IPL-5: The Best Ever?

I believed right from the beginning that IPL-5 would be a roaring success. I had my reasons to think that way, and I am glad that as an ardent cricket lover, my belief in the game has been further boosted by some outstanding displays of batting, bowling and fielding in the last 2 months or so. Eventually, it was consistency and tenacity of the Knight Riders that prevailed over luck and resoluteness of the Chennai Super Kings.

The credit for KKR win mainly goes to Gautam Gambhir who made the right noises throughout the IPL. I loved the way he spoke after every defeat or victory. There was a sense of purpose and a flat honesty in the way he talked, hinting a lot about the kind of character Gautam is. He led from the front, scoring a bulk of runs for his team, and also marshaled his troops brilliantly on the field. He had an ace up his sleeve in the form of Sunil Narine, who remained a mystery bowler throughout the tournament barring the finals. Credit also must be given to young Indian talent of the KKR who got themselves counted every time the situation demanded. From Bisla's whirlwind knock in the finals to Rajat Bhatia'a wily slow medium pace, KKR had some pretty good local talent at their disposal. The franchise owners and the players would be hugely delighted as well as relieved to have finally won the title for the city of Kolkata, which is extremely passionate about sports. And this must be a personal victory of sorts for Shah Rukh Khan, who got in all kinds of trouble in lead up to this big title. To be honest, despite being an ardent SRK fan I too at times got agitated by what I believed was 'extreme involvement' of the actor with the team and the games it played. I always believed that sheer weight and aura of his personality hindered KKR's chances of playing freely and up to their true potential. Khan was always there, in the stands, out there in the field, for every single match. I wondered is it that necessary for a team owner to watch each and every game!

Two reasons that perhaps explain Khan's enthusiasm are- one, he himself has been a sportsperson, and could not help getting involved in the game, and second reason can be the immense passion and energy he brings to everything that he does. But all things said and done, his brawl at the MCA and smoking scandal at Jaipur were surely avoidable incidents. Coming back to cricket, you got to give due credit and respect to CSK for coming so close yet again. Yes, I am a proclaimed CSK hater but the team definitely has the meat to rise up on big occasions. They have had plenty of good fortune coming their way but luck alone can not bring a team this far. But the CSK need to watch out for complacency and arrogance seeping in their ranks. Personally, I did not like Bravo's theatrics every time he took a catch or got a wicket. Ashwin and Vijay also go overboard in their celebrations, and all of this did have a role in eventual denial of what could have a hattrick of titles for Chennai.

My heart goes out to teams like Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab who played out of their skins to keep this IPL alive and kicking till the very last match of the league stage. RCB's ouster before the play-offs makes me wonder what will this team do once Gayle is out of form or not available for playing! Two years in a row Gayle has been absolutely devastating in his impact, scoring bucket full of runs, but still the RCB has not managed to win the title. This tells us a lot about the team's over-dependency on Gayle and the management really needs to do something about it.

As for Delhi, they were deservedly dumped by CSK in the eliminator! This is a team that has come cropper in crunch games again and again, despite creating havoc in the league stages. Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, were the second most lucky team in the competition after CSK. I think they did not deserve to be in the play-offs, with the kind of patchy performance they put up, specially in the first half of the tournament. But MI would be happy with the eventual results, although they seriously need to find a more 'captain like captain' next season!

And my heart aches every time I think of the torrid time Pune had in this IPL! Despite starting off their campaign pretty well, IPL's newest franchise struggled badly towards the business end of the tournament, losing 8 games in a row! I fail to understand the exact reasons behind this debacle. But a probable answer could be that bigger and better teams like CSK, KKR and MI peak towards the end of the IPL while the underdogs like PWI and RR struggle as the business end approaches. Deccan Chargers were never in contention for the play off berth, but did well by extinguishing the chances of at least two hopeful sides (RR, RCB)!

These two months have been fascinating for every cricket fan! I was specially in awe of some of the fielding heroics near the boundary rope by the likes of Rahane, Botha, Steve Smith and a few others! Add to it the innovation in batting by the likes of de'Villiers and the guile in spin bowling brought on by Sunil Narine, and IPL-5 has contributed immensely to the game of cricket. This edition was easily the most fiercely contested with 7 out of 9 teams in the race for a play-off berth till the last stage of the league matches. Naysayers may sulk and call it all 'fixed' or may brood over that molestation case or SRK brawl, but at the end of the day IPL has yet again proved to be cricket's beloved million dollar baby!


