Amongst them will possibly be Sourav Ganguly, who hasn’t made a decision yet, if he will keep on playing in the IPL- atleast that is the official line! Ask Sanjay Manjrekar of the situation and he will come out with the famous ‘elephant in the room’ remark of his and as compared to the previous occasion, this time it will be quite apt. Now before all Dada fans start kicking their computer screens, consider the big headache in front of his team owner, or for that matter, any of the eight team owners who have this power of retaining their favourite and/or best players.

A purse of nine million USD to assemble a thirty-man squad for the next two seasons has been afforded to all parties involved. If the eight existing teams do exercise their right of retaining players, then for the first player a fee of 1.8 million will be cut from their purse, irrespective of player fees agreed. The second player will cost 1.3 million, a third 900,000 USD and the fourth 500,000 USD, which is the cap – no team can retain more than four players with a maximum three Indians and two overseas ones. This in turn means if four players are retained by any franchise, they would have to pick the rest of the 26 names with a purse of only 4.5 million will be available to them. Does that sound like good business or good team balance to you?

The Indian Premier League is after all a business and a most result-oriented one that we have seen for sometime in Indian sport. With the kind of money invested in buying the franchises, building teams and a brand name, they would want a good shot at glory – and the prize money – to have a decent return to show for their investment. Spending half your money on just four players isn’t the kind of venturing many would want to indulge in, yet there are names around that seem to be priceless, or there about.

Would Mukesh Ambani not want to retain Sachin Tendulkar for his Mumbai Indians team? Can you even imagine Sachin playing for any other team? Maybe MS Dhoni can be pictured in a different jersey than the canary yellow of Chennai Super Kings. But he is the biggest draw in Indian cricket today, as per the number of ads he is doing, so can India Cements really bear to lose him? There are others in the same mould, without whom their teams might have achieved less in the last three years; Jacques Kallis for Bangalore, Shane Warne for Rajasthan Royals and Virender Sehwag for Delhi, though one has to say they are not as sure-shot deals to go through in comparison to the two names prior.

There are others to consider; Kings XI are in a fix whether or not to sell their franchise, and if not that, then it must be whether or not to retain Yuvraj Singh. While even a blind cricket fan will tell you that VVS Laxman will possibly miss the cut at Deccan Chargers, the likes of Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist haven’t exactly become indispensable either. Of course the less said about Kolkata Knight Riders, the better. Point is retaining a player merits an argument based on either of the three – ability to win matches, brand image and sentimental value. It is indeed tough to find a lot of players – starry ones or otherwise – who would fall in this intersection. But the big question is, even if players fulfil one criterion, is it worth 1.8 million USD and so on?

Records suggest that no player has been consistent across all three seasons of the IPL. Stars ate dust in the first season when youngsters rose to prominence and then the roles were reversed in South Africa in the second season. In 2010, it was a fine balance between the two. About the branding part, there is just so much sponsorship and marketing associated with this game in India and in particular the variety of cricket associated with IPL, that getting new faces to sell everything from apparel to face-creams to motorcycles to pain relievers, won’t be a big problem. The big conundrum is regarding the sentiments of the Indian masses and if history is anything to go by, they should not be messed with.

And therein is the problem for Mr.SRK. Just as Sachin cannot be fathomed playing against Mumbai in Mumbai, can anyone imagine Ganguly turning up against KKR? While the first could happen ideally speaking – although the chances of that transpiring are about as bright as the world ending in 2012 – the second is more likely a possibility. When the Kolkata team owner sits down to evaluate his options, will he go with a near-forty year old who doesn’t play cricket around the year but can fill the Eden Gardens to the brim? If he does so, won’t that entice him to loosen up his purse strings a bit more and keep someone like Chris Gayle or Brendon McCullum as well? How about either of them instead of Ganguly?

The bottom line is not to pick on any one team’s plight, but to highlight the calculations which will keep the franchise honchos awake till the very night before the auction, and quite well, during the bidding process as well. This is where they will earn their pay or lose their jobs, like after the first season – anyone remember the dirty linen washed in public by Vijay Mallya? The new rules have allowed for a lot of permutations and combinations which will shake things up a bit and lead to quite a few interesting battles on the pitch next fall. And that is indeed needed, after the mess one Lalit Modi has left behind!

