Different World 11s - Compiled

I saw so many ex-cricketers, critics, bloggers and other assorted people write about their world 11s. I also decided to do the same. So here is my world 11s. Hope no need for explanations.

Tests
Worlds Best 11
1)
2)
3)
4) Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)

Worlds Entertaining 11

1)

2)

3)

4) Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

Worlds Thrilling 11

1)

2)

3)

4) Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

Worlds Boring 11

1)

2)

3)

4) Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

Worlds Idiotic 11

1)

2)

3)

4) Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

Worlds Irritating 11

1)

2)

3)

4) Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

Worlds Best Women cricketers 11

1)

2)

3)

4) Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (Sorry Sachin, ur fans will abuse me to leave you even from this 11.)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

Note: 

1) After reading the comments from this post by Ian Chappell, I came to a conclusion that, no one should have their personal choices in cricket and Sachin should present in any 11 as far as cricket is concerned.

2) The fans can fill out any names they want other than Sachin in the 11, because he is omnipresent. So kindly dont debate about his presence in any of these 11s as Sachin's fans will be offended.

Has T20 got purified?

Another WC, new team wins and another market opens up. My prediction of Australia winning the WC was halted by another good performing team, England.
This is the first time, Australia seriously took T20 and we all saw how they perform. So here after it is going to be another format where they will be showing middle finger to other teams. But the most surpise package of the tournament was England which brought players who are specifically made for T20 and most of all they had very good balance. The most important thing is, they had 5 main bowlers who can bowl all the 4 overs without major problems. I believe this is where teams like India, Pakistan, WI and SL lost out.

England has won a multi nation tournament for the first time after so many attempts. The irony is that they won in a format which most of their fans consider as itsy-bitsy or hit and giggle cricket. Their love for purest form of cricket is well documented all over the place and their hatred also well known. Now the interesting question is, will they still loath the format in which they are world champions or the T20 format got purified enough for them to accept it as a legitimate and worthy format?

oh yeah, i already read here,

"For sceptics, it expunged the theory that Twenty20 provides the game with little more than garish commercialism and a bit of bish-bash"

"The slow bouncer announced itself internationally. What was once intimidation is now humiliation. It pitches short, bounces high, but takes forever to reach the batsman, often left wafting in hope. Stuart Broad and Ryan Sidebottom conceded 31 runs in five overs at the end of Sri Lanka’s innings in the semi-final with barely a yorker in sight. Both were bowling what were, essentially, 70mph offspinners, many of them pitched half way down the wicket. The Sri Lankans were flummoxed."

If im not wrong, the slow loopy bouncer is one of the important weapon of Malinga and Fernando, they are  using that ball for atleast more than a year. Oh yeah, now has England won, those deliveries becoming the new age weapon of bowlers.

"St Lucia was slow, sticky, made for spinners and wristy batsman. Barbados was fast, true, one for the quickies and the clean hitters. You had to cope with both, which explains why an Asian side didn’t make the final (they won one of eight matches in bouncy Barbados). "

 Is it not the last 2 T20 WCs were played in SA and England? Which are supposed to be the deathbed for Asian players? But is it not the finalists were Asian teams for both the editions? So is this means, those pitches were tailor made for Asian players?

"What this tournament confirmed was that Twenty20, for all its money, is, in fact, a game for the purists."

So Ladies and Gentleman, especially those unwashed from Asia, by England winning this World cup has purified the format for future generation not to feel guilty for playing.

Hereafter, by the order of Queen of England, T20 will join the leagues of purest form of the games.

(Disclaimer: Actually i was happy to see England winning the cup, but i was pissed off by the way the commentators from England are gushing about the sudden change in the purity of the format.)

Is the Referee/Umpire biased towards the home team?

    Today, i was fascinated to read some findings from football matches played at home. There are many researches happening in football regarding various variables affecting the result. One research which I'm very much fascinated and able to relate is bias shown by referees towards home team. How the strength of supporters and their proximity to playing area affects the decision taken by the referees.
The studies has been conducted both in Bundesliga and EPL, both showed similar results regarding the bias by the referees towards home team due to pressure they get from the crowd.

"In line with the preferences of the crowd,



referees lengthen exciting games and favor the home team by allowing most


additional time when the home team is behind by one goal, especially when


the crowd largely consists of home team supporters. When relatively many


supporters of the visiting team are attending the game, the referee’s bias


in favor of the home team becomes smaller. Referees also prolong a drawn


match when the home team is more likely to score next, and favor the home


team in matters of penalty kick and goal decisions. Referees’ reaction to


the preferences of the crowd are more pronounced the smaller the physical


distance between the referee and the crowd is, so that it can be concluded that


the social atmosphere in the stadium leads referees into favoritism" 

The links are here, here, here and here.

Is it possible to relate the same for cricket? How much an advantage do the home team gets over the away team in cricket with umpires? There is no formal study I'm aware of but with my watching experience and reading articles available in the Internet i can state my points.

Actually the home team advantage can be split into two periods in cricket. The period before the advent of extensive use of technology & neutral umpires and the period before that.

There was a time till 2000 India was considered the most difficult country to tour with spinning tracks, noisy crowd and other variables. Here the umpires also played an important role, as they tend to give more marginal calls to the home team bowlers than the away team. The spinner will get more favourable decision in India than anywhere else both due to the pitch as well as the Indian umpire who is officiating as they know the pitch behaviour and the bowler better than the other umpire. India were unbeaten for several years during the nineties under Azhar but failed miserably away. Is the umpire bias can also be a factor for this?

