Indian Premier League Observer

The VVS Lakshman-led Hyderabad team has the most solid batting line-up in DLP IPL Twenty20

After an out-of-the box assault by Brendon McCullum against Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL opening clash, Kolkata Knight Riders now take on the most solid team on paper in the DLF IPL Twenty20 tournament – Deccan Chargers led by VVS Laxman.
A team which has Andrew Symmonds, Adam Gilchrist, Shahid Afridi, VVS Laxman, Chaminda Vaas and Scott Styris, Deccan Chargers are the most formidable side in this competition, at least in paper.
So Sourav Ganguly and his Kolkata Knight Riders have a task cut out.
Take McCullum’s heroics out of the last match and you would find hardly any difference between the two teams. Sourav wasn’t at his best and Ponting was too far way from convincing. Of course the bowling department did well, thanks largely to the insurmountable total put out by McCullum.
In the event of McCullum getting out early, Kolkata Knight Riders will have to have a Plan B. Law of averages doesn’t favor McCullum performing yet another heroic display, but any thing can happen in Twenty20.
Chris Gayle, who is the top scorer in Twenty20 (internationally recognised matches; IPL is not recognized officially by ICC as an international tournament), would not play due to an injury.
So the Kolkata Knight Riders are heavily dependent on Sourav Ganguly himself and Ricky Ponting.
A packed house is expected at Eden Gardens and that puts pressure on the home team itself, a lot more than Deccan Chargers. That is the burden of expectations that Sourav Ganguly should deal with. The huge crowd will also likely to be antagonistic towards Aussies like Andrew Symonds and to a lesser extent Adam Gilchrist, but these are top performers who have dealt with crowds through out the world. On the captaincy front, Sourav Ganguly has a huge benefit of a superb start as well as the solid backing of strategist and coach John Buchanan and another master skipper in Ricky Ponting. VVS Laxman on the other hand does not really fit the bill having lead Rest of India and Hyderabad teams only, without much to boast about.
Going by the past matches the team winning the toss prefers to bat first and put a solid score on board to defend.
In only one match,  Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals, have the chasing team won so far. So toss would be vital.
The interesting contest of the match would be between new Indian pace sensation Ishant Sharma and Australian Andrew Symonds. Remember they are just out of a keen tussle Down Under.
Hyderabad also would miss a big hitter in Heschelle Gibbs, who is tied with a domestic tournament back home.
The Eden track is set to favour batsmen and since the line-up favours Deccan Chargers Kolkata Knight Riders would have to have another McCullum-like performance from some one.
Hyderabad Deccan Chargers have the edge in this contest, bookies say.

Teams:
Deccan Chargers
VVS Laxman, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Nuwan Zoysa, Rohit Sharma, Scott Syris,  Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, R P Singh, Haldhar Das, Pragyan Ojha, P Vijay Kumar, Sarvesh Kumar, Arjun Yadav, D Kalyan Krishna, Y Venugopal Rao.

Kolkata Knight Riders
Brendon McCullum, Sourav Ganguly, David Hussey, Ricky Ponting, Mohammad Hafeez, L R Shukla, Ishant Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Murali Kartik, Siddharth Kaul, Iqbal Abdulah, Wriddhiman Saha, Rohan Banerjee, Aakash Chopra, Debabrata Das, Sourashish Lahiri, Cheteshwar Pujara, Prasanta Saha, Tatenda Taibu, Yashpal Singh.  
 

Sachin Tendulkar unlikley to play, in which case Harbhajan Singh will lead Mumbai Indians 

Another battle between two former Indian skippers is on the cards when the Reliance owned Mumbai Indians captained by Sachin Tendulkar takes on battered Bangalore Royal Challengers led by Rahul Dravid.

Only this time, Sachin’s presence is not guaranteed as he is fighting injuries. A decision on whether or not Sachin will play will be taken just before the match, but odds are that he will sit out.

