There are 2 points that I want to make in this article .

London and Las Vegas seldom match . In Cricket , as in any other sport , gameplan and tactics are inherent but there should be a master plan to any tactics. Otherwise it is not risk-taking, but gambling.

Its a fashion in Indian cricket following, we have to have somebody to criticise and hang to the sword. In ODIs till this day it were Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag and Dravid, Ganguly in past. Kumble, Fab Four in Tests adding Kumble. So in T20s it has to be the captain.
During the IPL and today in the warmup match against New Zealand, we saw M S Dhoni promote himself up the order to No. 3. His record has been inconsistent. Sometimes it has worked and at other times, like today, it hasn’t. This has happened quite a few times that I get a feeling that Dhoni is being too clever instead of thinking strategically and long-term. A loss in inconsequential warm up game to T20 world cup ended the honeymoon for MS. A man who before IPL could do nothing wrong, now stands in a witness box to answer the critics why he promoted himself to # 3. Man to man basis, he is a better batsman than the regular # 3 in T20s -- Raina boy. So what if he had been failure yesterday? All this talk wouldnt have arose if he had scored runs and hadnt got out to the awkward stumping to Vettori boy and McCullum uncle.

Basically, the problem with Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s tactics on a given day is not whether it succeeds or fails on that given day. Every tactic is a risk. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes, winning can be “in spite of” something rather than “because of” something.
Here are the questions that we should ask about Dhoni’s promoting himself to #3:

1. What was Dhoni’s intention for promoting himself? He came in at 42/1 after 5 overs with India chasing 170. India was not in any particular difficulty as they were up with the required run rate. Did Dhoni come as a pinch-hitter or did he come to shepherd the team to victory?
2. If he did come to play an anchor role, why could that role not be performed by Raina, Jadeja, or Yuvraj? Shouldn’t Dhoni’s role as captain be to empower his teammates instead of trying to spoon-feed them and corner all the glory?
3. The way Dhoni played (6 off 4, a boundary off the second ball) meant that he came in to attack the bowling (although that may seem redundant in Twenty20). If so, why do so with India well-placed? Secondly, why not send someone expendable like Harbhajan Singh who can hit a few?
4. Is Dhoni always going to come in at #3? Or is he going to keep everyone guessing when he is going to come in?

I am not against Dhoni batting at any position permanently. I am not even against him for changing the batting order as needed. What I am against is changing it in an ad-hoc fashion with no rhyme or reason.

This is what the random shuffling does to the Indian team. It sends a message to the team members that they cannot adjust to the different conditions on the field as needed. It lowers their confidence and destroys their sense of responsibility because why should they worry about leading the team to victory if Captain Dhoni can step in? When the match situation is ambiguous, the batsmen may be confused what to do. The next time India is 40/1, should they slog or milk the bowling? If Dhoni doesn’t promote himself then and the team loses, would that be a mistake?

The real time for tinkering with convention is when the status quo is risky. Remember the World Cup T20 semifinal match against Australia two years ago. Dhoni decided to bowl out his more experienced bowlers and let Joginder Sharma bowl the last over. Hayden was blazing away and had to be stopped. To stick to the bowling order would have been crazy and Dhoni rightly shuffled his bowlers to perfection. In contrast, what he is doing now with the batting order is silly and superfluous.
Lets look up to the match with Pakistan tomorrow and see how these points are taken care