Hoping for a bigger and better 2013!

Boria Majumdar: IPL's showcase face-off

An impending battle between KKR owner Shahrukh Khan and his former skipper Saurav Ganguly will be a treat for sore eyes in the IPL.

By Boria Majumdar

I have been grumbling for a while that the IPL isn’t just taking off. No major controversy yet, the usual suspects performing, no major organizational lapse, expected drop in television ratings given the cricket calendar and also the killing of Osama Bin Laden, which had taken over the world of news across the globe the past week.

Amidst all of this there was one piece of news that helped light up the IPL horizon—Saurav Ganguly making yet another comeback as a Warrior and will be padding up against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai on 19 May. Yes the Warriors are languishing at the bottom of the IPL table given their inability to close out matches from winning positions but that doesn’t take anything away from this very special contest, one between Bengal and Kolkata perhaps.

Ganguly is still the single biggest icon in my part of the world in the East and it is an ethnography worth doing to check how many in Bengal supports Pune on the 19th with their favorite son playing for the Pune outfit against KKR. It will be a different version of the Tebbit Test, city loyalty versus individual charisma, support for the city team versus love for an individual. Signs are it will be a very close contest with Kolkata and Bengal deeply divided on the issue.

Knowing Saurav Ganguly well it is only foolish to write him off. Having said that, it is a fight that is going to be the most difficult of his career, a reality he knows only too well. When he made his fairytale comeback in 2006, he was an international cricketer and was in constant touch with the game. Even when he answered the Buchanan snub in 2010, he had played a lot of domestic cricket leading up to the IPL and coupled with his incredible mental resolve was favorite once again do it at IPL stage.

2011, however, is different. Saurav hasn’t played much domestic cricket at all in the lead up to the competition. The call up, to quote one of his closest aides, was “totally unexpected.” In fact, when Warriors team Director Abhijit Sarkar, the brain behind this move, called him on the Sunday night, he was almost in bed! That he got his kit out after the hour long conversation with Sarkar only proves how much he was craving for this opportunity, the most important factoid that makes the contest on the 19th a really special one. Saurav sweated it out at the Eden for more than three hours on Monday morning and has been practicing twice a day for hours since he joined the team on Wednesday, 4th May.

For him it is not about money. As he has himself said on many occasions, it doesn’t matter whether he gets his 400,000 USD or not. What does matter is can he redeem himself? Can he avenge the ill treatment meted out to him at the IPL auction and can he demonstrate for one final time that there’s some cricket left in him?

Can he still face up to Brett Lee on a bouncy DY Patil track and prove his critics wrong? It is all about reputation and that’s what has made the contest the real big face off between the country’s two leading icons, Shahrukh Khan and Saurav Ganguly. Pune Warriors and KKR have suddenly turned incidental to the whole script with these two leading entertainers taking center stage.

For Khan and his men Ganguly will provide that extra incentive to perform, not to mention the opportunity to make the play offs. If they are able to get Ganguly cheaply, their owner, more than anyone else, will breathe a sigh of relief for anything to the contrary and he will have to answer a million questions when he makes it to Kolkata before the match against the Mumbai Indians on the 22nd.

The stakes, one must admit, are high making it the IPL’s showcase face off, something that the tournament was badly in need of. Let’s hope the days leading up to this contest will spice it up further. It might well be that the match turns a must win for Kolkata to make the next stage while a loss against Pune might yet again shatter Shahrukh Khan’s dream of winning the coveted IPL trophy. Neither Khan nor Ganguly will want to lose this one. Yes, this is what sport is all about. A captivating tale of high intense drama with more than credibility is at stake. I, as a fan, can’t wait for this one to unfold.

Courtesy: Boria Majumdar/Sports.ndtv.com

Story of Knight Riders-2

Almost everything was right about KKR, a larger than life owner, an extremely popular "Idol", competent support staff and a mind-blowing marketing & campaigning team. Due to its association with King Khan, KKR was never short of media limelight. There were promotional songs, themes, merchandise and even a reality show. Everything was just so perfect expect for the 'playing part'.