But that does not give any breather to Rahul Dravid’s Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Explosive batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, who can tear apart any bowling attack, will most certainly open with Robin Uthappa, the Bangalore lad whom Dravid and Mallya would have rued not to get in the player auction.

The dazzling Uthappa can be as dangerous or even better than Sanath Jayasuriya and therein starts the woes of Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Luke Ronchi is another prolific big hitter that they would have to contend with in the batting line up. Ronchi’s larger than life exploits in Australian league had earned him a call from none other than Sachin Tendulkar, an honour that he will look to repay with the willow at Wankhade stadium on Sunday.

South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock comes with a vast array of experience and the immaculate ability to bowl on the spot. This means that he have the opportunity to trouble Bangalore Royal Challengers with the bat as well the ball.

Dilhardo Fernando and Ashish Nehra would ably back Pollock as they try and check the run flow and take wickets.

And the man who would lead them all in the probable absence of Sachin Tendulkar is Harbhajan Singh, who was bagged by the Mumbai Indians for a whopping $850,000. Harbhajan’s experience in volatile, high-profile contests would come to the fore as Mumbai Indians’ coach Lalchand Rajput knits his strategy to tame the Bangalore Royal challengers.

The pressure clearly is on Vijay Mallya promoted Bangalore Royal Challengers and its skipper Rahul Dravid.

Lasith Malinga has been ruled out due to injuries, but Mumbai Indians have roped in Dwayne Bravo to replace him. The West Indian, however, is not likely to play the match against Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians’s second match against Chennai Super Kings is likely to see Bravo taking the field.

Rahul Dravid has been at the receiving end of a barrage of criticism for selecting a team, which resembles more of a test side than even a one day side, while the requirements of Twenty20 is clearly more unique than even ODIs. The Bangalore skipper has his own logic and game plan and a sound cricketing brain, but that needs to be converted into a win at any cost to settle down in the tournament.

Bangalore Royal Challengers has a formidable bowling attack, but its is yet to take off in the absence of Anil Kumble and pace spearhead Dale Steyn.

Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, fresh from his last over exploits against Sri Lanka, has arrived but he is unlikely to play in the Mumbai match.

Zaheer Khan, who would have a better idea about the Wankhade stadium pitch, would have to ensure that he doesn’t get hit initially.

Many think a wayward Zaheer’s first over cost India the world cup final against Australia and also Bangalore Royal Challengers first match against Kolkata Knight Riders. But if he gets into the groove, Zaheer can be menacing.

Misabah-ul-Haq’s absence is a major issue for Bangalore Royal Challengers, as there aren’t many who can hit the red cherry out of the ground in the Team.

A pitch favouring the batsmen makes Bangalore’s Royal Challengers’ task more difficult. Jacques Kallis will have to cut loose if they are to put up a decent total. Mark Boucher can be deployed to tackle Harbhajan Singh as the South African is a able player of spin.

Praveen Kumar emerged as the best bet for Bangalore Royal Challengers in both batting and bowling. Praveen Kumar was the only one to reach double digits in the mach against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Virat Kohli would have another opportunity to show that his Under-19 skills can be elevated to the international level.

Mumbai Indians are the clear favourites and Bangalore Royal Challengers would have to come up with some astonishing performance to lift their own spirits and bury the ghost of Brendon McCullum.

Teams

Mumbai Indians

Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sanath Jayasuriya, Robin Uthappa, Shaun Pollock, Dilhara Fernando, Luke Ronchi, Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Dominic Thornley, Musavir Khote, Dhaval Kulkarni, Pinal Shah, Sorah Tiwary, Siddarth Chitnis, Swapnil Singh, Vikrant Yelligeti.

Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Rahul Dravid, Wasim Jaffer, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Zaheer Khan, Cameron White, Ashley Noffke, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Sunil Joshi, Ross Taylor, Sunil Joshi, K P Appanna, Sreevats Goswami, J Arunkumar.   