The same can be said about other countries, still Australia is unbeatable at home and they get most of the marginal decisions in their favour. Is this due to their ultra aggression or home advantage? There is a saying that, Warne gets favourable decision on marginal ones because of the way he appeals which is more or less intimidating. It will be even more ruthless if it is at home.

This is the same case with Sri Lanka, they are a formidable opponents at home and teams have to work very hard to win there.

There was a time when away teams used to play against 13 players when they play in Pakistan.

Even after the introduction of neutral umpires, the opposition fans used to complain about umpiring when they play against Australia in Australia. Is this exactly what the unintentional bias shown towards home team? Is the umpires get intimidated by the presence of crowd and make fovourable decisions to home team.

It will be great if some one does a study about the same in cricket.

Sachin Vs Ponting - The debate finally ends

Sachin Vs Ponting is the hottest debate goes on in the cricket world. There is an army of supporters for both who desperately and violently defend their heroes. One such coversation is

Sachin Fan - He is the God!!! If he is not there cricket will die in India. He is the higest scorer in International cricket.

Ponting Fan - He may be the God but he is very much human when you compare with Ponting. Ponting will surpass all his runs in a year or two.

Sachin Fan - Hahahahaha..... Sachin will play for another 5 to 10 years. He can and we will ensure he plays even with one hand and retires with all the records in his bag.

Ponting Fan - Yeah we know mate.. Your sachin is a stat monger thats why he is playing cricket for so long.

SF - Dont tell me like that, if not for The God, there is no indian cricket. He is the best behaved cricketer in the world. Not like the cheater Ponting, who claims grounded catches. The whole world saw how pathetic the australian team was in Sydney 2008.

PF - Yeah we also saw how Sachin lied in Monkey gate. I lost all my respect for him.

SF - Who wants your respect. He has scored everywhere and all types of attack. Not like your Ponting, who cannot play spin even if his life depends on it and he totally sucked in india.

PF - yeah yeah we know, how Sachin sucks in South Africa, he was a total failure there.

SF - Even there he hit a century and he is the first person in the world to hit 200 in an ODI.

PF - Hey.. dont be a fool,  our own Belinda Clarke  was the first to hit a 200 in an ODI, even there your sachin is not first.. hahahah... so wait for Ponting to hit 200 soon.

SF - But he has the most number of centuries in tests and ODI's, can your Ponting hit so many?

PF - Yeah yeah.. he has but can your Sachin boast of a century in a WC final?? Hahahaha. We have seen how he sucked in 2003 WC final and we RP ripped your team.

SF - It doesnt matter, in that WC he made sure we reached atleast the final. You will see SRT will crown his career with a century in the winning 2011 WC final.

PF - You sachin fans have to wait for that to happen but our Ponting already boasts of winning 3 WCs. He won 2 WCs as a captain. Sachin is the worst captain in Indian cricket. Even my 10 year old son can captain a team better than Sachin. Even we saw how he fucked up in the IPL final. Totally useless captain to say the least.

SF - (defensively) A captain is as good as a team. Even Ponting struggled after all the greats retired in your team. He just rode the talent available with your team.

PF - Even then he is a far better captain and cricketer than Sachin and he will surpass everything sachin is going to set in cricket.


SF - (sighs and thinks hard) Wait.. there is onething, Ponting can never achieve in this world.

PF - (cynically) huh... what is that??



SF - Sachin has more than 100 thousand followers in twitter within 3 days of opening his account. I bet my life that Ponting can never surpass that even in his entire life......

PF - aarrggghhh... sighs and resigns to his fate. Sorry mate... i accept Ponting will never have so many followers in his life.. I concede.

SF- hahahahaah.... heyyyyyyyyyyy....woooo hooo wooo hooo Sachin sachin....sachin... Sachin is the greatest.. Sachin is God.. See.. Sachin has won... Walks off with great pride and feels this is the precursor to 2011 WC triumph.


Sachin fans got another stat to feel proud about sachin. Long live sachin and long live his legions of fans.

Modi & IPL - A corporate communication ethics case study

The world has moved beyond IPL to World T20 cup, in which India is doing well so far and can be counted again as favourites. But i would like to go back to the IPL scandal which was taking most of the prime airtime and bandwidth. The scandal has been discussed in detail in all forms of media but i would like to present a view which i feel may not have been discussed much.

For a moment i want to keep away all the lies, financial irregularities, money laundering, oneupmanship and other IPL related scandals. There is a line of thought going in the forums that, BCCI and hence IPL is a private body and they cannot be questioned by the government or the media unless someone makes a complaint. So now let me consider this as the base and protray my view points. In any company before you join, we have to sign an agreement which has company ethics, trust and confidentiality clause. I want to discuss the stupidity/mistakes done by Mr. Modi regarding the corporate ethics and his breach of trust.


1) Corporate details not to be divulged especially in social media

"25% of kochi team is given free to Rendezvous sports for life.The same equity is non dilutable in prepetuity.What does that mean? Why ? Wait "

Who are the shareholders of rendezvous. And why have they been given this 100's of million dollar bonanza ? 

Kochi shareholders are: Rendezvous 25% free, Rendezvous 1%,Anchor 27%, Parinee 26%, Film waves combine 12%,Anand Shyam 8%,Vivek venugopal 1%

Rendezvous free equity - held by kisan,shailender & pushpa gaikwad,Sunanda pushkar,Puja gulathi,jayant kotalwar,vishnu prasad,sundip agarwal "       

The first tweets which opened the can of worms is the first blunder done in company ethics. Any knowledgeble head of the company knows, revealing company details in public that too in social media will for sure recieve the ire of the boss aka board of directors or chairman. In all the frenzy created by the tweets, no one questioned the ethics of divulging the company details.
In any corporate affair the leaking of company matters will be an immediate firing order.