Dhoni says “…. we witnessed some of the worst bowling in the IPL..”as the Super Kings lost to the Knight Riders. Infact Kolkata actually won! McCullum fired 12 games too late, he certainly salvaged some pride for his team. Dhoni’s outburst was probably targeted at Balaji and to some extent at Morkel. They actually did bowl leaving their brains in warmer conditions, bowled and fielded with cold hearts and hands, no desire to win. I still wouldn’t panic though, CSK is more than likely through to the semi-finals. This game, however, showed the sharp contrasts in talent and intelligence that captures this side. Dhoni’s presence of mind in standing ground to ensure he retained strike after Raina was caught, his moving to the outfield to lend some speed to the fielding unit, Murali’s brilliant spell and Raina amazing batting were examples of sheer brilliance. Badrinath’s poor fielding, Balaji’s stroll in the park (Morrison’s calls this village cricket), Jacob Oram’s clueless presence on the field were the contrasts.
Dhoni calls his a safe side without any exceptional talent. He is probably true. They are batting heavy and miss a strike bowler to support Murali. They should seriously consider looking out for some pacemen for IPL 3 and onward. I also feel that they still do not have the right team on the field. They should consider playing Ntini instead of Oram in the next game, bring in Gony for Balaji and bring Vijay back for Parthiv Patel. It will take a herculean effort for Chennai to outplay the Daredevils to contemplate winning IPL 2.
Lost favorites , Mumbai Indians, were quite disappointing towards then end. They blew several opportunities to move to the next stage of the tournament, thanks to inexperience, some strange captaincy, and constant changes to the team. They did miss Zaheer Khan sorely in the final games and Jayasurya hasn’t fired at all in the tournament. They should consider trying to acquire Rohit Sharma, somehow, and strengthen their middle order. This would allow Tendulkar to go back to the top of the order, reduce the dependence on Duminy and Nayar, and bring an added spinning option.
At the end of it all, three of 4 teams from IPL-1 should make it through to this year’s semi-finals also. Deccan Chargers seem most likely to replace the Royals as the 4th team. It should be an interesting finale to the IPL-2.

Think about it .. there has been so much in so little a time that the mind at times takes a sigh . Multi captain theory ,Dada – no dada , Fake IPL player , security concerns moving making IPL Internatinal Premier League,Strategic breaks , Million dollar english sand babies flopping . first ball goldern ducks , beer sipping fielders and McGrath sitting out . Fixing scandals and Miandad’s “joke” All this and more makes me think if it is a “league”

The Indian Premier League 2009 was in troubled waters even before its start, when the Government of India had refused to provide security to the extravagant tournament due to its clash of dates with the General Elections.

There was anger all over with rumours about the second edition being scrapped due to security issues. But before something unfortunate happened, Cricket South Africa came to the rescue of the tournament and its fans. Political parties making hay terming it as a “national shame ”. However the first edition was a winner hands down! It had the perfect start with a mammoth 158 flowing out of Brendon McCullum’s bat in the very first match. And there was a dream ending too – a mighty close encounter between eventual champions Rajasthan Royals and MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings. No one, in their wildest dreams would have thought that the de-glam squad of Rajasthan would lay their hands on the gorgeous trophy.

Things haven’t changed much even now in the sense that there still prevails uncertainty in the extravagantly lucrative tournament. The 2009 edition has been full of surprises so far and there have been incidents that have left a bitter taste in the mouth of fans forcing them to draw comparisons with IPL 2008. Let us have a look at a few mis-hits of the second edition.

Kolkata Flight Riders


No one expected Kolkata Knight Riders to take the exit route even before half the number of games in the competition was played. No ‘build up’ to the series, no PR activities, no advertisements and no star power worked. No one Korbo-ed anything, so the lorbo and jeetbo part remained out of the question, completely. And yes, the over hyped ‘Multiple Captains Theory’ did not work, or better, was a blunder.

Depriving Ganguly of captaincy, calling in Sanjay Bangar and keeping the expensive Mashrafe bin Mortaza to warm the benches in the cool Kingsmead were only a couple of the innumerable mistakes that the SRK owned team committed. Keeping one of the most successful captains of international cricket away from the helm of all action is something that no management in proper mental sanity would do. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan had once said on national television that Sourav Ganguly would remain the captain till the time he owns KKR. Talk about a change of heart…Bollywood style!!


Strategic Time-Out


This one is a complete torture, honestly. Seven and a half minutes of stoppage time after 10 overs in every innings takes away the seriousness and the set mood of the viewers. Such a long break in a micro format is absolutely not required. It is not good for the spectators and not even for the players. It has already received flak from all corners of the cricketing fraternity and the irritation is spreading big time amongst its audience.

