Royal Challengers Bangalore

At the start of the second IPL season, I thought that Bangalore Royal Challengers would give a performance similar to season one.

They proved me wrong in the very first match by giving a champion performance to beat the defending champion Rajasthan team.

I  thought the Bangalore team would give us Bangs-Galore this year round

After losing all four matches the team sits at the bottom of the table.

The match they played today was against the Delhi Daredevils at Port Elizabeth. Once again a performance not up to the mark.

Scoring a mere 149 runs on a flat surface was the the first part of their poor act. Many of the batsmen got starts and gave away their wickets at crucial moments during the innings. Kevin Pietersen himself was the top scorer with a 37 run inning, which ended whenhe  tried to switch hit against Vettori and got bowled.

The bowlers did a wonderful job to make the match a fairly close affair, but in the end the Daredevils led by a brilliant knock by Tillakaratne Dilshan, who helped them win by won by six wickets.

The poor fielding, dropped catches, and a run-out not given by the third umpire did not help the RC cause either.

All in all, RC just bowled well and did nothing else. It was particularly embarrassing when Anil Kumble started fielding better than the twenty year old boys.

I would not have written this article if I just had to tell you what happened in the match.

I wrote this to tell you about a huge blunder Pieteresen has made for two matches in a row.

It is the misuse of Anil Kumble.

In both the last match and this match, there came a point when the opposition required over ten runs per over in the last few overs. On both occasions the bowlers leaked runs and let the other team get away with a victory.

The fact is during the last five overs Kumble didn't bowl a ball in either of the matches. Kumble, was done with his quota of overs in a very economical manner.

Just think if Kumble would have had at least an over out of the last five overs in either of the matches what would have happened?

I am sure we all agree, that batsmen cannot attack Kumble the way they can attack any other of the RC bowlers. In any case spinners in general have had a lot of say in this tournament.

Then why not have Kumble at a time when the batsmen are looking to go for the final onslaught and not a middle-over calm play session? 

Has not having a Kumble over cost the team a two victories?

This is after seeing the way Vettori bowled in the slog overs.

Today, the team had a left arm spinner K.P. Appanna in the line-up too. He also kept it tight in the middle. Maybe he could have had an over in the end too.

So why is Pietersen not using a certain force called Kumble he has, or for that matter any spinner in the last five, when all other teams have done well doing so.

A few extra runs In the middle can be handled, but not at the Crunch time.

Rajasthan Royals vs. Bangalore Royal Challengers - 16.30 (CAT) - Saturday 18th April

 

The Newlands crowd are going to be in for a show come the second game of Saturday afternoon, as IPL 2008 defending champions, the Rajasthan Royals, take on new look Bangalore Royal Challengers.

 

Shane Warne will be leading the Royals once again from the front, and will be looking at getting the same drive and passion out of his players as he did in the IPL 2008.

Warne’s roll with the ball will be vital to his team’s success, as they enter this tournament without two of their leading wicket takers, Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir.

Star player Yusuf Pathan will be watched closely, especially by Indian selectors for the upcoming ICC 20-20 World Cup, as he stole the show in IPL 2008 with both bat and ball. He is a gamebreaker for the Royals, and a player to watch at Newlands this weekend.

The Bangalore Royal Challengers will look to arrive on Saturday evening with “all guns blazing,” as they look at making a good start to the IPL 2009.

With new coach Ray Jennings at the helm of the Royal Challengers, big things can be expected of his team this year 'round.

Jennings will be partnered with new Royal Challengers skipper, Kevin Pieterson. KP has proven in the past to destroy any bowling attack on South African turf, and will look to silence his critics on the back of a very sketchy West Indies tour.

KP’s knowledge of Shane Warne, both previous Hampshire teammates, will make for an entertaining battle at Newlands.

He’ll be backed by the aggressive clean hitting of New Zealander Jesse Ryder, South African Mark Boucher, and up-and-comer Roelof van der Merwe.

