Mumbai Indians

This season in the Indian Premier League,famous players like Jacque Kallis,Sachin Tendulkar,Matthew Hayden,Anil Kumble,Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds have started the it with a bomb. Tendulkar Scored 63 in 32balls in the match against Delhi Daredevils.In another match the RCB(Royal Challengers Banglore) Kallis scored 89 only of 55balls.Former Australian Opener Matthew Hayden scored 93 of 43balls.
Commentator,Television Presenter and writer Harsha Bhogle had this to say about them-

Kallis and Tendulkar have shown that classical virtues still have a place in the IPL

Like writers of classical prose getting on to Twitter,Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis are lighting up this year's IPL. They still compose sentences, have time for a stylish adjective, and can still fit their thoughts into 140 characters. Dey dnt hv 2 rush der shots,hv gr8 timing & hit de gaps. (I'm sure someone can better that!)

It was fascinating watching Tendulkar bat against the Delhi Daredevils. A crisp cover drive off Dirk Nannes was classically struck, and when Farveez Maharoof bowled the slower one, he advanced as close to the pitch of the ball as possible and with a flick of the wrist played it along the ground through midwicket. Occasionally, only occasionally, he made a concession to new-age batting by trying to slog the young legspinner Sarabjit Ladda but in doing so, actually showed why he didn't need to. He made 63 from 32 balls, and you came away thinking you had seen a painting, not splotches of colour thrown randomly onto a canvas.

He was followed by young Saurabh Tiwary, one of our new-age cricketers who frequently make a mockery of boundary ropes (sometimes the groundsman is forced to as well). He is a big-built man, with broad shoulders, and only occasionally makes a concession to the nudged single; doesn't worry too much about searching for gaps in the field, for his idea of an opportunity is the space above the fielder, not between him and the next guy. Admittedly he batted after the field restrictions had gone off, but his style brought 61 from 37 balls. It was like being at a music festival where Manna Dey and heavy metal were on the same stage.

Meanwhile Kallis was adapting too. He played himself in during the fantastic run-chase against the Kings XI(45 from 38 chasing 204?) and when the time came exploded, but stylishly (next 44 from 17). Again, he was able to do that because Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa were hitting the drums on turbo while he was plucking the strings, but he showed it is possible to retain the elements of orthodox batting and still make the strike rate look very acceptable.

 

 

 

Both Tendulkar and Kallis probably need to open the batting, but they are demonstrating that you do not need to alter your favoured bat speed to score runs. Both batsmen have their game built on precision; the bat comes down at a certain time to be able to hit the ball at a certain spot, the body is ideally positioned for that event. When they try to slog (or when anyone is, for that matter) the bat comes down faster, the head goes out of sync, it looks like a bad dance step. To be honest, I don't know how much longer the game will allow the classicists, but what we do know is that such players can be survivors too. Three cheers to that.

The first week has also shown that you cannot really determine how many runs can be scored in the last few overs. Eighty are getting scored routinely in the last six against bowlers who haven't exactly grown up playing for Yellow House v Green House at school. The most obvious reason is that pitches and outfields and boundary lines are stacked in favour of batsmen, and that you are allowed to lose 10 wickets in 20 overs. But I think there is more to it. Like computer technology opened our eyes to new speeds and storage capacities, I think batsmen are also discovering that things are possible that they hadn't been aware of.

For bowlers to go down a similar path (and they have already begun), they need a bit of help. In the last few days I have had the opportunity to have a quick chat with Daljit Singh, the curator at Mohali, and Venkat Sundaram at Delhi, and I put the same question to both of them. For one game, I asked, why can't you prepare a pitch with some zing in it, where the keeper can feel the ball thudding into his gloves, where the crease becomes what it always was - a safe haven not to be transgressed. For a brief moment their eyes lit up; then they shook their heads.

Meanwhile the ICC needs to be careful not to go the way of Indian airports, where certain people are allowed to circumvent security requirements. Young Stuart Broad needs to realise that he can be pulled up if he commits the same offence as others. It will do him good in the long run but it will also do good to the ICC's credibility.

Yusuf Pathan produced what can only be called one of the greatest IPL performances ever. His 100 off 37 balls still wasn't enough to give Rajastan Royals a win over the Mumbai Indians.

The Indians batted first and got off to an explosive start with Sanath Jayasuria smashing 12 over off the first over of the innings including a four off the first ball of the innings.

