IPL Victory - Once again an Aussie Captain's show

It is a long time since I have written a cricket blog.The grand finale ended in a nailbiting finish. It was once again a Gilchrist Show, one which we had seen in the semifinals. This time it was a different show. It was his captaincy prowess which dominated the rivals.The fielding placement , the bowling changes and the on field pressure created on the batsman go to his credit.I remember the test series against India. The Aussies came without their in form Captain Ricky Ponting.Before that test series, Steve Waugh left no stone unturned to demolish the Indian Team in India but failed in his attempts.Gilchrist led the team and overpowered India in their own soil. I noticed that there is a different rare talent in every Aussie Captain, be it Allan Border,Mark Taylor,Steve Waugh,Ponting or Gilchrist and not to forget Shane Warne in the last IPL. The talent of creating and putting pressure on the opponents.That's what Gilchrist did this year and Warne did last year.

So I beleive that in the next IPL , all teams must make it a point to include one or more Aussie players in the team and make them a part of the decision making body.The mistake which Delhi Dare Devils did by excluding the all time great , The Glenn McGrath.

We want more.Please be happy once fulfilled.

Abhinav Bindra's gold medal is the best gift ever to this country on the eve of the Independance Day.Bindra's achievement engendered the desires in our mind and soul and we expected some more from others. His victory overshadowed the pain inflicted on us by the dismal performance of the Indian cricket team in the test series against Sri Lanka.India won 2 more medals in the olympics which totalled to 3.Perhaps India's olympics achievement helped Team India , a crouching tiger, to bounce back to grab the one day series.Even after the victory the expectation never seems to get fulfilled in some minds. Some are not satisfied with the 3-2 series win.They expected it to be 4-1 or 5-0 or why not the test series victory which we lost 1-2 to Sri Lanka. Such comments make me remember some lines which my English tutor gave us while preparing some notes for the chapter 'The Happy Prince'(about 11 years ago).From my memory I can only remember 'A man is never satisfied with what he has.He wants more and more.....'.Why dont we just enjoy the victory which counts at the end of the day? Be it a 1 run victory or a 10 wicket win , it is a victory which pleases us. Dhoni's experiment with the youth in the team tested positive.He showed that we have a pool of players who can come up in need of a replacement and can deliver the expected performance and so they did. So inspite of starving for more victory let us have a positive outlook.What should stay in our minds is the victory and not how we won it. Or else we should say 'It's ok.We lost 2 matches. We only gave them a chance to enliven the spectators'. Only then we can pacify our desires.

IPL- a discovery of new talents

This cricketing event IPL have brought some promising Indian players into the limelight. Some of them are Manpreet Gony,Wriddhiman Saha,Yusuf Pathan,Swapnil Asnodkar etc. These players ,in the company of the international cricketers,have shown their potential in the ground. These promising cricketers are India's future and ,if guided properly, can be a threat to the opponent team. We also saw some great improvement in the batting skills of Mohammad Kaif,Parthiv Patel and Suresh Raina who pulversised the bowlers.It can be now said that we have a strong benchstrength of players.Even though some veterrans were critical of the IPL concept,I believe that IPL have provided a platform for the young cricketers to prove their mettle.Adaptability,consistency and a strong mindset in a T20 match require a great character which the youngstars have displayed very nicely.This discovery of new talents is undoubtedly a positive sign for India.

IPL - a unity

The league match between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders,the hot favourites,turned out to be a nail-biting finish.The spectators enjoyed the innings of David Hussey who was the match winner. Inspite of the thrill throughout the match , one interesting or I would rather say an inspiring moment was Ricky Ponting's guidance offered to Ishant sharma. Such a co-ordination was unimaginable if take a glimpse at the last AUSTRALIA VS INDIA series when the two promising players were at the opposite ends trying to get rid of one another. Even we saw Graeme Smith respecting the decision of the Skipper Shane Warne, another rare scene , because we already know how ugly are the Aussies in the field.Such a scene unveils a unity or gentlemanship which we scarcely see nowadays. It sets an example for the upcoming cricketers. If one respects the opponent in the field the game gets smoother instead of controversies.Throughtout the matches , we found a bonding between the players of the different countries giving advice to one another.It not only boosts the confidence but also a give a good feeling about the other players.The IPL matches brought the players of different cultures together.

Hats off to the youth

On 4th March , 2008 India created a history after 23 years by outperforming the mighty Australians in Australia in the best of 3 finals. Earlier Ricky Ponting predicted that only two matches were sufficient for them to grab the trophy. He was right .Only two matches but unfortunately he slipped the trophy from his hands. This time the wheel of fortune turned towards Dhoni and his boys. India's victory symbolises a display of courage, confidence ,enthusiasm and excellent team work. The last time India won in Australia was the World Championship Trophy in 1985. History repeated again after a long wait.