2) Leaking of internal communications

"The other mail chain dates from April 14, three days after Modi's original tweet revealing the Kochi franchise shareholding structure and a day after he received a reprimand from Manohar for it. It begins with a mail from Modi to "friends" - said to be 71 council members, officials and stakeholders - suggesting that "propriety and fair play demand" that the IPL release the names of all stake-holders.

"We should as public body disclose ownership details along with name of directors of all franchisees once again. Earlier we at the time of bidding only disclosed the names and share holding. If everyone is okay with this we will issue the same right away, that way all doubts and aspirations (sic) being cast on IPL franchises and members of GC [governing council] appropriately rebutted. I hope you all agree with the same."

The next day, the mail chain shows, there was a reply from Manohar. "The issue is complex and needs detailed deliberations and legal implications need to be gone into and hence can be considered at the GC meeting, where all documents and papers relating to the bids are available."

The biggest sin in any company will be the leaking of internal official communication between the boss and the employee. That too if the leak is selective which enhances your reputation and tarnishes the boss's. So basically Mr Modi to make himself the right guy leaked an official communication which is essentially a breach of trust. Now as a boss will anyone like to have an employee like this in an organisation?.

3) Threatening to expose your colleagues

 "Wait for the ipl to finish - I will reveal the men who have tried to bring disrepute to the game and how we stopped them from doing it.

Thank you all for your message of support. It is really appreciated. I am still chairman of IPL. Just suspended. Wait - we have just begun."

 Threatening to expose your colleagues especially politcal masters is the least you are expected to do when you are under investigation. This is the final straw in any corporate matters to fire you and cut loose. Especially if you threaten to expose people who are politically connected like IPL will ensure you not in anyones friends list. This is the ultimate breach of trust in political circle, as he already burnt enough bridges he will find it difficult to find support in his comeback.

 4) Modi as a whistle blower


There is a great deal of support from his business partners, colleagues and customers( the IPL fans) that he has done a world of good to the IPL and cricket as a whistle blower by divulging the info. This raises his equity by a couple of notch as a victim. Now the question needs to be asked is, what is the possibility of a whistle blower to be remain in the same company. If you take any historic happenings, the whistle blower will go out of the company and for him to get a decent job in any other company is very remote. No one will want to touch a guy who has a history of making company details public even if it is for good of general public. The maximum they can do is go as freelance author or work in some media.

So if Modi is considered as whistle blower how we can expect him to remain in the IPL as a boss?

  Even if Mr Modi somehow manages to extricate himself from the mess, he will find it difficult to go back into the fold. No one in right mind will support a guy who is not trustworthy and breaks company ethics and rules. So finally, Mr. Modi can be the finest marketing chief we have seen in cricketing circle, but he will not be considered as a trustworthy colleague in corporate circle. IPL3 may be the last we have seen him as chief of IPL.The best possible thing is resign from his position and divulge all the company secrets in an exclusive column or a book. Atleast this will give him and his followers something to talk about.
 

Modi twitter psychology - An analysis

In India, twitter became the source of information for the so called "Breaking" News media. It has gained so much popularity because of few celeberities from film world, Modi and our ex twitter minister.

Modi was a very important twitterer who prefered to even give press releases through twitter. But if you see his recent posts during the scandal, we can peek into his state of mind.

April 11th - 51 tweets - This was the time when he was still king of Indian cricket and people in all walks of life wanted to be seen with him. Chatting and replying to every1 in all sorts of IPL matter. But he would not have been aware of the time bomb he is going to set which will burst in his face. In that fateful day he posted about Tharoor and his connection with kochi franchise believing he is clearing the path for someone else.

April 12th - 1 - Oh shit, the whole country gone crazy and Modi and Tharoor in the center of whirlpool of scandal and lies. Eveyone jumping on him for breaking the unwritten code of conduct in cricket business. Political masters makes him to go totally silent.

April 17th – 2 - comes out of the hiding but not much to write, the whole government machinery on his trail. Keeping his mouth shut and not want to speculate much.

April 18th - 26 - yesterdays bomb blasts in Bangalore makes him to re-enter into his territory of crisis management and tweets away his thoughts and actions. On the sideline makes a remark about someone hacking his twitter account. Still feels and thinks he is the boss and everything in IPL is centered around him and tries to limit the damage caused by his act.

April 19th – 2 - Lots of background negotiations but nothing happening but still keeps up his stature as numero uno and allays all fears regarding IPL.

April 24th – 13 - It finally dawns on him that he is cut loose by his political masters and he is no more one among them. So twittering away all the thanks for the wishes and support. In the meanwhile tries to serve the final threat of bringing down everyone associated with him.

April 25th – 7 - Makes a brave face even though knowing this will be the final day as chairman of IPL.

April 26th – 4 - The day as a normal man telling about how he enjoys the day off.

April 27th – 4 - But cannot get out of the IPL chairman mode, makes posts about IPL facts and figures. Still living in the world of IPL imagining the day is not far off to take over the reins soon.


There is a saying in tamil, " Adana kaalum, paduna vaayum summa irukkathu" meaning, those who dance and those who sing cannot keep quiet for a long time.

Now Modi is in that stage, itching his palm to get back into the center of the cricket universe.

CSK - The champions

CSK won the season 3 by beating MI comfortably. The match has been analysed threadbare by most of the bloggers. So i would like to just limit this to the moments which registered in my mind.

CSK batting
Hayden - He rounded of a miserable season with one more pathetic display. Most probably his last season with CSK. But will not count him out yet for a season more.

