IPL 2020 - MI5

IPL 2020 - Finally, something to cheer in this 2020 and something to blog for me in 2020 :). 

Previous Seasons recap 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

MI is quickly catching the Mission Impossible series with their 5th and consecutive title win this year. They were invincible like the Aussies in their prime. What seemed like an impossible tournament with a lot of doubts turned out to be wonderful entertainment and kudos to everyone involved for finishing it successfully without any glitch.

For the first time, CSK didn't get to the playoffs, RCB went to the playoffs after 4 years, DC into the finals for the first time and MI won the championship in an even year, but it's 2020 we shouldn't be surprised by any of this.

Here are some of the highlights from this year's IPL.

MIvsCSK Started with INDvsPAK of IPL and Dhoni was playing after 434 days in his new look, but it was an anticlimax with the bat. And, the first ball of this year was bowled by covid recovered Chahar. CSK won it after MI's 4-0 last year thanks to Rayudu and Faf. Overall a fantastic start, little did we know it gonna be a contrasting season for both the teams.

DCvsKX1 start their campaign with a thriller. Shami was best with the new ball and Stoinis rescued DC at the end. And, while chasing Mayank singlehandedly took them to victory, but playing Bangladesh player shot playing in the air when a single would have been enough and match went to super over thanks to Stoinis again for that final over with two wickets. And, Rabada just like last year picked two wickets in the super over for just 2 runs and DC won it eventually. 

SRHvsRCB, RCB start with a win thanks to a fantastic 50 on debut by Padikkal, and once again it was Chahal with a ball who triggered a collapse when SRH was at 121 for 2 chasing 163 and eventually got all out for 153.

RRvsCSK, Sanju Samson hits 9 sixes in Sharjah and RR reach 216, but CSK decided to play for NRR after 12 overs especially Dhoni, who finished with 3 sixes of the last ball which was utterly useless, if only they have won this, things would have been different towards the end of the tournament.

KX1vsRCB, Rahul scored 132, from 90 of 60 to 132 of 69 thanks to Kohli for dropping him twice, and RCB while chasing fell short of KL's total itself.

KX1vsRR, Rahul, and Mayank's opening stand were 183 and they reach 223, once again Sharjah Samson played an excellent inning of 85 off 42 balls, but it was Tewatia who stole the show with a remarkable turnaround. This was the best moment of this IPL easily, from 17 of 23 where everybody expected him to get out, he scored 30 off Cortrell's over and finishes the inning with 53 of 31.

RCBvsMI RCB scored 201 though Kohli failed to score thanks to 50s from Padikkal, Finch, and ABD. But, Ishan playing his first game for MI scores 99 along with Pollard's 60 of just 24 and almost won the game, but it went to super over. Saini was excellent in the super over and MI was able to score 7 and RCB won it.

CSKvsKX1 After a hat-trick of losses CSK makes comeback with a 10 wicket win against KX1, Watson as promised on Twitter delivers a perfect game for CSK and he finally made a major contribution in this season.

CSKvsKKR, but in the very next game CSK lost a winnable game. First, it was Dhoni 11(12) who struggled against the spin and got out to Varun, and then came this season's most talked-about CSK player, Jhadav with an excellent inning of 7(12) who has the audacity to refuse the second when Jaddu called. KKR bat first in 5 years and 69 matches after winning the toss in this match and delaying Narine's entry worked wonders where they pulled off a heist.

KX1vsKKR, KX1always does a reverse Tewatia during the first half of this season, chasing 151 they were going comfortably at 115/1and lost by 2 runs. Needed a six off the last ball for super over, Maxwell's hit was just short of few inches. Once again KKR won the impossible match where KX1 needed 21 off 16 with 8 wickets.

SRHvsRR, Chasing 163, RR lost Buttler, Stokes, Samson, Smith they were 5 for 78, but Parag and Tewatia again do it for RR. Both the players were playing strike rate less than 100, but in the end, they made it, especially Tewatia's two reverse sweeps against Rashid was the turning point.

KKRvsRCB, Sharjah's pitch has slowed down and everyone was struggling to score, then comes ABD and scores 73 of just 33 at an SR of 221 where even Virat was struggling with an SR of 117. Nobody got going KKR and they lost by 82 runs and it was solely ABD's brilliance.

KX1vsRCB, the universe boss Gayle is back from the hospital and starts with a 50, but as usual, KX1 almost choked this as well. With 2 runs needed from the last over with Gayle run out and they needed 1 from the last ball, Pooran clears Morris to win it, it was just inches away from getting caught.

RCBvsRR, freak ABD does it again for RCB, when they needed 60 from 26 balls and AB Devilliers was 8*(9) and then he scores 6,0,6,2,4,1,1,6,6,6,1,2,6 and took the team into victory.

CSKvsDD, CSK didn't want to get Dhawan out they keep dropping catches of him and he went on to score his first century in the IPL and with 17 needed off the last over and with Bravo injured, it was Jadeja who bowled against the two left-handers and Axar hits 3 sixes to seal the game.

KKRvsSRH and KX1vsMI, that was super over Sunday, with Warner playing in the middle order against some ordinary bowling by Russel's in final over he couldn't cross the line and in the super over Fergusson were great and KKR won it easily. And, in the second game for the first time, we saw two super overs and KX1 finally won it thanks to Mayank's incredible stop at the boundary line and hitting the winning runs in the second super over. The first super over, saw both Bumrah and Shami executing the yorkers, especially Shami. Overall a Super Sunday it was.

CSKvsRR, after a string of worst performances Dhoni keeps Jhadav in the eleven, but not trusting him enough to send him ahead of Jadeja, with zero intent from Dhoni and Jadeja CSK manages just 125 with 5 wickets remaining. RR had some trouble losing early wickets and Buttler came and shows them how it is done by scoring 70 out of the target and finishes it.

KKRvsRCB, RCB's new ball bowling was unbelievable with two consecutive maidens from Siraj who picked 3 wickets and there were two more maidens with a total of 4 maidens for the first time in IPL, and KKR manages just 84 from 3-3. 

CSKvsMI, after a lot of debate on "spark", CSK decided to drop Jhadav and opted to go with the young guns and both Ruturaj and Jagadeesh failed to score and the scorecard read 3-4, worst start ever and thanks to Curran they go past the 84 and reach 116 and MI finishes it in no loss with Rohit's absence Ishan was promoted as an opener and he delivers with a 68 not out.

KKRvsDC after a collapse in the previous game KKR turns it around with the bat thanks to Rana and Narine and they post 194, but DC collapses 135 with Varun taking a 5 for.

KX1vsSRH, SRH does a KX1 against KX1 itself, chasing just 125, they choked by losing 7 wickets for 14 runs and lost the match by 12 runs.

RRvsMI, RR sticking with Stokes as an opener eventually paid off chasing 195 against MI, thanks to Pandya's 60 of just 21 balls, Stokes scored a century and Samson too scored a 50 and they won it with 8 wickets against the mighty MI.

SRHvsDC, who would have thought replacing Saha for Bairstow will be the turn around SRH needed, Warner and Saha came out all guns blazing and scored 219, with 77 runs in powerplay, and Saha top scored with 83. DC never got going and Rashid finished with an excellent spell of 3 wickets for just 7 runs.

KX1vsRR, Gayle proves he still got it with a 99, who fell short of a century against Archer, but RR once again chases 185 handing KX1 their first loss after their 5 consecutive wins.

 

CSKvsKX1 CSK once out of contention started winning with Ruturaj hitting 3 consecutive 50s while chasing, showing some much-needed "spark" and ending the KX1's chances of entering the playoffs as well, also they made sure they didn't end up at the bottom of the table.

MIvsDC, in the first qualifier mightly MI once again reach 200 though Rohit and Pollard got out for a duck, DC's scorecard read 0 for 3 and they just couldn't win against MI at all. Bumrah's yorker to Dhawan was fantastic to watch.

RCBvsSRH, Virat finally decides to open, but couldn't score big and RCB reaches just 131, but with some tight bowling they were in the contest till the end, but cool-headed Williamson sees them through with an unbeaten 50. Also, Nattu's yorker to clean up well set ABD was an excellent ball of the tournament.

