CricDigs Blogs

It is all over for the Mumbai Indians. They started the IPL terribly and finished it even worse. It gave it’s fans a TON of hope by stringing together 6 fantastic wins only to follow it up with 3 heart-breaking losses. Now the Semi-Final stage is set with Chennai Super Kings playing against Kings XI Punjab and the Delhi Dare-Devils taking on Rajasthan Royals.

What does a Mumbai fan supposed to do? Who does he/she root for?

Should he/she root for Super Kings because it’s lead by Dhoni or the Royals because of Shane Warne, Delhi Dare-Devils for Viru or Punjab for Yuvraj?

Quite honestly as a Mumbai Indians fan, I am not sure what I will do. If I had to pick right now, I will lean towards rooting for Chennai. What about you?

This is exactly what every Mumbai Indians fan (including yours truly) is hoping for. Mumbai could have clinched the Semi-Final spot by beating Delhi the other day or would have just needed one more win from now on if they had managed two more runs against Punjab.

They did neither, so the team finds itself on the brink of elimination. One good thing in this challenging situation is the fact that Mumbai’s destiny is in their own hands. If they win both their remaining matches they are through, regardless of what happens in the other matches.

Chennai needs to win their last encounter to guarantee their position. A loss their could create a very interesting situation.

Anyways, Mumbai Indians take on tomorrow Rajasthan Royals, the best team in IPL and if they win this match, it will setup a thrilling finale for the IPL round one.

Go Indians!!!

Before today’s match between Kolkata & Delhi, there were all different possibilities about which teams would make the semi-finals (other than the Rajasthan Royals. Once that match was washed out, Kolkata is out of it. Now Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai are fighting it out for the 4th position.

The next match between Delhi and Mumbai is a virtual quarter-final for Mumbai Indians. If they win that match then they are through. If Delhi wins then the fight continues.

Chennai has 2 more matches to go. One against the best team, the Royals and the other against the worst team, the Chargers. Winning one of them would see them through to Semis.

So in a nutshell the encounter between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Dare Devils is the most important remaining in the IPL first round.

Agree?

I have not been able to see a lot of these matches (being on vacation for about 10 days with limited internet access) but quite honestly I just love to see all these teams with a fantastic mixture of international stars playing against each other. No one team seems to have lob-sided advantage. They all have reasonable fire power in batting as well as bowling and we should see a very tight finish for semi-final births towards the end.

It is fun and great site to see Dhoni and Michael Hussey batting together, Ponting and Ishant Sharma playing for the same team, Symonds and Afridi representing the same team, Shane Warne and Graem Smith in a huddle and many many more interesting combinations (including Bhajji smacking Sreesanth ).

I hope to catch more of those matches (may be some live ) and hope that IPL continues to flourish.

You can say that Dhoni is arguably the biggest “thing” happened to Indian Cricket after Sachin Tendulkar. Though they represent totally different styles (including hair) of personalities, they both have moved the Indian fans big time…

Dhoni came with a bang with his skyrocketing shots and huge sixes, and over the past year+ has established himself as a successful captain for India in all forms of Cricket (including T20, ODIs and a Test win against SA). He also got a million dollar contract for himself while leading the Chennai Super Kings in IPL.

Now during his journey has he changed as a player/person? He is still as confident as he used to, still enjoys while playing the game, still shows ability to take decisions and seem to handle to stress pretty well.

What has changed then? One thing that I noticed while watching his interview after India’s Test win against SA in Kanpur was the fact that he took credit for all the changes he made and went on to say that his “eight changes provided eight wickets”. So what is the big deal about this comment you will say. Well in previous similar situations (in CB series in Australia e.g.) he would answer this type of question by saying that it is the players who perform when put in a situation by a captain. So the credit goes to the players. Small change this might be, but many a times it is this type of small change in attitude that can bring on BIG changes in the future. Interesting to see how the Dhoni era progresses…..

IPL is going great guns, and every match seems to be getting just better than best. Yesterday happened to be the biggest day for IPL as far as any australlian players are concerned. BHAJJI slaps SREESANTH. Could any australlian have expected a better news than this ?

Harbhajan slaps Sreesanth for saying “hard luck mate”. Harbhajan slaps when the camera’s weren’t rolling. Sreesanth fakes crocodile tears as if the slap almost killed him. Players from the Punjab XI lend their shoulders for Sreesanth to lean and cry. At the press meet they blast Bhajji’s behaviour. Bhajji comes out and say we are brother’s and he just pushed Sreeshanth and he got hurt. Sreesanth says bhajji placed a handshake at a most awkard place. What the hell is all this ? Do they think people watching cricket are fools ? Do they think we are so dumb to not realise they are playing a gimmick here ? Well if someone can slap someone and then say we are brother’s and say all is fair in a family, Mr.Hayden and Mr.Symonds please get ready to slap your so called friend (the turbanator)and please donot forget to say “We are brother’s and all is fair in a family”….