Dhoni six - oh what a six of Pollard. That really set the tone for revival.

Dropped catches - For a long time MI will be ruing those 2 catches. They floundered in their fielding when it mattered.

Raina batting - He capitalised on those drops and made sure CSK reached a defendable score.

Malinga death over - That last over could have turned the match for MI if not for the 5 wides followed by a boundary. Those first 4 deliveries were too good for the batsman.

MI batting

Ashwin n Bollinger - A good start with a maiden from ashwin, who continues his impressive form in this year. Followed by the wicket and economical overs from Bollinger. These 4 overs proved to be very important in the final analysis.

Nervous Nayar - Even though he made up for his slow start he was nervous through out the stay and he was fortunate not to run out tendulkar. But eventually he got run out which was always on the cards till he was there.

Mind fart moment - Bhajji as pinch hitter, someone somwhere will be paying the price for this folly.

Catches - CSK were excellent in catching today making up for all the stupidity earlier in the season. Raina took a very good catch but Jakati's catch was really good at the edge of boundary.

Pollard powerhouse - When he hit those 22 runs in Bollinger's over, my heart was in my mouth. But MI took a gamble by keeping him too late and that proved a bigger mistake for them.

Best tactic of the match - The field placement for pollard at the fall of rayudu was a moment of pure genius. Hayden took a good catch and made up for all the things earlier in the match.

Absence of the match - Nita Ambani was not found in the dug out of MI. Is it anything to do with the weightlifting power of Bhajji.

So overall a good win for CSK and a ultimate choke for MI. Tendulkar still searching for that elusive title in a tournament.

Myopic cricket fans

I often feel that most of the indian fans are biased, nonsensical, illiterate (cricket) and irrational . Sorry guys, there are really good knowledgeable fans around in this country but they are being outnumbered and outvoiced by the shrillsness of these fans. Usually you can see them in popular forums voicing their myopic opinions.

Usually these trolls will appear during selection to Indian team to voice their opinion about the omission of their state players or favourite players.

Let us take the recent example of selection for T20 World cup. Vijay was replaced for injured Sehwag and all those frustrated souls came out in the open stating, it is regional bias, CSK bias (seriously ?) and as such.

The replacements most of them suggesting are Uthappa,Rayudu,Manish Pandey, Naman Ojha and so on. But mostly it is Uthappa who is recommended across forums as well as some blogs due to his blazing form in IPL. I would like to make my points here for them

1) Sehwag is an opener and needs to be replaced with an opener. Uthappa is not an opener. He has not opened for a long time.
2) The replacement can be selected only from the 30 probables who were named earlier. Uthappa was not named in that list.
3) For those who dont know or having selective amnesia, IPL is not the only domestic tournament in India.  But for your information there is even an official T20 tournament called Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy played between state teams.
 Before IPL, in those tournaments Uthappa was totally crap and thats why was not selected in probables list, whereas performers like Pandey,Mithun and some other players were included. Even he would be acknowledging this if you ask him. For the same reason Rayudu was also not selected in the probables list.

I rest my case.

IPL Semifinal - preview

   So SF line up was decided after a tight race till penultimate match of the league. The only team which may missed out will be DD, but their form in the second half of the game was pathetic to say the least. In that place DC with a very strong performance in the later part made into SF.

MI Vs RCB
DC Vs CSK

MI Vs RCB

The match is between the most consistent & strongest team in the league and not so consistent but an explosive team.
The MI team is more or less have a settled look and after beating the opponent comprehensively in their last meeting, they should be considered the favourite. The only area where they have to decide is their overseas players. Pollard and  Malinga are certainities, probably Bravo and Ryan Mclaren will get the nod ahead of Duminy and Jayasuria.

The local players are having a settled look, so the probable line up will be
Dhawan,SRT,S Tiwari,Rayudu,Pollard,Bravo,Mclaren,Madan/Tare,Bhajji,Zahir,Malinga. Maybe Nayar has a remote chance of replacing Sathish. I would prefer a regular keeper than Rayudu in knock out stages as missed chance will cost the match.

They have better and varied bowling lineup which will be handfull to any opposition. Their batting has been the best so far with great consistency and fire power.

RCB after starting with a bang ended the league with inconsistency. Actually the late arrival of few overseas players greatly affected their team composition. They have explosive talent in their squad and having  trouble to select the final 4 players in the team. Steyn and KP will be automatic choice and Kallis to an extent even after recent loss of form. He lends stability to the team as an allrounder. The final spot is between Taylor and White but due to previous exploits, White will be sitting out.

They are having trouble with their indian players for the last few games. Pandey after initial matches never showed the potential he possesses. Hope he doesnt peter out like few other players. Also their main worry will be the 4th bowler spot. It was rotated between, PK, Appanna, Pankaj Singh and Mithun. So most probably any one of the above will be selected. My personal choice will be Mithun or Appanna. Even though Kumble was economical, he hasnt taken enough wickets when compared with other spinners in the tournament. A big match for him will turn the contest upside down.

So my final 11 will be
Pandey,Kallis,KP,Dravid,Uthappa,Taylor,Kohli,Vinay,Steyn,Mithun/Appanna,Kumble.

The hot favourite is MI in this tie, but im going to go with RCB to upset MI at their den.

DC Vs CSK

After a horrendous start, DC are on a hot winning streak. With almost all the players contributing for the win except Gilchrist, they look a very competent and confident team. If Gilchrist gets going like last year, they will leave CSK in hubris but he seems to have lost that extra bit of timing he had. With the indian contingent giving good batting consistency, they will select Vass and Harris for bowling and AG and Symo for batting.
Vass will be the key player for them in their match.

