Shackles you break them, yeah! a la "Da Predator"

    48/2(v/s KTK) , 24/2 (MI), 28/3 (DC), 33/3 (CSK)- these are the scores made by RCB within the powerplay and opposing team's bowling looks more dangerous everytime.This has been the sorry story so far for RCB .A problem lies in there, the young Mayank partnered by Dilshan do not seem to enjoy each other's company and  provide a solid platform for the batting to follow and their partnerships have been registered in single digits hitherto - 7 in 12 balls , 0 in 1 , 8 in 12 , 1 in 2. And keep in mind these have been the partnerships while team had to maintain an asking rate of around 8 often while chasing.The batting line-up even though studded with players of different moulds and talent , bow down to this asking rate and get shackled by the pressure.Most of you reading would agree with me , the RCB team faced the same issue during their debut IPL season.

    The game demands a swashbuckling batsman at the top of the order to kick off the momentum and on a consistent basis.Dilshan is a good candidate for this role but he has failed to do it so far.Cheeky and dashing in this role for his national side , he has been pale compared to his world cup form.Apart from a sluggish 59 off 52 against Mumbai , his contribution has been minimal and the striking rate of around 100 (before the KKR match) is poor in this format.Even his bowling has been anything but expensive ,maybe the continual playing without rest being the reason.And Mayank cannot even be blamed , considering he has no prior experience and his age.Moving onto one down ,Virat Kohli , being touted as a future captain , had a sedate start but he has gathered momentum and tuned in good performances over the last 2 games(71 @ 140SR, 35 @ 125).But he is no player to dominate an attack from the word go but its heartening to note his gumption for a fight.And the other shining light being AB who won the first game with a belligerent 54.But the above mentioned performances have been independent and in defeated causes.They have not been able to combine well , one failing while the other clicks. There is not much to speak about the other batsmen , S Tiwary has not been able add power down the order and Pujara , in my opinion is best suited higher up the order.

    What next ? Ruffle up the batting order, change something and lo the pinch hitter theory but that never worked , with Zaheer(really!!) and Asad Pathan( hope this guy doesnt fade out) being sent earlier to beef up the powerplay score.I think they missed a plot here by not testing Saurabh Tiwary at that position.Powerplay hitting doesnt necessarily mean ugly slogging , it calls for the basic techniques as a batsman such as placement and timing,look at Tendulkar.And Tiwary shone at this very position while playing for Mumbai.People might argue here that he blossomed under the auspices of Sachin , and Dilshan might not be the right person to shoulder the responsibility of guiding , honing and encouraging the younger partner up the order.Digressing, in future this should be a must for a senior opening batsman , and it can be advantageous too when the apprentice performs and takes some pressure of the senior.

Summing up the woes - the batting looked constrained.But woah , what a solution the RCB have found - in the form of Christopher Henry Gayle! a.k.a Da Predator (his dreadlocks give him that Predator-look).He may not be hunting down humans and dismembering them but he definitely is hell bent on mauling the bowlers with the characteristic but apparent Jamaican laziness and cool.Its been - He came,He smashed , he smiled his pearly whites.His alienic power to send the cricketing ball across the universe has been well recorded but it came to fore against KKR while scoring 102 off paltry 54 balls.He played and toyed around with supreme confidence , all the while making a point to the west Indies cricket board. Well the West Indies' loss is RCB's gain.Apart from being the aggressor which RCB needed he is a solution in more than one way.The batting line-up is uni-dimensional with only Tiwary being the only left handed batsman until Gayle joined the team.Add to that he can contribute with his wily off spin and he pulled off an athletic catch to dismiss the KKR captain Gautam Gambhir.

    But the RCB's shortcomings doesnt end with Gayle's coming, the bowling performances warrant improvements and changes , well that will make for another analysis.The team is not as balanced as it seems and Daniel let the beard stay on for now.But for now The Royal Challengers have been successful in moving out of the losing rut and look ahead to the encounter with Delhi DareDevils.Let the drinks flow and hey DJ! play some Stir it Up.

Sucker for it :-T

Well , this post should have been my about the final , the dream , the achievement but considering the goosebumps all of us must have felt witnessing the scenes on April 2nd at the Wankhede stadium , I realised I had no words to clothe that feeling .The jubilation , the sheer joy , the raw happiness and pride. How I would trade my 25 years of existence for those moments.Okay , here I go !, this was the very reason I didnt post after the final. Congratulations to the World Cricket Champions - Team India.