He eventually fell for 23 off balls.

Wickets were consistent during the innings, but runs per over were right up there. Sachin Tendulkar and Aditya Tare fell for 17 and 23 respectively.

A wondeful partnership between Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu of 110 put the game in Mumbai's hands.

Tiwary and Rayudu fell just after their maiden IPL half-centuries for 53 and 55, respectively.

The Indians finished on 212-6 off their 20 overs.

The pick of the Royals bowlers were England's Dimi Mascarenhas 2-34 and Amit Uniyal 2-41.

The Royals got off to the worst possible start as Swapnil Asnodkar was run out without facing a ball.

The innings of the Royals didn't take off until Pathan and Paras Dogra were together. Dogra kept giving Pathan the strike and his 100, which included 9 fours and eight massive sixes, was the highlight of the game.

Once he was unfortunately run out, the Indians took full control.

As Dogra departed for a well-made 41, the ending of the game was easy to bet on.

The innings closed on 208-7 off their 20 overs with the Indians winning by 4 runs.

The pick of the bowling for Mumbai was Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga whose 2-22 took the game away from the Royals.

Chennai Super Kings.

Deccan Chargers.

Delhi Daredevils.

Kings XI Punjab.

Kolkata Knight Riders.

Mumbai Indians.

Rajasthan Royals.

Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Eight teams, one mission, one thing in common!

Other than the fact that all of these teams play in the Indian Premier League, the one thing that separates these franchises from everybody else is in their respective abilities (or lack thereof) to come up with some creative names for their franchises.

It is truly amazing that, with the possible exception of Rajasthan and Bangalore, none of these teams have come up with a name that is of any significance to where they are located. A third grader from my nephew’s history class could have done better than these names!

My personal favourites:

The runner-up: The Chennai Super Kings!

Oh, I really wanted to name us the “Kings”, but didn’t have the time or the inclination to think about it, so I just added a “Super” ahead of it once Punjab made its choice.  

So who is a Super King? Just someone from Punjab who is a little better than his “Kings” and made the trip from the Northwest to the Southeast?

And the winner is: The Mumbai Indians! 

Indians?

Really? In the land of Bollywood, in the city that makes the higher of movies in a year, you couldn’t really squeeze one drop of creative juice? The best you could come up with is "Indian?"

I was actually under the impression that most people in Mumbai are Armenians. You couldn’t even think of an animal just for the heck of it?

I am not really saying that there is much creativity to the names in the sports teams in the U.S. either, but there is some semblance of reasoning here in certain cases.

The Los Angeles Lakers were originally from Minneapolis, the city of Lakes.

The Detroit Pistons’ name came from the original Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, which was named after the owner Fred Zollner’s foundry that manufactured pistons for car, truck, and locomotive engines.

Boston Celtics—Boston’s original Irish-Americans believed that they were ancestors of the ancient druid people called the Celts.

It’s not absolute, but, more often than not, there is a reason for the name. Heck, even my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes have a solid basis for their name, crazy as it sounds (it’s really a nut)!

So, why don’t we have traditional, meaningful names for our IPL teams? And before some of you pounce on me saying having a traditional name would not make sense because many of the players are from other countries, let me remind you, the I in IPL stands for Indian, not International!

After all, it is all in the name. And, please, no making fun of my name—it is about as Indian as a name can get!

A very good looking team on paper but Mumbai Indians lost out to Deccan Chargers because of themselves.

Playing a 20 over match should in itself be a motivator to score quickly. Blessed with one of the most threatening opening pairs in world cricket, the team failed to capitalise on its own advantage.

The first two overs yielded just four runs!! Even if it were to be argued that the Sri Lankan southpaw wanted to get used to the conditions, he must have shouldered the responsibility to thereafter score some quick runs and get the team back on to the scoring path.

But what happened? Jayasuriya looked completely out of sorts; what with trying to hook a head height bouncer from R.P.Singh. As he perished cheaply after consuming some deliveries,the onus was on Sachin's shoulders to get back Mumbai out of danger and bat as per the required run rate. And he did it quite successfully with the able company of South African sensation, Duminy.

However, where Mumbai lost the plot was in forcing Tendulkar to get out of his role of being the sheet anchor to the team's innings.This happened, thanks to the early dismissal of Jayasuriya. Still, things looked good for them till the strategic timeout when the score was 83/1 in 10 overs.

