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The Biggest Upset of the IPL

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When I read Cricinfo’s article on “Punjab find merit in multiple-captaincy theory“, I was afraid that the evil eye had falled on Punjab. After all, Kolkata, the originators of this clueless tactic, were lying at the bottom of the League with their sole points granted by rain. While some aspects of Punjab’s implementation seemed more focused on team building, there seemed to be a greater emphasis on the multiple points of authority which did not bode well.

Bangalore were behind for almost the entire match until the final overs turned in their favor. This is the beauty of Twenty20. A few good overs here and there coupled with a couple of wickets and the losing team is back in business. This after the opposition had done very well with their captain Yuvraj Singh taking a hattrick and leading the chase with a masterful 50.

This defeat coupled with the other unexpected results in the league have further leveled the Points table. Even Kolkata are only 2 wins away from being placed No. 3 in the table. The results themselves defy logic. To take an example, Bangalore beat Punjab who beat Mumbai who beat Chennai who beat Rajasthan who beat Delhi who beat Deccan who beat Bangalore.

Here is the Points Table

Team        M-W-D-L  P   P/M   FRR   ARR    NRR

Deccan      5-4-0-1  8  1.60  8.34  7.42  +0.92
Delhi       5-4-0-1  8  1.60  8.33  8.01  +0.32
Mumbai      6-3-1-2  7  1.17  7.72  6.67  +1.05
Punjab      6-3-0-3  6  1.00  7.30  7.20  +0.10
Bangalore   7-3-0-4  6  0.86  7.04  7.37  -0.33
Chennai     6-2-1-3  5  0.83  8.34  7.40  +0.94
Rajasthan   6-2-1-3  5  0.83  6.02  7.29  -1.27
Kolkata     7-1-1-5  3  0.43  6.43  7.82  -1.37

[P/M = Points/Match, FRR = For Runs Run Rate, ARR = Against Runs Run Rate, NRR = Net Run Rate]

Deccan and Delhi sit comfortably above the 1.00 target line while Kolkata is significantly behind it. But the remaining five teams are clustered around the midpoint and they all have a chance to make it to the semis. Of course, the next few matches may allow someone to break from the pack or fall to the bottom. Rajasthan (with their batting failures) and Bangalore (with no stable lineup) still continue to be the most likely candidates to be disqualified.

Live-Blogging Kings XI Punjab versus Rajasthan Royals – Part Two

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My pick for the Man of the Match: Sangakkara. The Punjab bowlers deserve a collective kudos. That’s it for today!

Over 20: Kings XI are back in the running after their two rain-affected defeats. Their batting needs some more work, but they have the momentum and their bowling has been immaculate today. For Rajasthan, they are back to Square One.

Over 19: Jadeja gone. The partnership with Warne served to get Rajasthan to a respectable total. They will have to seriously tackle their batting failures in this match. Punjab’s bowlers were excellent and helped with some atrocious shots by the Royals.

Over 18: Punjab almost there. Keeping Rajasthan down to singles. Their game to lose now.

Over 17: Better over. 10 off it. But not enough. 44 off the last three overs. Wickets are no longer part of the equation, though each wicket means a wasted ball. Rajasthan needs some sixes if they want to survive this one.

Over 16: Definitely the wrong match to live-blog about. 4 runs off the over. Rajasthan’s challenge almost certainly dead.

Over 15: This chase is going nowhere. 7 runs off it. RRR almost upto 12. 58 runs off 30 balls. Punjab bowlers giving nothing away.

Over 14: Yuvraj gives just 5 away. Rajasthan are fast running out of balls.

Over 13: Good over by Chawla tightens the screws on Rajasthan. RRR now 10 per over. Rajasthan need a very big over to turn things around. And they need to do it without losing any more wickets. 71/6 – halfway there.

Over 12: Rajasthan silently pass their lowest score. A boundary in the over, but miles to go. Punjab still hold all the cards. 66/6.

Over 11: Whatever the Rajasthan players drank during the break did some good as they hit two boundaries without any loss. 58/6.

Over 10: No damage this time. But Rajasthan are well behind the RRR and with only four wickets in hand, staring down the barrel. It remains to be seen if they can even overhaul their Bangalore total first. Timeout time.