DCvsSRH, in the second qualifier DC decided to open with Stoinis and it paid off eventually and none of their openers got out for a duck, and once again Williamson threatens to take the game away, but DC manages to win and reach the IPL finals for the first time.

Final, just like last year they did against CSK winning all four games, this time MI won all four games against DC, with Stoinis getting out of the first ball and Rohit coming to form they won the finals easily without much drama. It was hard luck for DC though after losing initial wickets Shreyas and Rishab Pant rebuild their inning. After a disappointing season, Pant finally scored a 50, but it was not enough.

Looking forward to next year's IPL, hopefully in India, and wonder how CSK's gonna go with their approach. With Raina and Bhajji deciding to leave the tournament wonder whether they will be back to CSK next year with Watson already announcing his retirement, it could/should be a new CSK next year. Even in their worst season, they were just one game short of qualifying, so things should return to normal next year.

My Best XI of the tournament

  1. Dhawan - DC

  2. Mayank - KX1

  3. SKY - MI

  4. Ishaan - MI

  5. ABD ✈️ - RCB

  6. Tewatia - RR

  7. Rashid ✈️  - SRH 

  8. Rabada ✈️ - DC

  9. Chahal - RCB

10. Bumrah - MI

11. Archer ✈️ - RR

My Worst XI

  1. P Shaw

  2. Finch ✈️

  3. Pant

  4. Dhoni

  5. Jhadav

  6. Dhinesh Karthik

  7. Maxwell ✈️ 

  8. Russell ✈️ 

  9. Steyn ✈️

10. Unadkat

11. Umesh

My Best Uncapped XI

  1. Gaikwad

  2. Paddikal

  3. Rana

  4. Ishan Kishan

  5. Samad

  6. Tewatia

  7. Bishnoi

  8. Varun

  9. Mavi

10. Nattu

11. Tyagi

IPL 2019 - CSK 0(3) - 4(4) MI

That was yet another entertaining season. And, once again it was CSK in the finals and MI clinching the title by 1 run of the very last ball to become the most successful IPL team in the history with 4 titles and also completing a 4-0 whitewash against CSK this year.

Yeah, this year I didn't support RCB and just like last year they played very poorly and couldn't even figure out their best X1 till the end and finally crashed out without even making it to the playoffs. (And, I copied this from my last year's post, except the didn't)

And, the runners CSK, they just couldn't figure out a way to win against MI and they lost to them 4 times. (And, I copied this also from my last year's post, except CSK was at the receiving end this year)

Here are some of the memorable moments from this IPL.

This time CSK didn't start with a thriller like they usually do, but with an easy win over RCB. It was the worst start for RCB getting all out for 70.

And, this year marks the comeback of Warner after his ban and he was phenomenal throughout the season winning the orange cap eventually. And, he started with an excellent half-century, but it was Dre Rus who stole the show with his excellent 49 off 19 to win it for KKR.

Delhi with a new name and coach were a revelation of this IPL. From finishing at the bottom last year to third this year was phenomenal. And, they started with a win in their first match against MI, the freak Rishab Pant scored 78 off just 27, even Bumrah couldn't stop him. And, there was a glimpse of old Yuvi, he scored a 53 off 35, but he couldn't continue eventually.

The first controversy of this IPL was during KX1 vs RR. RR was cruising towards a victory with Buttler going great guns and then Ashwin Mankads him and RR collapsed during the chase after Gayle's 79 of 47. And, then begin the spirit-of-cricket vs thats-the-law debates. He was well within the law to do it, but I felt he paused a little longer.

Dre Rus at it again, this time KKR was batting first against KX1 and Russel got lucky to be bowled off a no-ball from Shami very early of his innings and he finished with another 48 off 17 balls. And, he comes back and picked two wickets as well.

Another heartbreak for RCB, this time against MI. VK and ABD were going great guns in the chase and they lose it in the last delivery when ABD couldn't clear Malinga for a six. But, the controversy of this match was it was a no-ball and the umpire didn't spot it. And, if it was given a no-ball and if they managed to win this, they would have been in the playoffs.

Dre Rus again 62 off 28 with six sixes, but DC chased it almost comfortably with Shaw's 99, but collapsed towards the end and ended in a tie which gave us the first super over of this IPL. And, Rabada with a ball of this IPL took Russel with an outstanding yorker and DC won it eventually.

Warner and Bairstow continued their dominance against RCB by both scoring the century against RCB, chasing the 200+ they fell short by one run compared to Bairstow's score of 114, RCB all out for 113.

CSK once against started poor 27/3, but ended with 175 thanks to Dhoni's vintage 75* where he finished the innings with three consecutive sixes off last three deliveries. RR almost chased, but Bravo bowled brilliantly in the death and sealed the match.

DC's freakish collapse triggered by Pant while chasing 166 against KX1, thanks to Sam Curran's hat-trick they lost seven wickets for eight runs. It was unbelievable from 144 for 3 chasing 167 to 152 all out.

RCB did score a 200+ against KKR, but they couldn't defend it thanks to Dre Rus again for his another 48 off just 13 balls which included seven sixes. He was a monster.

Alazari Joseph of WI had a dream debut for MI against SRH, he finished with six wickets for just twelve runs and SRH all out for 96 chasing a modest 136.

Pollard stepped in a captain when Rohit got injured and with the help of KL's 100 and Gayle's 63 KX1 scored 197. And, Pollard took the match single-handedly scoring 83 off 31, which is for the best innings of this IPL. But, it was a thriller when Pollard got out, but Alzari Joseph's calm head got MI through the line.

Dhoni and Rayudu pull off a chase against RR, but another controversy of this IPL when Dhoni storms into the pitch to argue with the umpires regarding a decision on no-ball. Which was not the typical Dhoni we know and I didn't like it as well. Santner finished with a Six to win it off the last ball after Jadeja hit a six while falling down.

After six consecutive losses against six teams, RCB broke their curse against KX1, eventually winning their seventh match.

Another CSK classic thriller, with 26 needed off last over Dhoni did score 24 off Umesh, but couldn't connect the last ball and RCB won by 1 run. Dhoni almost pulled off this single-handedly scoring 84* off 48, third best innings of this IPL.

Ashton Turner finally scored his first run against SRH after three consecutive golden ducks this IPL.

KKR scored 200 thanks to Dre Rus 80 off 40 balls in a must-win game against MI. But, MI almost pulled off thanks to free-flowing Hardik scored 94 off 34 balls. He was simply unbelievable, the second best innings of this IPL.

RCB never fails to entertain even in a five-over game. After starting with 23 runs off the first over, they almost tried to get all out with Shreyas Gopal getting a hattrick and ended with 62 for 7. Then,
RR almost chased it thanks to the rain which saved RCB.

Manish Pandey who came to form after Warner and Bairstow left pulled of a chase against MI, but ended in another super over. But, Hardik almost made it effortless in the super over.

Heitmeyer finally comes to form towards the end and Umesh with two boundaries off the last over to win it against SRH. Hope to more of Heitmeyer in the coming years.

KKR, especially Uthappa wasted their opportunity against MI to reach the playoffs and helped SRH to be the first team to reach the playoffs with 12 points, just one point more than the RCB which was at last position.

DC reached playoffs after a long time and they won the first eliminator against SRH, but once again Pant almost triggered a collapse after taking them too close. But, they managed to win with one ball remaining. Heartbreaking for SRH and Kane, but it was going for Thampi over Khaleel cost them badly where Pant scored 22 runs.

Finals, once again a CSK thriller went down to the wire and lost by 1 run of the final delivery. Watson just like last year final he played another brilliant inning with a lot of luck. Rohit's trust of Malinga and Bumrah's gun overs at death won the fourth title for MI. But, some CSK fans - that is not a run out = that's not a no-ball like Bangladesh fans from 2015 WC.

My Best X1 of this IPL: Few of them were part of last year as well.

