IPL 3 has begun and a scrutiny of the finer points of this new avatar of the game will start. Imran Khan in his column has already told us how excited he is to see what new things turn up.

Cricket is a game that keeps evolving and that's why it is greater than any other sport and the fastest growing.

Just to take a review of the things that people have fine-tuned thanks to T20. The straight six, the reverse sweep which is more a hit. The slow sweep over short fine leg, the lofted cover drive, the drive over midoff and midwicket, late cut/steer, chip over slips, pull/hooks, flick over square leg.

For the bowlers, the yorker, slower ball, quicker delivery for spinners, bouncer, arrow straight bowling, doosra, flipper, off-cutter, flighted swing.

What we haven't seen perfected is a sweep or a scoop  over slip. Nicky Saldanha, the former Maharashtra Ranji bowler, would step out scoop from leg stump over his right shoulder over the keeper's head and over first slip. This irritated the keeper of our side, none other than former India keeper Nana Joshi, then in his  fifties. But that was the idea of Nicky.

Iqbal Khan played a similar shot in a one-day event at the CCI. He was a Mumbai Ranji player, who is now settled in the UK.

So what new did we see in the first two days of the IPL? One saw the slow bouncer of Angelo Matthews of KKR. In the match against Deccan Chargers he welcomed Hershelle Gibbs with a slow bouncer. Gibbs' greatness was that he saw it all the way and did not premeditate and let it go. When the regular bouncer came Gibbs pulled it away. Lesser batsmen would have remained in a confused state.

Mathews and Mahroof of Sri Lanka are bowlers who innovate and that makes them great competitors. Manoj Prabhakar was that type. India doesn't have one like him though Read more...

Pradeep Vijaykar IPL Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, Hershelle Gibbs, Imran Khan, IPL, Mahroof, Mathews, Sreesanth

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 reported decision by the Deccan Chargers to get Pakistan’s Abdul Razzaq as replacement for an injured player in the third installment of the Indian Premier League would be widely hailed. Commentators, who were distraught when the redoubtable Pakistani players were not picked during the bidding process, would be happy that sanity has prevailed.

However, given the immediate reactions that followed the bidding process about ten days ago, if his selection reports are correct, Razzaq may have to face bouncers far more difficult to dodge than the ones he faces on the playing field. Most of Pakistan saw the move then as an insult to Pakistan, with their government too joining in. It seemed this act was a bigger provocation for stumping relationship between the two nations than anything else over the past several years.

  Scores of commentators on TV and Print in Pakistan, accused India of deliberately humiliating Pakistan (they uniformly dubbed it as a snub to Pakistan and not players from Pakistan) and whipped up emotions among the general public, which, though had its own take. The common man felt it was wrong on their players part, who they worship, to be available as a commodity for Indian money. For them, this aspect was even more humiliating than the fact that they were not picked. They were hurt that money power was more important for them than their nation’s pride.

  My advice to all Pakistani fans would be to be fair to their players. Whether it is Razzaq or Shahid Afridi or Sohail Tanvir, all of who were hoping to be the first choice of franchisees, if they agree to play still, it would be for the love of the game and never for money. Just like the Indian players, Pakistani players know that they have become famous due to the game, and it is only their love for the game that makes them desperate to play, not money.

  In fact, in this regard, players are no different from politicians who want to become ministers of important ministries, not to make money or to enjoy the trappings of power that comes with it, but because they really want to serve the nation .As I had argued in a piece in May last (Only the selfless lobby for ministership), why else would they lobby to head a department or a ministry when in every area the ministries look after, the situation is grave. Any weakling would shy away from such arduous responsibilities, but not these bravehearts, possessed by the desire Read more...

Rajesh Kalra IPL, Pakistan abdul razzaq, Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, IPL, Shahid Afridi

Pakistan are the current T20 world champions. Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Mohammed Aamer, Saeed Ajmal and company played some enthralling cricket to claim the trophy last year. Since then, Pakistan have seen another exciting batsman emerge on the horizon: Umar Akmal. Therefore, it defies logic that nobody wanted to buy the 11 Pakistani players in the IPL 3 auction on Tuesday.
 