The indian players lead by Rohit, Suman and Ojha provides great stability and fire power in the line up. The toss up will be between Harmeet and RP Singh for the 3rd seamers role. Maybe Harmeet will edge out RP for this match.

So the 11 will be
AG, Monish Mishra,Suman,Rohit,Symmo,Sumanth,Vaas,Harris,Harmeet,Ojha.

CSK is entering the finals after an inconsistent display in the league stage. Their performance was patchy with lots of highs and lows. Their biggest worry is the form of Hayden, i think he got mongoosed and kind of forget how to play with normal bat. CSK will be in a dilemma whether to go with Hayden or drop him. But him opening in SF will always be on the cards. The only foreign players sure of place are Albie Morkel and Bollinger. The other place will be contested between Thussara,Murali and Hussey. But Hussey's poor form will rule him out of the eleven. According to the surface they may decide to go with Murali or Thussara but there is a great chance for Kemp if he gets fit.

The late blossoming of Vijay,Badri,Ashwin gives a great advantage for Dhoni but his biggest concern will be the fast bowling. With no one showing any kind of form, Dhoni most probably will roll the dice and decide to play.

The probable line up will be
Vijay,Hayden,Raina,Badri,Dhoni,Morkel,Ashwin,Thussara/murali,Jakati,Bollinger,Any one of the Joker.

DC will be favourite when we consider their recent form, but i will be going with CSK to reach final.

So let us wait for the onfield action to unfold.

Players not seen in IPL

    In this years IPL we saw so many talented players sprung into public conscience like Rayudu, Tiwari, Ashwin, Suman, N.Ojha, U Yadav and some more.
But there are players who should have been given a chance to play. Like

MI - Rahane(prolific domestic scorer), R. Binny (a potential allrounder), Graham Napier (the best T20 bowler) could have got few games. But theirs was a team to beat and so could not find place.
DC - I dont think there was any other players who could have been tried. I think they should have got Absolem in the team who is playing in some local matches.
CSK - Arun Karthik, C Ganapathy and Perera deserved more matches than what they got. They didnt get chances to prove their worth. Atleast Ganapathy could have been persisted with for few more matches.
RCB - The only team to try very few local players. They had a fixed team with only Appanna, Pankaj Singh and Mithun getting few games. Smith was in sidelines but he couldnt have replaced any1 else. It would have been great if Mithun got few more chances and Bhuvaneshwar kumar a chance or two.
DD - They tried various players but couldnt unearth a gamebreaker in ranks. Umesh Yadav was relatively successful but otherwise no one seems to be in the radar. Yo Mahesh and Salvi could have been given few games.
KKR - They missed out testing Vignesh and Pathak. Vignesh could have proved to be the factor they were missing. Unadkat looks promising but long way to go.
RR - The team which always goes for new talents in its rank tried and tested many, but never got the return it expected.
KXIP - A very unfortunate team with a very bad resource management. They never used the players according to their skills. RS Sodhi never used for bowling and Ablish after decent couple of games got dumped.

Overall many new talents emerged, some couldnt enhance the reputation from previous year but some never got the chance.

Who will be the other 2 Semifinalists

Even though RCB lost the match by a huge margin, their NRR remains at +0.219. Which in any way you calculate makes them to reach SF along with MI. This they have to thank for their 2 huge wins against RR and a good win against KKR. Otherwise they would be sitting with crossed fingers.

Now the race narrows down to 2 SF spots. Among DD,DC,CSK,RR and KKR, the first three have their fate on their hands whereas the other 2 depend on others result also.

RR will know their fate today. They have scored only 132 which will make their case even more difficult. For their chance, they have to knock out KKR within 100 runs and hope for other results to be favourable to them.
- Heavy defeat for DC and a defeat to CSK.

KKR have to play out of their skin to sniff any chance of reaching SF. Today they have to achieve the target within 10 overs and also win their game against MI either by atleast 100 runs or with 10 overs remaining. Which is very unlikely to happen
- Heavy defeat for DC/DD and a defeat to CSK.

Both the above cases are pretty unlikely to happen. Let us see the following teams.

For DD and DC it is virtually a QF, whoever wins goes through to SF with 16 points. A heavy defeat for either of them will virtually shut them out of the competition.

DD, even if they lose there is a minor chance for them to progress, provided,
- A very narrow defeat for them, a defeat to CSK, a narrow win for RR.

DC, they have to win at all costs to go to SF. If they lose they are going out of the tournament. But there is a very very slim chance for them if they lose.
- A very narrow defeat for them, a defeat to CSK, a lose for RR and a lose for KKR against MI. This is a very high probability to happen.

CSK, very simple, win and proceed to SF. There is no other permutations and combinations.

So overall, MI at 1st place, DC/DD at 2nd place, if CSK wins 3rd place and RCB 4th. Otherwise 3rd place for RCB and anyother team will be in 4th place.

IPL A-Maze(ing) story of online media control

In the last few days IPL has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Lots of allegations, mud throwing, character assasination and what not. For a league which is so young this kind of media scrutiny will hamper its progress. But we cannot also rule out the cleaning up of the BCCI and IPL which is long due.

Mauritius,Bahamas,Biritsh Isles,Hongkong,Singapore. What is commong between all these places? Beautiful island nations, pristine beaches? but more for tax haven.

From the allegations about the part ownership of RR and KXIP by Modi's family members, they all have financial connections in those island nations.

Im not concerned about that but about the absolute control Mr Modi's family member is having over the online content of IPL and Champions league.