It was a young Indian team except for the veteran Sachin Tendulkar who proved their mettle in the finals. Every youngster like Rohit Sharma, Robin Utthappa ,Praveen Kumar , Ishant Sharma and others were remarkable throughout the series. Sachin's brilliant knock of 117 and 91 in the final matches gave India an edge over Australia. Dhoni proved the critics wrong when the removal of Saurav , Dravid and Laxman raised a concern. It was an excellent captaincy and team effort from all the players. Even I apololgise for what I wrote about Dhoni in my first blog. A captain cannot be judged by a match or even by a series. Give him some chances and he will prove his best. Dhoni proved it twice , one in the Twenty-20 World cup and the other in the CBS (Commonwealth Bank Series) finals. The average age of the Team India is 22 while that of Australia is 31. It is adaptability,maturity and co-operation that are required for a win. Such winning examples will bring more competition at the domestic level which will definitely trigger the positive outcome for India. For India, the obstacles are strewed over the road ahead as more cricket is going to come. But it's only the positive attitude that matters.

Indian Premier League - A worry of a captain or an opportunity for an youngster

IPL is drawing the attention of the promising cricketers with lucrative offers. Chennai splashed out $1.5 million (773,700 pounds) for Dhoni while Hyderabad paid $1.35m for Symonds.Indian paceman Ishant Sharma was bought by Kolkata for $950,000 and his partner Rudra Pratap Singh fetched $875,000 and was bought by Hyderabad. The matches played in 20-20 format are more exciting and
less time-consuming than the ODIs. In such matches the team has to perform above than their best and execute their winning strategy in the limited 20 overs.Also the youngstars have to prove their mettle to make a mark in world cricket.

The IPL offers are even more higher than the income earned by a cricketer from international matches.The adverse impact is that it may lessen the interest of a player in ODIs and domestic cricket due to fat packages in IPL matches. So Ponting was concerned when Andrew Symonds was in a fix whether to play against Pakistan in the coming Aussie-Pak series or earn a whopping pay(5.3 cr) fromthe IPL. He complained that ICC should have adopted the twenty-20 format earlier.He held the opinion that the IPL temptation could spoil the composition of the National team. Such concerns may also rise among the other captains of other international teams. Now such a situation has arrived that the shine of the ODI and test matches may be faded away by the IPL business. CEO of ICC Malcolm Speed said that the International cricketers are coached and developed by their countries and they are in demand by the IPL but their primary obligation is to their country.He also warned cricketing nations the schedule of the billion-dollar Twenty20 tournament should not dictate the international fixtures. Even Mohammad Kaif said that no cricketer worth his salt would consider it more important than donning national colours.

But such cash-rich offers may spellbind any novice or virtuoso. If the schedules coincide or if the time span between the international matches and IPL matches is small then a player may not get suffcient time to be with his home team to get the strategies or practice (suppose for a test match) and it can lead to both his failure and that of his team. Even differences in earnings can droop some players chosen in the IPL. Also it will be very hard for a player to relinquish such offers especially if any international match comes in the way. I am not against the IPL , but measures should be taken by ICC to favour everyone and every condition to preserve the integrity of the international matches from all angles.

Ganguly's omission from the One day team.Is it justified?

 On Feb 12 edition of The Hindu, I came across the article titled 'I have acceptedmy omission'. After reading the article , I hold the opinion that it was not judicious
to exclude Ganguly from the ODI team in the current Tri-Nation Series in Australia.I am very happy with the performance of the Indian Cricket Team in the test series
against the mighty Australians.In the one day matches, the team is delivering its best by defeating Australia. 

The recent loss of the India to Sri Lanka hasn't disheartened me because I know that India will certainly recover its loss. All that bothers me is the absence of
Ganguly in the squad. India set a competitive target of 195 in 29 overs to Sri Lanka which I felt was a very difficult target to chase.The bowlers are not the only ones to be blamed for their poor performance.I believe the presence of Ganguly could have made a difference. I am not against the promotion of young players in the team.But all I want to say that had Dhoni taken some tips from Ganguly in the field, the situation would have been different. Dhoni is not as experienced as Ponting or Ganguly or Stephen Fleming. 

 So the presence of an experienced captain in the team is a must. Also Ganguly was not at the worst of  his form. He played really well in the past series against Australia and Pakistan. It would have been better if Ganguly could replace Yuvraj(who is not at the best of his form).