Looking ahead to IPL Season 2: Iconless IPL?

Allright, the IPL is almost over. I don’t really feel the intensity for either of the semis. Maybe that is because Rajasthan Royals have clearly been the best T20 side in the IPL. Or maybe because neither of the teams that I was supporting – Bangalore and Kolkata – are in the contest. There was a bit of feeling for Delhi, I would have liked to see them in the finals, but that wasn’t to be. 😦

Much has been said of the performances of the icons, specially the senior ones: Dravid, VVS Laxman, Ganguly and Tendulkar. I will not venture into that discussion just yet. Instead, I will ask this. What will an icon-less IPL be like? Considering some of the owners’ heavy-handed manner and the way things are going for the icons, I would speculate that not all of these folks will feature in the next installment.

Let us assume, for arguments sake, that neither of the above mentioned icons make it to the second season in any form. What would be the reaction of the masses? Especially the partisan ones – Mumbai and Kolkata. The Mumbai folks (or at least most of them) throng the IPL to watch Tendulkar and Kolkata to see their Maharaj. What happens to the other folk who go to these matches to see a Ganguly or a Dravid bat? Will these foks not turn up? Going by the attendance in the Ranji Trophy, an icon-less IPL will be a only a few grades more interesting to the masses. Yes, there will be Gilchrist fans and the McGrath fans, and they will bring some people to the stands, but these folk are the more educated cricket watchers, not the average Indian guy on the street who goes to watch a cricket match.

Even as I type this, I see the counter argument coming. One being that Indian cricket is in a state of flux where the seniors will slowly make way for deserving youngsters; that we need to be practical and one day or the other get used to an Indian team sans Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid; that the fans of the new recruits will take the place of today’s masses. True, all valid arguments. However the issue is that all this takes time. You need several match-winning performances to get a fan following. Good looks will help too :). Consider Rohit Sharma, who gave us some very valuable runs in that T20 world cup match against South Africa. On the other hand you have Ishant Sharma – the find of the Aussie tour, the kid who troubled titan-esque Aussie captain Ponting. I would think Ishant has a bigger fan following than Rohit Sharma. On the other hand, Gautham Gambhir, who has figured in more matches than the Sharmas may have a smaller fan base. All this is of course speculation. The point that I’m trying to make is that, for the icon-less IPL season to succeed, it must be timed right. If not, it will shake the very foundation of the IPL. Lack of crowds will affect TV ratings, ad money, sponsorship, etc, and pinch the owner’s pocket.

The owners may consider the icons as dead weight, but they bring the crowds at least for now. And they might need the icons more than they think, for this is India; we are mostly a crazy lot and cricket is a religion here. The owners, at least for the time being, better not mess with the Gods.

Squad for Bangladesh tri-series, Asia cup sans Ganguly, Dravid, Tendulkar

Yes, for the first time without either of the Big Three (if memory serves me right). The squad is primarily the one that won the ODI series in Australia earlier this year with a few new faces.

Here they are: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt), Yuvraj Singh (Vice-capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, S Sreesanth, Yusuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R P Singh, Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha.

My issues? Not including either one of Ganguly or Dravid (honestly, I would have like to see Dravid in). Neither are out of form, definitely not Dravid. He has scored over 300 runs in the IPL- that is mind you, only 16 short of Dhoni’s run count – with an average around 30. The young team, preparing for the 2011 World Cup and that is fine, but I think India will do well to use some of the services of the war horses for they still have a year (if not two) of cricket left in them. Sad? Yes. Expected? Perhaps Yes. I still had a glimmer of hope. But I think I see the harsh truth only now. Dravid and Ganguly might have played the last ODIs of their career. Fellow blogger Soulberry, saw this coming much and bade goodbye to them (in ODIs) back in January. I could dwell on this for a while, but I will save that for another post.

Moving on to the rest of the squad. Going by his recent IPL outings and the last couple of ODIs Uthappa doesn’t deserve a place. RP has been a bit shaky of late. As for the new inclusions Ohja and Yusuf, I haven’t watched much of Ohja, so can’t comment on him. I’m not sure Yusuf Pathan is as deserving as some of the Southern folk, esp, Chennai Super Kings’ Badrinath (as Ottayan duly supports). Meanwhile couldn’t help but feel sorry for Manoj Tiwary: one jet-lagged T20 innings goes poof and so does his India cap eh? Wonder what is the deal with Joginder Sharma? Why hasn’t Dhoni be able to get him? He seems to have a lot of trust on the guy.

Anyway, I’m not very excited about this series. Call me old-fashioned, obstinate, or whatever else, but without Tendulkar, Ganguly or Dravid, the India spirt is missing, at least for me. I might take a break from Indian cricket and watch the Aus vs. WI or Eng vs. NZ. Damn my cable operator, I don’t get Star cricket. Hope to find one soon that carries it.