Moving beyond the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, back to the dreary life , I thought this IPL I shall not follow , I didnt want to spoil the after-taste you know.Rather I was put-off by the circus they were making out of the game.I decided Im going to be cool about it and not waste time in discussions at work ,home ,friends but there I was! , rattling away during office lunch resolving -which player belongs to which franchise.Oh common , we are all suckers for cricket at the end of the day. So then lets get to our local franchise - Royal Challengers Bangalore.Post the IPL auction , I wasnt very gung ho about the RCB team. The reasons being :- Rahul Dravid , Manish Pandey , Robin Uthappa ( yes priority too in the same order) were let go. The team lacked the local flavour.

Come today morning , I peruse through our line-up.The team had a formidable look with the batting comprising of Kohli ,Dilshan , AB , Pujara and Saurabh Tiwary. And the team looked balanced with the bowling department consisting of Zak, Abhimanyu Mithun ,Dirk Nannes and of course topped off by the bespectacled Vettori.But there were two other names which caught my eye - Mayank Agarwal and Asad Khan Pathan. The former was the shining light of the Indian team in the U-19 world cup and it helps to know that he is inspired by none other than Sehwag . But for me the heartening factor was the blooding of the 26 year old Asad Khan Pathan , with the scouts following him over the Aurangabad Premier league last year and Anand Premier League this year.

After being set a target of 163 by this year's debutant team Kochi Tusker Kerala , RCB had made a decent start of 63/2 in 7 overs with Mayank giving AB company and Dilshan ,Kohli having departed.Although I did not watch the match entirely , I sat down for the last 3 overs and we required 33.Cricket's polymath AB de Villiers played a blinder 54 of an innings with 5 shots over the fence ( poor Gomez).And 13 required to win off the final over.Biff, wide , biff, bamm , 3 hits to the fence , game over. Asad Pathan , finishes it off with some beefy legside pulls, making Vinay Kumar ( former RCB) look pedestrian in the process.Oh these mighty Pathans, what do they eat?!! Asad did nothing but enhance the Pathan's reputation. Siddharth Mallya summed it up by saying "We didnt have to be pay 20 or 30 million to get him(Asad)". Nevertheless lets hope this is not a flash in the pan.

The RCB team is very different from its formers and what stands out most is its style - dashing and fearless.

The dream's still alive.

25th June 1983 , On the hallowed turf , inspired by their captain , the bunch of no-reckoners did the seemingly impossible task of dethroning the cool and mean Caribbeans.The images relayed across continents and radio waves sent thousands of Indian into a thrill , an ecstasy.There were many 10 yr olds in Mumbai , who conjured about dreams about repeating this feat and amongst them there was this one 10 yr old from Bandra . As I said , many dreamt but few worked towards making this come true.And today at one moment , I was afraid that this dream would remain unfulfilled.

Yes, India trounced over Pakistan , again :) ! albeit unconvincingly. As usual our innings opens with pyromania , Uncle Fester dismantled the gangly Gul.The usually accurate Gul was KOed, but the opening scene was brought to a close by hitherto unknown Wahab Riaz, who nailed Sehwag in front of the stumps.Then the proceedings went on at a sane pace until Gambhir , who has been one of our most consistent batsman, along with the little master ,over two years , was stumped.The 11 crore tag seems to be weighing on him.116-2 in 19 , I would take it.Woah , all of a sudden 141-4 in 25 ! n Who is the bowler - Wahab Riaz,isnt there a sauce named after him?? - oh thats wasabi but definitely as effective.Whilst all this , something didnt seem right about the master.Mistimed shots , a half a dozen reprieves - the scripts seem to have gotten exchanged ,Sachin departs for 86. Living the dream vicariously as I was , the dream froze into black and white.My throat went dry for a moment.I offered a silent prayer to the cricketing gods.

All said our middle order aint too convincing mainly due to Captain America . Our Samson has lost his power - the helicopter shot, I think its time he grows his locks back(remember the 143 against the same opponent- wow).Thanks to a sensible innings from Umar Gul oops Suresh Raina we stuttered to 261.Definitely Raina's knock turned out to be the difference at the end.

Well , about the Pakistan batting I felt they never played for a win.Not taking anything away from the splendid , collaborated effort from our team.I felt there was no real fight from the other side. It didnt feel like Bangalore 1996, or Centurion 2003.It somehow felt as if the opponents were under playing (It brought back those words of Veena Malik that Pakistan will never win any tournament).I do not want to raise any conspiracy here but just an opinion.Apart ,I think we had a first instance of using just 5 bowlers and all of them coming good.Credit has to be given to our Captain , who has mastered this skill of marshaling his limited resources.Respect Mr. Dhoni.

So the dream still lives.The script is the right one -Wankhede ,his home .Oh Cricketing Gods , please keep your hands over him for another day.And Yuvi wants to do this for someone Special.
Alls well, I hope it ends well.