IPL 2008 Results:

Match 1: Rajastan Royals won by 7 wickets

Match 2: Rajastan Royals won by 65 runs

 

Although history points to the Rajasthan Royals walking away with this game, I believe that the new look Bangalore Royal Challengers will prove to be too strong on a good Newlands batting track.

 

Result: Bangalore Royal Challengers to beat Rajasthan Royals

The next team to look at is the Royal Challengers. By the end of the season last year the team  fired its CEO for their poor performance sacked Rahul Dravid as its captain. They now have placed Kevin Pietersen in charge.

I like KP as a player and as a captain but he is going to be only there for the first eight games. Then the next captain will be thrown in midstream and the team has to adapt.

Look for them to lose a couple of games in this transition period.

Last Year  Result – seventh  

Batsmen (Internationals Starred) 

·         Kevin Pietersen*

·         Ross Taylor*

·         Wasim Jaffer

·         Rahul Dravid

·         Robin Uthappa

·         Manish Pandey

·         Mark Boucher*

·         Srivastava Goswami

All Rounders

·         Dillon du Preez*

·         Jacques Kallis*

·         Jesse Ryder*

·         Roelof van der Merwe*

·         Cameron White*

·         Virat Kohli

·         Praveen Kumar

·         Balachandra Akhil

Bowlers

·         Dale Steyn*

·         Nathan Bracken*

·         Pankaj Singh

·         Anil Kumble

·         Tinu Yohannan

Coaches: Ray Jennings

Some scheduling issues to be aware of when choosing the playing XI. The IPL starts April 18th and May 24th. Also the Australian- Pakistan series ends only on may 7th. The English and the West Indies will play starting May 6th and won’t be back.

So the team has to choose seven Indian in the playing XI. The automatic choices are Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Anil Kumble. We have to add two Indians to that number.

I would add two from these four: Pandey, Akhil, and Goswami and Jaffer. Now comes the interesting part. Until Pietersen leaves for England the four internationals to XI should be Steyn, Pieterson, Ryder, Boucher.

So the Batting line up would be this:

Jesse Ryder

Rahul Dravid

Kevin Pietersen

Robin Uthappa

Virat Kohli

Boucher

B. Akhil

Goswami

Praveen Kumar

Steyn

Kumble

Once Pietersen leaves I would add Ross Taylor. His ability to hit sixes is amazing and can take apart any bowling attack. The problem is he has no staying ability and the middle order will be weak.

At some point you can add Bracken to this XI in place of Boucher because the bowling is weak.

I am not impressed by this team at all. Though they have five South Africans I don’t feel confident about their batting or bowling. They have 4 strong batsman and I am excited about the opening of Dravid and Ryder.

Last year, Dravid was heavily penalized for things he had no control over. The beating they took from McCullum in the first game stayed with them through the whole season.

Pietersen we all know will be motivated and loves the big stage and he fits in with the ideal of the IPL.  Boucher has saved SA many times and might have to here too.

Now we come to the bowling. It is a complete mess. Last year Steyn though he was getting paid to party and played like he was hung over.

This year he will be more motivated and BRC will hope that he can deliver. Before Bracken arrives he will share the ball with Kumar.

Kumar is a bowler that is often ripped apart because he doesn’t have the pace or variety to put doubts in the batsmen. Kumble can bring the variety but has been retired for six months and we don’t know if that will refresh him or will he be unable to play at this level.

Ryder can bowl a few overs but he too is like Kumar.

The final four overs  are going to be the batsman’s favorite. Some combination of Akhil, Goswami and Kohli will have to bowl. These players are unproven have not played under the bright lights expectations and pressure faced here.

When you add Bracken to the mix it strengthens the bowling. This is the time I expect the Challengers to make a solid run.

Expect the challengers to start a little hot then become mediocre lose a few after the change in captain and win some with the addition of Bracken.

RCB, aka Royal Challengers Bangalore, had a disastrous outing in the first edition of the indian Premier League which all of us know about.

This time around RCB has made a few changes here and there. They have brought in Pietersen, Jesse Ryder and Uthappa. They have also sold Zaheer Khan to Mumbai Indians (actually they swapped him with robin).