LCM bought online digital rights for $49million but unable to get profit in the first year.

April '09 - LCM forms a JV with mobile content title holder Netlink Blue from Dubai in the name of Global Cricket Ventures Pte Ltd in Singapore. The digital right is downsized to $20.75m and awarded to GCV, LCM was relieved from the rights.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1108630/000101968709001258/livecurrent_8k-ex1003.htm


Aug '09 -  The GCV inturn sells the rights to GCV Mauritius with whom they dont have any relation.  GCV Mauritus was formed just exactly at the right time to buy it from LCM.

http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?FilingID=6780735-12596-19592&type=sect&dcn=0001019687-09-003177


Nov '09 Now enter Elephant Capitals, whose Managing Partner is Gaurav Burman and MD is Mohit Burman, taking 50% stake for $10m.

Jan '10 GCV Mauritius is buying out Willow Tv which broadcasts cricket online in US.

Jan '10 GCV ties up with Google India to monetize its online digital content like iplt20.com and clt20.com. And also they will be given online streaming rights which will enable them to telecast IPL online in Youtube.
This will not be available in US as already Willow tv has the rights.

http://www.elephantcapital.com/gcv.aspx

Many people may argue that it is sound business decision which any businessman get into.

But few things,

1) Mr. Burmans - Related with one Mr. Lalit Modi and also part owner of Punjab team.

2) Two companies are named as GCV's even though claimed as two unknown companies
Sudden interest of Burmans into online media by acquiring into GCV Mauritius which inturn buys Willow TV and get into agreement with Google india which gets right for online streaming.

3) Everything happens in a short span of 6 to 8 months time.

If this goes like this, no one can access anything related to IPL until unless they visit any one of those right holders sites.

We are in for a very interesting time.

Royal Crap Bangalore

RCB Vs DC

Actually it took atleast one day to get over the loss against DC. I was totally gutted by the loss. For the second time RCB lost their match against DC from relatively winning position.

After the initial burst from Steyn they allowed DC to get settled.  I find Kumble to be a defensive and regemented captain. For the past few matches i found him using Kallis at the death even though he is very expensive. In the last game he mismanaged bowler rotation which resulted in Vinay and Appanna bowling only 3 overs. It would have been better if Kallis has bowled atleast an over less. Even amid all these they restricted DC at 160 a very gettable score.

Batting after Pandey's first ball exit was of two extremes. Dravid at his fluent best and Kallis at is Kalliesque best crawling painfully. Dravid played really well but missed his 50 which proved to be the decisive turning point of the match. Even though Uthappa with his new found common sense tried manfully, RCB fell short of the target.
Ojha and then Harmeet singh turned the table completely for DC. This loss for RCB will prove decisive in their campaign with two very tough matches to follow.

RCB Vs RR

Finally RCB's initial team stability proves to be their undoing at the final stages. Now they are uncertain to go with their existing team members or try some1 new. But there is a great chance for them to change a few players.
Especially they can bring in Pieterson in place of White and will not be surprised if Kallis made to sit out.

Dravid can open with Pandey, followed by KP,Uthappa,RT,Kohli,Smith,Vinay,Appanna/PK/Mithun,Kumble and Steyn.

Last year IPL exactly at the same stage they gambled with Pandey and made a star out of him. I will go with Smith to see whether he can become one.

This match against RR going to decide wether match against MI going to be dead match or not. A win here will mostly ensure RCB's chance of SF but if they fail, they can say goodbye to their chances.

Money Money Money

Will not allow players to play other countries domestic cricket when we are playing our domestic matches - BCCI (Iam the boss)

Will allow our players to play other countries private league even if we are playing our domestic cricket - ECB (Huh we can only crib about the evil money grabbing board)

Will allow our players to play other countries private league even if we play international cricket - WICB(What do we have WI team?)

RCB Vs DC - Revenge time

RCB is one win away from opening the door for SF berth. They will consider this match as an important one when you consider one away match with RR and one home match with MI.
Last match they brought on Sriram to give option for bowling which was not balanced till last game. They have done the right thing when you consider the indifferent form of Pandey for few games. They dont have any other dependable player to fill 2 overs if any one of the main bowlers go for runs.
As the pitch is going to be slow like the last game wouldnt be surprised if Praveen kumar is benched and a spinner comes in. If not Probably either Peterson in place of white. You can depend on him for atleast 2 overs.
Maybe Dravid moving up to opening with Kallis and sriram can come down the order if need arises.

DC will not change thier winning squad but maybe Vaas in place of Dwayne Smith.They will try to win and stay afloat in the tournament.

RCB - Key players Kumble/Dravid/Taylor.
DC - Rohit/Symonds/Ojha.

RCB will win this match.

IPL race to semifinal - Analysis and prediction

Modi couldnt have written a better script than this years race to semifinal. With 6 teams vying for 3 semifinal spot the race maybe decided in the final match between MI and KKR.

I created a table with simple calculations wrt to their Home and away match result and their chances of winning the remaining matches.

MI - They are assured of semifinal with their victory over RR. They have 3 matches remaining one home and 2 away matches. They have the best average in home games(DC's supposed home match in Mumbai is considered as MI's) and their remaining match against DD at home will go either way. But the chances of DD upstaging is pretty high. Out of 2 they will be winning 1 away match against KKR* and lose against RCB.

RCB - They are having 3 more matches with 1 home and 2 away matches. They are playing one away match against DC today which will be very crucial for their SF chances and another against RR which will be a bigger test for them. They have their last match against MI at home which will finally decide where they will be standing in the table.
Chances - Win against MI at home and one away match win probably against DC.