David Warner - SRH ✈️
KL Rahul - KX1
Subhman Gill - KKR
Rishab Pant - DC
M S Dhoni - CSK
Andre Russel - KKR ✈️
Hardik Pandya - MI
Shreyas Gopal - RR
Imran Thahir - CSK ✈️
Jasprit Bumrah - MI
Kagiso Rabada - DC ✈️

Rahul Chahar      - MI (12th Man) Couldn't leave him.

This year CSK's batting was totally dependent on Dhoni's, but at least Thahir, Bhajji, Chahar chipped in the bowling department. And, Thahir was outstanding winning the purple cap as well, but more famous for his celebration. It would be interesting to see whether Raina, Rayudu, Jhadav, Watson continue to play next year. And, also looking forward to the changes in RCB as well.

IPL 2018 - Cee Yess Kayyy and the Whistles are Back

Cee Yess Kayy, Cee Yess Kayy, Cee Yess Kayy. They have done it. As I mentioned in my last year's post, that they have a job in hand since MI has three titles now. And, they gladly accepted the challenge and equaled the record. And, to be frank I didn't even expect them to make it to the playoffs once their auctions were over. But, this was an amazing journey, a very inspiring batting and leadership from Dhoni who looked at his best easily and also his off-field fun with his daughter Ziva, so no need to worry about 2019 WC like he answered that reporter.

Yeah, this year I supported RCB and just like last year they played very poorly and couldn't even figure out their best X1 till the end and finally crashed out without even making it to the playoffs. And, to top it all ABD is now retired from international cricket as well (is it because of this poor campaign?), I just hope he returns to IPL next year.

And, the runners SRH, they just couldn't figure out a way to win against CSK even though they topped the table after league stage and they lost to them 4 times. But, Kane rediscovered and proved him as an outstanding batsman in T20 and an excellent captain as well. And, also Rashid really set the IPL on fire.

Here are some of the memorable moments from this IPL which didn't have any hat-tricks which are more than usual in IPL and also no super-over.

As usual, CSK starts with a thriller (I've written exactly the same in 2015 as well). I have given up on their chase, but Bravo was mindblowing, came in at no 7 and smacked 68 of 30 with 7 sixes and when he got out just before the end. Jhadav who came back after getting retired hurt, who couldn't even move his feet smacked a six over fine leg to deny a win for MI. And, thus began an extraordinary IPL for CSK.

Narine, as usual, punishes RCB just like last year, he just loves them, scored a 50 of just 19 balls and that's a start of a horrible season for RCB.

CSK, coming back to IPL after two years, their first home game had more tension and drama outside the ground before the start and even during the game. But, they just edged out KKR captained by another Chennai boy with the help of Sam Billings, 56 of 23 and chased over 200 runs for another last over finish. And, that's their last game at Chennai.

KX1's captained by ex-CSKian Ashwin's first game against CSK was another usual last over thriller for CSK. Universal Boss Gayle made an entry with a thundering inning and Dhoni finds his form, but just couldn't get the team over the line. And, then on Dhoni was a different batsman.

MI finally manages to win after an excellent inning from Rohit against RCB, and for RCB Kohli played alone to score over 90, but wasn't enough at all.

It took 16 games for the captains to bat first in this IPL, KX1 did it against SRH and universal boss Gayle continued to punish the bowlers even Rashid with 11 sixes to score a century and they won.

Another, CSK game, another last over thriller this time against SRH, Kane played beautifully with Yusuf providing some support and Rashid Khan (17 of 4) played a cameo and threatened to take the game, but falls short. It was Rayudu, who can bat anywhere, scored 79 of 37 helped CSK reach 180s. And, SRH went on to lose another three games including the finals against CSK.

Jofra Archer who made a name for himself in the BBL finally debuted for RR against MI and MI's bad luck continued. Gowtham coming in at no 8, when everyone has given up on RR, smashed a 33 of just 11 balls and won it for RR. I wasn't expecting it at all.

And, SRH was outstanding with their defense when they score sub-par totals of less than 140. In their game against MI after scoring just 118, they managed to win. MI all out for just 87 and it was Rashid who spun it for SRH with the figures 4-1-11-2. And, against KX1, after scoring just 132 due to Rajpoot's excellent spell of 4-0-14-5. KX1 were at 55 for 0, but couldn't finish the game.

CSK this time pulls of another chase in the last over and this time Dhoni, 70 of 34, was able to close it with his usual style, a six. RCB's worst death bowling continues, and VK thought Corey Anderson could defend 16 runs who gave 41 runs in 3 overs.

Ghambir decides to step down as captain and handed it over to Iyer, who scored 93 of 40 to win start his captaincy with a win against KKR.

KKR moves up Shubman Gill finally after playing him too low for few games and he delivers with an excellent half-century to win a game against CSK.

Rahul was the only batsman in KX1, who scored like nearly 50% of KX1's runs starting with the fastest 50 in 14 balls. He scored 84* and 95* against RR during the two consecutive matches winning one and losing the other. Gayle's form dipped and Rahul single-handedly tried to keep KX1 alive.

Rishab Pant, who had an outstanding season scored his first century against SRH, 128*. He took Bhuvi for 26 runs in 5 balls (4,4,6,6,6) of the last over, but SRH chases it down easily though.

Buttler after starting to open rejuvenated RR's campaign with five consecutive half centuries and as ususal in a game against CSK he won it in the last over scoring 12 and ended with 95*.

KKR, on the blink of elimination, scored the highest score of the IPL 245 against KX1, thanks to all-rounder in town, Narine who scored 75 of 36. KX1 just crossed 200 with a surprising assault from Ashwin 45 of 22, but it was all over once Rahul was out for 66 of 29. KX1 virtually played with only one batsman.

RCB suddenly started winning and KX1 after a good start their campaign derailed. KX1 were all out for 88 against one of the worst attacks.
In a must-win game for MI against KX1, MI scored 186 and as usual Rahul chased it singlehandedly with 94, but it was Bumrah who saved MI with his outstanding spell of 4-0-15-3 in which he bowled two in the death and took Rahul's wicket.

In the end phase, RR without Buttler eliminates RCB and DD while ending their campaign with a win eliminates MI as well.

In the final league game Dhoni decides to play some tricks and sends in Bhajji, Chahar before him and Chahar even scored a 39 and they still won it to end a disappointing campaign for KX1.

In the first qualifier was such low scoring thriller, CSK was never in the chase, but thanks to du Plessis's 67* of 42 won it for CSK, but in the eliminator, RR was cruising along in their chase suddenly they lose the plot and gets eliminated.

And, SRH won the qualifier 2 to meet CSK thanks to Rashid's all-around performance 34* of 10 and 4-0-19-3 and a catch as well to seal the spot in the final.

And, the final CSK decided enough of last over thrillers and Watson from 0 of 10 finishes the chase with 117* of 57. And, fittingly CSK's best batsman Rayudu hits the winning runs to give CSK their 3rd trophy.

My Best X1 of this IPL: KL Rahul, Sunil Narine, Kane Williamson, Ambati Rayudu, M S Dhoni (c), Rishab Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah.

My Worst X1 of this IPL: Glenn Maxwell, Manish Pandey, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Darcy Short, Ben Stokes, Robin Uthappa, Washington Sundar, Corey Anderson, Mitchell Johnson, Jayadev Unadkat

CSK, 9 years, 7 finals, 3 trophies, one constant captain Dhoni. I just wonder how long he can deliver for CSK and will he be associated with CSK as a mentor or coach? It's hard to imagine CSK without Dhoni. And, it's hard to support some other team other than this yellow army. And, this team finally proved the cliche "age is just a number".

And, I just wish RCB to have a better season next year, just before the World Cup so our captain Virat Kohli will be in a better mood.

IPL 10 - Bye Bye RPS & GL

IPL is 10 years old already and it makes me feel old as well. MI won the title after being on the top of the table and they have won it thrice now. So CSK already have a task in their hand when they come in next year after the ban.

Most impressed young players of the season are Rishab Pant, Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Rashid Khan, Krunal Pandya,

Following are some of the highlights in this IPL:

Yuvi show in the first match of the IPL, it's always good to see him bat when he's in form. 63 from just 27 balls and that was his only best innings this year so far. Hope he does well in the upcoming champions trophy.