Over 9: Another Rajasthan Royal throws his bat around and plunges the team further into the dumps. Warne comes in. Let’s see if he can bring some captaincy heroics this time.

Over 8: Required Run Rate starts coming into play. It is now up to 8.25. With the demons in the pitch, that may be too insurmountable. Kudos to the Punjab duo of Sangakkara and Pathan to get them to where they are. Rajasthan need a similar partnership.

Over 7: This should be done soon. It is painful watching the reigning champs play like chumps. And seeing Deccan reverse their form from last year, it seems that all prior predictions can be thrown out the window.

Over 6: A boundary every over for Rajasthan – the wickets are what is killing them. They could have easily won this one by singles and the odd boundary. But without wickets in hand, the required run rate keeps mounting.

Over 5: Will Rajasthan repeat their performance against Bangalore? Another two wickets go down for Rajasthan. Chasing does not seem to be their game.

Over 4: Yusuf Pathan strikes two terrific blows to the boundary on each side of the wicket off his brother. He has to stay there for Rajasthan to close this one out. Irfan Pathan still swinging.

Over 3: Better over for Rajasthan. Warne should spend some more thinking time on the batting side of the equation from the next match onward.

Over 2: Powar the fielder gets a wicket off Pathan as Swapnil Asnodkar throws away his wicket. Pathan snags Smith off the final ball to put Rajasthan in deep trouble. Rajasthan should get a new opening pair after this match.

Over 1: Punjab surprisingly open with Powar. The result does not point to any captaincy brilliance as Rajasthan milk him for singles and he gives away a wide.

Rajasthan need 140 to win.

Live-Blogging Kings XI Punjab versus Rajasthan Royals

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Over 20: Good final over keeps Punjab down to 139/6. Rajasthan need to score an easy 7 runs an over to win. If there is no repeat of their fiasco against Bangalore, they should win it. Much depends on the pitch.

Over 19: Two wickets fall just when Punjab had to accelerate. Sangakkara makes a good fifty. Kamran keeps impressing.

Over 18: Shane Warne concedes 12, but Punjab still behind where they need to be. Check out our user community at http://www.kridaya.com to chat with other cricket lovers.

Over 17: Kamran Khan comes back and reduces Punjab’s momentum a bit by conceding only 3 runs.

Over 16: A well-struck boundary brings up the 100 of Punjab’s innings.

Over 15: Irfan thrashes another one out off his brother’s bowling. Punjab puts its foot to the pedal. 12 more runs. 98/4.

Over 14: Cheeky shot by Sangakkara brings runs. A better over for Punjab. 10 runs off it brings them to 86/4. 10 each off the next 6 would help them reach a competitive 146.

Over 13: And now 5 singles. An ugly slog by Sangakkara fails to connect. Punjab 76/4 at a RR of 5.84.

Over 12: One four per over is not going to be good enough. Punjab needs to get going faster. Rajasthan rushing through their overs.

Over 11: Rajasthan keeps Punjab tied down. Just three singles from the over.

Over 10: Irfan Pathan was dying to hit Warne out of the ground. Warne thwarted him twice, but he was not to be denied. The first six of the match. But Punjab still struggling at 60/4 mid-way through their innings.

Over 9: Jayawardene goes to a bad stroke. It is obvious that one side of the pitch is offering much more than the other.

Over 8: A quiet over. This is not looking good for Punjab. So far, only a few boundary hits and no sixes.

Over 7: Yuvraj departs. Rajasthan keeping Punjab in check. The Sri Lankan power duo at the crease.

Over 6: Last ball four and 3 wides spoil an otherwise good over. Rajasthan should watch the extras.

Over 5: Bopara goes as Kamran comes back. Not sure why Shane Warne made this decision, but it worked. An almost run-out, 2 wides and a boundary. Keeps Punjab in the hunt, but 2 wickets down is not a place to be.

Over 4: A pre-meditated stroke from Bopara flies to the boundary. Sangakkara goes the aerial route and succeeds.

Over 3: Aah, Beautiful stroke from Ravi Bopara. But another good over from Rajasthan. Kamran held back after the first over. What plans does Warne have up his sleeve?

Over 2: The edged boundary gets Punjab some runs.

Over 1: First-ball wicket for Rajasthan. You never want to lose a wicket through a silly run-out and definitely not off your first ball. Almost maiden-wicket if it weren’t for the wide.

