IPL-Season's Selections

Team of the Season:

Virender Sehwag
Sanath Jaisurya
Shaun Marsh
Gautam Gambhir
Kumar Sangakkara (Wk)
Shane Watson
Yusuf Pathan
Irfan Pathan
Shane Warne (C)
Sohail Tanvir
Glenn McGrath

Shikhar Dhawan(12th Man)

The explosive duo of Viru and Jayasurya is an obvious choice at the top of the order. Both batsman have enjoyed an excellent season and have scored their runs at a hair raising pace as well. The 2 leading run getters of the IPL come in next. With both Gauti and Marshie capable of attacking as well as consolidating the upper middle order has a solid look. Sangakkara and not Gilchrist is in at 5. Gilchrist hasn’t been at his best wit the gloves and 5 isn’t his ideal batting position so Sangakkara pips him to get the wicket keeping spot. IPL MVP Shane Watson follows his fellow Aussie. The power packed Pathan comes in next with a license to thrill. The batting order would be flexible enough for Pathan to come higher up to capitalize on great starts by the top order.

The bowling will be opened by the golden oldie Glen “Pidgeon” McGrath and Sohail Tanvir. Both bowlers are very capable of getting early wickets and they won’t concede too many either. Irfan Pathan, Shane Watson and Warnie all with more than 15 wickets in the tournament complete a formidable bowling arsenal.

The IPL all stars will be skippered by the colourful Warnie. Expect the proactive leggie to rejig his batting order and use Yusuf Pathan to bowl at tricky times.

Probably the best fielder this term, Shikhar Dhawan, is the 12th man. Imagine him coming on and burning up the field after McGrath finishes a spell!

Player of the Tournament- Shane Watson

With runs and wickets gallore Shane Watson is the obvious choice.




Best Buy- Shaun Marsh

There were several overpaid underperformers in the IPL but Shaun Marsh sure wasn't one of them. Brought by the Kings XI for pennies on the recommendation of Tom Moody, Shaun Marsh has had a brilliant IPL.

Biggest Flop- Cameron White

The huge Aussie came to the IPL with a big reputation but with just over a hundred runs and a modest strike rate Cameron White has been a huge disappointment and gets the booby prize ahead of Shoib Malik and Ab Develliers.

Best Innings- 158*, Brendon McCullum vs Bangalore

The Kiwi got the IPL of to a great start with an unbeaten 158 of only 73 balls with 13 sixes.



Best Bowling Spell- 6/14, Sohail Tanvir vs Chennai Superkings

Tanvir shot to prominence with this brute of a spell against Chennai in one of the group games.

Best Catch-

Too many to pick! You suggest one.


Best Indian Player- Gautam Gambhir

With 500+ runs at the top of the order and excellent efforts in the field my pick is Gautam Gambhir. Let me know if you would rather pick Sreesanth, one of the Pathans, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla or someone else.

Rising Star- Swapnil Asnodhkar

No one had even heard of the fearless opener from Goa, prior to the IPL. Rest Assured the 24 year old tiny swashbuckler has become one of the most feared batsman in the IPL.

Best Cheerleaders- Royal Challengers Bangalore

Mallya was critical of his think tank for not picking a good enough team but whoever picked their cheerleaders did a super job. The scantly dressed babes doing raunchy dance steps kept the Bangolreans in good spirits despite their team's horror show.

The Devil's Advocate

After a painful defeat to Rajasthan in the first IPL semi, I considered giving up my residential allegiances to Delhi and getting back to my ancestral roots and cheering for Punjab. But, those of you who read my blog regularly(yes, all four of you) know that when I back a team, I support it unconditionally through the good, the bad and the ugly(Everton, a case in point) ! Even though the Daredevils became fainthearted when it mattered, the campaign on a whole has still been satisfactory. As the IPL progressed, it became clear that Rajasthan and Mohali would be competing for the top spot; Bangalore(If it's Mumbai Indians and Kolkotta Knight Riders then shouldn't it Bengaluru Royal Challengers?Sorry for the digression but that's a valid point.) and Deccan for the wooden spoon; and that left a glut of 4 teams all very close together in the middle fighting it out for the last two semifinal births. It was to our credit that we held our nerve in many crucial games (and Mumbai lost theirs) to make the top four despite two heavily rain interrupted matches.
So to lift the spirits of my fellow Daredevils(atleast two of the aforementioned 4 are Daredevils) I've come up with a list of why Delhi are a good team and would return strongly next season:

1. We are amongst the best fielding sides in the tournament. I know it takes a brave man to maintain that after Yomahesh and Maharoof's clangers in the semi but if you have followed the IPL regularly you know it's true. Dhawan has probably been the best fielder in the IPL snapping up stunning catches for fun. Add to that Gambir, Tiwary, Dilshan, Karthik, Shoaib Malik, AB de Villiers, Amit Mishra, Daniel Vettori and Sangawan and you know what I'm talking about. Uptill the semis we had inflicted the most runouts-14- in the tournament as well.
2. We are a team with a Delhi Core. No other team in the IPL can claim that. Delhi is the only side where most of the stars are Delhites- Gambir, Viru, Dhawan, Amit Mishra(he moved to Haryana a few years ago to further his career), Sangawan and Rajat Bhatia.
3. We do not have an egoistic individual at the helm. Think Mallya, Dada and SRK and you wuld get my point. We are not a team that can be disrupted by controversies.
4. Three of our leading wickettakers had economy rates of under 7. Once again we are the only team with three bowlers with that distinction. McGrath(12 wickets in 14 matches @ 6.6), Maharoof(15 wickets in 10 matches @ 6.9) and Mishra(11 wickets in 6 matches @ 6.9) have formed a potent yet economical attack. Asif, Yomahesh, Sangwan, Geeves and Bhatia haven't been good consistently but the other three have ensured that with slight tweaking our attack would be excellent next season. I suggest Mitchel Johnson(a very realistic target, won't be too expensive and is a proven performer in T20).
5. Our top 3 has scored almost 1300 runs in the tournament. Even though our middle order has been frail, the form of Gambhir, Sehwag and Dhawan means that one good batsman will sure up our ranks. I suggest Kevin Pietersen!
   

Centumphobia: Fear of the Number 100

Here is a bit of really easy trivia: who is the leading centurion in international cricket? Any cricket fan worth his salt would laugh in your face for asking him this. Here is a slightly more difficult question: who has scored the most number of nineties in international cricket? Mmm … Sachin? Right again. With 22 nineties (15 in ODIs and 7 in Tests, none of them are not outs) Sachin is way ahead of his nearest rivals, who atleast have the consolation of a few not out 90s.

Sachin clinically demolished Pakistan's bowling in Mohali but as soon as he got in the 90s there was a buzz in the common room of my hostel, will he get a century this time? 10 bucks say he won't. As it turned out I should have gotten in on that bet because rest assured a panic attack struck Sachin at 99 and he prodded Umar Gul's routine delivery to a very grateful Kamran Akmal.

His 90s jinx has been especially apparent in One Day Internationals this year. His last ODI ton came against the West Indies in January 2007 and in the 26 games since then Sachin has managed 11 fifties and an excellent average of 44.9. Of these 11 fifties, 5 have been 90s including 3 99s(thats also a record: only player to be dismissed for 99 thrice in ODIs). 26 games without a triple figure score is also his third most barren spell. So whats wrong? Has the Master Blaster become the Master Choker or has he been having really bad luck. Its really a combination of the two, his nervousness in the 90s and some terrible decisions by the umpires.

Here is something you might not have noticed: had Sachin converted his every 90 into a century he would have been the first ever cricketer to score one hundred centuries (37+41+22=100) in international cricket!

If these keeps up “Nervous 90s” may be renamed “Tendulkar 90s”. Come on Sachin score a century and shut me up!

Sachin’s ODI 90s in 2007

99      v       SA      in      Ire     at Belfast    

93      v       SA      in      Ire     at Belfast

99      v       Eng     in      Eng     at Bristol

94      v       Eng     in      Eng     at The Oval

99      v       Pak     in      Ind     at Mohali