Smith and Rahane again after the test series, but this time they played together and had a good partnership to win their first game against MI, where Smith finished the game with Dhoni at the other end.

This year KKR experimented with their opening combinations a lot, Lynn opened with Ghambir and they chased 184 within 15 overs without losing a wicket. It was as they say Lynnsane.

Rishab Pant after his father's death played brilliantly against RCB and almost won it for DD.  And, his other innings if 97 to win a game against GL. Samson and Pant chased down 209 with 2.3 overs to spare. He's a future to watch out for.

Samson hits the first century of this season against RPS, but it was Morris at the end of the innings who stole the show with 38 runs from just 9 balls, it was insane.

IPL and hat-tricks are always amazing, we don't see hat-trick often in cricket, but we see it more often in IPl. And, in fact there were two hat-tricks in a same day, first by Badree, still RCB lost. Then, from Tye and GL won their first match of the season against RPS. And, the third hat-trick by Unadkat against SRH in the last over to win it for RPS.

Vohra's 95 single-handedly took KXI to victory against SRH, but Bhuvi took his wicket and a 5 for to won that game. And, for SRH two Afgan players, Rashid and Nabi appeared for the first time in IPL history.

Dhoni, after a lot of criticism played a blinder against SRH to win the game, 64 from 31. And, finished the game with a boundary of the last ball, I just wished he faced the last over in the finals as well. And, he took 18 runs of Bhuvi's over, who haven't conceded more than 10 in the death overs before that match.

DD's batting was inconsistent throughout the season. One day they were chasing 200, other day allout for less than 100. Against MI, they lost 6-24 chasing 143, before Rabada and Morris pulled of something special and took the team near the end line before Bumrah ruined it. That was a great partnership.

RCB had a terrible season, every year it happens to one team. They bowled out for a lowest total 49 on the same day where the made history for highest total a few years before. Also, they made another 98 while chasing. It's hard to believe Kohli, ABD, Gayle, Watson all failed together.

As usual we had another super over in IPL this time between MI and Gl. Where Bumrah bowled probably the best over of the season against the two power hitters Finch and McCullum to defend 11 runs even after conceding a no-ball and wide. Bumrah's been the best this year for MI more than Malinga.

Stokes, the most expensive player played like one this year. He scored a century after coming in at 10/3 and won the game for RPS. And, good contribution in most of the other games and won the MVP of this year.

Another revelation this year is RPS's Tripathi, who batted brilliantly after opening the innings. He took the team to victory with his 93 in another insane match where RPS won it in the last over after being in a position of needing just 27 from 44 balls.

After Lynn injured, Narine started opening with Gambhir and he was dealing with only boundaries. When Lynn was fit he joined Narine and in a match against RCB they scored most runs in the powerplay, beating CSK's previous best. And, Narine scored fastest 50 in IPL.

The Finals was absolute thriller, after playing poorly MI almost pulled of a miracle to win the game.

Anyway change of fortunes for RPS and GL, GL ended up in RPS's place this year and RPS almost won the IPL where they just avoided the last place previous year. Anyway bye bye RPS and GL, look forward to seeing Dhoni and Raina together in yellow jerseys next year. Waiting for CSK.

lPL 9 - Oh no RCB, not again

Another IPL season comes to an end with an unexpected twist, SRH, becoming the champions for the first time. This time we had two new teams GL and RPS, instead of the most-loved and most hated team in the IPL CSK and RR.

SRH, the only foreign captain standing at the end of the season, at the start we had two, but Miller was replaced, Warner lifts the cup. Warmer single-handedly took his team to the victory line in most of the games, supported by his bowling unit. Bhuvi was back to form and Nehra kept delivering till he was injured, especially his last over to Dhoni. And, Mustafisur is the find of this season who proved he was a difficult bowler. His yorker to Russel was one of the best delivery of this season. Dhawan's struggled in the beginning, but gained his confidence in the shadow of Warner. And, Yuvi played a few scintillating innings. It was Ben Cutting who had a good day on the finals to get them the cup. Nobody gave them a chance, but they proved they are worth it and happy for Yuvi. CHAMPIONS.

RCB, a team with too many star players like an Avengers team. But, they had a worst bowling line up. Virat was in form of his life scoring almost a 1000 runs supported by ABD. Rahul, surprisingly adapted to T20. And, Gayle was more miss than hit. The team was struggling at the bottom, but it was their inspiring batting led by Kholi placed them at the top. But, they should have won the finals easily. After scoring more than 100 runs without any loss of wickets they choked. Third time in the finals and all while chasing, not good. It was ABD and Watson's fault this time. RCB deserved to win, feeling sad for Virat again after WT20. DESERVED TO BE CHAMPIONS.

GL, a new team with half of the CSK players led by Raina really surprised everyone and finished on top in the league. It had quite a few big hitters Mac, Smith, Finch and Raina. Also, Bravo's death bowling won them a few games especially against DD where Morris went bonkers scoring fastest fifty of this season. His slow yorker to bowl Miller in their first match was one of the best deliveries, next to Fizz's yorker. It was like straight out of EA Sports. A fantastic debut season for a new team and Raina's not as good as he was while wearing yellow jersey. EXCELLENT DEBUT.

KKR, once again they qualified for the playoffs after missing out last year. With a settled side they won few matches comfortably, but Uthappa wasn't as good as he was in last two years and Narine as well. Surprisingly Yusuf played well most in most of the matches. And, Russell was their match winner and they really struggled to win once they lost him to injuries. Still hate this team for Gauti's attitude, but he proves he still has it to make to Indian side. USUAL BUSINESS.

DD, with a bunch of fresh talents and a new captain DD started of poorly by getting bowled for 98 against KKR. Zak told it was one bad day and they proved it after winning few games continuously which they haven't done in the past few years. But, they blow their chances by chopping and changing their winning combination in every match. DeKock, Morris, Zak and Nair were good, Shreyas Iyer disappointed after a fantastic IPL8, so is Negi who was the costliest player of this season who didn't even make it to the playing eleven in most of the games. Better luck next time and . WASTED OPPORTUNITY.

MI, so last year champions didn't even qualify for the playoffs much like KKR last year. They were on and off for most of the season. Rohit was fantastic during chases. Hardik Pandya was biggest flop in their team, but his brother Krunal Padiya is a find of the season for them. Their batting failed miserably in few games which cost them a place in the playoffs. Pollard scored a fastest fifty in his 100th match, but not much of a contribution in other matches. I still have a soft corner for this team cos of SACHIN. UNLUCKY.

RPSG, right from the team's name to jersey color everything looked funny, but they started strongly with a win against the defending champions MI. Everyone thought this new Pune team's fate will be different from the older one. Dhoni, who likes to play all the matches with the same eleven was forced to change his side every match due to the injuries. It was funny to see every foreign players get injured one after the other. Overall a disaster season, but their last match was interesting. Fighting to save some pride to avoid the last spot, Dhoni scored 23 from the last over to win the game. It was like a bad movie finishing with an interesting twist and promising a sequel. Will the sequel be good, let's wait and see. DISASTER DEBUT.

KX1P, another disaster season, they relied heavily on the M&M and both of them were out of form. After handing over the captaincy to Vijay, the team did play some better cricket, but it was too late. Their campaign never took off just like RPS and finished last. I hope they pick some good players in the auction next year. BAD TEAM.

Impressed players are Fizz, K L Rahul, Chahal, Morris, Krunal Pandya, M Ashwin, Zampa, Stoinis. Disappointing players are Naman Ojha, Uthappa, Negi, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ashwin, Dhoni, M&M.

Since there will be a fresh auction next year, I hope the teams like KX1 and RPS pick some best players. Just one more year and CSK will be back, the whistles will be back, but will Dhoni be back as well?

WT20 2016 - India over steps, West Indies triumphs

Well, 2016 WT20 in India and everyone thought India is favorite to win the cup this time and given the current form in T20s this year I thought it's true. But, the very first match proved us wrong. After bowling out NZ for a paltry 126, we failed to chase it down. It was a remarkable collapse and NZ assessed the condition well and played with three spinners and Indian team played like they have never played spin before. Dhoni fought till the end, but it was too much even for him. Now, the expectation changed from winning the cup to qualifying for the semis.