After their electrifying victory over Vijay Mallya’s Rahil Dravid-led Bangalore Royal Challengers, the Kolkata Knight Riders is all set to host their first home match of the DLF IPL in Kolkata on Sunday. The entire Kolkata city is waking up to the celebrations and the preparations surrounding their first home match, and that too against the much hyped Hyderabad Deccan Chargers.

Kolkata Knight Riders, owned by Bollywood badshah Shah RUkh Khan, is in scintillating form after their mega victory against the Bangalore Knight Riders. The destructive attitude shown by Brendon McCullum and henceforth the victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers, is sure to attract a lot of attention from the Kolkata cricket fans for SUndays’s match against the mighty Deccan Chargers led by VVS Laxman.

Shah Rukh Khan said, “”At the Eden Gardens, where the matches will be played, we will exhibit two helmets, an 18-carat gold-plated and a diamond studded one, to show the other teams that we are the declared winners. The matches are just child’s play for us.”

SRK continued on the presence of Bollywood beauties at the Eden Gardens, “”I believe it’s my duty to entertain people whether it’s in films or in the IPL matches. Though I am not going to dance at the gallery, I will be present at the Eden (Garden). Rani (Mukherjee), Bipasha (Basu) and Kareena (Kapoor) have verbally confirmed their presence. With Kareena, now-a-days, we get a Saif Ali Khan free. So Saif can also be expected. I will personally try to convince John (Abraham) and Karan (Johar) to fly down as well.”

Meanwhile, Shah Rukh Khan’s fans club is also doing their bit of entertaining. The have arranged a procession from Hatibagan in central Kolkata to the Eden Gardens. A group of twenty belly dancers will add colours to the procession.

Arnab Roy, joint secretary of Shah Rukh Khan Fans Club, said, “We will also decorate the gallery with Knight Riders flags, banners and festoons. Shah Rukh has promised to help us deck up the gallery.”

Screening of selected matches of Kolkata Knight Riders would be held at various places across the Kolkata city. Kolkata is wearing a mask of excitement with Kolkata cricket fans wearing golden black hoardings and posters of the ‘Knights’ being displayed all across the city.

In the last match of the Kolkataq Knight Riders in Bangalore in which they demolished the Bangalore ROyal Challengers by a huge margin, Knight Riders captain Saurav ganguly had promised that the entertainment would be much larger in Eden Gardens.

After a disapponting start to the tickets sale, its confirmed that the tickets for  the first two Knight Riders matches, on April 20 against Deccan Chargers and April 29 against the Mumbai Indians, are sold out. Eden Gardens Kolkata will host seven of the total 14 matches of the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Mumbai Indians, the IPL Mumbai franchisee owned by industrialist Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, is all set to face the Bangalore Royal Challengers, the Bangalore franchisee of the DLF IPL owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya. Bangalore Royal Challengers have now another match to regain the lost confidence in the team, which has been lost by the disappointing victory it had to suffer from the hands of Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders.

The Mumbai Wankhede stadium will witness the first home match of the Mumbai Indians, being led by none other than the icon player of the team Sachin Tendulkar lock horns with the Bangalore Royal Challengers led by Rahul Dravid.

The main problem which is still facing the Mumbai Indians is the fitness of their star batsman Sachin Tendulkar. It’s still not known as to whether Sachin would play in the inaugural match of the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Royal Challengers skipper Rahul Dravid would be a worried man after their disappoint loss against the Knight Riders. The match saw one of the most exciting batting performances in the history of the game with Aussie Brendon McCullum blistering his way to a mammoth 158 and thus handling an easy win to his Knight Riders team. The same thing would repeat if Rahul Dravid fails a way to send back the Lankan marauder Sanath Jayasurya, who is bound to open the Mumbai Indians batting alongside Sachin Tendulkar. Jayasurya is well know for his aggressive batting and he would surely be a menace for the Royal Challengers if allowed to settle.