Punjab wins the toss and elect to bat. This is a battle of two giants who surprisingly are down in the Points Table after three matches each.

Bangalore Slumps to the Bottom

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Today’s match is yet another nail in Bangalore’s coffin. If it hadn’t been for a freak batting performance by the Rajasthan Royals, they would have deservedly gone down to an ignominious defeat and would now be 4 defeats down. One admires the fact that Kallis and Dravid have been in good form, but that should detract us from the transparent fact that Bangalore is the worst team in the tournament and a team losing against them has missed out on easy pickings.

This continues their sorry performance from last year’s Indian Premier League when they ended up second last with just 4 wins. Although the Deccan Chargers were the worst, you felt more sorry for them because they missed out on a few close matches. But Bangalore’s performance has been without enthusiasm or excitement and they never seem to even gain the fan following that comes from being underdogs.

But what’s poison for some people is perfume for others. Kings XI Punjab finally got a full match uninterrupted by rain and their class came through. They restricted Bangalore to a gettable 168, did not panic in the chase and won with an over to spare. Their batting looks solid and their bowling will improve with more exposure to the pitches, as long as they get more full matches.

The Points Table now reads as follows:

Team                          Matches Points Net Run Rate

Deccan Chargers               2       4      +2.16
Delhi Daredevils              2       4      +0.99
Mumbai Indians                2       3      +0.95
Rajasthan Royals              3       3      -1.88
Chennai Super Kings           3       2      +1.07
Kings XI Punjab               3       2      -0.36
Bangalore Royal Challengers   4       2      -0.67
Kolkata Knight Riders         3       2      -0.89

But this does not show the full picture of what is happening, because some teams have played only two matches while others have played 3 or 4. So let us look at a different measure, which is the points per match:

Team                          Points/Match   Net Run Rate

Deccan Chargers               2.00           +2.16
Delhi Daredevils              2.00           +0.99
Mumbai Indians                1.50           +0.95
Rajasthan Royals              1.00           -1.88
Chennai Super Kings           0.67           +1.07
Kings XI Punjab               0.67           -0.36
Kolkata Knight Riders         0.67           -0.89
Bangalore Royal Challengers   0.50           -0.67

The main change is that Bangalore goes to the bottom because they have played one additional game while only winning one match. We also see that the difference between Mumbai and Rajasthan is not just a run-rate difference, but also related to how many matches they have played. This points table is a better guide to identifying which teams are more likely to move to the next stage of the tournament.

[Photo licensed from challiyan]

IPL Day 2 Roundup

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moon

The bat had a greater role today when compared to yesterday’s tough times, but still the ball won out. Both matches were won with some decisive pieces of bowling and then the batsmen came to complete the job. The big lesson for the day: You don’t have to fear batting second as long as you know how to bowl properly.

The rain and the mid-innings break messed with Kings XI Punjab‘s plans for IPL domination. They started out strongly and even when they lost a wicket off the last ball of the first part of their innings, they were sitting very pretty. But after the break, they collapsed in a heap thanks to some excellent bowling by Daniel Vettori who grabbed 3 wickets and put the pressure on to effect two run-outs.

Thanks to their excellent start, Punjab still had a huge score with a significant run-rate. But Delhi‘s opening pair Gautam Gambir and Virender Sehwag continued their partnership success from last year’s IPL and, even with the rain interruption, made mincemeat of the target. Sehwag hit a scarcely unbelievable 38 runs off 16 balls, but Vettori had done all the hard work earlier.

Many watched the Kolkata Knight Riders to get an idea how their multiple captaincy idea worked out in practice. Not so good, it seems. First, they scraped their way to 101 and were bowled out before completing their overs. Their current captain McCullum was out for a solitary run, a far cry from his escapades in last year’s tournament opener. And they didn’t fare very well in the bowling as Deccan Chargers won with almost 7 overs to spare.

Delhi, Deccan and Punjab (for a brief period) showed that easy runs can come by, unlike what we may have deduced from yesterday’s struggling batsmen. Against conventional wisdom, spinners seem to be doing fine. Yesterday, Kumble. Today, Vettori. Let’s see if the trend continues.

[Photo licensed from Rhys Jones]