Then, the biggest game of any ICC tournament, INDIA vs PAKISTAN. Rain threatened to stop the match, we had an 18 over a side match and once again India bowled well. But, again our batting threatened to collapse, thanks to solid Kohli who had it under control and steered India to victory in front of his idol, God of cricket, Sachin. Kohli saluting to Sachin and Sachin acknowledging was my favorite part of the match. And, with that win India's campaign was back on track.

The most thrilling and entertaining match of this tournament was, sadly, India vs Bangladesh's league match. After making a modest total, Bangladesh was excellent in the chase until the last three balls of the match. Mushfiqur and Mahmadullah getting out in two successive deliveries going for a big shot when they needed just two from three balls was a brain freeze. And, the last ball was excellent from Pandya and as usual Dhoni kept his cool and sprinted towards the stump to run-out Mustafizur and finish the match. And, his stumping of Shabbir was one of the best stumping I have ever seen. And, with that we kept our hopes alive. But, I would have liked to have a game of this kind against a better side than BAN. And, India made it to the semis with a win against AUS with another Kohli special. He played clean and proper cricketing shots along with some amazing running with Dhoni.

On the other side, Group A, it was mostly high scoring games. It was Gayle storm against the ENG and they chase down 180 runs comfortably and that was his only major contribution. Then, SA starts their campaign with hitting 229 against ENG and to everyone's surprise ENG thrashed Steyn & co to chase it down comfortably. Thanks to Roy, Root and Butler. And, AFG almost repeated the same against SA after AFG's Dhoni, Seshzad's amazing innings in that match. But, they managed to win their last game against the table toppers WI (world champions now). The best moment of that match must be when Gayle joined the AFG team celebration after their victory. And, the tournament's other favorites SA and the defending champions SL exits after the first round when ENG stunned everyone.

NZ after playing excellent cricket throughout the league phase was knocked out by ENG. After defending any kind of total in the league, they failed to defend against the ENG, Roy once again gave an excellent start and took the game away from NZ. And, in the second semis, WI chases down 193 quite easily after letting Simmons go on and on by taking his wicket in two new balls. No-Balls can change the match. It was a convincing performance with the bat from India for the first time in this tournament, with the openers getting runs, Rahane replacing Dhawan. And, as usual Kohli was in sublime touch, even got a wicket and bowled an over without a boundary, but it wasn't enough. Even though India got rid of Gayle and Samuels cheaply within the power-play. When Indians took bulk of their scoring by running, these guys were hitting the balls out of the ground easily. But, still you can't hate these guys even they knocked out India.

India never looked like a side to win the cup, but they looked completely different before the start. They played poor cricket, but for one man Kohli, huffed and puffed into the semis and a well deserved team beats them in the semis. And, another excellent find was Bumrah and his death bowling, it was exiting to see him bowl those yorkers consistently. And, the oldest-young man Nehra, amazing and consistent throughout the tournament. So India deserves this, but I really feel sad for Kohli, I hope he gets his cup soon.

And, the finals was a terrific game between two worthy teams and a game worthy of the finals. Samuels stepping up on a big day and won his second MoM in a World Cup final, but everyone will just remember the finish. 6, 6, 6, 6 in the last over of a World Cup final is beyond imagination. Brathwaite, you beauty,  now I get to know why you were most wanted in the IPL and feel sorry for Stokes. That was an unbelievable finish to the world cup and WI lift the cup for the second time and their third title this year after U19 team and Women's team this year. Great year for WI, well played and we don't mind losing to such a side. And, I don't think we would have loved any other side as much as WI after knocking us out.

Sehwag - A man who doesn't believe in Singles

Virender Sehwag, a phenomenon in Indian Cricket has finally calls it a day. A batsman who played fearless cricket throughout his career and gave so much joy to every cricket fans.

My first memory of Sehwag was way back in an ODI match against Aussies at home under Dada's captaincy. Sehwag won the MoM award for his contribution with both bat and ball. He scored a fifty while batting down the order and also picked up three wickets. I still remember watching that game in my neighbour's home and remembered this guy's name.

When Sehwag was back in Indian team as an opener, the first thing that made me like him instantly was his batting stance, he looked exactly like Sachin. During his initial days it was always a confusion when both of them are batting together. As a Sachinist this made me a fan of him easily. And, he and Sachin must be one of the most dangerous opening pair in ODIs.

He changed the way test matches are played and made them entertaining. If he gets going he will be near his hundred before lunch. Few people are struggling to maintain his test strike rate (82.23) in ODIs. He will be the only guy who tries to hit a six when he was 195 or 295, nobody will even think about it. Only Sehwag can do those, and he won't mind getting out as well. When Viru opened with Dravid in an innings they were very near to break the record for highest opening partnership, but he got out. Sehwag didn't even feel about missing the record because he wasn't even aware of it. That's Sehwag, he never really cared about records.

And, when he started opening with Ghambir in all formats, they were like Rabne Bana De Jodi. My most favourite innings in test will be the triple century against SA in Chennai, he was playing it like an ODI. Also his eighty odd runs while chasing against England which made team India to believe themselves to chase more than 380 in that match. And, most of his ODI innings he played, if he was in the crease for more than twenty overs, it would be absolute entertainment. Hitting first ball to boundary in five consecutive matches in 2011 worldcup.

And, he sometimes wins matches for India with his bowling as well. One of his best must be against S.A in a champions trophy where India pulled victory out of nowhere. Also, in another match against Sri Lanka in an Asia cup which made them qualify to the finals. In test, against Aussies in Perth where he bowls Gilly around his legs which brought a famous victory for India. Also, in that same match he insisted then captain to give one more over to Ishant when he was bowling one of the best spells in test cricket to Ponting. And, Ishant gets the wicket of Ponting the very first ball.

During a test match against Kiwis in New Zeland, there was a guy with a board saying 'Sehwhack', when he was hitting the bowlers all over the park toward the end of the day's play. And, he immediately gets out, the guy changed the board from 'Sehwhack' to 'Idiot'. Yes he makes you think he's an idiot for throwing away his wicket when he was batting so well, but that's how he plays. The only player who never changed the way he played right from his debut till the end of his career.

My only regret is he didn't break Lara's record for highest individual score in tests, I believed only he could break it. It's really unfair that he didn't get a farewell series, he really deserved it. And, just like the way he played he will never mind about this as well.

The most relaxed cricketer who keeps humming songs while batting in any situation and gives nightmares to the bowlers. Bye bye Viru, you are rare and we will miss you.

IPL 8 - CSK turning out to be Srilanka of IPL

IPL 8 is over, once again it was CSK in the finals and once again they lost it. The new Champions are MI and now they have done it twice now. CSK is making this as a habit, losing in the finals. But, they were very inconsistent and it was a surprise to see them play in the finals. It's all Dhoni's fault I would say, persisting with out-of-form players like Jadeja, reluctant to change the combination and trying out new players like Pathan or Abott. And, Raina was not in his usual touch, he usually transforms into a superman once he wears the yellow this was very off season. But, Nehra ji surprised everyone with some inspiring performances.

MI on the other hand, started with 4 consecutive defeats just like last year, they were at the bottom of the table for sometime. To everyone's surprise they were the first team to reach the finals and to win it. Simmons and the pace attack Malinga and McClenaghan played a big part in their revival.

Some good moments in this IPL for me,

As usual CSK starts with a thriller in their very first game against DD, where Albie ex-CSKian almost pulled this for DD. With 6 to win he hits a four which lands few inches inside to give CSK a winning start and they were unbeaten for first 4 games until they met RR.

And, CSK's big hitter was Mac's this season and they depended on him heavily. In the match against SRH he hit a brilliant  100 and Dhoni in that match zoomed from 0 to 49, when Mac at the other end scored just four more runs (81 to 85). That was the best of Dhoni we saw this season.

There were many spectacular catches this season as well especially from Bravo, Simmons and Warner. The best one belongs to Southee and K Nair's catch against KXIP to get rid of Bailey, followed by Bravo's one-handed leap at the boundary to get rid of Watson.