IPL Saturday: Rajasthan vs. Chennai, Mumbai vs. Delhi

Two darn good games made my Saturday! It felt really good to watch two matches without exactly supporting one side. That both went down to the wire added to the pleasure. Competitive cricket (albeit the T20 variety) was played and entertained well.

The first came with a lot of hype, and lived up to it for the most part. While the first half was all Rajasthan, the second half was the more exciting one to watch. Chasing 200-odd in T20 is not an easy task and I though the Chennai team game the Rajasthan a run for their money. Credit to the Chennai Super Kings for that. While Dhoni reminded us once again never to depend on him too much, Parthiv played a good cricketing innings: almost no crap shots and a fairly cool head on those shoulders. I was also impressed with India-reject Raina. The other part that was really commendable was the Chennai crowds – who not only braved the sweltering heat, but also seemed great sports. When it comes to crowd sportsman spirit – we Chennai-ites kick partisan Mumbai’s butt!

I almost didn’t watch the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Daredevils fight it out, but somehow they kept my attention. Sachin flopped yet again, as I had expected. Uthappa came good with the bat but made up the sloppiness while fielding. Sehwag ramped up by attacking Pollock like very few batsmen can. You cannot help but ebb with pride when sehwag bats like this. Was disappointed to see him fall shortly after, but that was to be expected. Gambhir turned it on, though cautiously. Dhawan and Tiwary batted T20 style – irritatingly T20, but entertaining nonetheless. Karthik, was the pick of the batsmen – played classly, pulling it off well, especially when it was required of him and almost not expected of him. Way to go Karthik!

It will now be interesting to see Mumbai fight it out. They will most probably lose to the Rajasthan Royals and though it may seem absurd to wish, I would like to see Bangalore trounce them once again. 🙂

Bangalore win a low scoring thriller: Bangalore vs. Chennai

Finally, luck favored Dravid’s Bangalore. With much of the batting being the same, Dravid being the lychpin holding it togather with some vintage shots, the Royal Challengers’s team spirit clicked yesturday. I think that was certainly one reason behind the win, apart from some brilliant fielding from in the team, esp Kallis, Kumble’s double wicket over, and some sensational stuff from Styen.

Of the Chennai team, Ajay Jadeja and cheerleaderish Kris Srikanth said they weren’t even going to consider Chennai losing and debated on how many over they would take to win. Chennai on the other hand buckled under pressure after their opening pair, Fleming and Patel, gave them a very good start of 60. Dhoni, coming in at #3, threw away his wicket (and no, I’m not complaining about it), and some poor shot selection saw an end to their brashness, as Dhoni rightly called it.

In the post match presentation, what was most stark was Dravid’s humility on being congratulated and Dhoni’s admission of brashness. As an BRC supporter, being up till midnight was totally worth it. End of the day, it was nice to see a smile on dear Dravid’s face, and pulling one over Dhoni.

Assorted IPL Ramblings: of the Fab Four of Indian cricket

Tendulkar flops and Jayasuriya rocks. Sachin’s most awaited IPL debut came and went without much noise. On a day that was supposed to be Tendulkar’s, it was the Sri Lankan opener’s fireworks that enlivened the Mumbai crowd. I did not watch most of the Chennai Super Kings’s innings, so I cannot comment on that. But Jayasuriya turned it on big time so much to make Sachin look like a high-school boy, except for one four. Sachin looked a bit out of place, to say the least – it might be too early to say this, but for now he looks no better than Laxman or Dravid in the batting department. In fact the latter might end up with more runs (after factoring in the number of matches played).  From the CSK’s end, for a change it was nice to see Dhoni – and no, he is not part of my fab four, for whatever it is worth – on the receiving end of batting heroics. Even lucky-charm Joginder Sharma couldn’t stop Jayasuriya. It was just Sanath all the way.

While Royal Challengers’ Dravid is being lambasted from several sides, support has come from a like minded team India colleague and Deccan Chargers’ captain VVS Laxman, and this coming from someone in relatively similar position. Laxman has come be known for good gestures, this must be added to the top half of his list. In the match against Kings XI Punjab, Dravs seemed more stressed that ever seen before. When asked about Mallya’s salvo, he refused to comment citing reasons for want of a proper forum. I’m wondering what Dravid will do now – quit IPL or wait to be traded? Judging by the anti-auction mindedness of him, I guessing he will probably resign; might be just a matter of time. While that would seem fitting to many, I think he might do a little better in someone else’s team, batting at 5 or 7, playing the role of the innings finisher – a role he successfully played for India in some ODIs during his reign as India captain.

Ganguly seems to be on cloud nine after Shoaib’s dream IPL debut. Way to make a statement, Shoaib! And it was nice to see the latter on Ganguly side, rather than on the opposing. I had my doubts about Akthar – he is like a wild pendulum – might swing either way. Perhaps with the fitness problems that Akthar has had of later, T20 might be the game for him – all it takes is four overs of concentration.