What's the reason? Let us go through what has been proffered by the men and women involved with IPL. Some team owners have said that the Pakistani players had a problem of availability during the period. That's nonsense. Unlike the top Aussie players, they are available for the entire duration. In fact, West Indian Kemar Roach, a Deccan Chargers buy, will miss the first two games. That's because the Zimbabwe tour of West Indies gets over on March 14 while IPL 3 begins on March 12.  The second Deccan Chargers game will be held on March 14.
 
Another gentleman was heard mouthing that the Pakistanis were not chosen because this was a short auction. There were too few players to be bought, he said. This logic doesn't hold either. The truth is that the owners spent sums as high as $720,000 and $610,000 for the likes of Parnell and Roach, while ignoring Aamer and Gul. Are we saying that the former two are better bowlers than Aamer (who is also emerging as a handy bat) and Gul? Or that the Pakistanis are not even worth $100,000? And have we forgotten that Afridi was the man of the series in the T20 World Cup 2009.
 
One logic being offered is that franchisees were not keen to have Pakistani players because there is an element of uncertainty involving them. Simply put, the relationship between the two countries is already edgy and could always get worse. In that case, the Pakistani players might go back. So why take the trouble?
 
Even this argument is specious. Sure, nobody would want to invest a huge amount in a 'risky' player. But then isn't investing over $750,000 in Keiron Pollard any less risky? What's the guarantee he will succeed? What about investing $750,000-plus in Bond, once a great bowler, now extremely injury prone. Let us not forget he's currently injured too. Besides, he Read more...

Avijit Ghosh IPL, Pakistan Blogs.CMDN.com, Bond, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, IPL, Keiron Pollard, Kemar Roach, Mohammed Aamer, Pakistan, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, T20, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul

Dan Vettori has seldom spoken a truer couple of sentences than he did this week when looking ahead at how New Zealand will settle on a new national coach.

“We just want to sit back and make sure this process is as thorough as possible. We don’t want to be in a similar situation again,” he said.

As New Zealand Cricket begin the search for a replacement for the departed Andy Moles, the first thing they must do is settle on the type of person they want.

Do they want a hands-on operator, armed with skills to pass on to the players, providing a strong hand on the tiller? Or should he be an organiser, a backroom planner who makes sure everything is running smoothly, using specialist coaches for individual player needs, and take some load off Vettori?

The last two coaches, John Bracewell and Moles, came from opposite ends. Neither appeared an entirely happy fit with the players, for various reasons.

So what to do? Where to look?

There is only one candidate in New Zealand who would be considered, former captain and Indian coach John Wright. He has received less than resounding endorsements from both NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan and Vettori, who have talked of the need to find the right fit for Wright, so to speak.

If he is discounted, then it’s overseas NZC must go, and perhaps to swallow a Read more…

Administrator New Zealand Andy Moles, Blogs.CMDN.com, Bob Woolmer, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Daniel Vettori, Darren Lehmann, Deccan Chargers, Duncan Fletcher, Graham Ford, Greg Shipperd, IPL, John Bracewell, John Wright, Matthew Mott, New Zealand, NZC, Steve Rixon, Tom Moody

AS NSW and Victoria prepare to play in the Champions League first semi-final late tonight, the competition has become a major embarrassment for the billion-dollar Indian Premier League.

None of the teams from the much-hyped, mega-rich IPL have made the semi-finals of the inaugural Champions League, with the Cape Cobras, from Cape Town, and Trinidad and Tobago playing off in the second semi-final tomorrow night.

The IPL had three sides in the 12-team competition, which brought together the best domestic Twenty20 teams from the eight leading cricket nations, playing for $6.6million in prize-money. NSW and Victoria are already guaranteed $550,000 for making the semi-finals and one of the sides will make $1.4m for reaching the final, with $2.6m on offer for winning the tournament.

Prize-money is shared between the players and the state associations. State players who do not have Cricket Australia contracts will make about as much in a fortnight as they would for an entire domestic season - $120,000 - if they claim the title.

NSW and Australia veteran Stuart Clark claimed there was surprise among the Australians that IPL sides had not fared better.

“We expected them to be quite dominant, given we were playing in their conditions and given their IPL experience,” Clark told The Australian.

