6 and 20 thoughts on the IPL T20

The thing with such a format is that the business end is over in an action filled blur - one has to think really hard to find moments that linger.

As such the organisers have not learnt from the 2007 world cup T20 where 'less was more'. Meanwhile Lord Lalit has threatened to inflict two IPLs in a year upon us. In addition to the Champions League and the ICC World T20 once in two years. The shark has tasted blood.

Atlas

AKA Anil Kumble. I know, I know. This is cliched, but it suits the man to a T. While Saurav sulked, VVS faded, Dravid was off and on after a bright start and Sachin chewed nails, tough as nails Anil backed his strength and showed the youngsters the way. Making Jacques Kallis, Ross Taylor and Boucher find their groove after indifferent starts, while Manish Pandey stepped up and Vinay Kumar punched well above his weight (while staying under the radar of wheezing Kiwi commentators). In BRC's last five matches Anil bowled 4 spells of an over each. Opposition off to a start, runs leaking, need wickets - look for him. Certain things never change, even after 17 years. If only Dravid had got a 50 and took them home...both of them could have shown their beer swigging owner his place.

Lasting images – The Finals - celebrations after getting Gilchrist for a duck and giving a mouthful to Robin Uthappa for yet another (failed) paddle shot in the last over.

Bullying

Is what Matt Hayden does well and he was at his bulldozing best in the league phase. Freed of pressures of retaining his Test spot, Hayden batted of vintage 2001 and world cup 2007. Chennai has adopted him as one of their own and the rumour in government circles is that Karunanidhi may honour him with a 'Kalaimaamani' and a plot of land in the suburbs. Lead CSK to the title next year and the granite relief on Beach Road next to greats of the Tamil pantheon may be him.

Lasting image - moving inside the line and a one handed swipe for six over long leg off the bowling of you know who...

Clowns

What is a carnival without one (or more) of them? If the IPL was a carnival, Messrs Shastri/Raja/LS/Morrison/Coney were the clowns. Singing Modi's praises whenever he was shown on the screen (with a phone on a ear and a blackberry on another), which was about a dozen times per over, hawking the IPL 20/20 Magazine (it is a good read, it has good articles and good photographs they informed us unfailingly), added theatrical whispers a few yards from dugouts and generally made us understand the value of mute buttons.

Honourable exceptions - SMG who, for once, shelved his parochialism, Harsha Bhogle - as good as ever, Kepler Wessels - no frills no nonsense, like his batting. Morrison was ridiculous, but took Shastri's and Rameez's personal jibes with a cool smile. Rameez took the cake. The batting team required 4 runs to win from 5 balls. Rameez revealed "Its easy. Just 4.8 Runs Per Over needed now." Subcontinentals and Asiatics were always good at math, but this was between WOW and WTH.

Memorable moment - Highlights of Gilchrist 85 in SF1 being shown. Harsha Bhogle says " Let me just keep quiet here". C could be Class too.

Donkey Drops

Is what Yuvraj bowls. Minimum turn, slanting in, at the pads, doesn't show much enthusiasm while doing it, quick to glare at his fielders. Does that remind us of Harbhajan - indeed Bhajji is a right handed Yuvraj minus batting, fielding and of course the hat-tricks.

Extras

Not the wide and no-ball kind, but of the Bollywood kind. Only, one was Australia's best fast bowler of all time, another was South Africa's leading fast bowler sometime back and the third was captaining England not too long ago. They came, sat on the sidelines, gave polite TV interviews about great atmosphere in the dressing room and did little else. Not suggesting that it was ever their fault. But the men who led them needed to think long and hard. Incidentally, their teams failed at the penultimate hurdle.

Fake IPL Blogger

Hundreds of comments and thousands of followers. Doubt if writings of Jefferson/ Voltaire/ Gandhi/ Mandela had apostles of such unwavering zeal. I read (and re-read) each one of his posts. Losing his nerve, this pseudo player (who looks like a mix of Rohan Gavaskar, Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Bose) reneged on his promise to his fans.

Everlasting contribution to humanity comparable with Penicillin and Pasteurization - Nicknaming Sreesanth.

Game-breaker

12 per over in the last 5? Enter Yusuf Pathan. Predictable shots and predictable results. What was amazing was the sucess rate and the apparent ability to clear the field at will. Raw talent. Credit to his captain for using him well in the early stages of the tournament, like a Kamikaze pilot in neck or nothing situations. Hope Team India could use him in the same way in the ICC World T20. Imran did it with Inzamam in WC '92 using him for a burst of quick runs over a short span of overs, as opposed to sustained big hitting.