Bangalore Royal Challengers is worried by the absence of two exciting bowlers Dale Steyn and Nathan Bracken. While Dale Steyn is playing domestic cricket in South Africa, Aussie Nathan Bracken is nursing an injury. Without the presence of these two promising bowlers, the bowling line-up of Bangalore Royal Challengers lacked sharpness during their match against the Kolkata Knight Riders and this would be a major concern for the Royal Challengers. They have to find some way to strengthen their bowling line-up especially, and also the batting line-up does not look too good with Indian test player Wasim Jaffer opening the batting.

Just like Mumbai Indians is worried over the fitness of Sachin, Bangalore Royal Challengers also has a reason to worry – Indian test captain Anil Kumble’s fitness. It is unlikely that Anil Kumble would be ready for the match against Mumbai Indians on Sunday.

Mumbai Indians, the Indian Premier League team owned by Mukesh Ambani, is much worried about the fitness of their captain Sachin Tendulkar. Mumbai Indians’ debut match against Royal Challangers Banglore owned by Vijay Mallya will be held on Sunday.

There are two days remaining to start the match and the decision to play or not will be taken only just before the match, said Tendulkar.

Harbhajan Singh, off-spinner and vice captain of Mumbai Indians, will lead the team if Tendulkar fails to pass the fitness test.

The remaining 27 playing members of the Mumbai Indians team are practicing very confidently, even though there are some uncertainties regarding the fitness of their captain.

Baroda wicket-keeper Pinal Shah, Maharashtra’s Yogesh Takawale and Western Australia wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi of Western Australia are the three wicket keepers for Mumbai Indians team. Among the three, it seems that Luke Ronchi will the be the first choice of Mumbai Indians as a wicket keeper.

Harbhajan and former South African captain Shaun Pollock are the key players in the Mumbai Indians team. The 24-year-old Pollock has retired from international cricket and can be miserly with the ball and extremely handy lower down with the bat. Harbhajan singh, a crucial bowler is also good in taking runs and wickets.

For pace and bounce, Mumbai indians have Sri Lankan Dilhara Fernando and Delhi left-arm swing bowler.

After losing the game by 140 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders, Banglore Royal Challangers would be eager to win handsomely against Mumbai Indians.

Banglore Royal challangers’ Anil Kumble who did not play in the inaugural match of IPL would also miss the match against Mumbai Indians on sunday since he is also not yet fully fit.

Dwayne Bravo, the West Indian all rounder, has signed up for the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) which started on April 18. Dwayne Bravo has joined the Mumbai Indians team with Sachin Tendulkar as captain and Lalchand Rajput as coach. On Sunday, Mumbai Indians will play its first match against Banglore Royal Challangers.

Bravo joined the team as a replacement for Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga. Malinga is recovering from a knee injury. “we got a report that his recovery might take a further two to three weeks. So we decided to have a back-up”, said Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput regarding the selection of Bravo.

The 24-year-old Dwayne Bravo will not play in the Carib Challenge Shield Final against Jamaica which will be held next week. Trinidad and Tobago team manager Colin Borde supported Dwayne Bravo since he knows well that the Indian Premier League will benefit the national team.

Every body is excited about Bravo, playing with Sachin, Harbhajan Singh and Shaun Pollock, said Colin Borde.

since Bravo is the first guy from from Trinidad and Tobago to play in the IPL, he must be very proud, said Borde.

