Sports

The roller coaster ride continues

Talking IPL with Fowzi Kandrikar

It was a week where Mumbai stamped their class, Delhi Daredevils resurged into contention, Bangalore Royal Challengers just managed to hold their position, and Chennai Superkings kept their hopes alive along with the Knight Riders from Kolkatta. While Decan Chargers did their cause no good by failing to chase down the Knight Riders target, Punjab Kings XI are tightening their grip over the dreaded wooden spoon. It is confounding that a team with such talent as Kings XI finds itself at the bottom of the table standings at the mid-way stage, and as is the wont in such cases, further misery comes in the form of media reports of in-fighting within the team and Yuvraj Singh’s desire to leave the franchise. It doesn’t even end there.


Stump Vision: IPL fever spilling onto the beaches of chennai

With continued slow over-rates plaguing the IPL, Kumar Sangakkara became the first victim of a one-match ban, that made Mahela Jayawardene lead the Kings XI bravely against the dominant Mumbai Indians, and in fine spirit, unfortunately finishing up, once again, at the losing end. Murali has sat at the top of the pile as the purple cap holder, after taking over from Chaminda Vaas, with 11 wickets and among the best economy rates of 6.16 in the tournament – a saving grace for an otherwise lackluster bowling performance for Dhoni’s Superkings.

Jayasuriya and Dilshan have not been in the line-ups for their respective franchises, after having failed in the early opportunities given. A super century by David Warner for Delhi, along with some spectacular fielding and catching, has made it more difficult for Dilshan to make it back in the playing eleven. Lasith Malinga is proving to be the most potent and effective weapon of the IPL, currently placed third, with the ability to turn the match on its head, while Angelo Mathews performance has been much like that of his team, up and down. The good news is that Sangakkara seems to be working himself back to some kind of form, with a well-made 45 in Saturday’s match against Bangalore. And Maharoof had a particularly good game against the Rajasthan Royals, striking a double blow in the first over, towards a winning cause.

Captains are being heavily fined but finding it difficult to maintain over-rates, leading Gautam Gambhir to opine that setting fields in the first 6 overs and the last 4-5 overs is time consuming, needing constant review, given the dynamic nature of the game. This is well true where the game has seen to change in a matter of few balls, and repeatedly. Tendulkar for Mumbai Indians, Gambhir for Delhi Daredevils and Sangakkara for Punjab Kings XI were fined $20,000 each on 13th March for slow over-rates. Kings XI was fined again, in their match against Rajasthan Royals. A third offence by Kings XI against Kolkatta Knight Riders earned Sangakkara a $50,000 fine, plus a one-match ban and an additional $20,000 fine for each player. Mumbai Indians were fined for a second time against Kings XI, and Tendulkar is in danger of sitting out a match, if there is another offence from them.

Further offences have come from Harbhajan Singh for his repetitive swearing against T Suman in Mumbai’s match against Deccan Chargers, and was thus fined $15,000, while Gambhir was reprimanded for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct for public criticism or inappropriate comment, in their post match conference for commenting on the other Rajasthan Royals players, while praising Yusuf Pathan.

The teams have all been strengthened with the arrival of more overseas players. Bangalore with Kevin Peiterson, Cameroon White and Ross Taylor, Chennai with Doug Bollinger and Mike Hussey, Rajasthan with Shane Watson, Delhi with Daniel Vettori, Kolkatta with Brendon McCullum, all leading to a happy situation of a problem of plenty. Most of these players should find their way into the sides almost immediately, given the firepower they will bring.


Young fans at the stadium with the outset of summer vacations

This should also add to the list of top performers of IPL 3, which has so long been dominated by the likes of Yusuf Pathan, Tendulkar, Kallis, Symonds and Ghilchrist. Teams like Chennai, who have been very badly missing the all-round services of Andrew Flintoff through injury, will greatly welcome these players, given their weakness in bowling and in the middle order.

To bring more clarity to the re-auctions planned after Champions T20 event to be held in September this year, while the franchises can retain upto 4 Indian players and 3 overseas ones, the interesting aspect is that even if the franchisee wishes to retain a particular player, it is not binding on the player itself, and he is at liberty to be placed in the auction if he wishes. This should open an interesting Pandora’s box, where some of the big names may be tempted to move, either for commercial reasons or dissatisfaction with their current franchisee. Each team will have up to $7 million to spend on players, up from $5 million in the first auction.

Given the situation and the lack of certainty that any of the big names will indeed be available, there are talks doing the rounds that the new franchisees like Kochi are eyeing players such as Brian Lara, Lance Klusener and Michael Clarke while Sahara, the Pune franchisee, is apparently stressing home the point to the BCCI that some of the iconic players need to be released to bring more balance to the new franchises, and improve their marketability.

Summer holidays are in and this has added to the excitement of the IPL, with a large number of young fans flooding the stadia. Cricket is now everywhere in India, from the streets to the beaches to any open space available. With IPL already on the cinema screens, it has further been announced that the semi-finals, the play offs for the third place and the finals will now be shown in 3D in certain select cinemas – another new experience to look out for.

And for those in Sri Lanka, who do want to watch the IPL teams in live action, without traveling to India, they could well be in a stadium near you soon enough, with the franchises planning to play exhibitions outside of India. And so the IPL bandwagon rolls on, now in its fourth week, amongst the swinging fortunes of the teams, scintillating performances and heart-breaking disappointments with promises of more to come.

 
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