cap holder in that edition belonging to the Deccan Chargers who won the title.
There is also a bitter side of the orange cap which has so far been successful in restricting their teams only until the semi finals of the IPL. In the inaugural edition of the tournament way back in 2008, the orange cap was worn by Shaun Marsh who belonged to the Kings XI Punjab after the Aussie amassed a mammoth 616 runs by the end of the tournament and that too in just 11 games that he played. And, much to anyone's surprise, the team to which Shaun Marsh belonged to couldn't go past the semi finals in 2008 after losing to the CSKs.
Similarly, in the very next edition played at South Africa in 2009, the orange cap holder happened to be another Australian in Mathew Hayden after he amassed 572 runs playing just one game more than what Shaun Marsh was found playing in the earlier edition in 2008. Once again, the team to which Mathew Hayden belonged to, namely the Chennai Superkings were knocked out by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi finals of the tournament after they lost the match by 6 wickets. This has so far been the fate of the team which has a player wearing the orange cap.
This time, the orange cap was snatched by Sachin Tendulkar from Jacques Kallis after the match between Mumbai Indians and the Rajasthan Royals. Moreover, the Mumbai Indians have also confirmed their semi finals berth after their victory over the same. Likewise, purple cap holders have been lucky for their team with both editions having gone to the teams having a purple cap holder in them. In 2008, it was Sohail Tanvir who wore the purple cap and was also on the Rajasthan Royals who lifted the trophy. And, the situation was no different in 2009 as well when R P Singh - the purple cap holder in that edition belonging to the Deccan Chargers who won the title.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Imbalance in the IPL
It would have been a good news for all the cricket lovers across the world when two new teams were added to the Indian Premier League which will make it there the coming year in 2011. The teams, namely the Kochi team and the Pune team is expected to kick the stadiums from the coming year which would, needless to be said take the number of teams featuring to 10. But, one thing that is expected to be given a closer look is the imbalance in the IPL wherein teams are concentrated in some corners while the remaining states are almost ignored.
When the Kochi team was introduced, it was another team from the South India with the Chennai team, Bangalore team and the Hyderabad team having its presence since the IPL was launched a couple of years ago. In the entire India, there is no other corner where all the states have their IPL teams. Only from South India, all four states have IPL teams. And, when the discussion is regarding the other team in Pune, it would be another team from the state of Maharashtra after we have Mumbai Indians who have been a part of the campaign since 2008.
Thus, Maharashtra becomes the first and the only state to have two IPL teams and hence would be a tough choice for any Maharashtrian to decide which team to support especially when there would be a clash between the Mumbai team and the Pune team. I can hardly recall any player making it to the international scene from either Kerala or Pune (though Maharashtra state has its share to a greater extent). At present, Sreesanth is the only player from Kerala who at times is making his presence felt in international cricket. If one can take opains to travel towards the East of India, if not for Kolkata, there is no other state that has an IPL team.
There is no team in Madhya Pradesh when we have players like Rahul Dravid who hails from Indore. And, the state which has been at the receiving end of a lot of injustice in this regard would be the Gujarat state. There are top players like the Pathan brothers - namely Yousuf Pathan and Irfan who hail from Baroda. And then there is Parthiv Patel who also come from Gujarat. But, unfortunately, we don't have an Ahmadabad or a Gandhinagar team in the IPL. And, there could have been a team from UP as well which has given players like R P Singh, Praveen Kumar and Suresh Raina to international cricket.
At present, the teams are spread as 4 from the South, 1 from the East, 1 from the West and 3 from the North. Had there been some decent calculation, the teams should have been spread symmetrically which would have seen 2 states from the East, 2 from the West and as usual 3 each from South(leaving Kerala) and North.
When the Kochi team was introduced, it was another team from the South India with the Chennai team, Bangalore team and the Hyderabad team having its presence since the IPL was launched a couple of years ago. In the entire India, there is no other corner where all the states have their IPL teams. Only from South India, all four states have IPL teams. And, when the discussion is regarding the other team in Pune, it would be another team from the state of Maharashtra after we have Mumbai Indians who have been a part of the campaign since 2008.
Thus, Maharashtra becomes the first and the only state to have two IPL teams and hence would be a tough choice for any Maharashtrian to decide which team to support especially when there would be a clash between the Mumbai team and the Pune team. I can hardly recall any player making it to the international scene from either Kerala or Pune (though Maharashtra state has its share to a greater extent). At present, Sreesanth is the only player from Kerala who at times is making his presence felt in international cricket. If one can take opains to travel towards the East of India, if not for Kolkata, there is no other state that has an IPL team.
There is no team in Madhya Pradesh when we have players like Rahul Dravid who hails from Indore. And, the state which has been at the receiving end of a lot of injustice in this regard would be the Gujarat state. There are top players like the Pathan brothers - namely Yousuf Pathan and Irfan who hail from Baroda. And then there is Parthiv Patel who also come from Gujarat. But, unfortunately, we don't have an Ahmadabad or a Gandhinagar team in the IPL. And, there could have been a team from UP as well which has given players like R P Singh, Praveen Kumar and Suresh Raina to international cricket.