High Catches

If Cricinfo keeps the stats of catches that were put down in the tournament, I would want to see how many of them were steeplers. High altitude, they said. Rarer air and different momentum they expounded. Now, if only the pundits told us (and the hapless fielders) how to counter this...

IPL

Indian, (trans)Indian Ocean, Indi-pop, Invade, Infest, Infect, Irk, Irritate, Intimidate, Insufferable, Intolerable, Impudent, Ignoble, Importune, Invidious - all right, all right, I admit I opened thesaurus.com for the last three.

Joker in the pack

Jacob Oram would have looked more at home at a benefit match with Madan Lal, Kirti Azad and Roger Binny. Enjoyed a wonderful paid holiday in South Africa and failed to justify his billing and continued presence in the playing 11.

KKR!!!

Cyber-coach derailed their campaign even before it could start chugging. Then the badshah fled abandoning his 'happy family' . Bengal Tiger wore a perennial 'I told you so' expression, forgetting perhaps, last year's result (6th out of 8 teams) and generally managed to shock themselves everytime they stepped out - their wins against last years finalists, included. Gladiator helmets, Team Songs, Golden Pads and Designer outfits. If only they could pay some attention to the cricket...

Lalit Modi

Who else? Smiling benignly at lesser mortals, signing autographs for the ardent, thanking President Jacob Zuma (and his own wife and children in the same breath), with all the humility of a Churchill addressing the House of Commons after victory, with the finesse and tact of Karan Thapar, chorusing with Eddy Grant and Shiamak Davar (why him for such an iconic song) for Gimme Hope Joanna - a man of very obvious talents. He has also deigned to give an interview for the IPL 20/20 Magazine. (The same one which is a good read, with good articles and good photographs) Oh! How I would like to part with my money to grab a copy and read what he has to say. In fact I would kill to get hold of one...

He reserved his best for the last. After witnessing an absorbing finale, viewers all eager to listen to the players in their moment of triumph and defeat, were made to wait for an hour, forced to watch a show ( not talking about the merits of which here), not to forget the heroes of the event, themselves shunted to the sidelines. Man, you got to hand it to Lord Lalit. I doff my hat to him.

Honest feeling – the game would be better off when such types stay in their limits.

Moaner

Two bowlers. One of them is Planet Earth's top wicket taker and another is South Africa's second highest wicket taker in Test history. Between them they shared enough wickets to bowl out a Test side 60 times over. Captain Marvel keeps one of them on the bench for 15 matches in a row and berates his teams bowlers without fail at every opportunity. Man to man Shane Warne has the weakest team, Sachin has the biggest underperformers, McCullum this year and Gilchrist (and VVS) last year kept their chin up after every defeat - yet they did not complain or cry foul. Gilchrist won the (ugly) trophy with a RP and Ojha (certainly no Murali and Ntini) Get a life, jerk!!! You may win a world cup or three. But hell, you can never be a true leader like Saurav.

He is not done yet. Promoting himself ahead better people, he makes 28 runs (no fours and sixes) using up exactly 25% of his team's available overs. Had Dravid or Ganguly done that, they would have been flayed/ crucifed/ quartered/ garroted on the spot by the experts. M is also for Manipulative Misguiding Media Men.

Ness, Priety and their little Nest

Hard to fault them, the poor dears.They spent big money all right. Got the team they wanted. T20 king Yuvraj, classy Lankan duo, the won and wonlee Brett Lee, nerveless finisher with bat and ball Irfan, Sreesanth, Chawla, Powar, VRV - all India internationals. Strong Aussie group, super coach Moody.They thumped all comers last year came unstuck at the first do or die encounter. Overcoming another bad start they won a few close matches but failed to seize their moments and lost their nerve when it mattered. Dhoni and Murali sensed the fear and moved in for the kill. After 2 seasons the score is Dhoni 5 Yuvraj 0. What could Ness & Co possibly do? Cheerleaders from Rio perhaps???

Organisers

Beauty contests without one coloured participant out of 50, treating South Africa and its people in the way US would treat Congo/Surinam/Western Samoa under the garb of 'giving back'. The game itself was an afterthought for these plunderers. There were reports of how they literally invaded the offices and premises of South African domestic cricket establishements like Natal and Western Province.

Ole!!! the unfailing roar of the crowd every time the bugle sounded. To survive this Indian rampage and still find motivation to pay and turn up match after match, salute the South African public. True sport lovers and true sports.

Pest

Sivamani

Quest for redemption...

