They needed just one more victory to finally take that giant leap into the last four; at that time, of course, it seemed as simple as taking the next step during a casual stroll in the morning.

That step, however, didn't turn out to be so simple: in fact, it drew them away from home and into the killing climes of Chennai. There, first, the humidity sapped Tendulkar; then, the heat of the competition got to his team. Eventually, they failed to chase down a fair-game 165.

The next step was even more complicated, taking them all the way from down South to the fringes of northern India. On the face of it, though, it seemed like a facile mission: zip into Mohali, zap the already-down Kings and go back into the reassuring folds of home.

But then, you scoff at a pride of hungry lions at your own peril: not too surprisingly, Mumbai managed only 154 and just didn't have the heart to defend it. Suddenly, it was two defeats in two games; you didn't have to see the anxious faces in their dugout to know that they had lost the momentum.

That is, however, not the main reason for their anxiety; Mumbai Indians are probably worried about something else: the curse of the Number 14. Surely, the ghosts of an earlier lifetime, of IPL 2008, are haunting them again.

In the inaugural edition too, they won six straight games after a disastrous start to be called the momentum-team; but they lost the next three to be unceremoniously left out of the race. Clearly, they had peaked a little too early; is that the case this time too? Can they get past 14 points at least now?

More importantly, do they have the wherewithal to go all the way? Are they still as red-hot as they appeared to be just a couple of matches ago?

The answer, on current form, is no. First and foremost, their batting doesn't have the firepower to keep winning day in and day out; yes, there is Tendulkar but he must be feeling like Read more...

Bobilli Vijay Kumar IPL Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, IPL, Sachin Tendulkar, Twenty20

Every bowler’s worst nightmare finally came true: on a humid Saturday evening, and on a perfect sleeping beauty, one batsman after another went on the rampage to literally set the Chidambaram Stadium on fire.

In the end, it was nothing but a massacre; only a miracle saved the match from going down as a rabid joke.

  M Vijay, who showed signs of manic aggression in the earlier match, went berserk in a crucial match for the Super Kings; he started in a fitfully quiet manner, greeting Shane Warne’s trump card Yusuf Pathan with utmost dignity.

  But when Warne pulled out another card, Sumit Narwal this time, he cut loose: 6, 4 and another 4 got the heartbeats racing inside the packed stadium. They, however, didn’t give an indication of the mayhem to follow; runs flowed from his blade like booze on a wild night of partying.

  The original tormentor, Mathew Hayden, could only watch as his micro version attacked with the freedom and finesse of a soaring bird; he didn’t have time for a single bowler, neither for Shaun Tait, nor Shane Watson or Warne, as he towered over the blazing horizon.

  By the time dusk descended on Chennai, the Super Kings had amassed 246 for five, the highest tally in the Indian Premier League; Albie Morkel simply added more colour to the fireworks with his blistering 62 off 34 deliveries.

  If the hosts thought that the party was over, they were in for a rude shock: the Royals, like true warriors, simply don’t believe in giving up without a fight. Led by the lanky duo of Michael Lumb and Naman Ojha, they went after the target like hungry wolves.

  At the fall of the first wicket, Warne unleashed his trump card again; but a smart boundary later, Yusuf smashed what seemed like a clear sixer. Bollinger, however, was clearly Read more...

Bobilli Vijay Kumar IPL Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, IPL

When it first entered the realm of possibility, Twenty20 seemed to be too short a format to qualify as a contest: it doesn’t give anyone a second chance, they said, the most basic premise of any game; one mistake and you might as well kiss your grandma goodbye, they added.

  That, however, is just one of the myths that has exploded along with purse strings in the IPL. The current edition has slowly but very surely shown that you not only get a second chance, but also a third and fourth one. The key is patience, just like in its most pristine form: Test cricket.

  On Sunday night, Rajasthan Royals appeared to be galloping away after winning the toss; as Ojha raised 100 in just 10 overs, combining with Lumb and Fazal, a 200-plus total seemed more than probable. But then, Yusuf Pathan fell for 8, and pretty soon the inevitable slide began: in the end, they managed just 177.

  As M Vijay went on the attack, along with Hayden and Raina, the target looked even less intimidating; but then, Yusuf conjured a stunning run out to break Chennai’s momentum. Soon after, Dhoni too crashed into Badrinath for a crucial run-out. The match turned emphatically towards the Royals… until, of course, Albie Morkel decided to throw his bat and caution to the wind.

  He smashed 3 sixes off Warne, and raced to 28 off just 12 deliveries, to cut the match wide open. But then, Shaun Tait bowled a quiet, smart over to bring it back into their grasp; Siddharth Trivedi just had to keep his wits together to keep the smiles on his mates’ faces. He did, rather easily.

  Quite a few matches, thankfully, have followed this pendulum phenomenon. The most stunning example of a second chance, though, came in the game’s most miniscule form: catching. On Monday night, it seemed like a simple case of touch-and-go when Paul Collingwood hit one down David Husssey’s throat. Hussey, however, made a hash of it: the ball landed in his palms but bounced out of them to find some meaning beyond the ropes.