The match was evenly balanced,yet the winning needle was tilting towards Mumbai. As has been seen right through the tournament so far, the strategic timeout proved a bane for the Mumbai Indians, what with the team losing its momentum and Sachin Tendulkar getting out easily in the 11th over.

A steady partnership then could have perhaps saved the day for Mumbai but that wasn't to be. A steady procession of wickets went on at regular intervals and with the asking rate mounting with every passing delivery, it was never going to be easy.

Another point here. Just as the first two overs yielded very few runs, similarly the first two overs after strategic timeout yielded very few runs. Safe to say, Mumbai wasted nearly five overs of their innings by losing at least two wickets and scoring less than 20 runs. Bad. Very bad.

When a team wastes a quarter of its overs without being completely into the game, they deserve to lose.

Don't blame the strategic timeout now, as it has become a part of the tournament and every team has to live with it. And top players like Sanath and Sachin must know how to get into the hitting mode straight away, rather than wait and waste balls to warm up.

So Mumbai, don't waste deliveries—score at a fast rate. That's the success mantra.

I couldn't resist writing about our IPL and the innovations that go hand in hand with every ball delivered keeps us guessing whats in store for us?

IPL version 2 started on a great note with Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers winning against much touted Chennai Super Kings and the last years champions Rajasthan Royals.

The game as much as it is showcased on TV, courtesy SET Max and guess who is back, no marks for guessing—our very own Mandira Bedi, I know you would ask about her neck lines, less said the better. Her fashion designer knows too much or too little.

Here we come as it is the SET team is known for 5 ball an over or 4 ball an over telecast and then whenever a batsman is out we can be seeing Amitabh Bachhan or the Vodafone little creatures (they are cute I should admit).

Now in all this they have devised to sell another extra 10 minutes in between the game. And they call it Strategy(ic) break. I am at a loss to understand whose strategy are they trying to break.

It would be really tough to add extra ten minutes that too at crucial tenures in the game, say today, Chennai Super Kings were in full flow when they had a Strategy break at the end of 10 overs and what do the viewers get to see, advertisements and some highlights...

Anyways they are the people who decide on what we should see and what we shouldn't. So it is no use trying to reason. All in all another tamasha happening at the South African grounds with Indian money. Meanwhile the Indian political leaders are hard trying to gain TRPs so much with saying some hard core terrorist is his friend...

I would like to write on the Television coverage that the other news channels have for us. I liked Cyrus Broacha making the best pun of the cricketing action, while Ajay Jadeja at NDTV is all seriously making reviews, the team at Times Now is also pretty serious sometimes.

That's it for now or I will be boring you with another strategy break.

The Mumbai Indians are next on the list. This was one of the most puzzling teams from last year. They lost the first four games they played, then won six in a row, lost the next three, won their last game and missed the semifinals by one point.

They have been the most active in the swap market, trading Robin Uthappa for Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra for Shikhar Dhawan of Delhi Daredevils.

Last year result: 5^th Place (7-7-0)  

The squad (internationals starred):

Batsmen 

·         JP Duminy*

·         Mohammed Ashraful*

·         Sachin Tendulkar

·         Shikar Dhawan

·         Ajinkya Rahane

·         Jaydev Shah

All Rounders

·         Sanath Jayasuria*

·         Ryan McLaren*

·         Dwayne Bravo*

·         Graham Napier *

·         Kyle Mills*    

·         Abhishek Nayar

·         Jude Singh

·         Pinal Shah

·         Yogesh Takawale

Bowlers

·         Lasith Malinga*

·         Dilhara Fernando*

·         Harbajan Singh

·         Zaheer Khan

·         Dhawal Kulkarni

·         Rohan Raje        

·         Chetanya Nanda

·         Rahil Sheikh

Coaches: Shaun Pollock/Jonty Rhodes/Pravin Amre

Some scheduling issues to be aware of when choosing the playing XI. The IPL starts April 18^th and ends May 24^th. The Australian- Pakistan series ends on May 7^th. The English and the West Indies will play starting May 6^th and won’t be back. Luckily for Indians the only player they would lose would be Dwayne Bravo.

In the playing XI the seven Indian players should be Sachin Tendulkar, Shikar Dhawan, Abhishek Nayar, Harbajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Dhwal Kulkarni and one of these two Pinal Shah Yogesh Takawale.

