The 20 day report - Amit Mishra's blooper, Starc's bowling and Pollard's batting act!

Even as I write this Sunrisers are facing Rajasthan Royals at Ahmedabad in a game where the blooper of the IPL so far has been enacted courtesy Amit Mishra. Mishy's incredible run out is certain to go viral just like Sreesanth's tears, Gayle's sixes, Pollard's catches and of course the helicopters.
But until that moment the story of the last 10 days has been the Starc-Pollard ball-and-bat act. May not be the best advertisement for the IPL but certainly an indicator of how fierce each season is going to get as the days go on. We's love to see subtle versions of the rivalry for sure.
Glen Maxwell continues to be at a different level. In Shastri's words - "a different ball game all together". Such has been his influence that the contributions of Miller, Sehwag and Bailey have been overshadowed despite being as flamboyant as Maxi for KXIP.
Another point to note is the impact of the lesser known Indian players at the IPL - Pravin Tambe, Rajat Bhatia, Karan Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma. Time for a T20 rethink in the Indian team?
As for the teams - KXIP are running away with it and CSK must now be resigned to the fact that they have to play second fiddle at least in the league stage. But the rest have looked just the same all the way - unsure of what they are capable of - failing when they can succeed and succeeding when down the drains!

10 days on - the excitement has just begun

It's 10 days into IPL7 and we are slowly getting to have a feel of how this tournament is going to shape up.
CSK are continuing on their "slow-to-peak at the right time" start and look destined for a play-off position as usual.
KXIP made the wise purchases and are seeing the fruits. But the bowling still needs someone. But interestingly Ajay Jadeja had a revelation to make "Lakshmi pathi" Balaji brings the fortune for all teams he has played for so far - CSK (twice) and KKR (once). So this might just be KXIP's chance this season!
DD have ill luck following them still - one feels it has got to do something with the owners ha ha ha.
MI players still have the "How did the owners let Maxwell go?" look on their faces. This season might see them at the other end of the spectrum.
RCB just realized yesterday that arrogance never wins games. Only aggression wins games.
SRH's think tank of packing the team with bowlers seems to be backfiring because the pitches in UAE seem to be favoring any kind of bowler and does not need specialists.
KKR are showing the determination they showed in their IPL winning season. But Double G needs to get his batting right. Surya Kumar has caught the eye though. Won't be long before he walks into the Indian T20 team.
RR continue to be the dark horses. With Rahul Dravid still in-charge they will surely be a success this time as well.
Chris Gayle and Kevin Pietersen have been missing so far. But Glen Maxwell has more than compensated for that. Most teams are just waiting to get back on home turf to see if their plans can work out. Hope the race gets tighter and not slack as the days go on!

When even the Gods wanted Sanga and Mahela to exit gracefully

Before the WT20 both Sangakkara and Jayawardene had announced that the WT20 would be their last T20I adventure. When they were dismissed for 1 and 0 respectively at the semis of the 2014 edition it looked like they had made the worst possible exit from the T20I arena. But alas! the Gods had other ideas and as Darren Sammy went on to say later - the Gods certainly seem to want Sanga and Mahela to win one World Cup at least. Hoping that India or South Africa have a different idea about that!

This is one man that gets close to a real life Hulk

In the movie "Unbreakable" Samuel Jackson's character Elijah (who is an ardent fan of super-hero comics) goes in search of someone who could be a real super-hero on earth. Night Shyamalan who wrote and directed the dark thriller would be really thrilled to know that one such super-hero does exist - a real life Bruce Banner a.k.a The Hulk.
A week after watching India manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in New Zealand I saw Dale Steyn decimate Australia with the same vigor by which the Mitchell Johnson clattered into the Proteas a week ago. If there is one player whom you do not want to irk on a cricket field, it has got to be Dale Steyn.
I remember watching Steyn in a IPL match against Mumbai last year. While he steamed through to bowl 4 overs for 9 runs, Thisara Perreira was bowling dollies to Kieran Pollard in that match. The look in Dale's face at the end of the match said it all - it was brimming with anger. Dale continued holding on to that wrath and guided Sunrisers into the CL pay-offs - almost single-handedly.
Over the past weekend I got to witness the harnessing of Dale's wrath once again. He was so distraught at the heavy defeat in the first test match against Australia. One could see the Hulk turning green with every ball he bowled in the second test. While it had lesser effect in Australia's first innings, the culmination of the wrath in the second innings was spectacular. The Aussies must now hope that Dale's wrath has subsided and he is back in his alter-ego.

But then the world knows what Bruce Banner says in the Avenger's movie - "I am always angry"

The Aussies must have already come to realize that the SA tour might just not turn out to be like the Ashes tour of the summer.

Staying with Mitch and Dale - the good news for them would be that IPL 7 could well happen in South Africa. Time for more heroics from these two super heroes for sure!!