This article was first published at www.dreamcricket.com.

Openers: Sachin Tendulkar/Jacques Kallis

There can be no doubt about this one. This season will be remembered for the master class batting put up by these two stalwarts of the game as they went head to head in the battle for the Orange Cap. And it was a see-saw battle till the very end. On the one hand there was Jacques Kallis who didn’t look like getting out in the first half of the tournament, while on the other, although Sachin Tendulkar did get out, he would only do that after making a sizeable contribution to his team’s cause. For Kallis, it was a matter of carrying on from last year where he came to grips with this format of the game. For Sachin, it was a matter of simply carrying on what he has been doing this last year – batting beautifully. With 1190 runs scored between them, it is a pity that only one will be going to the West Indies.

Middle Order: Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa

One was sorely tempted to put in the names Paul Collingwood, Mahela Jayawardene and Kevin Pietersen in here, but the rule of only four foreign players in the eleven has to be adhered to. On any other account, these three would have more or less walked into the side for the kind of performances they put up for their franchises – Collingwood held together a struggling middle order for Delhi, it was sad that their top order batsmen couldn’t contribute much. Jayawardene was the only bright spark for the Kings XI Punjab and it was clear that to carry the weight of non-performance by the other ten was a bit too much for him, and Pietersen chipping in with useful runs here and there.

The point with having these young Indian players is that this is the middle order that will be representing India in the near certain future. Raina and Rohit are expected certainties there and with each passing season, any doubts pertaining to that gets reduced. The only fallibility in this plan is Rohit’s mental make-up for it remains to be seen if he can apply himself in equal manner in all formats. Raina has all but taken care of his shortcomings if his handling of the short-ball in the IPL is anything to go by.

In Uthappa’s weird case, it all depends on him alone whether he is there or not. There are names like Manish Pandey and Saurabh Tiwary starting to do the rounds now, and it is indeed a sad story that Uthappa won’t be going to the ICC World T20. But Raina and Rohit are, and if India indeed are to replicate their performance on 2007, much will depend on them.

All-rounder: Kieron Pollard

While there is already one other all-rounder in Jacques Kallis at the top, there could only be place for one more in the eleven. And who better than the most expensive purchase this season. They say that his late coming to the crease was much the reason why the IPL crown went Chennai’s way, missed catches notwithstanding. There is a small measure of truth in that for his ten-ball burst proved as much and if he had stayed for another ten balls, probably the trophy would have stayed put in Mumbai. The fact that he can just come to crease and turn it on, along with his fine bowling and fielding makes one pretty sure that he will probably attract one of the highest bids when the fourth auction takes place later this year with huge new sums of money available to the ten franchises.

Wicket-keeper & Captain: MS Dhoni

There can only be one choice here, now. The kind of methodical cricket that MS Dhoni has put up in this season of the IPL is representative of his growth as a cricketer. Over the last couple of years we have seen him grow from an attacking player to some one who accumulates runs but still has all the shots in the bag. Off late, he has started to bring out those shots more often because any shift in your style of play needs time to get comfortable with. That’s why the big shots went missing last year because the confidence wasn’t just there. Now that everything seems to be working, after a minor blip in fortunes, he is back to what he does best: lead a cricket team to glory.

Bowling Attack: R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Dale Steyn, Doug Bollinger

Irrespective of the kind of track being played upon, two fast bowlers and two spinners ought to be the norm when you can rely upon the likes of Kallis and Pollard for bowling support. R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha have been the frontline spinners this season although one was tempted to slot in Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh or Amit Mishra in place of Kumble. Then it dawned that Bhajji doesn’t have the consistency that Kumble brings in and Mishra lacks the experience. But despite his fighting intensity which he brought again to the fore, it can be seen why the legendary leg-spinner doesn’t play for India anymore.

R Ashwin though is expected to have a steep rise towards India colors. He has the height of Kumble, the flight that Bhajji misses so often and add to that he can bowl the carom ball. The only reason that he hasn’t made the squad for the T20 World Cup is that the team was selected in early March.