  He went after it, instinctively, to try and lessen the damage; he hung in the air, and Read more...

Bobilli Vijay Kumar IPL Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, IPL

After this duo, however, the batting leaderboard is a mixture of young, not-so-young and the old. Fascinatingly, the bowling list is also topped by a wily old hand, and a spinner at that: Muthiah Muralitharan; chasing him is his mate Chaminda Vaas, who is desperately trying to get back into the Sri Lankan scheme of things.

Read more...

Bobilli Vijay Kumar Twenty20 Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, IPL

Every dark cloud, they say, has a silver lining; when it comes to Indian sport, however, the silver lining is nothing but a mirage. It is a trick played on our eye and will vanish when we blink.

      What else can you say when you see not only the country's most popular sport, but also its national game, embroiled in the vilest of controversies? How do you find something positive to hang on to, when you realise that the main source of this hara-kiri is politics?

      Let us begin with cricket: like always, Lalit Modi was patting himself after a job well done, when the clouds emerged. They started as a trickle, with the franchises simply holding on to their purse strings when the Pakistani players were put on the block.

      It was, without doubt, a reasonable gambit: why punt on a bunch of players who might not exactly be welcome in at least one city, if not the entire country? Why put their investments, if not the IPL itself, at risk when the government was not giving any clear signals?

      The clouds seemed to be quietly passing; but then, politics reared its hideous head: the government had no objection to the presence of our friends from across the border, declared the home minister. He turned a little spark into a fire by declaring that the IPL had done a disservice to cricket.

      Shah Rukh Khan, at the same time, gave a glimpse of the machinations behind the scenes: he revealed that there was a silent pact of a different kind among the franchisees; he even indicated that those who were keen on the Pakistani players were forced to back off. He turned the fire into an inferno by stating that the entire episode was humiliating.

      An already seething Pakistan became angrier: a team of parliamentarians cried off from their trip to India; another bunch of golfers too stayed home. There were calls to boycott the upcoming hockey World Cup as well. Clearly, the clouds had turned dark and they were ready to come down.

      The TOI, however, saw a hint of the silver lining, when it learnt that Deccan Chargers were on the verge of breaking the code; but the very next day, its team owner claimed that there were no plans to sign up Abdul Razzaq; Lalit Modi, as can be expected now, bad-mouthed Read more...

Bobilli Vijay Kumar IPL Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, IPL, Pakistan, Shah Rukh Khan, World Cup

The Pakistan episode of the IPL is turning out to be like a gripping murder mystery. The body is there for all to see; there are enough suspects, motives and witnesses too. But somehow we fail to zero in on the culprit, even though he is floating right in front of our eyes. The first clue behind the mystery surfaced on Friday afternoon. Even as Lalit Modi nudged her at the press conference, belatedly, Shilpa Shetty thundered: ‘‘Why should the Pakistan players’ security be our onus?’’ Then she said something-something about political parties and loony groups.

    The second part was important, but not critical; the first part was the real clue, the giveaway. A quick follow-up and a few calls later, the mystery solved itself: The government had refused to provide security for the players. For any player, not just Pakistan’s.

    The immediate thought was: Very good. Why should the government do anything? Isn’t this a commercial venture? If the IPL can pour out millions on players, and make billions in return, shouldn’t it take care of all aspects related to the tournament too, including security?

    Absolutely. Except that the motivation was not so straightforward. To unravel it, we need to go back a little, into the past: In the inaugural year, the government was like a silent partner; it turned almost every stone to make the ambitious project a runaway hit: visas, security, the IPL bosses simply had to name it, and they got them on a golden platter.

    The next year, however, the government became a hostile partner: it refused to play sweet ball, explaining that it could not guarantee foolproof security to the players, or to the tournament itself, owing to the General Elections. Instead of negotiating, or trying to convince the seat, Modi promptly whisked away the IPL to South Africa.

    Many in the Congress saw it as a slap on their face; more importantly, they were also worried that the backlash might hurl them into the wilderness again. Luckily, cricket proved to be a minor player, the mandate didn’t turn negative and it returned to power.

    But then, a hurt political party is more dangerous than a woman spurned: it was just a question of time before Modi would be made to pay for his audacity, for taking on the government itself. Is it a surprise, then, that the Congress mustered all its muscle in Rajasthan a few Read more...

Bobilli Vijay Kumar IPL, Pakistan Blogs.CMDN.com, Congress, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, IPL, Lalit Modi, Pakistan, Rajasthan, RCA, South Africa, Zimbabwe

How long does it take for a baby to grow into an independent entity? How much time does a man need to blossom into a force to reckon with? How far down the progress lane must a country go to become a sporting nation?

Well, we can only speculate as these are all seemingly simple, but in reality complex, questions. There’s one we can say with certain conviction though: In the last 10 years, Indian sport has truly come of age.