The auction aftermath 2 - my take on DD, RR, MI and SRH

DD - After the big money pick up of KP and the bigger money pick up of DK, DD have a message to the rest of the teams - We are here to win. DD did not want to have any remnants from their disastrous season 6 and that was evident in them overlooking the likes of Veeru, Warner and Irfan. They have gone for power in batting with Vijay, de Kock, Duminy, Ross T and S Tiwary. The bowling also provides for good reading with Shami, Counter Nile, Unadkat and Parnell. One should also look out for the all rounders Shukla and Neesham. Overall - strong, really strong.

RR - RR sprung a surprise by retaining Binny Jr and Sanju Samson. And they sprung even more surprises by picking a team on relative unknowns to complement the main players - Watson, Faulkner and Rahane. Steve Smith and Brad Hodge lend more solidity to the middle order. But as always the Indian contingent looks wafer thin and all set to throw in the customary RR surprise.

MI - Aight - they were lost for choice that they had to let DK and Dwayne Smith go but their choice of not wanting to go after one good player might seem like over confidence. After all, when Mike Hussey becomes your top buy you must know you haven't done good in the auction. SRT will be definitely missed from now on and MI didn't seem to put the right kind of impetus into filling that void. Altogether, the most disappointing franchise at the auction.

SRH - In retaining Steyn and Dhawan SRH must have thought that half the task was accomplished. But was the remaining half completed? Not too sure! They got KP only to lose him the DD's privilege and lost YP to KKR similarly. As for the remaining players, they were torn between getting back some of the players from the previous season and going for the best. The result was a mixed bag with the likes of Finch, Warner and Irfan coming in. Brendan Taylor was a nervous choice for WK. In getting back players from previous season, Ishant, Mishra and Sammy came in easy. But RR gave SRH a nervy ride with Karan Sharma who belied expectations at 3.5 Cr!

The auction aftermath 1 - my take on RCB, KKR, KXIP and CSK

The auction is over. Money has been splashed! Heroes have been made!! (Yes! Zeroes as well). As the teams mull over who they picked and why they picked here is my take on the teams

RCB - As if the current contingent of Gayle, Kohli and AB was not enuf to send the opposition on leather hunts they have raked in Yuvi and Albie Morkel. With Parthiv set to don the gloves, AB can now concentrate on crouching in front of the stumps alone (for those scoops and sweeps). While Yuvi did tweet that he was happy that he would be bowling to Gayle only in the nets, the actual guys who must be happy should be AB Dinda. The bowling's not bad either - Rampaul, Albie, Starc, Murali - oops where's the Indian in that group?

KKR - They didn't create the buzz of the last time when they used up more than half the purse on two players. But they have done enuf to almost bring back the same batting squad that won season 5. The bowling squad has been revamped though and it does look like it will spew more fire - Umesh, Morkel, Vinay and Cummins. Pathan and Gambhir will certainly have points to prove.

KXIP - The Australian flavor is prominent in a team where the most prominent Indian is a reject. But then that shud be the motivator for Veeru. But what's with the 3 Cr paid for Rishi Dhawan? (hope he doesn't make me eat my words). Mitchell Johnson would be the man for the bowling attack but where are the other bowlers? Awana, Balaji, Karthik - good bowlers but they would need to bowl 4 overs consistently for 14 games. Can they? And let's just hope Glen Maxwell does not become the millionaire bench warmer he was at Mumbai once again.

CSK - Having retained 5 they were handicapped by the meagre purse from the first bid. That was evident in their unsuccessful bids for Vijay and Hussey. Towards the end of the auction they struggled to get someone. But they did manage to scoop Brendon Macullum and eternal tormentor Dwayne Smith. CSk have that knack to somehow sneak through in games and this team could continue that tradition. Ashish Nehra would provide for some interesting viewing. But they should be chided for not picking Badrinath despite his unselfish contribution over the past 6 years.

The hammer is down and off we go!

The IPL auction, even as I write this, is still in progress. Richard Madley is at it again, banging the hammer for the 7th year in succession although he did bang it earlier than expected on Yuvi. So even before IPL 7 begins, controversies have begun.
As teams still vie for players they inadvertently make zeroes of heroes and heroes of the not-so heroes. Take for example the case of players from Sri Lanka. While Sanga was wise enuf to opt out of this year's auction considering SL's scheduled international tour midway through the IPL, some others decided to put their chits in the hat. Result - total snub. Ironically only 2 Lankans have made it to the IPL so far - that 40 year old magician (yeah - you know who) and another player who has been lashed for close to 30 runs in a over not once not twice but thrice during the last season - Thisara Perrera!!!!
But again, given the political situation around not allowing SL players to play at Chennai which franchise would want to take risks?? In all the melee, the IPL (if it is going to be played outside India) has already lost out on one venue (and yeah - you know which one that is)