Pragyan Ojha is another who will not be representing India in the short term, vis-à-vis the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. It’s a pity really that the leading wicket-taker in a T20 competition will be sitting home rather than bowling his teasing left arm orthodox spin in the West Indies where conditions are expected to be on similar lines. The fact that Ravindra Jadeja – who hasn’t played cricket in eight weeks now – can bat a bit went in his favor seems to show the unilateral thinking of the Indian selectors, for if it comes down to Jadeja’s willow to save the day, then surely India are doomed.

Dale Steyn and Doug Bollinger form the optimum fast bowling pairing of the season. Quite clearly Steyn has worked on his T20 bowling and combined with his lethal self in Test and ODI format, looks set to reign over Zaheer Khan as the premier fast bowlers in the world. It is very much also the reason that Khan is not in this team. Bollinger on the other hand is the single biggest reason why Chennai Super Kings have won the tournament. He came in place of Jacob Oram and the sort of short-term impact he made, it is no surprise that Cricket Australia have rewarded him with a central contract and made him a permanent feature of the side. Suddenly Mitchell Johnson isn’t the best left-arm quickie in Australian cricket anymore.

Note: This article was first published at www.cricketworld.com.

The thinking behind his demotion being that the Mumbai side wanted to have as long a batting order as possible in chasing down the 160-plus target. That explains why Harbhajan and Abhishek Nayar were sent up the order whereas the more solid and destructive batsmen were kept for later. In keeping Pollard waiting was not the mistake but demoting Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu was the one wrong that couldn’t be undone.

You see this team has marched on to the top position in the league thanks largely to the efforts of these two young men. Tiwary has scored 419 runs in 16 games while Rayudu got 356 runs in 14 games. More importantly though, if we compare from the last two seasons we find that the stability these two brought in the middle order was missing earlier. The onus of scoring runs for the previous two seasons lay squarely on Sachin and Sanath Jayasuriya, and the management experimented with a plethora of players – Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Dwayne Smith, Ashwell Prince, Loots Bosman, Mohammad Ashraful, Graham Napier and Luke Ronchi. None of them could do what Tiwary and Rayudu have done this year. They even tried Shikhar Dhawan at one-down last year but he didn’t really excite any one before getting up to the opener’s slot as Jayasuriya began to fade.

It is in their fearless manner that they have provided the solidity to the Mumbai team and that is what was missing during the run-chase in the final. And that is where one also wants to point out where Sachin Tendulkar might have missed a trick to overcome his captaincy ghosts. A cricket writer friend of mine suggested that the reason why Sachin wasn’t as successful as captain is because he didn’t have quality players in the side like his successor Sourav Ganguly did. This is also a thought I have come across quite a lot during the research of my upcoming book on India’s greatest captains.

However true that might be, captaincy is an adventurous art that belies the surety of talent that Sachin Tendulkar possesses. It is the trait of people like Ganguly and MS Dhoni who know they are fallible and keep failure as a viable option. For Sachin that is not the case. It was written large on his face even as he tried hard to get runs with one hand. He orchestrated the batting order without any flexibility of situation which is quite ironical since he first changed the line-up keeping in mind the situation and that is what ultimately cost them the win, and not Pollard coming in late.

Yes, for all his achievements and great plays Sachin once again found out that cricket as a sport can be cruel, but didn’t we know that already?

But whichever way you look at it, the two semi-finals brought with them a few shocking conclusions and the mere thought of it all keeps one busy.

a) First up was the fact that people in Mumbai indeed did come to watch the matches, or for that matter return their tickets in Bangalore. Now the latter may have been inspired for the want of their money back, but the crowd gathering in Mumbai leaves me perplexed. For the last time, match fixing and widespread corruption in cricket was reported in such a grand scale, it took some time for the Indian fans to get back to the stadiums or even switch on their television.

Did the real cricket fan stay away then, and the stadium that was filled up and exhibited with pride by SET MAX full of people who only see the ‘paisa-wasool’ entertainment value in cricket nowadays? No would be the answer, for many I know watched the games with intent. Simply because after all the tomfoolery of the last two weeks thanks be to the heavens for some simple cricket!

b) Lalit Modi should be happy that he has created a league that is not only recession proof but probably also fixing proof. As the IT sleuths raid almost every nook and corner of his empire, he must be regretting using Twitter for his official announcements. Meanwhile it was good to see him subdued on TV for once and not looking like some one who implies ‘I own you just because you tuned in to watch my cricket’. Colorful character he is, kept us entertained for three years. Pity his time is up. We will miss him.

c) Finally for some cricket talk. Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers both had gruesome games and that is the cruelty of knock-out games. The simple reason that these two teams lost out was down to their obsession with their batting starts.