Right since forever, the country has sought refuge in maverick geniuses and in stunning acts of individual brilliance; but even then we have almost always fallen short. A Milkha Singh, a Ramanathan Krishnan, a PT Usha only made our hearts heavy and our eyes moist.

Yes, we ruled hockey at one time in history; we were as good as the other team in football too. But we just watched, mouths wide open, as the world sped by us. Cricket, by some miracle, slowly became an exception; eventually, in 1983, we hit the pinnacle in the World Cup.

Slowly, as the Eighties made way for the Nineties, the Indian batsmen grew in stature; by the turn of another decade, we picked up a reputation too: one of the best batting lineups in the world. The team, however, earned its own tag: tiger at home, mouse away.

The turning point, arguably, came in 2001: as Laxman turned on the poetry, the era’s greatest bowling pair (McGrath and Warne) could only nod in appreciation. In the end, Australia’s amazing Test run was brought to a halt; for India, though, it was the beginning of a new chapter.

As Sourav Ganguly matured in the hot seat, India conquered its own frontiers, one after the other. Test wins in South Africa and Australia, series wins in West Indies and Pakistan. As the clock ticked, England and New Zealand fell too (again, of course).

India enters the new decade with its head held aloft and with newer stars in its ranks: it is the Number one side in Tests; Dhoni and Gambhir are the best batsmen in One-dayers Read more...

Bobilli Vijay Kumar India Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs

Every time the Indian ODI team walks out to bat, a pesky question tags along: why is the moment's most devastating pair in cricket not opening the innings?
 
You can see the answer right in front of the question too: Sachin Tendulkar. When you have the game's colossus at your disposal, why would you look beyond or consider any other alternative?
 
Tendulkar, if nothing, is king in One-day cricket: almost every conceivable record has come to rest before his hallowed altar. At the ripe young age of 36, in his new avatar, he is the pillar on which India raise their foundation, if not their hopes.
 
So is the question redundant? Probably not. Simply because it is not as simple as it seems: if the bloodbath in the current series is any indication, even 400-plus totals are only as safe as the ghettos in New York. Batsmen don't bat any more; they hyper-ventilate.
 
At the end of the day, we don't see score cards either; we see scare cards.
 
In such a scenario, clearly, every over is crucial; indeed, every batsman has a larger than life role to play. And this is where the pesky question starts to gnaw even more: Where is Gautam Gambhir really? Is his purple patch being wasted?
 
The angry-little fellow has, of course, grown into India's most reliable batsman in the last couple of years; if you have more faith in rankings than in the leaders in Copenhagen, you will be at peace with his preeminent position.
 
Gambhir is virtually unstoppable in, both, Tests and Twenty20s; yet, in One-dayers, he seems like he has just come from Cameron's new planet Pandora (where cricket is yet to be invented). His last five walk-ins have yielded a grand sum of 27, with just one two-digit knock; his Read more...

Bobilli Vijay Kumar Indian Cricket Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Gambhir, Gautam Gambhir, ODI, Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly

Virender Sehwag, typically, had a facile explanation for his no-frills blitzkrieg a couple of days ago. "I got out early in the last Test. So I decided to watch the ball very closely today," he told Ravi Shastri, at the post-play formalities.

It might have been a light and shade trick but it seemed like Shastri gulped down astonishment, if not a smile: after all, Sehwag had made a mere 131 in the last Test, in Kanpur. Clearly, early means something else altogether to this freak bat.

That night, in all likelihood, he slept peacefully even as half of India waited on the threshold of 300, on the edge of history. He must have woken up too, like always, with a song on his lips; he probably had a hearty breakfast and may even have been the last to be ready for the day ahead.

Maybe that is why he is doomed to miss his trysts with destiny.

Sadly, sleep comes easily to those who don't chase greatness, or do not respect the gravity of history. Sehwag, famously, had never heard of Vinoo Mankad or Pankaj Roy when he was on the verge of that record-breaking partnership with Rahul Dravid. He failed history that time too.

He has never seen Viv Richards bat either, the batsman he is often likened to; the chances are he doesn't know anything about Don Bradman beyond his name. At the most, he might be inclined to say: "I think he is supposed to be the greatest batsman."

Maybe that is why it is not easy to bestow the mantle of greatness on Sehwag. You somehow expect a sense of seriousness, a glimmer of excitement in all those who pursue this intangible, elusive grail. Where is the trail of blood, sweat that is supposed to be littered on the path to greatness?

The only thing you see in Sehwag's demeanour, in his batting, is a joi de vivre. He smiles when he misses a ball, laughs when he miscues a hit; he seems almost unconcerned if he gets out on 1 or 195. Where is the anguish of a missed opportunity, the agony of a momentous occasion that has slipped by? Where is the thrall of greatness?

"I am happy that I at least made 293," he says after the anti-climactic end. But then Read more...

Bobilli Vijay Kumar IND vs SL Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Kanpur, Shastri, Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Viv Richards