MI was playing bad when CSK were at their best. Mac and Smith hammered MI at their home ground and chased their target 183 in just 100 balls. Wish, CSK have played similar to this in the finals as well.

MI's first win came against RCB, in that match when umpire warned Pollard not to talk too much with the opposite team he came with a plaster on his mouth. And, Gayle played an un-Gayle like innings which worked in MI's favor. Then, came ABD towards the end and who almost took the away from MI with a sensational 43 from 11 deliveries.

Bravo, apart from winning purple cap, he was brilliant in the field for CSK who took many unbelievable catches, but his ran-out Kohli during his own bowling was fantastic which was the turning point of that match. He showed unbelievable reflex just like the other day when he took Watson's catch near the boundary rope which was a turning point in that match.

This year's find of the IPL is Shreyas Iyer, kid who opened for DD and played fearless cricket who scored bulk of the runs for their team. I just hope he continues to play the same way in the next season as well and not a one-season-wonder like many others we have seen in the past years.

Sarfaraz Khan, another lucky kid who was 9 or 10 years old when IPL begun now shares the dressing room with the likes of ABD, Kohli and Gayle, with ABD walking off the pitch with his hand around this kid's shoulder. He played on good innings against RR, looking forward to this kid's batting next season.

CSK's biggest flop of this season must be our Sir Jaddu except for one good game with the ball and Negi played much better than him. He batted and bowled before Jaddu in most of the games.

Just like list of spectacular catches we saw too many dropped catches as well. That too from the fielders who took many blinders. Bravo, ABD, Duplessis, Mac, all these players dropped atleast one catch.

RCB's biggest enemy of this season was Rain, which affected most of their games. And, KX1 took advantage of it in a 10 over game and won it which was only their second victory also many games washed out which costs RCB second spot in the table.

Defending champions KKR was knocked out from the first round itself. And, in their match against MI which they choked in the last over. It was a surprise move from MI to bowl Pollard to defend 12 runs who haven't bowled any over in that match. He took the wicket of Yusuf in the very first ball who was playing well and bowled three dot balls to Piyush to win the game for MI.

Among the seniors Shewag and Yuvi continue to flop and Zak after missing most of the games he came back good. Among the foreign players Maxwell was biggest flop of the season along with his team.

Before the start of the IPL, I have predicted the top four teams and to my surprise the same top four teams qualified exactly in same order.

And, this time played some game online in twitter called vetti-betting. It started with 100 players and people get eliminated and I managed to play till the end. Look forward to playing and win some prizes next year. The thing is, I don't even any one of those 100 players, but many funny tweets in this hashtag #smk_betting.

I hope at least next year CSK wins the IPL, just reaching the finals is really not enough. Dhoni must not be too reluctant to change the combination and they must pick some fresh players in the auction.

Worldcup 2015 - Different script, familiar ending.

Another Worldcup comes to an end and once again Australia are the champions. Their fifth Worldcup and they have done it in five different continents, wherever Worldcup was held. They are world champions in cricket for sure, now why don't they just retire from playing in Worldcup, sigh.

Since my childhood this is the first Worldcup which didn't feature Sachin. Really missed him and looking at the stats I wonder how much he would have scored, who was always at his best when it comes to Worldcup.

As an Indian team fan I'm more surprised than anything else. To be frank I didn't even think they would cross quarterfinals. I expected them to win some four games and will be placed as a 4th team in the pool side and lose to some strong team from Pool A. The reasons are, we are not strong when we play away and also our bowlers failing consistently. The tri-series we played before the Worldcup just proved my points.

After the WeWontGiveItBack and Mauka Mauka campaign, I was wondering whether this will be our first loss in Worldcup against Pak. But, we were fantastic, played like a champion or it may be some jinx which Pak cannot break. Whatever, it was a right game for India to begin the campaign and their first victory in Australia in three months. The second game was against the mighty SA and we played even better confirming we are totally a different team from what we were in the last three months. Winning SA must be one of our highs in this Worldcup.

It was Raina’s innings against Pak and Rahane’s against SA which made all the difference to our total and everyone kept contributing in every match. Then, it was little tough game against Zim, but Raina and Dhoni made sure we win all the Pool games and finish on top. All other games were just a formality. It was an unbelievable achievement to finish on top winning all the games and especially bowling out all the teams. Our bowlers came to party big time, especially our pacers which was really unbelievable. Shami and Yadav were brilliant where Mohit was providing good support. And, the surprise was Ashwin, who usually struggles away from India, but he was brilliant throughout the tournament.

Quarterfinals against Bangladesh was almost one-sided except for few controversial decisions. And, the semifinals against the champions Aussies were forgettable. We played like how we did against them before the Worldcup. Nothing went in our way, we couldn't bowl out our opponent for the first time, let them score more than 300, lost wickets in power play. If only we could have restricted them below 300 by getting out Johnson early and if only Dhawan didn't play that shot, things could have been different. But, it was a good tournament for India, they did surprise me. Dhoni once again proved we won't get a better captain for India to replace him in the ODI.

This Worldcup was mostly dominated by batsmen. Two double centuries and 38 centuries were scored. And, ABDV was hitting all over the park even though he didn't score a double and Sanga was absolutely brilliant, scoring four consecutive centuries. Among the bowlers Starc, man of the tournament, was brilliant along with Boult.

We had a few close encounters, some of them were involving associates. The game of the tournament is the first semifinal between SA and NZ, followed by AUS vs NZ’s league match, which Aus almost snatched the victory from NZ.

Among the associates Ireland were brilliant, Afghanistan were promising. England’s campaign were disastrous, Srilanka and SA’s campaign were disappointing. Pakistan’s campaign were mixed, after losing badly against WI they came back strongly to win  against SA. Also, they played well against Aussies in the quarterfinals. Wahab Riaz's spell was brilliant in that game. Bangladesh were lucky. NZ were unlucky to end up as a runner after a wonderful campaign. Aussies were as usual brilliant and made everyone to hate them even more by winning the Worldcup again and again.

This Worldcup also saw few great players bid adieu to this format. Sanga, Mahela, Misbah, Afridi (who can come back again), Vettori and Clarke, among them Clarke had a memorable send off. Winning the Worldcup at home, he couldn't ask more. It was sad ending for Misbah, who couldn't make even one century in this format. And, a very bad last game for the SriLankan greats.

It was a memorable tournament for many reasons even though the result wasn't the one I expected. I just hope Dhoni plays the next Worldcup. Winning it in the Lord's just like Kapildev will be the perfect ending for his wonderful career.

Border Gavaskar Trophy - Goodbye Dhoni, Welcome Virat.

'Superman' Smith

Border-Gavaskar trophy, even though it isn't an Ashes, but it has quite a good followers. It has produced numerous nail-biting tests over the years. This time around it was an emotional series for Australians after Phil Hughes's loss. Kudos to them to bounce back and win the series 2-0.

This series belongs to 'Superman' Smith who not only captained three tests, but also scored over 700 runs with a century in each test. Our bowlers had no clue on how to bowl to him or for any other batsmen including Ryan Harris. And, for India it was our new captain Virat Kohli who was back in form, after a disaster in England. As a captain he did his best in the first test and almost won that match.

We also found a two more solid batsmen other than Virat who can bat overseas 'Well-left' Vijay and Rahane and both of them were consistent in England as well. And, the biggest disappointment is Pujara, who's failing consistently overseas, but we can't replace him with Raina for sure. Dhawan also having trouble overseas who might lose his position to Rahul, who stunned everyone by the way, he played in his debut had a good comeback in his next test and proved justice to his selection with a century.

All the bowlers, Yadav, Aaron, Shami, Bhuvi, gone from bad to worse except Ashwin. Its very disappointing to see them leak runs like a T20 match in tests and their inability to get of the tail quickly is the real pain in the ass, which allows the opposition to get into a good position even after a bad start. Its a better series for Ashwin considering his own standards in his previous overseas tours.