Bangalore experimented again with Rahul Dravid opening with Jacques Kallis. First things first, the semi-final of a high stakes tournament isn’t where you do that. And second, if they just had to experiment, why not send Robin Uthappa up? For a sedate, solid start wasn’t needed chasing 180-plus in front of a hostile Mumbai crowd. Sure, if Kallis gets out, replace him with Dravid by all means. But to get the both of them to open in a bid to keep wickets in hand is just making it difficult for the latter batsmen.

Deccan were bogged down because their top order simply hasn’t fired. They ought to have been happy that they were chasing just 140-odd and therefore could take time getting a start. But Chennai’s bowling has been looking the part over the latter half of the tournament and a slowish start which was rocked by regular loss of wickets meant disaster.

The biggest shocker though was Mumbai Indians winning, for Sachin Tendulkar got only 9 runs. They went on to get 180-plus, and then bowled and fielded as if their backsides were on fire. Rather, it was the presence of ‘Big Boss’ Mukesh Ambani in the house that must have gotten to them. The big question is: can they do it again on Sunday with the probability of Sachin not playing due to injury?

Oh by the way, Bhajji watch out and better perform in the finals. You just don’t go and airlift the richest Indian’s wife without any consequences!

Despite fanatical Kolkata fans desperately hallucinating situations on Monday wherein their team would qualify magically, it was only as late as Sunday that we got to know who the four teams will be. Mumbai Indians were the only ones assured until then. Bangalore Royal Challengers managed to shoot themselves in the foot on Saturday and were dependent on Chennai beating Punjab, and nearly eliminating Kolkata Knight Riders. And then there were Deccan Chargers and Delhi Daredevils – both hell bent on gifting each other the last semi-final spot.

In the end, as it turned out, their shoddy play in their last league match was enough for Bangalore to qualify. Thanks in no less terms to MS Dhoni who realised in the last over at Dharamsala that he could still hit the ball miles. Later Deccan almost committed hara-kiri, setting just 140-odd as target before Delhi beat them to it – the suicide that is.

After all the drama of the last couple of weeks – the on-field one – it is right to say that the four most consistent teams have gotten into the semis, if not the four best on paper. Except for maybe Mumbai Indians whose form has been soaring from day one, the others had it pretty mixed up with Delhi, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders. When the table is bunched up so close, consistency is what matters and the three teams who didn’t make it will agree that is one aspect where they were lacking.

Delhi just couldn’t get a consistent run of form from their top order; Yusuf Pathan was the only threat Rajasthan ever had this season and if he ever becomes consistent, then bowlers may as well collectively retire; and, Kolkata – well what can you say about a side that scores 200 in 20 overs and cannot defend it, that too at a fortress that is the Eden Gardens? Probably that they don’t deserve to be in the semis, just like the Kings XI side who also ‘achieved’ a similar feat.

While these three teams were busy tripping themselves up, Bangalore had the time to sort out their mess in team selection and going forward will realise that playing Kevin Pietersen in the eleven is always going to pay more dividends than one Cameron White, especially when foreign players are at a premium. Deccan Chargers deserve to be in the semis on the back of their five-match winning run alone, while Chennai – although in patches – did manage to find the confidence and form that took them into the last four for the last two years. And here they are again.

The semis can be a lottery though and there have been suggestions that this doesn’t help a side like Mumbai who have done all the hard work over the past two months and could lose it if they have just the one bad day. But then again, hasn’t it been about being consistent enough to not let such days affect you? As aforementioned, the semi-finals’ stage is set.

This article was first published at www.cricketworld.com.