At present, the teams are spread as 4 from the South, 1 from the East, 1 from the West and 3 from the North. Had there been some decent calculation, the teams should have been spread symmetrically which would have seen 2 states from the East, 2 from the West and as usual 3 each from South(leaving Kerala) and North.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
VVS Laxman speaks!!!
It is good to see that these days some lesser known names like VVS Laxman have started speaking. Until now, hardly one would have seen Laxman coming in front of the television sets and throwing out his opinion. neither has there been any ad that is being promoted by Laxman in his decade long international career, that consisted mostly of test cricket, with a little bit of one day and no T20. even Anil Kumble was hardly seen making it to ads if not for one or two. But, that is a different issue altogether. But, Laxman's appearance would have made a lot eye brows to raise including mine.
It was only after his comment upon India not having enough bench strength when it came to spinners. Someone like Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly of the decade old times and that followed by Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Dhoni and Sehwag have been found frequently throwing up their expressions regarding whatever major development happens in Indian cricket. Anyway, coming to the statement given by Laxman that India lacks bench strength when it comes to spinners, isn't Laxman an off-spinner by profession? Why didn't he take to spin bowling, be it part time no matter, like Sehwag & Yuvraj have done? This is what happens when someone who takes to something which he has never done until now.
And, if Laxman's take is given a consideration, India do have some upcoming spinners in Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ohja who have been decent of not extraordinary with the ball. Of course, one cannot expect someone like Anil Kumble to hit the playing XI in the near future. Moreover, Harbhajan Singh has almost 8 years to go on from now onwards, taking into account his age which is 29 at present. Ooops! I forgot to mention the name of Amit Mishra. So, the tally of spinners now stands at 5. And no team on earth has so far played more than 3 spinners maximum.
And a close look at the Indian batting bench strength right now would be just cool. Excluding the top 3 viz Laxman, Sachin & Dravid, the next row consists of Sehwag alone and Dhoni only to a little extent, for a wicketkeeper is quintessential for a team and Dhoni is a better man than Dinesh Karthik when it comes to both keeping wickets and batting. Yuvraj Singh is yet to make a place for himself in test cricket. Of course, there is Gautam Gambhir who is able to promise some good knocks with the bat, which takes the tally of batsmen to just 2 if the batting bench strength is considered.
And when it comes to the fast bowlers' on the cards, except Zaheer Khan, no one else has been able to make a mark. Not even Ishanth Sharma in the recent past. Ishanth's last splendid performance was in the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2008 where he was awarded the man of the series. R P Singh and Sreesanth hardly make it to the playing XI , with Sreesanth battling injuries more than 90% of the time. And Praveen Kumar is more of a slow bowler than to consider him even in the list of a medium pace bowler. Usually, batsmen speak for batsmen and bowlers for bowlers. But, the reason behind Laxman speaking for spin bowlers, when his area i.e batting is also facing a shortage more than the spin department can be best known to Laxman.
It was only after his comment upon India not having enough bench strength when it came to spinners. Someone like Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly of the decade old times and that followed by Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Dhoni and Sehwag have been found frequently throwing up their expressions regarding whatever major development happens in Indian cricket. Anyway, coming to the statement given by Laxman that India lacks bench strength when it comes to spinners, isn't Laxman an off-spinner by profession? Why didn't he take to spin bowling, be it part time no matter, like Sehwag & Yuvraj have done? This is what happens when someone who takes to something which he has never done until now.
And, if Laxman's take is given a consideration, India do have some upcoming spinners in Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ohja who have been decent of not extraordinary with the ball. Of course, one cannot expect someone like Anil Kumble to hit the playing XI in the near future. Moreover, Harbhajan Singh has almost 8 years to go on from now onwards, taking into account his age which is 29 at present. Ooops! I forgot to mention the name of Amit Mishra. So, the tally of spinners now stands at 5. And no team on earth has so far played more than 3 spinners maximum.
And a close look at the Indian batting bench strength right now would be just cool. Excluding the top 3 viz Laxman, Sachin & Dravid, the next row consists of Sehwag alone and Dhoni only to a little extent, for a wicketkeeper is quintessential for a team and Dhoni is a better man than Dinesh Karthik when it comes to both keeping wickets and batting. Yuvraj Singh is yet to make a place for himself in test cricket. Of course, there is Gautam Gambhir who is able to promise some good knocks with the bat, which takes the tally of batsmen to just 2 if the batting bench strength is considered.
And when it comes to the fast bowlers' on the cards, except Zaheer Khan, no one else has been able to make a mark. Not even Ishanth Sharma in the recent past. Ishanth's last splendid performance was in the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2008 where he was awarded the man of the series. R P Singh and Sreesanth hardly make it to the playing XI , with Sreesanth battling injuries more than 90% of the time. And Praveen Kumar is more of a slow bowler than to consider him even in the list of a medium pace bowler. Usually, batsmen speak for batsmen and bowlers for bowlers. But, the reason behind Laxman speaking for spin bowlers, when his area i.e batting is also facing a shortage more than the spin department can be best known to Laxman.
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