The strategy break might work in favour of either team in the match. The break gives both the teams to analyze their progress in the match and change their approach if required. The gap breaks the concentration of the batsman and as we have seen, in almost every match, there has been a wicket or two falling in the 11th over of the game. The strategic time out might work for the team that has been on the backfoot as they get the time to resurrect their plans while it might put brakes on the team going all guns blazing.

The main objective, however, is to generate revenue. Seven and a half minutes of break gives the IPL generate ample revenue from its advertisers, twice in a match. Lalit Modi, the chairman and commissioner of the IPL, has said that it will definitely be a part of the ongoing season. As of next year, it will be decided after the tournament.

Competitive Pitches, Dropped Catches


First ball ducks and wickets in the 11th over (thanks to the strategic break) have become a common sight in the latest edition of the IPL. There are bets being laid on first ball ducks and inning scores of less than 150. Being a T20 game, the spectators expect a cracker of a match with runs flowing out of the blade like water from a broken dam. They do not want to see wickets at regular intervals and scores of 120-140 being chased for victory.

The 20 over format has, more often than not, been a high scoring format and that is what is expected out of it. We want to see the bowlers being thrashed and bashed out of the park. Ironically, this IPL has seen only one score of over 200 in all.

Catches are dropped more than they are taken. Run-out opportunities missed in a fashion that can be related to gully cricket, or even worse. Till the 33rd match of the IPL (Rajasthan v Bangalore), 55 catches had been dropped, with Kolkata (ahem, ahem) leading the table.

Flop Shows
Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff…whew…! Big names, small show. The above are only a few to name. The English duo of KP and Freddie were the most expensive catches at 7.5 crores each, but neither could do much for their respective teams, and now, have returned with their hefty pay packets to their homeland to play West Indies.

Delhi Daredevils captain Sehwag and his deputy, Gambhir, are known to be tailor-made for the 20 over format. Fearless hitting is their characteristic, bludgeoning the opposition, their charisma. But both have failed to give their team a rock solid quick start. Thanks to the middle order suspension, they have sustained the top order shocks and scares comfortably. Gambhir, however, looked like getting back to his best when he won the Man of the Match award for his 71 off 57 balls versus KKR (31st match).

Brendon McCullum’s stint in IPL can only be remembered by his 158 n.o in the very first match of the IPL in 2008 - a perfect start that a tournament like the Indian Premier League could get. Nothing could have been better. Chris Gayle set the stage ablaze with a scintillating century in the first match of the T20 World Cup in 2007, but it seems like someone has poured a bucket of water on his fiery blade in the IPL.

With the bigwigs (in context to both names and age) like Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Matt Hayden, Dravid, Adam Gilchrist and Gibbs performing well, it would be great if the rulers of the format come to the fore and take the series to a different altitude altogether.

DLF Maximum or CITI Moment of Success?

Is it all about money honey? Yes it is. IPL is all about money, money and more money. Millions of dollars to buy players, hefty advertising costs, security budget etc. It’s raining cash in IPL.

The latest addition is the renaming of a SIX. It is now known as the ‘DLF Maximum’. A crucial wicket is called a ‘Citi Moment of Success’. Gone are the days when commentators spoke just for the love of the game. Sadly, it is just about the commercial proliferation and we get capitalist fabricated emotions to hear when an exciting moment comes in a game. Needless to say, it takes away the beauty of the effort and leaves us with an incomplete feeling. But as they say, ‘In Rome, do as the Romans do’, we must also take a cue and leave the poor commentators do their ‘job’ of making their sponsors happy and keep the money flowing.

Australian Rajasthani for Beer

Hopefully, you readers know what is being talked about here. Yes, it is the ‘sip of beer’ on the boundary lines by none other than the very cool and mischievous, the Australian Rajasthani, Shane Warne in the match against the Royal challengers Bangalore.

The spin legend was captured on camera gulping a mouthful of beer from a mug that was supposedly offered to him by a spectator. Now if that is something to be angry over, be amused or just enjoy the video, is up to the viewers to decide.