Earlier, Amit Mishra opened the attack and bowled Madhya Pradesh Ranji opener Mohnish Mishra, who came in place of the injured VVS Laxman, with a googly in the fourth ball of the innings. Deccan Chargers skipper Gilchrist (24 off 14 balls) made yet another explosive start. Sarabhjit Ladda, the second leg spinner, got his big wicket. Herschelle Gibbs hit a 26-ball 31 but his innings was cut short thanks to a fine catch all rounder Moises Henriques, who came in place of out-of-form TM Dilshan. The aggressive Symonds was also out to Henriques and Deccan Charges were reduced to 103/4. However, Rohit Sharma and T Suman were associated in a 60-run stand for the fifth wicket. Sharma played a hard-hitting and fast-paced innings for his 30-ball 45 while Suman stayed till the end to score another useful 19-ball 29 as the Deccan Chargers put up a competitive 171/6.

The Chargers captured the big scalp of Virender Sehwag in the fourth over and he only made a seven-ball three, caught by Herschelle Gibbs off Pragyan Ojha. David Warner smashed a 33-ball 57 before he was run out by a throw from short fine leg by RP Singh while AB de Villiers missed a full toss to be bowled by Rahul Sharma for 27. Deccan Chargers bounced back into the match by taking the wickets of Mithun Manhas and Moises Henriques. Dinesh Karthik kept Delhi Daredevils’ hopes alive with a 27-ball 46 (4×4, 2×6) but Andrew Symonds swung the match in Deccan Chargers’s favour by taking the wickets of Karthik and Amit Mishra off successive deliveries. Vaas bowled a great last over to seal the win for the Deccan Chargers.

Match report courtesy Adfactors PR.

Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist slammed a 12-ball 33 hitting two sixes off Sreesanth 51 runs today. But Gilchrist’s innings was cut short when he top edged left-arm seamer Shalabh Srivastava and was caught at short mid-wicket by Jayawardene. Deccan Chargers suffered a setback when VVS Laxman got injured in a strange circumstance when Srivastava threw the ball wildly from mid-on that got Laxman’s forearm. The batsman had to retire hurt for 10.  Although Rohit Sharma (run out) and left-hander Anirudh Singh were out cheaply, Herschelle Gibbs made a 23-ball 23, Andrew Symonds struck his second successive half century (38-ball 53) and T Suman played a cameo knock of 26 (22 balls) as Decccan Chargers reached 170/7.

Kings XI Punjab were off to a disastrous start as purple cap holder left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas swung the ball late and captured two top order wickets (Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh) as MS Bisla was run out to have Punjab reeling at 22 for 3 in the fifth over. Ravi Bopara, Kings XI Punjab’s main run-getter, could score only a 32-ball 38 before he was caught in the deep of off-spinnner Rohit Sharma. West Indian opener Adrian Barath, on his IPL debut, made only seven before falling to local hero Pragyan Ojha. However, it was left-hander Irfan Pathan (60 off 29 balls) who fought a lonely battle to create some element of hope for the Kings XI Punjab with his lusty hitting. Pathan took the match to the last over. But his fine rearguard innings ended when the surprise last over choice bowler Jaskaran Singh had him caught at deep mid-wicket. The twentieth over that Jaskaran bowled was incidentally his first of the game.

Kings XI Punjab have so far lost all their first three matches while Deccan Chargers have finally notched a home victory in three seasons of IPL.

Match report courtesy Adfactors PR.

Nevertheless I did find one at 8 pm sharp, the same time the first ball was bowled. From then on it was a matter of walking the distance of three-and-a-half kilometers in the swarm of fans looking for tickets, clueless policemen and chaotic traffic. By the time I stumbled into the box, Sanath Jayasuriya was out and Sachin Tendulkar had already made half of his 63 runs. Nevertheless it was a pleasure watching from then on.

The first thing I looked out for was the pitch. Kotla’s reputation in that regard has taken a hit. Personally I want the square to be well maintained and the ODI World Cup matches to be held here for a visit to the press-box next year would be even more of a topic to write upon. Any negative thoughts I had about that happening were quickly allayed as Saurabh Tiwary launched into the Delhi bowling.