Sachin, Bhajji, and Zaheer are in the Indian XI and obvious choices. Abhishek Nayer played amazingly last year and Shikar Dhawan was brilliant for Delhi last year.

Kulkarni is rough around the edges and expensive but he has done well for a young domestic player. He will be a year older and wiser for the experience. Maybe the circumstances won’t overawe him this time and he can take his game to the next level. The last spot is between those two wicketkeeping players. We will see if one of these has it to take it to the next level.

The four international places are between nine players. I am being very risky in my choices and it might seem a little reckless. I would take Jayasuria, Bravo, Duminy and Napier.

Jayasuria is one of the world's best batsmen and one of five batsmen to score a century last season. Bravo was a talisman last year, providing great lower order runs in tandem and rescuing the Indians form dangerous positions time and time again.

It seems it is the year of the Duminy. Let’s see how he does here. Napier, people might not be aware off but he is an English player that seems to light the scoreboard. He scored 154 of 54 balls in twenty 20 last year in the domestic Twenty 20.

So the batting line up would be this:

Sanath Jayasuria

Sachin Tendulkar

Shikar Dhawan

Napier

JP Duminy

Abhishek Nayar

Dwayne Bravo

Pinal Shah/ Yogesh Takawale.

Harbajan Singh

Zaheer Khan

Dhwal Kulkarni

Batting

Ladies and gentleman I present to you the longest and most destructive batting order. eight, maybe nine can all bat. That opening combo would put the fear of God under everyone. We only got to see this pair play a little last year because Tendulkar was hurt. As a fan this is a dream came true.

Dhawan played as No. 3 in Delhi and would fit well here. I wanted Napier at No. 4 because he might light it up or get out and this team has enough pinch hitters. Abhishek Nayar is perfect to save the game like he did many times last year. He seems much like a Michael Bevan type player. Not the one to clear the ground every ball but keeps what’s needed to win and does it smartly and stealthily.

Bravo and Nayar some good partnerships last year. Let’s see if they can’t do it again this year. This team has such a wealth of talent that I haven’t talked about Duminy yet. He seems to be everywhere and he can float and play anywhere in this order.

Bowling

It is not as good as the bowling but they can hold its own. They are going to miss Pollock though. He often bowled the over that changed the game and had the best average and strike rate last year.

Bhaji and Zak are world lass and need to take the charge this year. By all report Bhaji respects SRT and will play much better without the pressure of captaincy.

Zaheer has been amazing all year for India and should continue his form here. However he is paired with a rookie Kulkarni that’s got a little practice. Dwayne Bravo, Abhishek Nayar and Sanath Jayasuria can all pitch in and bowl the other eight over.

I expect Bravo to bowl his quota of four overs every time. I only worry that this team might have to bowl eight overs of spin in the seaming tracks of South Africa.

Fielding

The wicketkeeping is weak and trusted to one of two domestic players. Duminy, Nayer and Bravo are damn good. Sachin and Sanath are getting old and have tired legs. Remember the run out Jayasuria missed on the last bowl last year?

Options

If the wicket is seaming and the bowling is weak it might be worth playing Fernando or Malinga instead of Napier to get some strong swing bowling going. You can add Kyle Mills when Bravo goes off to England.

Strengths:

I love the team’s consistency. They won’t have a lot of people leaving or coming back. Only Bravo will leave. Opening combo and long batting order are great strengths Last year they had a lot of people hurt land their batting order was a revolving door. Bhajji will be controlled this year and there won’t be another slap gate.

Weakness:

The fielding and wicket keeping is a concern as I said above. Some of their best players are getting older. They only have one South African so they might not get the most support from the crowd. Sachin wasn’t a great captain for India and I don’t know how he will do for 14 games this year. I don’t think he can inspire this team like Warne or Dhoni did last year.

Most Important Player: Sanath Jayasuria—four tight overs and a strong opening.

Expensive player riding the bench: Mohammed Ashraful—75,000—not too bad considering the other teams.

Predictions:

They are going to make the semis this year. They might even be top two.