Although I am a great fan of RCB and Dravid I still feel that this team is one of the weakest in the IPL. The reasons are as follows:

1. They don't have a good opening pair. Jesse Ryder is surely a good opener but who goes along with him? Wasim isn't too good, Chanderpaul no way, Dravid may carry on as a makeshift opener for sometime but that's not going to solve the problem.

2. Steyn and Bracken are really good especially in the T20 format but they will arrive  here after a few matches are over because of the ODI series in South Africa. We had high expectations with Praveen Kumar but he disappointed all of us and as such I can't expect much of him.

3. Delhi has Vettori and Mishra, Chennai has Murali and Rajasthan has Warnie the magician—but what about Bangalore? With due respect to Anil Kumble, I do not feel he is suited for T20s. Vettori and Warnie can bat as well which is an added advantage for the team.

4. The Karnataka players are a talented bunch but they wont get many opportunities in the presence of stalwarts like KP, Dravid, Steyn, and Boucher. talking about Boucher, he and Kallis  weren't good at all in the opening season. We do expect a lot from a power hitter like Boucher.

5. Captaincy is a big issue as well. For all his charisma KP and his boys were humiliated 5-0 by our men in blue. He is a very good Test captain no doubt but the same cant be said about ODI and most importantly T20s. Robin may become captain once KP leaves for the all important ASHES series but aren't we burdening the young lad with too many responsibilities?

I still hope that whatever I have stated above is proved wrong because I still believe that if Rahul Dravid, KP, Ryder and Uthappa help RCB post big totals in most of the matches the bowlers will be under a lot less pressure and they will do well.

Their win against Chennai last season after scoring 126 was the highlight of the season last year and I do hope that it can be repeated at least three times this season if they want to be in the semis.

IPL this season will be bigger and better and recession proof. This season will be very tough for the Bangalore boys and I sincerely hope that they do well this time.  

Bangalore Royal Challengers: the royal team representing the grand city of Bangalore, owned by a billionaire, the second most expensive team in the IPL, captained by a legend, but most experts are already writing them off this season as well.

Let us not make that mistake!

It might be odd to hear, but not impossible to imagine Bangalore Royal Challengers as a team that can be a dark horse to win this IPL tournament. By dark...I mean really really dark, and by horse probably a miniature pony even! But my point is—don't count them out!

When you have a crazy boss...err...I mean a cricket-crazy boss, millions of dollars invested, millions of supporters, and some great players on your roster, you are bound to flirt with success someday. The question is...when?

IPL season 2008

They had a terrible season to say the least. Lost 10 matches, finished seventh in a pool of eight, fired their CEO Charu Sharma, rested their top players due to poor form, tried out more opening batsmen pairs than a teenager tries out a a pair of jeans, had falling outs between the owner and captain and the CEO over team selection...phew.

IPL season 2009, new signings!

The biggest signing of the year has to be that of former English captain Kevin Pieterson, for a whopping, record-breaking price of US$ 1.55 million! However due to international commitments, he will be available for IPL duty only for three weeks.

Smashing New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder is also a part of Bangalore Royal Challengers this season.

Captain, Captain!

Owner Vijay Mallya had directed most of his anger and frustration over the team's failure on his CEO, but some measured shots were also taken on the sitting team icon—Rahul Dravid.

His inefficient captaincy, lack of T20 experience, age, poor form, and inability to inspire his team disappointed Mr. Mallya so much, that he was even looking ways of selling the icon player, or at least sacking him as the team captain.

Though he hasn't been cut from the team, the final decision on captaincy is yet to be taken.

Key Batsmen

Robin Utthappa, who arrived as a free transfer from Mumbai might just be a boon for the out of form players in the Royal Challengers team. They will also look to Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder for runs, apart from the great KP of course.

Key Bowlers

Having Nathan Bracken and Dale Steyn as your opening bowlers should give you some level of confidence. But the problem is with the third, fourth, and fifth bowlers. Can Kumble perform better this time?