It is utterly ridiculous when a team racks up 200 runs in T20 cricket two matches running and that too without Sanath Jayasuriya firing. One is not sure how many of the six remaining attacks would want to bowl at them now, least of all Kings XI and Rajasthan Royals. Let’s face it – the former have already been squished by Bangalore Royal Challengers and if they suffer once more like that, Preity Zinta will go mad. And with the current form that Rajasthan are showing, three losses in three matches at the time of writing, Shilpa Shetty surely doesn’t need another reason to go crazy.

The only Bollywood star screaming out his lungs at the moment must be Shah Rukh Khan. Kolkata Knight Riders have made a start that stands them better than the last two years and there is reason for optimism for Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum haven’t faced a ball yet. For them, it can only get better from here.

Openers Manvinder Bisla and Ravi Bopara put on a 129-run opening stand for the Kings XI Punjab in 14.1 overs, which helped the post an imposing 203/3 in 20 overs. Bisla batted aggressively for his 51-ball 75 (7×4, 1×6), before he was finally in the deep off Kallis.  Bopara too batted confidently to record his second successive 50 in the tournament. He played some audacious shots in his 50-ball 77 (9×4, 2×6) and was dismissed only in the last over.  Left-hander Yuvraj Singh was sent back cheaply for 9 while Mahela Jayawardene was brilliant in the end, scoring a 13-ball 26.

Man-of-the-match Kallis and Manish Pandey (38 off 26 balls) gave the Royal Challengers Bangalore a solid start, sharing a 74 run opening partnership in 8.1 overs. The dominant Robin Uthappa was later severe on medium-pacer Sreesanth taking 25 runs with three sixes and one four racing to his 50. Uthappa though fell soon after with debutant left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma taking his prized wicket. Kallis and Uthappa had by then added 69 runs for the second wicket. But thereafter Kallis went on a rampage in Sharma’s third over. He struck three sixes and one four as the inexperienced bowler went for 23 runs in the crucial 18^th over.

Uthappa missed the distinction of hitting the fastest half-century by two balls which is still in the name of Adam Gilchrist of Deccan Chargers (50 off 17 balls). Incidentally this was Bangalore Royal Challengers’ first win, while the Kings XI Punjab are now staring down the barrel after their second successive loss in two matches.

Match report courtesy Adfactors PR.

The other day on Twitter I came across the channel’s marketing VP’s (don’t remember her name!) tweet that they had a surprise in their line-up. I thought Mandira Bedi was going back to wearing sarees – with noodle straps of course. But now that it has come to light, no one can trump up our Member of Parliament Mr. Siddhu. The hosts on MAX should ask Siddhu his views on the Women’s Reservation Bill as well, while they are at it!

Lalit Modi’s ceremonial opening day speech rested on the banal and frankly does anyone care? By the time he stopped talking, everyone I know wanted to see the action unfold. And when it did, I thought Adam Gilchrist made a blunder not batting first. It is all very fine knowing what target to chase but this is the first day of the tournament and you are the champions. Dude, make a statement! After all they were up against last year’s hapless side – Kolkata Knight Riders.

It so happened that the statement came from the Shah Rukh Khan camp. Rather one should call it the ‘Sourav Ganguly camp’. The match see-sawed for the first thirty overs and both teams looked like wanting to gift the other a win. But when it came down to the last ten overs, suddenly Ganguly was seen frantically making changes, bowling and fielding ones, and they brought him results. You could see he was pumped up and had decided late that he wanted the win, badly.

Probably that was the difference between the two sides today and that can happen when one of the teams has had a previously bad enough season. This opening match takes me to last year’s opening game where Bangalore Royal Challengers beat 2008 champions Rajasthan Royals. Bangalore came through thanks to Anil Kumble’s intensity who picked up five wickets in that T20 game, yes! When you see guys like Kumble and Ganguly perform with their fire of old despite having retired from the international game, then you know watching the travesty that is IPL has turned out to be productive.

On a different note, I experienced my first on-air “cricket expert gig” with Radio One 94.3 today (12th March). It felt good to be talking cricket when you know more than one person might be listening in. The hilariously good part was the alias assigned to me, Dr. IPL! The bad part I would say was that the bites were too small, four of them stretched not more than two to three minutes each spread across one hour of programming. I would have loved to keep talking cricket incessantly but it is a music channel first and foremost. The best part is there are 45 more days to go yet!