DC's finally ended last Sunday. A team finishing last and winning only 2 out of 14 (that is one less than even KKR's tally this year folks) should win the (ugly) trophy this year. Not many changes in personnel, except that they didnt hesitate to bench non-performers (Read- No room for the likes of Arjun Yadav). Afridi's non availability was a blessing in disguise, as was Symond's return for the business end. All said and done, they did not blast the opposition out of the place , except for Gilly in the semi-final. Most of their important wins were hard fought, scrappy affairs. Goes to show that they were NOT head and shoulders above competitors and perhaps a middling team.

Memorable moments

1. Gilchrist smiling, clapping and encouraging Harmeet after the bowler concedes 10 runs from his first few balls. We know what Harmeet went on to do.

2. Gilchrist acknowledging Kumble /BRC and also thanking Hyderabad fans , hugging sundry DC officals during the victory lap.

He may have written about Sachin in a poor light, he may walk only when he suits him, but he is the biggest matchwinner of our times. Go well Gilly.

Rohit & Raina

Raina & Rohit. A few years back some of us thought Kaif & Yuvraj could be the next Dravid & Ganguly. We have gotten no closer to finding people of similar class and ability who can serve Indian cricket similarly for a similar tenure. Bat them at 3 and 4 for 25 ODI's at a stretch and come to a judgement. Dhoni must be told to put 'flexibility' in the trash bin and bat no higher than No.6 in any form of cricket. I am willing to wager that these two will come good. Tests, well, there is hope.

Different styles. Rohit seems to have that extra moment for everything. Defensive shots are soft touches as opposed to hurried jabs. Raina uses his reach and pivots on a firm base for big hits on the on side. Plenty of loose ends in the latter's game (a bit of a flat track bully), while Rohit's bane has been lack of concentration. If only they had come through in Saurav's time...

Sachin

Hard to see him returning next year. The Icon thingie hangs like a millstone around his neck. Much like it did with Dravid. Taking defeats too personally, following results with batting order changes, and perhaps being too nice with his local bunch of Rahanes, Rajes and Kulkarni's. Zaheer's injury came at an inopportune time, but by then they had started their campaign well. Since SRT can do no wrong, lets call Shaun Pollock names for shunting JP Duminy up and down. He was all grace in defeat though, unlike some of the poster-boys. His unquestioned acceptance of Harbhajan irks me though...(I am biased here, but what the hell, its my blog)

Test Cricket

Can't wait for it to begin

Teja - Dwaraka Ravi Teja. Not a performance to shout from rooftops. I dont know/care how many runs he made. From his batting I can see that he is a supple and athletic individual with quick hands. One runout against the Rajasthan Royals stood out. The ball was played in front of point into the gap and the batsmen set off immediately. With one fluid movement, Teja ran, gathered wound up and caught the stumps at the bowlers end in the top 1/3rd. All sleekness and feline grace. To stand out in a team that fields Gibbs, Symonds and Rohit...that is something in itself.

Umpires

They went largely unnoticed, except for a handful of decisions. Well done, gentlemen. Some were a little harsh on the wide calls, but never mind, bowlers, like the dancing girls are meant to entertain. The 60 yard ropes are the main course. Did Bucknor retiring have something to do with the lack of glaring errors.

VIPs

With all those mandarins hogging the stage, Adam Gilchrist skirted the perimeter, Rohit and RP looked dazzled by the glittering eminence on view. Only Kumble looked at ease in the intense glare.

Walking Wickets (except for a game maybe)

Jesse Ryder Parthiv Patel Swapnil Asnodkar Sunny Sohal Graeme Smith  Viru Sehwag Gautham Gambhir Robin Uthappa, take a bow gentlemen.

X-Factor

That xtra something to make things happen, just by striding out into a situation or taking the ball in hand or sometimes a stunning catch out of nowhere.Step up Anil Kumble, Suresh Raina. Andrew Symonds, Yuvraj Singh and Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Tillekeratne Dilshan

Youngsters

There were a few who impressed.Pragyan Ojha - Many were convinced that he slimed to the Indian team courtesy a selector, but he has proved himself in the few international opportunities he got. Fielding needs improvement. Here he took the burden of being the lead spinner very well and got a number of crucial wickets.Manish Pandey - In a tournament full of superstars, the least known kid walked away with two of the best knocks played one of them the highest score for the year. 

He stays still, doesn't commit himself on either foot and delays the shot by a moment. Well placed twos stood out in his hundred apart from the classy shots. His square driving in the semi final stopped CSK in their tracks.Among others, Sudip Tyagi, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane had impressed. As had Ravindra Jadeja,  Amit Singh and Vinay Kumar. 

Zuma

The newly elected president thanked Modi, thanked Shakrook Khan, Preity Zinta and engaged in keen conversation with Shilpa Shetty. Ah!The duties of a host...