“The reality is they’ve been outplayed by other teams from around the world. It says what we’ve always believed, that Australian domestic cricket is strong and that’s why the Australian team is strong.”

The tournament was on course for a Victoria-NSW final until the Cape Cobras suffered an upset last-round loss to the Delhi Daredevils in a dead rubber. “It would have been nice if two Australian teams had made the final because it would have been a great showpiece for Australian cricket and how good domestic cricket is in our country,” Clark said.

“Once this game starts, it’s going to be a little bit weird because two Australian Read more…

Administrator Champions League T20 Allan Donald, Australia, Blogs.CMDN.com, Cape Cobras, Cape Town, Champions League, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, IPL, NSW, Royal Challengers, semi-finals, Somerset, South Africa, Stuart Clark, Sussex, T20, Trinidad and Tobago, Victoria prepare

The Champions League Twenty20 began with defeats for each of the IPL sides in their respective opening fixtures. Champagne corks have been unaffected, but we have to admit that we’re pretty pleased.

It’s not that we’ve got a problem with Delhi, Bangalore or Hyderabad. It’s more that we’ve got a problem with GMR Group, United Breweries Group and Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures. Yes, cricket clubs are businesses – non-profitable ones if they’re English counties – but the IPL sides are businesses first and sports clubs second.

So many elements of the IPL teams leave us cold because we can’t see them without being aware of the thinking behind them. The kits are fine (it’s Twenty20 cricket – wear a Cher-style fishnet body stocking if you want), but when we see them we can’t help but see some demographic-citing tool asking: “What colour best represents our brand?”

We can’t even look at the individual players without wondering whether they were the subject of lengthy discussions about how their presence in the side would ‘position the franchise for consumers’.

“How does Andrew Symonds represent the Deccan Chargers ideals and values?” they’d have asked. “Do his qualities fit with our image? What’s our official stance on the shoulder-charging of streakers? Do we have one? Why don’t we have one? Let’s say that we’re pro shoulder-charging streakers so that we can sign Roy.”

But to apply a hackneyed cricketing phrase, the marketing men can only control the controllables. They can and will do everything in their power to ensure that their ‘product’ has the best chance of success, but they can’t directly control what happens on the field. Yet you’d hope Read more…

Administrator Champions League T20 Andrew Symonds, Bangalore, Blogs.CMDN.com, Champions League, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, Delhi, GMR Group, Hyderabad, IPL

I must confess I am enjoying being a little part of a quiet new revolution in world cricket; of being in this wonderful and disarming global village. The Airtel Champions League is an idea that is finding its feet and if you measure its success by the quality of cricket and the opportunity it is giving players who were otherwise confined to narrower worlds, it has already worked. Admittedly there are other tools to measure success and the more crucial ones are whether enough people are coming to the ground or watching at home. You can be sure those issues will be addressed because there are large investments at stake, but purely from a cricketing point of view, I am excited.

There is now life beyond international cricket as we knew it and for that alone we must rejoice. There are few things that stir people’s emotions more than nation versus nation contests, and that will never change, but that is a smaller, more exalted world. Sport, indeed any pursuit in life, must allow as many people as possible to display their ability, to parade their skills and a nation versus nation contest can be restrictive.

It could never, for example, allow you to experience the combination of disbelief and joy that we saw with Alfonso Thomas of Somerset. Not many people knew much about him, we knew that he was a cricketer, no more, but against the Deccan Chargers he kept his cool, took his side home and then produced one of the most wonderfully innocent and unrestrained exhibitions of happiness I have seen. “I can’t believe what I’ve done” he gushed and for that moment alone I thought the Champions League was worth it. There are two ways of globalising a game. One is to allow as many countries as possible to play it and the ICC is, very quietly, doing a very nice job. The other is to allow as many players as possible a stage on which to perform. This is what I hope the Champions League, and in course of time all the feeder tournaments, will do.