Schedule

(Host team first; day matches marked by d)

Apr 10: Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils
Apr 11: Kolkata Knight Riders v Deccan Chargers (d); Chennai Super Kings v Bangalore Royal Challengers
Apr 12: Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab (d); Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals
Apr 13: Deccan Chargers v Chennai Super Kings
Apr 14: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kolkata Knight Riders
Apr 15: Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians
Apr 16: Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils (d); Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals
Apr 17: Mumbai Indians v Bangalore Royal Challengers
Apr 18: Kings XI Punjab v Deccan Chargers (d); Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils
Apr 19: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals (d); Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings
Apr 20: Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab
Apr 21: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians
Apr 22: Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers
Apr 23: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab
Apr 24: Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders
Apr 25: Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab (d); Delhi Daredevils v Bangalore Royals Challegners
Apr 26: Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians (d); Rajasthan Royals v Kolkata Knight Riders
Apr 27: Kings XI Punjab v Bangalore Royal Challengers
Apr 28: Mumbai Indians v Delhi Daredevils
Apr 29: Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders (d); Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals
Apr 30: Deccan Chargers v Bangalore Royal Challengers
May 1: Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils
May 2: Mumbai Indians v Deccan Chargers; Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals
May 3: Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings; Bangalore Royal Challengers v Delhi Daredevils
May 4: Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals
May 5: Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings
May 6: Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians (d); Rajasthan Royals v Kings XI Punjab
May 7: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers
May 8: Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings
May 9: Kings XI Punjab v Delhi Daredevils (d); Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians
May 10: Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders
May 11: Delhi Daredevils v Rajsathan Royals
May 12: Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab (d); Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers
May 13: Kolkata Knight Riders v Bangalore Royal Challengers
May 14: Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings (d); Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers
May 15: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Mumbai Indians
May 16: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders (d); Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab
May 17: Rajasthan Royals v Bangalore Royal Challengers (d); Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians
May 18: Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders
May 19: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings
May 21: First semi-final
May 22: Second semi-final

May 24: Final

 

With India’s tour of New Zealand right around the corner, all this talk of the country’s miserable failure on the previous excursion in 2003 has come into the spotlight. Team India was outdone in every department of the game by the kiwis and besides a couple of performances from Sehwag there was nothing positive that could be taken away from the tour. But things are different now.

We are a different squad, hounding for the “number one team in the world” spot with only two hurdles in the way. One is South Africa who is currently holding the pole position. The second, is that it remains to be seen whether this rejuvenated squad, under the leadership of Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, can cope with the speed and bounce of the wickets in New Zealand, which tortured every preceding Indian side.

The pitches back home have never been speed friendly­. This is why the vast majority of sub-continental batsmen hit the wrong notes when they travel out of the tropical terrain and also the reason why most captains playing in the country opt for the additional spinner versus the paceman.

Back in Mumbai, things are stirring up as the IPL auctions have come to a close and the squad has been announced. Contrary to popular belief, the Mumbai Indians bowling line up consists largely of pace bowlers- Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga, Kyle Mills, Dilhara Fernando, Dwayne Bravo, Dhawal Kulkarni, the new guys – Ryan Mclaren who took a hat-trick in England’s domestic T20 final against Gloucestershire and Graham Napier whose T20 best is 3 for 13 and averages a minimal 23.86. Abhishek Nayar and Rohan Raje also turn their arms at a respectable speed. Looks like our owners really went all out in finding a replacement for veteran Shaun Pollock!

It’s tough to pin down which of these will have to sit on the bench. Zaheer will obviously lead the bowling attack. Dwayne Bravo is arguably our best all-rounder and too strong not to make it to the squad. Graham Napier, besides his bowling has scored 152 not out from 58 balls.

The innings set a number of records, notably the highest individual score in a T20 innings in England, and in the domestic Twenty20 competition. Spinner- Harbhajan is also likely to start unless he gets Sreesanth singing to his tunes again and it’ll be unlikely that Abhishek Nayar is dropped after a strapping all-round performance last season and through the year.

Adding to this, Surya will also bowl his usual, unfortunately leaving Malinga, Mills, Fernando, Ryan Mclaren and Kulkarni fighting for one spot. Adding to this, the team selectors are going to face the pressure of making sure that the owners’ heavy investments don’t lie latent on the bench.

A rotational policy seems to be on the cards, which only a handful of teams have used successfully because the mantra has always been to stick with the winning combination so as to keep the momentum going and the spirits high. It will be interesting to see if the selectors will have to face the music when the “fat lady sings.”

http://mifanclub.blogspot.com/