The day IPL came to life

I hate the name, and the whiskey is tolerable since its cheap, but the Bangalore Royal Challengers are the only team which has my loyalty in a lazy sort of way which is not the same as the Luca Brasi sort of way. This will also be my general attitude towards IPL covergae. Unless of course, Sunil here gets a 5-for and a 34 from 12 balls against Kolakata - which I will blindly hate. Two reasons. Owned by SRK, and Ponting. If he does that, which I am sure he will, I am prepared to ignore all rumours of Kallis and Steyn getting oiled for an item number featuring the Angelic Apanna.

And in other news, the Alan Stanford University of Cricket Bloggers has invited me to speak on Cricket and Movies. The path to world domination is now clear. Thanks JRod, Q.

Back to regular programming

Only ABDe's double was a little hallucinogenic. Actually, if you come to think of it, it was quite mundane. It is not the first time that a seemingly ordinary batsman has played career defining innings' against India. Chanderpaul, Andy Flower, Younis Khan etc. were all seemingly regular crew until they came across India.

Then a West Indian umpire refused to give Kallis LBW on something which someone I know would ve described as 'It doesn't get plumber than this'.

Poor Sree toiled with the new ball. And he was good. Just not as good as Steyn or Ntini were.

Harbhajan started losing it after a while. Combination of turn and bounce is usually enough for him, but it just wasn't working against a patient Kallis, and an unusually adept ABDe.

Arpy and Pathan were sorry. I will soon conclude that they are worthless if the ball will not swing in from around the over, or away from around the stumps. But Akram could make it move anywhere. They're still quite young so, a long way to go to become the complete package. Am even tempted to say that Mitch might have been better than them on this pitch.

So. Get ready for pain, folks.

Hallucinogen cricket

First of all, there was actual grass on the pitch.

Then we see something we were hoping we'd not see from the Indian batting for a while and that was the "spineless batting collapse". Over the past three or four years, one of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly have been able to stand up amidst a few ruins, and occasionally Dhoni, Pathan and Kumble as well. We can hope that this was bound to happen some time, and they have got it out of their system.

We also see something that the pitch at Chennai led us into feeling we'd not see again in a while - the unplayable Steyn ball that got Dravid. The last one was when the recently banned Akthar bowled a couple in the 3.7 overs he bowled during the entire series.

Then the South African openers batted on a completely different pitch.

Then we see a glimpse of Harbhajan's past. Even when the track was not offering much, he created doubt in the batsman's mind. Three wickets, all foxed.

Then. Then a period of batting from Jaques Kallis, that astoundingly enough could only be described as "counter attack", racing to 25 from 35 balls. At the other end is ABDe who is completely in his shell.

We are then given to undersand that the best fast bowlers India could put up are insipid even on a slightly helpful pitch. Arpy Singh has returned to earth and Sreesanth remains unconvincing - though it must be said that neither had their share of luck. Sree did ask the occasional question, bit it is Arpy's performance when he is neither able to get the ball to dip in from over the stumps, or straighten from around the stumps that is worrying.

Weird.

Battle Within The War

Recently, there was an excellent article in Cricinfo by Soumya Bhattacharya regarding the individual rivalries existing in international cricket. (The article can be read here). The article described that special joy which one feels when two champions go at each other. Reading the article, I was forced to think about what constitutes such a rivalry. What are the ingredients which elevate a seemingly insignificant contest to great heights? Here is my take on it.

To me, the primary criterion for an enduring rivalry is the skill of the individuals concerned. You want two men who are at acknowledged maestros of their respective crafts going at each other to bring the crowd to their feat. With all respect to their abilities, a Sunil Joshi having a rivalry with Andrew Hudson would probably enthral a grand total of zero. But, put Allan Donald and Sachin Tendulkar at opposite ends of the field and all of a sudden sport resembles war.
The next criterion ought to be the span of the test series. I feel that a minimum of three tests is essential for the antagonists to fight simply because it gives them ample opportunities to overcome any downturns in form. It also gives a feeling akin to having a great dinner after a good appetizer.
The last and crucial criterion is the playing conditions. Nobody wants to see a pitch which unduly
favours one of the contestants. A fair pitch which offers enough opportunities to all would add sparkle to the contest.

But, looking at world cricket it is sad that there are few genuine rivalries left- Lee v/s Tendulkar, Murali v/s Pieterson, a fit Flntoff v/s Ponting. But, another rivalry fit to stand with these three is sad to find. We are forced to look for the venom spouting variety of Harbhajan v/s Symonds and Sreesanth v/s Nel. A far cry from the 90's and early 2000's when Warne v/s Tendulkar, Lara v/s Murali, Mcgrath v/s Tendulkar/Lara, Inzamam v/s Kumble, Donald v/s Atherton, Waughs v/s Ambrose/Walsh thrilled the senses.

So, as South Africa and India take to the field, there is a genuine wish that we get some more rivalries - Steyn v/s Sehwag and Kumble v/s Kallis anyone ????