Somerset didn’t have as good a game when they played Trinidad and Tobago but I enjoyed that game just as much. Trinidad were better than the West Indies team I have seen in recent times and it showed us that Samuel Badree and Sherwin Ganga, to name just two, can play good cricket. Out of the anonymity, and the mess, that is West Indies cricket, here is a team that can play together and dream of a big prize. Our game will grow and will embrace many Read more…

Administrator Champions League T20 Blogs.CMDN.com, Champions League, Chinnaswamy Stadium, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, economy, franchises, Harsha Bhogle, ICC, investment, Otago Volts, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Samuel Badree, Sherwin Ganga, Somerset, Trinidad and Tobago

Cash-rich IPL sides are struggling to compete with the so-called minnows of the Champions League

The Champions League needed a Super Over as much as an old roué needs Viagra. For almost a week, games not involving the Indian Premier League sides had been played out in front of largely empty stands, curtain-raisers to the main event. It didn’t help that the marquee names – the Royal Challengers, the Delhi Daredevils and the Deccan Chargers – all belly-flopped badly at the first time of asking, beaten by teams operating on a fraction of their budgets.

Like the boy Pepe in the Asterix comics who goes red in the face, the franchise owners sat short of breath in their ivory-tower boxes, contemplating the vast investments that had led to such humiliation. For the neutral who abhors the Real Madrid-Manchester City model and what it has done to sport, those were moments to savour, with the Cape Cobras and Somerset the equivalent of an AEK Athens or Standard Liège.

Tuesday was different. A double-header in Delhi, with not one Indian side in action. Few turned up, but those that did conform to the jaded stereotype about Indians loving the game wouldn’t have gone home disapppointed. First, the Wayamba Elevens, with Kumar Sangakkara trying hard not to be partial in the commentary box, successfully defended 118 against a Victorian Bushrangers side that had routed Delhi. They missed out on the next stage because of net run-rate, but until Andrew McDonald came along and slugged a few down the ground, Victoria had looked alarmingly vulnerable, caught between the quest for victory and the pursuit of 83 that would guarantee a place in the next phase.

With the entire square having been relaid in the summer, this was another slow and low pitch. On such surfaces, no batsman is ever in, no run chase a formality. That was illustrated beautifully in the second game, as the Diamond Eagles went from 70 for 0 at halfway to 115 for 4 with just one ball remaining. The South Africa-asphyxiation headlines were already composed when Ryan McLaren – an exception because of time spent with Kent? – coolly picked up a Yasir Read more…

Administrator Champions League T20 Andrew McDonald, Blogs.CMDN.com, Cape Cobras, Champions League, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, Dwayne Smith, IPL, Luke Wright, Royal Challengers, Ryan McLaren, Somerset, Super Over, Sussex, Victoria, Victorian Bushrangers, Wayamba Elevens, Yasir Arafat

It’s a far cry from Taunton as county side seek solid start in India’s cash-crazy tournament against Chargers today.

The Champions League will turn the world of cricket upside down, so they say, but for Somerset things are already changing.

The West Country side become the first English team to play in this latest Twenty20 competition when they face Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad today and the atmosphere – if predictions of a 40,000 crowd are to be believed – should be somewhat different from that normally experienced at Taunton.

But while big crowds are thrilling (Somerset’s home support has never amounted to more than an fifth of that number, even if they are far from the meekest cricket-watchers on the circuit), the financial rewards on offer in India are rather more arresting. A combined pot of £3.7m means no side will go home unrewarded, but Somerset will have their eyes on the £1.6m winners’ purse. That may be relative peanuts in the world of Premier League football but, given the County Champions receive just £500,000, it is serious cash for the summer game.

Marcus Trescothick, who has travelled to India despite the stress-related illness that curtailed his last overseas tour with England, for the Ashes in 2006-07, will have much to do if Somerset are to succeed. Trescothick’s value to his side was amply illustrated during the Twenty20 Cup Finals day in August, when his 56 from 32 balls blew away Kent in the semi-finals. He showed then what uncommon timing and power he still possesses, but he couldn’t repeat it in the final and Somerset were overwhelmed by Sussex.

Trescothick won the Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Year award on Thursday night in his absence, having arrived in India in the early hours of the morning Read more…

Administrator Champions League T20 Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Bangalore Royal Challengers, Blogs.CMDN.com, Brett Lee, Champions League, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Deccan Chargers, Delhi, Eagles, ECB, Giles Clarke, IPL, Lalit Modi, Marcus Trescothick, Mumbai, Phillip Hughes, Sharks, Simon Katich, Somerset, South Africa, Sussex, Twenty20