Cricket is often a great metaphor for life. And we like this newest format of the game, T20, because it can teach us a lot about how to manage our investments. Here are 10 things we have learned from the IPL about investing.
Start early: T20 does not reward late starters - teams must start putting runs early in their innings. Otherwise, it can get to late and the batsmen are always playing catch up. Similarly, we must also start investing and saving early. This allows us to benefit from compounding of capital, as well as allows us to "keep the scoreboard ticking" in order to move closer to our goals. Additionally, we have seen how batting sides take advantage of fielding restrictions early in the innings. Similarly, early in our innings during our youth we must also take advantage of the freedom to do things that we might not be able to later in life. One of these freedoms is to start building our financial resources when we have very few other financial obligations
Risk and Reward tradeoff: T20 is all about taking high risks and ensuring that the team gets rewarded for it - whether its aggressive opening batsmen, or field placing or taking risks in trying out new bowlers. Similarly, finance is all about risk and reward. One must understand that one cannot get very high returns without taking on risk, just like a batsman faces the risk of being caught at the boundary if he is trying to hit a six. We should not be surprised if we get out trying to reach for extraordinarily high returns on our investments because these are of the most risky kind. Also, just like not every ball can be hit for a boundary, not every investment will turn out to be a goldmine. Sometimes singles are equally important
Be ready for the unexpected: In case of rain or weather related delays, the Duckworth-Lewis method gets used and can lead to unexpected outcomes that might be highly unfavourable to one of the teams. The only way out is to have already got enough runs on the scoresheet. Similarly, our investments must also always be ready to deal with unexpected situations that life might throw at us. We must have enough of a margin of safety to be able to protect ourselves against the proverbial rainy days
Strategic break: Teams take a strategic break to review their progress and plan for the remaining overs. Similarly, as individuals we too must do the same. Unless we regularly review how well our finances our doing and how we must tackle the challenges that the future will throw our way, we might not end up meeting our targets
Balance: Just like a T20 teams needs the right balance of big hitters, anchors and effective bowlers, our investment portfolio also needs the right balance of investments. Too much of growth or aggressive funds, without adequate support or backup, might end up with too much imbalance that can hurt us. We must recognize that our investments should be diversified across sectors and different assets, and not be concentrated in any one area
One bad over: One bad over can change the direction of a game and can often make it difficult to recover if a team does not have enough runs on the board (if you are batting) or enough wickets already (if you are bowling). Sometimes in life one also goes through a "bad over" which could take the form of a job loss, or serious injury or illness. If we do not have an adequate safety net then our personal financial situation can be beyond repair
Consistency gets rewarded: The Purple cap or Orange cap are given to the best performing bowler or batsman respectively. To win these awards, a player needs to consistently be a good performer. We too must strive to get this Purple or Orange cap when it comes to our personal finances. What matters most is that we have consistent performance over a long period of time. There is no point in investing in a fund that is really hot in one year, but a poor performer at all other times
Coaching helps: Whether its a team coach or a specialist bowling or fielding coach, T20 has shown us that some guidance and direction, especially an objective view from the outside, can help in improving a team's performance and meetings a team's goals. Similarly, our investments can also benefit from some guidance and expertise, especially to get a check on whether we are doing the right things and not making careless mistakes that might hurt us later on in life
Distractions can be entertaining but ultimately the score matters: T20 is highly entertaining not only on the pitch but also because of all the music and dancing. But, ultimately a team wins or loses on the back of the score that it has made. Similarly, in investing distractions like the hottest investments or the flavours of the month will come and go, but what matters the most is that our "investment scorecard" shows a healthy average. We must focus on what matters and ignore the distractions
Winning attitude: The IPL has shown that even young players with lesser talent or resources than the great cricketers can do well if they bring the right attitude to the pitch. Similarly, investing is not just about being rich or already having lots of money. We can start with few resources and little experience but over time make a fortune for ourselves through a positive attitude and willingness to learn from our mistakes. We should not get disheartened if one of our investments has lost money. Just like a young cricketer who believes in himself, we should believe in what we have invested in and stick it out. If we have put in the right kind of preparation, we will also come out the winner over the long run

"I think he is an overrated bowler and so I think he was a great target for us to go at. He always loses his cool under pressure and I think tonight was a good example of that,"


In yet another cricket controversy for the DLF IPL 2009, we now have Australian Matthew Hayden calling Sreesanth an overrated bowler. Sreesanth went for a lot of runs when he was bowling to Hayden. When he finally got the big Aussie out by getting him caught at the personal score of 89, Hayden did not take kindly to the words that Sreesanth addressed to him as he walked back to the pavilion.