DD - They have 2 away and 1 home match as their last. They in all probability will consider high about away matches than the home game. They have away games against MI and CSK and DC at home. They have the best winning percentage in away matches.
Chances - Will win against CSK and MI matche can go either way. Will not count home match against DC which will be decided by the pitch.

RR - They have one home and one away match. They will give their all in their home match against RCB to win and get ahead in the table. Against KKR at eden gardens will be a big task when we consider their away match records which is one of the worst in this year's IPL.
Chances - Win at home against RCB and lose the away match at Kolkatta.

CSK - They have 2 vital home matches and 1 away match.  Playing KKR and DD in home and playing punjab away. They will be counting their chances against KKR in chennai than DD. So should win against them and hope for the win against KXIP away. Their away match record is also one of the worst in the competition.
Chances - Win against KKR and lose against DD. KXIP nails the CSK's SF chances.

DC - They have one home and 2 away matches. They have relatively good home record and one of the worst away record. So should consider the home match against RCB as their last hope. If they lose this then the defending champion can say goodbye to their chances. They have away matches at Punjab and Delhi. KXIP will try to win their home game to avoid the last place and DD's can go either way.
Chances - Probable lose against RCB and KXIP.

KKR - Has 2 home matches and 1 away match. They are one of the teams which dont like to travel much so cant expect much against CSK in chennai. Will try to win the home matches against RR and MI with their crowd baying for the blood.
Chances - Lose against CSK and a win against RR, a fellow away match struggler. There is a great chance of KKR upsetting MI which is the last match of the league stage.

KXIP - 2 home matches left against DC and CSK. They have the worst home match record for this year with only 20% winning ratio. Actually their campaign got some momentum only in the second half with winning 3 out of 5 matches. So they cannot be ruled out of the remaining matches. Will try their level best to avoid the wooden spoon and give their home support something to cheer for. By the way the matches are being held in Dharmasala which is the highest cricket ground in India. Will be looking forward eagerly to see the live action.
Chances - Upsetting both DC and CSK and make them stay in the bottom half.

So lots of high power action expected in the following week.

My prediction

MI,RCB,DD,RR or KKR

Is RCB a lucky team for losers?

For the teams who are on a losing streak, RCB seems like a lucky team to meet.

Earlier the beneficiary were DD. After 3 continous loses DD met RCB at Bangalore, won that match and went on to win 3 more matches. Luckily for them all the three matches were home games and also they won the toss and batted first. They lost their first away game to end their winning streak.

Then the next in line was CSK. They were on a losing streak of 4 matches and met RCB at home. They won the match and proceeded to win 2 more matches and for them also the matches were at chennai. Similar to DD, CSK also lost their first away game to end their continous win.

The final one in the list is DC. After losing 5 matches on trot they met RCB at bangalore and won that match comfortably. Then they won their next game against CSK at home and going to meet RCB again in their home ground. Whether RCB factor is going to help them or not we will be knowing tonite.

There is a beautiful mathematical progression is involved in the above scenarios

DD lost 3, won next 4 including RCB
CSK lost 4, won next 3
DC lost 5, won next 2 so far.

According to this list, may be we can infer today's match is going RCB's way.

Some mathematical fun is always necessary amid hectic schedule. Huh.

Harsha's googly on IPL

In a recent article written by Harsha in cricinfo, he makes 2 or 3 very good points. But most readers are talking about his take on Gambhir's reprimand. Yes that was a good one from some one who is from IPL camp. But for me the most important quote from that article is

"While reading an obituary of the great Alec Bedser, I found this comment attributed to his mother. When asked by reporters about her son's achievement of taking 11 wickets in a game, she said, "But that's what he is in the side for, isn't he?" Fair lady, you allowed us a mighty chuckle. If you were to return to our media-driven world 64 years after you wondered at the excitement over your son's performance, you would find us going gaga over two balls bowled well, about one four-over spell decently delivered. Thank you, ma'am for putting things in perspective in our quote-a-minute world."

Oh man, he seems seriously frustrated by the commentary he is dishing out in IPL. Just imagine yourself in a place where you cannot say what comes up in your mind but have to say at the least some exaggerated stuff.
Pity him.

Champions League Football - A masterclass and a twist

    Champions League quarterfinal second leg throwed a masterclass from a genius, an expected surprise, a tactical win and an expected result.

Barca Vs Arsenal was on the expected line even though both of them missed key players. Barca made mincemeat of Arsenal and taught them a great lesson in the art of football. Messi was god like after disappointing in the first leg. Goals flowed from his leg as if he is playing some local club. Arsenal players were looking clueless and they dont know what to do to stop Messi. It was a pure art from him and other Barca players especially Xavi. Will be facing Inter which will be a tough encounter than this one.

MU Vs Bayern Munich - It thrown up a surprise but there was always a chance for that. AF surprised everyone by playing Rooney but he couldnt make much of a difference to the contest. Even though MU won the leg, Bayern done enough to upset them and proceed to semifinal.

Inter Vs CSKA Moscow - Inter did on the expected line winning by one goal. Their style of hit one goal and defend for the rest of the time worked wonder in both the legs. Will be happy to meet Barca to prove a point or two.

Lyon Vs Bordeux - Lyon progressed even though they lost the second leg with better aggregate. They are going to be the surprise pack in this CL.

Semifinal

Barca vs Inter
Bayern vs Lyon

IPL - Fringe players who can be seen in action

We have seen many unknown players,ICL returnees make a mark in this years IPL. But there are few more players who have been neglected so far this year. I would like to see them in action in the remaining matches.

