Indian cricket's Juggernaut (Read IPL) has come to a halt. It was bit of overdosage of cricket even to an ardent cricket fan like me. Let me take this oppurtunity to analyse what this year's IPL has done to indian cricket and its players. First off all this year's IPL should have been renamed APL (Australian Premier League) for more than one reason. Both IPLs have been won by teams captained by Australians.(Sadly for Australia both have retired)even coaches for the two teams are Aussies. While Shane Watson was the Last year's player of the tournment, It was Hayden this time with the Orange Cap. Also out of top 5 run getters this year, Three were Australians(Hayden, Gilchrist and Hodge)and only one Indian (Raina) inspite of Indians getting representation of more than 60%.There is nothing much to talk about the performances of indian players this time. Last year we saw the emergence of players like Pathan,Ojha and Jadeja. However theres none this time. Though there were some sparks here and there but not a consistent basis. For me the most valuable players of the tournment are Hayden,Dumminy and Raina (In that Order). I have included Raina and Dumminy for what they have done both with the bat and Ball. Let me take a look at the performance of individual teams starting from the ones at the bottom.
KKR : Even a four year old kid would tell you what went wrong with this high profile team. Even though i dont think Ganguly would have done anything differently but it was literal backstabbing on the part of SRK by announcing a new captain after reaching South Africa. The coach had no faith on ability of Indian Players. Should have encouraged Shukla and Saha who could have delivered among the locals. Their Top Perfomers were 1. Wan Vyk (Unfortunatley he played less matches)2. Brad Hodge and 3. Wridhiman Saha (Not Given many oppurtunities though)
Mumbai Indians: Three Reasons for failure 1. Non Performance of local Lads. This is especially a shame because mumbai is a Ranji Champion and they could not find a good talent. 2. Sachin's Captaincy. Though he thought much ahead of the game but could not implement his plans well as it was not communicated well within the team. Also Malinga's performace dipped as the tournment progressed. He Failed especially on occassions when Sachin expected him to win it for the team. My top performers were 1. JP Dumminy 2. Dwanye Bravo and 3. Bhajji.
Rajasthan Royal: I Still wonder how did Shane Warne manage to win last year's trophy with the team available at his disposal. Yes thanks to Watson,Tanvir and Yusuf they did manage to do the unthinkable.But with Watson and Tanvir not at their disposal it was a foregone conclusion. I Expected much better performace from Yusuf though. My star performers were 1. Jadeja 2. Pathan and 3. Amit singh
Kings's Punjab Eleven: They were done in by non availabilty of Shane Marsh, the highest run getter last season and Brett Lee for most of the initial matches.Also Injury to Jayawardane was big set back as he alone won them a couple of matches. Yuvraj, Sreesanth were big dissappointments. Did not do well in spin department inspite of having quality in Chawla and Powar. Top Three performances are 1. Irfan Pathan 2. Lee and 3. Yuvraj (Especially with the Ball)
Delhi Daredevils: What the hell was Mcgrath doing sitting on the bench. Only God and Sehwag knows.Agreed Nanes was good. Very Good. But should have tried Mcgrath in atleast a couple of games. Even Mahroof got a couple of chances. But not Mcgrath. I just hrd that Mcgrath has taken this to his heart and made himself unavailbale for next year. Pity. Real Pity. Nanes went for 21 against Gilchrist in the Semifinal. I doubt anybody could have done that to Mcgrath
Performace wise 1.Dilshan 2. DE villier and 3. Dinesh Karthik. Was pretty impressed with Nehra though.
Chennai Super Kings: My Favorite Team at the start. Their Decieding factor for winning was Hayden. He Clicked, CSK Won. Was wondering why Oram was in the team inspite of failing regularly. Failure of Albie Morkel was one big factor why CSK could not go thru. I consider Morkel as the best T20 Player.Also Dhoni both with his captaincy and Batsmenship was dissappoiting. Should have been brave enough to bowl murali in the initial overs. Balaji betrayed dhoni on more than couple of occasions. Their Bowling at the dearth was pathetic. Top three Performances were 1. Hayden 2. Raina and 3. Murali . Jakati and Tyagi are interesting prospects. But they should be Tried out in 50 Overs first.
Royal challengers: Mallya created a blunder first in naming Peterson as the captain. His dislike for South African players is well known and you have guys like Kallis,Steyn,Boucher in your team. This Mistake was timely corrected by naming Kumble as the Captain. Kumble's Captaincy and Ross Taylor's Match winning knocks were main reasons for RCB reaching the finals. While most team were set back when some of their foriegn players left mid way to assume national duties, RCB Benefitted by this (Read KP).The reason for their not winning the trophy is Uttappa.Because he lacked intent.Even at the 18th Over he was trying to give Vinay Kumar the strike as if he himself was a tail ender and Vinay an established Batsman. Their Valuable Players were 1. Kallis 2. Kumble and 3. Ross Taylor. Too early to talk about Manish Pandey the only Indian Centurian at the IPL
Deccan Charges: What a Batting Lineup this team has.Just the way i thought about Rajasthan, I still wonder why did they fail last time around. They were sufficiently boosted by the arrival of Symonds at the halfway stage. When Gilchrist was finished with his Maverick hitting, Symonds would arrive. When he got out, Rohit sharma was around to complete the task. This was i believe their winning formula. Fidel Edwards was outstanding initially.Top Performances were 1.Symonds 2. Rohit and 3. D Smith. Suman was impressive at times
My Best Batsman for the tournment is Hayden. Best Bowler is Kumble and Best Alrounder is Rohit sharma
Now the Focus Shifts to the Worldcup. Based on IPL performaces, My Automatic entries to Playing Eleven are Raina,Rohit,Irfan Pathan,RP Singh,Bhajji,Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan. Lets hope for the best and expect the players to give in their best as they did in IPL