Matthew Hayden specializes in using choice epithets for some of the hapless bowlers that have the misfortune of bowling and he reserves the choicest ones for Indian bowlers: about a year ago Hayden’s comments about Harbhajan Singh were much in the cricket news, when India was touring Australia. Readers will recall it was a particularly acrimonious tour with allegations of racial slurs and counter allegations of name calling.

At that time, Hayden had very famously called Harbhajan an obnoxious little weed. “It’s been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan, the first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now”, Hayden had said on Brisbane radio. Then there was also the allegation that he called Bhajji a ‘mad boy’ which he countered by saying that he said ‘bad’ not ‘mad’ which Bhajji should be “flattered” by since it was a clothing range.

Hayden had also famously referred to Ishant Sharma as a “stringbean paceman” and had expressed the desire to meet him in the boxing ring. “At the end of the day you are 19, why don’t you just worry about your bowling for a while,” Hayden was reported in the cricket news as having told Sharma

This latest cricket controversy also is caused by the wonderful compliments that Hayden seems to reserve for Indian bowlers who seem to get under his hide with shocking regularity. So when Hayden was in full flow and was stopped in his tracks at 89 by Sreesanth, the bowler seemed rather overwhelmed and as he often does, he overreacted. He hurled some abuse or harsh words at Hayden, and Hayden then responded with his withering scorn, the contempt that he keeps especially for Indian bowlers.

As for Sreesanth, this is far from his first run in with cricket controversy. Readers will remember last year’s IPL which saw Sree in floods of tears because Harbhajan Singh allegedly slapped him. This is just the sort of thing that Indian players need to avoid, such a display of childish immaturity. When our chaps behave like this, can you really blame Hayden for taking pot shots at them!

Check it out!

Some might be wondering what does teh areticle on advertising to do with Cricket. Well dear friends , it has a remote connection .I love the simplicity and creative appeal these ads have. Its a great idea to use humans as animated characters.
There are a series of commercial ads rangind from 25 to 35 seconds which I would archive shortly for you to injoy .

ZooZoos are the most entertaining and intelligent things on TV. Or so we thought until we learnt they’re not things at all but thin, young people transformed into TV commercials for Vodafone. Well, they could and have fooled us. Anyone who thinks those flat, white, elastic creatures without a bone or curve in their bodies are human, hasn’t seen the male or female form, lately.

Not that it matters. We love ‘em. So much so, we wish they would replace IPL (where the ads appear most often) as the main attraction. Zoozoos are inventive, unexpected; most IPL matches are predictable. We don’t know what zoozoos will do next; we’ve seen what’s happening most often in IPL. The team batting first has struggled but manfully put up a woefully low score so we switch channels only to be lured back by the sight of half of the team batting second being out halfway through and the last over deciding the match when, as commentators say, “We have a match on our hands”.
Vodafone international roaming ad uses words which are basically Kerala dishes - 1. Parota (Similar to Chapatis made from Maida) 2. Puttu Kadala (Rice cakes with chana) 3. Kappa meen (Fish and tapioca)

On the 5th day of the 3rd Test match India needed only 6 wickets to win this test match but the rain destroy the half day of the match and the end result- match drawn. Harbhajan took 4 wickets.Sachin Tendulkar ball well he took 2 wickets .Total: 281 / 8 in 94.3 overs (Run Rate: 2.97) india need only 2 wickets to win the test match but rain ..Gautam Gambhir, the Man of the Match .Rahul Dravid receives a special award for taking the most number of catches in Test cricket ever. He overtook Mark Waugh in this game. On being asked about how it feels, he says that he has played with greats like Srinath, Kumble, Bhajji and to have helped his team-mates with catches has been a real pleasure. This Test series win on New Zealand soil has come after 40 years. Quite a nice milestone indeed. We will come with lots of things IPL and ICC Twenty – Twenty World cup.