The series result could have been different if only India didn't collapse in the first test after Vijay's wicket. If only Rohit or Virat or Saha played little more sensibly. But, we can take it, at least they didn't surrender under three or four days like their other overseas tests recently. Its also nice to see them go for a victory and then lose rather than surrendering without even trying. And, also in the second test if only they got rid of the tail soon and didn't allow them to get a 100 run lead in the first innings the result could have been different. It could have been 2-0 in our favor.

I thought it's going to be another whitewash, but they avoided it with a draw in the third test which happened to be the last test for Dhoni. Eventhough, I am not a fan of Dhoni, the test batsman, but no one can complain about his captaincy with the kind of bowlers he had. He even took team India to No. 1 in Test which was like a dream now. They are as low as seventh position now. He did his best, now its time of Kohli to rebuild and win some matches overseas.

And, during the fourth tests we all came to know there was nothing wrong with Dhoni, its only our bowlers. The fourth test also had a similar result where India fought it out for another draw and 2-0 doesn't look bad at all after those 4-0.

Positives from this series is Indian have found at least three solid batsmen in Tests, Virat, Vijay and Rahane and also a new test captain. But, unless our bowlers step-up we won't see any different results. This series also saw the end of
our most loved (hated) captain in tests. Goodbye Dhoni, you always gave your best, you will be missed and all the best to Virat, Anushka unaku than.

Playing It My Way - Well Played, as usual

 
Saaachinnnn.... Sachin.... Sachin's auto biography Playing it my way is the last book I finished reading. It was wonderful to get soaked in those memories once again.

I was/am/ one of the biggest fan of Sachin, so I was really excited when this book was announced and I pre-ordered it right away. And, flipkart guys were amazing, they delivered it to me the very next day. When I got this book I immediately stopped reading the other book and started right away.

It was a trip down to my own memory lane. You almost remember all those matches which was mentioned in that list. Also, you remember when and where did you see those matches or what were you doing those matches. Also, even Sachin sledges or atleast provokes players like Steve Waugh while they was batting.

I feel he avoided most of the controversies and played it with a straight bat except for that Chappel story. And, he felt really bad after losing when he was the captain. Mostly those matches they should have won easily.

We all know Sachin is very sentimental, but he is more than what we think. He didn't even see the 2011 worldcup winning hit by Dhoni and also made sure Sehwag also doesn't see it. He was praying inside the dressing room along with Sehwag because it worked when India played Australia in quarterfinal so he wanted to do the same during the final as well. In some other tour he visited some restaurant before a game and he played well. So, he continued to visit the same restaurant for next four days, with same friends, sits in the same table and orders the same food.

He is a foodie. He knows where can he get a good food in each and every country he visits especially Indian food. Like Boys Senthil I think he must have maintained a diary with "Information" to help all those new players in every country they visit :).


And, I think he never played any series without battling some injuries. He used to fly to Srilanka in middle of a series to get some medicines from a doctor who promised to save from his pain. Its really amazing that he survived for 25 years with all those injuries. Name some part of his body he will tell the series name in which he had an injury in that part.


To become a Sachin Tendulkar you need to train and work hard like Sachin Tendulkar. Its hard really really hard. Hats off to you Sachin for giving us more joys for over twenty years when you were in pain for most of the time. Every Sachin fan must read this to have a trip down the memory lane. And, will get to know a lot of things about him.

Once again this book just proved me, why you were, you are and you will be the God of cricket forever.

The Big Test - Big Flop

Ennachu..Cricket vilayandom..First match draw pannom..Second match jaichom..Apram ella catchum vittoma..Cook Bell ellam form ku vanthutangala..Ithu onnum prachana illa da IPL vantha itha ellarum maranthiruvanga..

Once again India turned an out of form team to winning ways. And, all those struggled players to get back in form. Every struggling team and out of form players are always one India series away from getting back to form.


When was the last time we saw India playing a Five match test series? Definitely not one I can remember. This was really Big Test for both Cook and Dhoni. Cook after losing Ashes and series against Srilanka. For Dhoni, India haven't won a single test outside in the past few years.

India's performance in this series 1st test - Good, Second Test - Better, Third Test - Bad, Fourth Test - Worse and in Final Test - Worst. It would have been wonderful if it was another two-test series like the last two against S.A and NZ. We could have won a series against England in England.

After the first test, it looked really good since India crossed 300 twice in a single test which they failed to do even once in their last tour playing four tests. And, the second test was even better they actually won a test in Lord's after 28 years. Just when everyone was wondering is this real Team India? Is that really Ishant? The actual well-known Team India shown up during the fourth.

So the so-called next Dravid, next Sachin, next Laxman failed consistently. Once again all the media already have put enough pressure on them saying Next-Dravid, Next-Sachin, etc. They still need some time to prove themselves and we should let them play freely without this next-xxx pressure I guess. But, not only in batting, we miss them in slips. Too many catches are getting dropped in the slips. So, we need next-Dravid, next-Laxman in slips as well.

The biggest problem for India in overseas is the opening pair. I think we are yet to cross a fifty in the past three to four years. Sehwag-Gambir, Vijay-Dhawan, Vijay-Ghambir all these are failing again and again. And, I don't think we have any better options.

Bhuvi's performance was the only positive in this series, even though he was tired during the last two tests. Not only in bowling he also proved himself in batting. One of the best Indian batsman of this series. And, Ishant's performance in the second innings of Lord's. Also, Dhoni batting was really good who doesn't bother about the techniques and all.

The last time we lost 4-0 and this time its 3-1, so team India improved a little, very little. But, the last two tests were their new low. I am sure they will bounce back during the next Australia tour, that's what we fans were always hoping for since 2011.

IPL 7 - A Look Back

IPL 7 comes to an end with KKR winning the trophy second time in three years. This year's IPL was successful more than I actually expected, after the spot fixing scam which has happened last year and few matches were out of India, but still people love IPl because its entertainment, entertainment, entertainment.

A lot of things have changed from last year, new look teams, new champions, no CSK in the finals, no Gayle storm, etc. These are some of the best moments from this IPL for me.

The M&M show during the first leg of the IPL. Max and Miller were unstoppable in Dubai and KingsXI were winning every match. They started with a bang chasing over 200 against the other kings CSK.

RCB started off well even without Gayle, but their season derailed by one stunning catch from Chris Lynn which not only made RCB lose that game which was in their pocket also started a series of losses for them.

Again one more KKR and RR game went into super overs. Last time Yusuf smashed their mystery bowler Mendis to win the game. This time Steve Smith played very very sensibly against their current mystery spinner Narine. He didn't try to slog to win, played very sensibly to take two runs and win the match.

ABD vs Steyn, repeat of what happened a few years ago. ABD tearing apart Steyn who batted all alone to win a game of RCB. For me the shot of the tournament is ABD moving across the stumps and sweeping a delivery from outside off over fine leg for six in that over.

Miracle Match 1, KKR the champions started their campaign very poorly, especially Gambir with three ducks in a row and they won a match because of that miracle from Lynn. When Uthappa opened with Gambir things started changing for them. They were on course to chase a target against RR that too scored over 100 for the opening partnership, then an epic collapse happened, losing six wickets for less than six runs which includes a Hat-trick from a 42-year-young Tambe. I don't think even Pakistan can collapse like this.

A real fight on the field between Pollard and Starc which was too good to watch. Starc tries to follow Pollard with the ball, then Pollard throws his bat towards the bowler it just slipped otherwise it could have been even more ugly.

RR needed 65 runs to win from 24 balls against RCB with Steve Smith and Faulkner at the crease and they chased it with seven balls to spare. Dinda once again proved why he is God.

Yuvi after a disastrous world cup final game, he struggled most parts of the IPL as well. But, he was on form for at-least three games which were worth watching especially two hat-trick of sixes in a match against SRH.

Kings XI's is the master of scoring over 200 runs in the first innings and also to chase over 200 runs twice, first time against CSK and then against SRH. In the second match Vohra played brilliantly who was one of the retained player, but didn't play for a long time. After trying Pujara and Mandeep to open with Sehwag, they finally gave chance to Vohra who just proved why he was retained.

IPL always showcases some of the best catches and this man, Pollard's will be one among them who gets his name in that list year after year. This time he just outdid Lynn's spectacular catch with his catch to dismiss Kevon Cooper. This is the best catch of this IPL.