As bhajji says, he and sreesanth are like brothers. But IPL & ICC shouldn’t take this lightly. This is an insult to the game of cricket. Harbhajan should be banned from playing cricket. At the end of the day its cricket that should win and not individuals. Harbhajan has done enough, and he very badly deserves a punishment

Mumbai struggled right from the word-go even on a pitch that was so condusive for batting. The team is in a mess, and nothings going right for them. Considering the start they had, the total they put up was pretty good. Deccan Chargers dint require an Xtra special knock to chase it down, all they required was to take it easy and chip the runs away and register their first win.

Gilly with a stream of low scoring knocks this IPL, was all set to fire. He began cautiously, but just began to show what he’s out there for. What a knock it was. It was sixes one after another. Could anyone have expected to watch him play any better than that ? Gilly played the knock of IPL so far, and got his team their first victory. All his shots were so sweetly timed, crispy and mindboggling to watch. What a knock and there’s no words to express the significance and callibre of his innings . When the chips are really down, Gilly comes up with a significant knock and thats what makes him a world class player. Well done Gilli, and you gave us a treat tonight

The top four team makes it to the semis and the four that does make it to the semis really deserve to be where they are. After 56 matches of the first round, its more than right to choose the four teams for the semis.

Well its not gonna be easy to pick the four that will make it to the semis at this point of time. Six out of the eight teams contesting are equally good and special for its own reasons. Making predictions is supposedly the biggest challenge. The best thing is to rather wait for the semi’s match and know whos made it through.

But then if i have to pick my teams that would make it to the semis, my first choice would be the Chennai Super kings. Chennai with the likes of Hayden, Dhoni, Hussey n Murali are more than a better team that could perform consistently. Kolkatta with the likes of McCullum, Ganguly, Ponting and Ishanth look ominous and can make it to the semis aswell. Deccan Chargers looks strong but the captaincy is not inspiring and thats why they heading nowhere. My third team would obviously have to be the Delhi DareDevils. Their bowling is so strong and their batting with the likes of Sehwag, Gambhir can make it aswell. The fourth team will have to be closely fought for. But my pick would be Punjab XI. Sangakarra is playing as well as he ever has, J’dena will fire soon, Yuvraj has kept us waiting for long.

My teams for the semis are Chennai, Kolkatta, Delhi Daredevils, PunjabXI or Deccan Chargers. What do you guys think ? Any other ideas ?

IPL has kickstarted, and most of the teams look more than ominous and its not so easy to predict who might win this contest. The teams are equally balanced and have a proper mix of youth and experience. However team Mumbai XI looks a weak link. Especially with Sachin sitting out with an injury, the team is so dependent on Sanath J’surya to fire. Mukesh Ambani’s team seems to be the weakest link, sounds very surprising. Mumbai XI is now badly in need of Sachin’s comeback and some more big names. Sanath J’surya is a match winner, but dependent on only him is taking the team nowhere. Cricket is after all a team game, and individuals can make difference but then its not just them who could do it 10 out of 10 times. If the Mumbai team really looks at making it to the top four, then its time they bring in some better players and ofcourse Sachin has gotta be there soon. Harbhajan Singh is not fit to be a captain, and its time they think seriously to change the captain. Pollock or Sanath in the absence of Sachin can be better captains than Harbhajan. Atleast they wouldnt slap the opponents ..lol………

We want you back Sachin. Mumbai very badly needs you, so please get back soon. Uthappa seems to be firing big guns this series, but he needs some support. Its time Mumbai pull up their socks, and get started in working out ways to make the news for right reasons and not for reasons like slapping the opponents…what say guys ?…well i still am in support for the Mumbai team…For god sake, Mumbai come on

I am not sure how many of you watched or followed the first IPL encounter between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers, but to me the most astonishing site was not the batting of Brendon McCullum. Now that is quite strange when you consider that McCullum posted the highest individual score in T20 at the strike rate of 200+.

For me the most amazing site was seeing Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jafar walk out to open the innings for the Royal Challengers. These two don’t even feature in India’s ODI squad let alone T20 and are more known for their ability to stick around rather than setting the fireworks with their stroke-play.

So why? I can understand Bangalore choosing Dravid to be their captain and franchise player, but having him open the innings and that with Jafar is like guaranteeing suicide by hanging oneself and taking some poison just before doing that, just in case……..

It is then no surprise to me that the Bangalore Royal Challengers were Royally destroyed by the Knight Riders. And any Twenty20 team that sends Dravid and Jafar to open their innings chasing 220+ total in 20 overs deserves all that beating.

Thoughts????