Delhi Daredevils hold slight edge against Rajasthan Royals

Delhi Daredevils led by Virender Sehwag takes on Rajasthan Royals led by Shane Warne in DLF IPL on Saturday at New Delhi. Virender Sehwag’s fine form with the bat is what Delhi Daredevils count most apart from the perceived advantage of the home turf at Feroz Shah Kotla. Delhi Daredevils suffered a setback due to the unavailability of Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Malik, due to their international assignments and hence Sehwag would be under tremendous pressure to cut loose. In form opener Gautam Gambhir would also have to make his willow do the talking and giver his skipper Virender Sehwag able assistance. In the bowling department, Sehwag can afford to relax. Aussie Glen McGrath and Daniel Vettori are the best bets in any form of the game. Vettori’s intelligent spin would not be an easy proposition to any batsmen. McGrath on the other hand is known for his nagging accuracy.
Captain and Coach Shane Warne leads the Rajasthan Royal Challengers charge against Delhi Daredevils. But Rajasthan Royal Challengers are also missingsome key players – South African captain Graeme Smith and his team mate Morkel as well as Pakistan’s Younis Khan.
But Shane Warne is hoping that all rounder Shane Watson will fire from all cylinders. Shane Watson is known to be a big hitter. Mohammad Kaif gets a chance to prove his skills with the bat and on the field for Rajasthan Royals.
Bookies give Delhi Daredevils a slight advantage but one explosive innings can swing the match as Brendon McCullum showed in Bangalore the other day.
Teams
Delhi Daredevils
Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Bret Geeves , Glen McGrath, Shoaib Malik, Daniel Vettori, AB de Villers, Farveez Maharoof, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Mohammed Asif, Manoj Tiwari, Dinesh Karthik, Mithun Manhas, Pradeep Sangwan, Shikhar Dhawan, Yo Mahesh, Amit Mishra, Mayank Tehlan, Rajan Bhatia.

Rajasthan Royals
Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Younis Khan, Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir, Kamran Akmal, M Morkel, Justin Langer, Mohammad Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, Munaf Patel, Pankaj Singh, Mahesh Rawat, Sidharth Trivedi, Taruwar Kohli, R JadeJA, Niraj Patel, Swapnil Asnodkar, Anup Revandkar, D Salunkhe, Sumeet Khatri, Aditya Angle, Jaydev Shah, Parag More.

Brendon McCullum explodes, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 140 runs

Brendon McCullum hit 13 sixes, smashed 158 in 73 balls and demolished Bangalore Royal Challengers in front of Vijay Mallya’s home crowd to guide Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders the first victory in the first match of the inaugural match of the DLF IPL Twenty20 championship.

So much was the domination of Brendon McCullum in the match that no other player from either sided is worthy of mention in the score card.

No player from Bangalore Royal Challengers crossed double digits with the exception of Praveen Kumar, who scored 18.

Brendon McCullum who had a Twenty20 strike rate of more than 121 finished the match with a strike rate of 216.43. Brendon McCullum was bought for $700,000 and that seems to be a modest sum given his heroics, showing scant respect for Bangalore Knight Riders attack.

This was a collapse as none could have predicted it, and the man who had the time of his life was Shah Rukh Khan. He sang and danced through the whole show, while his team Kolkata Knight Riders went about systematically demolishing first the Bangalor team’s bowling attack, and then their batting lineup.

The man who has had the worst time of his life – Rahul Dravid, captain, Bangalore Royal Challengers. And probably Vijay Mallya, the team owner.

Brendan McCullum put on the show of his life when he attacked with fours and sixes, ending with the best Twenty20 score ever. Compare that to Bangalore Challengers, where no one even managed to cross into the double digits. Team captain Sourav Ganguly and teammate Ricky Ponting were barely noticed as McCullum’s onslaught was on.

Rahul Dravid, from the beginning, looked nervous – but the he always looks nervous. He was scalped by Ishant Sharma who seemed to enjoy great camaraderie with his arch enemy from Australia, Ricky Ponting. Agarkar too put on a spectacular performance.

Between these two, the demolition of the Bangalore Royal Challengers was complete.
All is not lost, thankfully it is a league, and there are more matches to come for the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Great show today, and great start, Kolkata!

As of the 17th over of the first innings of the inaugural IPL match of Kolkata Knight Riders vs Bangalore Royal Challengers, the undisputed star of the show is Brendan McCullum – whom most of us in India have never heard much about.

Brendan McCullum, who opened with a distinctly scratchy Sourav Ganguly, is now at 113 runs off 59 balls. In this blistering innings, he distincly overshadowed all his batting partners, whether its a Ganguly or a Ricky Ponting. McCullum hit 8 fours and 8 sixes – and if he continues, may hit a few more!

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