Uthappa was sensational for KKR which just turned their fortunes in this tournament. Only a second Indian Player to get orange cap and first orange cap holder to finish the tournament as champions. He scored 10 consecutive scores of forty or more until he failed in the finals. I wish he continues his form for our Indian team as well.


Miracle Match 2, KKR against SRH, KKR not only ended the SRH's hopes of qualifying into the playoffs they also won with a high net run rate which made them into the top two in the points table. The miracle in this match was Yusuf Pathan's innings of 72 from 22 balls, which includes fastest IPL fifty in fifteen balls.

Miracle Match 3, MI just repeated of what KKR did the previous day in their match against RR to score 195 in 14.4 balls. Corey Anderson finally played a good innings and scored 95, Rayudu's cameo of 30 from 10, but the best part was Tare hitting his first ball to six to win the game and take MI into the playoffs. A match which will be remembered for making Rahul Dravid show his disappointment on the field. This is the best match of the IPL.

In the eliminator Sehwag played a blinder and scored a century which helped KXI score more than 200 once again against CSK, but it was Raina who stole the show with his 85 of just 27 balls who almost took the game away from KXI before he got run out. This is the best innings of this IPL.

And, in the final which was completely dominated by Indian players, Saha made a brilliant hundred, first hundred in an IPL final who was well supported by Vohra. But, Pandey played innings of his life just like what Bisla did against CSK to win the final and Piyush Chawla hitting a six of Johnson and a four of Awana to win the game.


The players who impressed are Uthappa, Raina, Bhuvi, Axar, Vohra, Chahal, Maxwell, Smith, Duminy, Tambe, Karun. And, the players who disappointed are Kohli, Gayle, Ashwin, Pieterson, Husse.

And, this IPL was completely dominated by the Indians. Orange cap to Uthappa, Purple Cap to Mohit and more Indian players in the top 10 of that list especially Bhuvi. Best emerging player Axar, looking forward to see him in Indian colors against Bangladesh and also an Indian captain winning the IPL again. I hate this guy Gambir, but still well played KKR.

Cricket Cricket Cricket Everywhere Everytime

Cricket, the only game we have played it in every possible ways and in every possible places. Every person who plays cricket must have been to many places in and out of his area. And, I have been to so many places and met so many people.

It all started inside my home with my dad's brother when I was 2nd or 3rd standard. He is the one who introduced cricket to me and I still remember my first 'Power' bat my dad bought me.

Then, started playing with my friends in front space of my house and almost every house in that street. Each house has its own rules for getting out and scoring runs. One pitch with one hand, leaving the ball thrice consecutively, of course if you hit out of the wall, etc., all counted as wicket. Then, whole Perur will assemble in a school near my home to play cricket on all holidays. Even within that school we have many complex rules and it will be crowded always. Like Cricinfo updating score for any match at any given time, there will be some group playing there always.

Then we formed a team and started playing matches for some prize amount with other area guys. We formed, reformed again and again many times. I lost the count on number of times we have formed  a team. We moved to actual grounds as well, even though it was not so big. We all moved from Rubber ball and Tennis ball to Cork Ball.

Between all these, we used to play Top at a particular season every year. Everyone will forget cricket for few days and will be busy spinning tops. No one knows the exact month, but the whole area will be playing for few days. I still don't know who decides the season. Nowadays I don't even see anyone playing that, it's even hard to see a Top.

We played inside my friend's home with Smiley balls, at the roof top of my friends houses with plastic balls. Even with a Hammer instead of a bat sometimes with my friend, also with badminton racquet and shuttlecock instead of bat and ball. With our tuition note and paper ball on a rainy day and caught by our tuition master for playing inside the tuition center. Traveling in a minidor vehicle to the grounds because our team captain owned one, but the opposite teams were like "So you guys added a minidor driver into your team to make a playing eleven" :). During college days used to visit hostel to play cricket daily even bunked classes to play cricket. And, there was a rivalry between our IT and CT department.

At one point wherever we play cricket we will be interrupted by someone from that area and stop us from playing cricket. Some old lady or old man will come shouting towards us and we will stop playing in that ground. After joining a company I didn't play much. For a few days before coming to Chennai we were playing early morning. And, started playing in my new room also in front of our itself as usual with some bizarre rules. That too stopped now.

It's been a while since I played cricket. It happens always, but somehow I will play again. Playing cricket is always fun and have given so many sweet memories.  I have mentioned only few places here and type of cricket we played here. We have played in many other places in many different styles. Even had many fights and arguments within our friends. I think everyone who plays cricket must have done many of these, playing in bizarre places with bizarre rules, nothing can beat the fun it gives.

The URN Returns - Brought to Australia by Johnson & Johnson

5-0

The Aussies must be singing 

You hit me once
I hit you back
You gave a kick
I gave a slap

and the revenge is complete.
 
We have two different test series in cricket, one the Ashes, two the rest of all other test series. There isn't a huge turnout for the latest series which was between the top two teams in the world, India and South Africa, which was also the farewell test for one of the legend, even after they allowed the entry free. But, the Ashes had a fantastic crowd for all the tests. Not only England and Australia, people from all over the world follows the Ashes. This time the return Ashes happened too early, for the first time two Ashes in the same year. Aussies who were humiliated in England were looking for revenge and get the Urn back in their home.

And, the revenge is complete and they complete it in a dominating style, completely one-sided series. Yet another whitewash, 5-0, by the Aussies. They were not at the receiving end this time and this is not the first time they have white washed England, but this was unexpected. This is the Aussies we know. Maybe the Aussies we don't want our team to face. Everyone was making fun of Sir Ian Botham for predicting a 5-0 favoring England, at-least he got the half of his prediction right. It's very early to say the Aussies of old time are back, but definitely England were no match to Aussies. Let's wait for the results of their next tour to South Africa.None of the teams has won an away test last year, so not just India every team struggles to win outside their home. For that matter, India really played well against South Africa.

As Lehman wanted the Aussie people really gave it to Broad right from the start because of his non-walking incident in the previous Ashes series. But, he replied with a five-for in the first test itself. That's the only high point for him in the whole series. They booed him till his last innings at every ground. Johnson broke his toe. Not only to Broad they gave it to everyone. Trott left the team after the first test, Swann retired midway, overall a terrible series for England. In the first test Clarke sledged Anderson "Get ready for a f***king broken arm" which really set the tone for the series and the Aussies never looked back.

All five tests looked same, England lost bad, lost terribly, totally lost, completely lost, etc. And, Aussies did it with a same playing eleven which was amazing, considering the injury prone Harris and Watson lasted for five consecutive tests. Losing by 150 runs was their best performance of the series. After the terrible first test, I thought England may bounce back like they did against us in the second test, but they couldn't in the second test as well. Aussies had their one hand on the Urn already and a whitewash looked inevitable. 

Aussies gave them more chances, their top order collapsed many times, but England never really seized any opportunity. Time and time again Haddin saved the Aussies more than often with Johnson or Clarke or Smith in his company and proved still a lot of cricket left in him. Rogers and Warner are the other stars with a bat. Clarke and Watson didn't have a great series, but they had at least one good game, unlike Cook or Pieterson or Bell. Even the Sir Jadeja of Australia, Steve Smith had a good series.

And that man Johnson not only picked wickets and scored runs, but also scared the hell out of every English batsmen with his faaaast bowling and his big Mushtache. He picked up 37 wickets in the series. Every England batsmen danced for his tunes like Raina.  He was the star of this series without any doubt along with Haddin. Even his batting average was better than Cook, Bell and Root and almost equal to Pieterson and Carberry. And, in bowling he tops the list with 37 wickets. Harris, Siddle, Lyon everyone played their part really well. Only positive thing for England is they have found a new all-rounder Ben Stokes, only one to score a century for England in this series, also picked up some wickets.

From this series it's proven that every team is a lion in their own den and a cat outside. And, not only for Indian batsmen everyone finds it difficult to face the fast and short pitch bowling. Now looking forward to the Australia's tour of South Africa to know whether Australia are really as good as they looked in this series. Long live test cricket, long live Ashes.