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

So we are just one day away from the first test between England, and the team from Caribbean at Lords. To start with it will be interesting to see how the windies will adapt to the conditions in England and I have to say that till now they have not come out with good performances in the warm up games.


Windies have been further hampered by Gayle joining the team late as he wanted to play one more IPL game! well being the captain of your national team it does not look good.

As far as selection issues are concerned they are probably still debating on who will be the third seamer and in the race are Richardson, Baker, and Sammy and for the all rounder slot Bernard will likely fit in.

For England as we know that it will be the first game for Flower as a permanent coach and he would like to start on a good note. As far as the team is concerned it looks straightforward what with Panesar likely to miss out and Bresnan as well as Onions getting their first chance in tests. I am actually impressed by Onions as he can generate good pace from a short run up and gets late swing also he is reasonably accurate.

I do think that England are the favourites as the Windies team do not look well prepared. For England I expect Anderson to be the key as if there any swing he will trouble the top order. Strauss is in good form and of course KP is also there. It would be interesting to see how Bopara will play at 3 which has become the problem area for England.

For them their openers namely Gayle, and Simmons have to fire but Simmons's habit of closing his face off the bat and Gayle being struck in the crease early on may mean that if there is some movement bowlers like Anderson can trouble them but if they do get a good start then the strong middle order can come into play, of course both Edwards, and Taylor have to fire with the ball too.

Shahrukh Khan has found an alternative way to earn money. After his team’s dismal performance at the IPL, SRK is back home not only for voting but another reason which brings him back to India is the wedding of builder Kanti Govani’s nephew. Shahrukh Khan has been paid a whopping amount of 3 crores to perform at the wedding.


As Shahrukh failed to earn profit through IPL, to compensate the loss he went to shake his legs. SRK never denied that he loves his fame, popularity and of course money and if not though acting, he went ahead to earn some big bucks through his dancing skill.

Along with him, Rani Mukherjee, Emraan Hashmi, and Bipasha Basu will also be performing at the wedding ceremony. Neil Nitin Mukesh, Celina Jaitley and Neha Dhupia will all be part of the Sangeet ceremony. The wedding cards have been printed and names of the performers are mentioned. The actors will dance and also perform some stunts to entertain the guests.

1. Seen on a banner ..
For fishing tips contact Andrew Symonds..
For slapping tips contact Harbhajan Singh..

2. "Commit your sins when Sachin is batting. You won't be punished because even God will be watching him bat."

3. This strategy break in IPL 2 reminds me of 'taste maker' in Maggi... both don't serve their intended purpose.

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.