These players can be tried in few games

MI - Graham Napier,Ali Murtaza
DD - Sarandeep Singh, Yo Mahesh, Avishkar Salvi
RCB - Buvaneshwar Kumar, Steven Smith
RR - Kamran Khan,Amit Singh (Both are returning from their action modification)
CSK - Arun Karthik,Thissara Perrera,C Ganapathy
KKR - Chirag Pathak, G Vignesh
DC - Mithchell Marsh
KXIP - Love Ablish, Adrian Barath, Reetinder singh Sodhi

MI can actually try out new players as the team is sure about their standing in the table. Grabam Napier a T20 specialist can come in place of Mclaren for few games

DD are also in a kind of confirmed stage so they can try Salvi/Yo mahesh in place of Sangwan and can try Sarandeep Singh to give a break to Mishra or in place of Bhatia.

RCB will be hardpressed to try out S Smith as they have bigger players sitting out. Maybe BKumar tried in place of VKumar but chances are very less.

RR is the only team which kind of rotates their local players so they can easily try them out.

CSK most probably will not change their winning combination but maybe Perrera for Hayden/Hussey. I will be really happy if the other 2 indian players get a few games.

KKR is doing a great injustice by sitting out Vignesh a better player than some of those who are playing now.

DC seriously dont have much of a choice now other than to do something dramatic to their campaign. Why not a game to the most talked about U19 player from australia. It will not be worse than the current situation they are in.

KXIP - Nothing going to matter any more so better to try a new guy and get some positive energy to the team. If they dont play either Sodhi/Ablish they have seriously change their backroom staff.

As the tournament is in its last phase of league stage only very few team will tinker with their line up. If they change maybe they can unearth another potential match winner for them.

IPL - Taking its toll on me

Initially watched all the matches in the first week if i dont have any other work. Then tried to watch the matches which has interesting teams like RCB,DD,CSK and MI. To be honest i think so far i have not seen a DC/RR/KXIP/KKR match if it is not playing anyone of the above. Even if they play i couldnt watch the full match and imagine about the matches between themselves.
Finally it came to a stage where i didnt watch more than 30 minutes of yesterdays 2 matches. I slept through both the matches and saw the scorecards today.

Primary reasons-

Its becoming tedious.
I need to catch up with the sleep i missed due to other preferred matches. Its becoming problematic to see matches till 2.00am everyday.
Im becoming too tired next day and couldnt do any work in office.

So now onwards planning to watch only very important matches which features only my favoured teams which will enable me to keep me senile for atleast sometime.

Which is going to lose - A Grand survey

This is a continuation and extension from the previous post.

After reading and hearing from various experts,bloggers and assorted other non entities, i decided to do a grand survey about which form of cricket is going to lose. Tests/ODIs/T20s - who is going to be the biggest loser. So i conducted a grand survey consisting of me and huh only me. Sorry i dont have any1 in vicinity to ask their opinion. So far a moment i want to consider myself as the ultimate authority on cricket. Ok back to the survey.

As iam not in India, for the past 15 months i have been restricted to see cricket in pay TV or dodgy streams in internet. With respect to india, i have to pay a fortune to see cricket live in TV, so resticted myself to tournaments which im more interested in. Watching in Pay TV is heaven without ads and all, which deserves a post in itself.

My sojourn of pay TV started with IPL, then to WC T20s. Then i proceeded with the test series against Srilanka and SA and now IPL again. Out of all these, i didnt subscribe to any ODI/T20 series played by india, heck even i didnt watch ICC champions trophy. I missed many important moments in India's ODI history last year but i didnt feel much. Now im not sure whether i will subscribe WCT20s as it is happening in WI which will be live when i sleep.

So overall from the survey, i can come to a conclusion that ODI will be the first to move out of the family. Maybe if it was available free, who knows? But still i will not be so eager to watch, as ODI is available a dime a dozen. What about the WC? hmm.. i think i will watch.

ODI's make or break moment - 2011 WC

Everyone and its dog is speaking about the death of ODI in near future because of the rise in popularity of T20. But when we will be knowing it for sure??. 2011 WC will decide whether ODI is sustainable in future or not.
This is not because of the cricket we are going to see in the WC like 2007. There will be many boring games with sprinkling of nail bitters. But the future of ODI will be decided by IPL 2011. Why?.

India, the money machine which runs the world cricket will decide on whom they are going to spend their money on. Usually during the WC years, the marketers plan their budgets mostly around WC to get the maximum visibility. Now 2011 WC is scheduled during Feb19 to Apr 2 at the end of which the 2011 IPL will start. As everyone knows, IPL is a big money sucker which gets each and every dime from  the marketers. Now the companies need to decide on whom they are going to keep their bet the maximum. Which will be a sure shot direction from which we can understand the health of ODIs.

There is also a possibility for the marketers who got left out or not spending in IPL to make use of the WC. But there are very few big spenders apart from those who already tied up with IPL.

Now, the IPL 2011 is going to come after the WC, will this affect the sensibilities of the viewers who are already subjected to 50 days non stop cricket. Can the viewers take another 50 days of cricket without burn out or loss of interest.

We are in for interesting time. 

Jumping into the ocean

After contemplating for nearly 6 months, i finally restart my blogging after 5 years. It feels good to start again, hope this will be a long affair than the quickey i had previously. I find myself lost in all the technicality of the blogs, so it will take time to get things sorted out.
Till then  frills free writing from me regarding sports i follow. What better way to start than when in the middle of a high profile tournament in cricket. So my post will start with IPL and slowly go towards other sports especially football and F1.
Hope guys this will be an enjoyable blogging time for me and the readers.