Knight Riders came out croppers on the field, loosing matches after matches, some close ones, some one-sided. They started off IPL with a bang, largely due to Mcullum's heroics, but soon fizzled out like air from a cola bottle. Frictions emerged within the team when John Buchanan took over as coach in the 2^nd edition of IPL. Multiple-captain theory and several other bizarre ideas came out of that wise mind of the Aussie. Saurav Ganguly was sidelined  and his own performance dipped alarmingly. (He performed well in the first IPL). And there was an asshole called Fake IPL Player too.

KKR hoped for a new beginning in the 3^rd edition by handing over the captaincy to Saurav again. The team did better than previous two editions, but was woefully inconsistent. Semifinals dream was not fulfilled and sad journey of the Knight Riders seemed endless.

KKR owners were licking their wounds when time for IPL re-auction arrived. Their prestige in market was at stake despite the fact that franchise was making decent profits. After all, its not money which always matters. Saurav Ganguly was not bought by KKR. For the records, he was KKR's highest run-getter in IPL 3 and was 4th overall.

Shah Rukh has every right to expect that his team performs well. He has invested his money, faith and time in the endeavor and there is no harm in seeking some returns. If Saurav's non-selection in KKR disappointed his fans, cold shoulder by other franchises made matters worst. Moreover, the manner in which he was dumped was quite unceremonious. He would have definitely performed better, even if he played with right-hand, than many of the 'never-heard-before' players who were sold during the auction. For the records, even likes of Md. Kaif and Sreedharan Sreeram were sold.

I wish Saurav was taken into confidence before this decision was arrived at. SRK should have talked to him and offered him the mentor's role way before the actual auction. This would have helped in retention of basic fan-base for KKR. As things stand today, KKR faces an uphill task of performing well in the IPL, coping with disgruntled Kolkata fans and bringing in some crowd at Eden. Those empty stands in Eden Gardens tell the entire story. Shah Rukh Khan could have easily handled the Ganguly issue a bit more maturely. By dissociating himself from KKR's cricketing affairs, he did a wise thing. But he should have realized, Saurav Ganguly is not a mere cricketer. He lives deep inside Bengal's heart.

I wish KKR does well this season. Shah Rukh Khan deserves some glory after three years of selfless cheering and support. He says, KKR wants to win the IPL for Dada. Dada fans say, No Dada, No IPL.

There are some serious emotions involved here. Someone's pride, someone's hurt ego and a million's anger. And for me, this is the most stunning cocktail on offer, this IPL season.

Story of Knight Riders-1

Bengal has always been a sports loving state. Not long ago, it used to be power center of Indian sports, be it football or cricket. But soon, new centers of sports, especially cricket, emerged across the country and Baroda, Mumbai, Chennai & Bangalore started matching Calcutta's steps. This entire phenomenon was also accompanied by gradual decline in charm & prowess of Bengali society. Clutches of Marxism siphoned out vigor and enthusiasm of Bengal, and its glory and status as India’s intellectual & sports hotbed waned.

After MAK Pautadi, Saurav Ganguly was the only Bengali cricketer to make an impact in the international arena. He not only went on to become India’s best-ever left-handed batsman, world’s leading One-Day cricketer and Nation’s most successful captain, but also reignited the lost Bengali Pride. Prince of Calcutta became poster boy of the state and made heavy inroads in the conscience of an average Bengali.

Ganguly’s rise, fall and the final phoenix like resurrection became a part of the Bengali folkfore and the state was simply not ready to think beyond him. Blame it on dearth of idols in Bengali society or sheer love for their favorite son, Bengal wished to have Saurav in its life in any and every capacity. 

But all heroes are mortal and every medicine has an expiry date. When the time of Saurav’s retirement from cricket arrived, Bengal was appalled and unable to face the reality. Dada exited gracefully from international cricket, though many say that he had a couple of years left in him. Bengal took Saurav’s decision to retire in its stride but found a new ray of hope in form of Indian Premier League.

It was potentially the most lethal combination IPL could ever imagine. Shah Rukh Khan, India’s reigning Superstar and Saurav Ganguly, cricket’s adorable spoiled kid, joined hands to form the Kolkata Knight Riders. The franchise hoped to cash on Saurav’s unmatched popularity in Kolkata and SRK’s unbeatable charisma. However, three editions since 2008, proved that every tempting beginning does not have a fairytale ending.

KKR languished at the bottom of IPL tree for all its 3 editions. Controversies, Saurav’s step-brother, surfaced from nowhere and the going became extremely tough for the Knigh Riders…

To Be Continued..