Blogs IPL T20 Cricket: Most Improbable Opening Pair!!
April 18th, 2008 by prashantI 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????
April 19th, 2008 at 6:30 am
I absolutely agree with your points. When McCullum was ‘bought’ for a reasonably good price, some of my friends were irked. But I assured them that it was worth paying. He proved it. However, I expected some firework from Mark Boucher, who in my opinion can be very, very dangerous some times. But I think he got bogged down by the pressure of the herculean task that lay ahead of him.
And speaking of Royal Challengers, I remember one thing from the opening ceremony. Jadeja asked Mr. Vijay Mallya about owning a ‘test team’ and the latter managed to blabber something without showing his obvious disappointment and disapproval with the question. I really think Vijay has got what could perhaps be called the worst combination in the entire IPL. Dravid and Jaffer, followed by Kallis????? Come on….
April 19th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
That’s quite interesting Kris. I did not see the opening ceremony and this particular conversation about the “test” team playing in the T20 tournament. Actually if they had to play a “test” player then instead of Jafar I would have chosen VVS. At least he is an aggressive test player. But getting Jafar to open your T20 is accepting defeat right at the outset.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Sorry about my ignorance. Did not know that VVS was the captain for Deccan Chargers, so could not have been playing for Bangalore at the same time
April 20th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Interesting point… and once they replaced Jaffer with Chanderpaul, the results showed. Royal Challengers beat Mumbai Indians tonight.
I really don’t think Jaffer has the ability to play this format of the game. Over the years, Dravid has adapted himself for the ODI format and has played some amazing innings for India. Even though he is orthodox, he uses his skill with the orthodox shots to keep the score board moving. So I would love to have Dravid in my side. But Jaffer is a test player, and a mediocre at that too. If Royal challengers persist with him in the future matches, then I do not see them going deep into this tournament.
On a side note, Boucher finally showed why he is such a desirable player in ANY format of the game. His perfectly paced innings took Royal Challengers home in a comfortable fashion in a close contest. I am sure Kris would be happy with his performance.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:09 am
Yep; I was happy with Boucher’s performance. He is the kind of guy who can win you matches if he hangs around there for some time with a good partner. McCullum, Boucher, Symonds, Sehwag, and now even Hussey has joined the list of swashbucklers. Sheesh; I never thought IPL could be so interesting!!!!