Strengths

• Nobody gives them a chance in hell...and that's their biggest strength. If teams are complacent facing them, they have a good chance of surprising them with a good performance. T20 is a perfect canvas for painting the most unpredictable portrait of events, in stunning colors as well.
• With guys like KP and Jesse Ryder in the team, they should feel somewhat strengthened.
• New coach and management team will look to pump the team with excitement and new ideas.
• If old warriors like Kallis, Dravid and Cameron White start firing, team will only perform better.
  
• Having a boss like Mr. Vijay Mallya on the edge of his patience isn't a good thing. But the pressure to perform from His majesty might just create lions out of sheep.
  

Weaknesses

• Lack of confidence is the biggest adversary of the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Ghosts of last season's performances still haunt the team, and having an owner willing to chop and change even the captain, CEO and senior management after only one season doesn't exactly appraise confidence of others.
  
• Most players in the squad are either too old or just don't fit the T20 model. Can garnishing such a team with a couple of T20 guns like KP and Ryder really help?
• The team never really gelled under Dravid. Can he or a new captain bring the team together and make them deliver a quality performance?
• Compared to the Rajasthan Royals or Mumbai or Kolkatta, Bangalore haven't made use of their local cricketers as much as they could have. They should have a sturdy pool of young talented cricketers ready for action, but few have even been considered.

Strategy to win

The best strategy is: Mr Mallya uses a numerology expert to change the names of all his players...OR...changes his team's name from his one brand to another, e.g. from Royal Challengers to McDowell's No. 1...OR...prays to god for a miracle!

On a serious note, Bangalore Royal Challengers need to take it one match at a time. Go from strength to strength and take it from there. They must win their home matches and select the team correctly, focusing on young players.

Dravid should be retained as the captain, not because he is a good captain, but because frankly others would make worse captains! KP would have been a great option had he been available throughout the tournament.

Why should I watch their matches?

I hear their cheerleaders are the models from the annual Kingfisher magazines, right? Well...The biggest attraction for most fans I guess will be Pieterson. Expect the stadium to be sold out for all the games in which he features.

Even without KP, I think they will be entertaining enough to watch. Expect a tough fight from the Challengers, they will be desperate to prove their critics wrong.

Opening IPL fixture for Bangalore Royal Challengers

On Apr. 11, Chennai Super Kings will host the Bangalore Royal Challengers and kick off the Challengers schedule.

And finally.....

Bangalore Royal Challengers is a team in crisis, but determined to perform better. They may not come off as "Royal" in their performances this time either, but expect them to be "challenging."

The English players have finally arrived in the Indian Premier League—and how!

For record prices, my friends. England may not be the strongest team around, and they may have had their own share of internal problems recently, but that did not stop the English players from being snapped up for record prices at today's IPL auction.

Almost every team craved to have the two hard-hitting English players on their roster—Kevin Pieterson and Andrew Flintoff. And why not? In a game format which warrants not just talent, but also power, attitude and charisma, these two have enough of it.

KP was "won" by Bangalore Royal Challengers, for a whopping US$ 1.55 million. Flintoff, on the other hand, went to the Chennai Super Kings for the same amount.

Last year, the auction was a much more flamboyant and grand affair. There was excitement in the air, money was flung carelessly, much hype was made around every player, and decisions were made by the team icons or captains. This time around, every decision had to be business decision with the owner at the helm.

Last year there were no English players on auction, as ECB hadn't permitted them to go. However, once the English players fought for their right and gained permission, it was clear who was going to steal the spotlight this season.

Both these fantastic players however will have different sets of challenges.

KP's Royal team had a dismal showing in the last edition of the IPL. His squad will be suffering from low confidence, lack of quality T20 players, and pressure to perform from a demanding corporate boss.

Flintoff's Chennai team were finalists last year, and even this season will be among the favorites to win the IPL. In a team which boasts the likes of Dhoni, the pressure to perform and prove his money's worth will be immense.

Will the English players live up to their humongous prices? Only time will tell.